Who (or what) is the Three-Eyed Crow?

[Clegane'sPup]

Below is the infamous quote when Bran (approximately 9 -10 years of age) asks the question.    I inserted [ ].

 

A Dance with Dragons - Bran II       "Are you the three-eyed crow?" Bran heard himself say. A three-eyed crow should have three eyes. He has only one, and that one red. Bran could feel the eye staring at him, shining like a pool of blood in the torchlight. Where his other eye should have been, a thin white root grew from an empty socket, down his cheek, and into his neck.       "A … crow?" The pale lord's voice was dry. His lips moved slowly, as if they had forgotten how to form words. "Once, aye. Black of garb and black of blood."[ member of the nights watch and a bastard] The clothes he wore were rotten and faded, spotted with moss and eaten through with worms, but once they had been black. "I have been many things, Bran. Now I am as you see me, and now you will understand why I could not come to you … except in dreams. I have watched you for a long time, watched you with a thousand eyes and one. I saw your birth, and that of your lord father before you. I saw your first step, heard your first word, was part of your first dream. I was watching when you fell. And now you are come to me at last, Brandon Stark, though the hour is late."

 

Story wise the above quote makes sense. I mean, that is the goal of Bran & the Reed kid’s right? To get to the three eyed crow. My interpretation of the third eye has a mystical meaning which Jojen describes in an earlier chapter.

Personally, I read Bloodraven aka LC Brynden Rivers as Bran’s three eyed crow.

Supposedly there are two more books left in this saga. With all the loose ends, cliffhangers and looming battles what purpose would it serve to have the three eyed crow be someone other than Bloodraven?

The Reed kids go to WF because Jojen told Howland something. Howland sent his children to Bran. Oh, yes, the mysterious crannogman man who has not yet made his appearance. Here’s some tinfoil, maybe Howland is the three eyed crow. He did after all spend time on the Isle of Faces with the Scared Order of the Green Men. Add into that the Isle is located in the middle of a lake named the God’s Eye and the lake is in close proximity to Harrenhal. Harrenhal is where that fateful tourney took place.   Supposedly Lyanna was “fell upon” by Rheagar not 10 leagues from Harrenhal. It appears to me that Harrenhal has some importance in this frekking long arse story.

In the below quote Sam and 102 year old Aemon Targ are talking. There are only three mentions of Bloodraven in the five books. This is one of them. Keep in mind that this happens after Sam met Coldhands and after the Black Gate incident at the Nightfort.

 

A Feast for Crows - Samwell II        I was five-and-thirty and had been a maester of the chain for sixteen years. Egg wanted me to help him rule, but I knew my place was here. He sent me north aboard the Golden Dragon, and insisted that his friend Ser Duncan see me safe to Eastwatch. No recruit had arrived at the Wall with so much pomp since Nymeria sent the Watch six kings in golden fetters. Egg emptied out the dungeons too, so I would not need to say my vows alone. My honor guard, he called them. One was no less a man than Brynden Rivers. Later he was chosen lord commander."      Bloodraven?" said Dareon. "I know a song about him. 'A Thousand Eyes, and One,' it's called. But I thought he lived a hundred years ago."

 

What did Aemon say?  Did I misread it? He talks about Dunk & Egg. Where is the information about Bloodraven aka Brynden Rivers? The information is in the short stories.  What reference did the old man in the CotF cave make to Bran is his DwD quote -----he said, “watched you with a thousand eyes and one.”

Below is a short blurp about Bloodraven by Theon when he takes Lady Dustin into the crypts.  Comical as it may seem, those missing swords once caused a big broughaha that turned out to be nada.      Argh! If Aerys II knew his history maybe that is why he had Illyn’s tongue cut out for the Tywin remark.

A Dance with Dragons - The Turncloak "    . Lord Beron Stark, who made common cause with Casterly Rock to war against Dagon Greyjoy, Lord of Pyke, in the days when the Seven Kingdoms were ruled in all but name by the bastard sorcerer men called Bloodraven.     "That king is missing his sword," Lady Dustin observed.

 

The below quote is a bit out of my interest/comfort zone. There are plenty of posters who are way more knowledgeable than I.

A Dance with Dragons - The Kingbreaker     " Better for Daenerys, and for Westeros. Daenerys Targaryen loved her captain, but that was the girl in her, not the queen. Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna, and thousands died for it. Daemon Blackfyre loved the first Daenerys, and rose in rebellion when denied her. Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and the Seven Kingdoms bled. The Prince of Dragonflies loved Jenny of Oldstones so much he cast aside a crown, and Westeros paid the bride price in corpses. All three of the sons of the fifth Aegon had wed for love, in defiance of their father's wishes. And because that unlikely monarch had himself followed his heart when he chose his queen, he allowed his sons to have their way, making bitter enemies where he might have had fast friends. Treason and turmoil followed, as night follows day, ending at Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief.

 

Anywho, I am a firm believer that Bran’s three eye crow is that old man in the CotF cave. I also believe that Bran’s three eye crow is indeed Bloodraven aka Brynden Rivers.

[Slowpoke Martin]

Not once in any of the ADWD Bran chapters is it ever confirmed that Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers is the 3 eyed crow. In fact, every time the 3EC is referenced, someone skips around it. Leaf, Coldhands, and even Bloodraven himself go out of their way to ignore the mention of a 3 eyed crow and respond with something else entirely different, Bran also pretends that its the 3EC speaking to him not Bloodraven. These are not conspiracy thoughts or delusions made up by fans due to the long wait between books, these are actual on page observations presented by the author to instill suspicion.

The biggest complaint about this theory is that somehow Bloodraven can't control how he appears in Bran's dreams. Really? Are you kidding me with this bullshit excuse? A greenseer, the most powerful magical entity presented in the story, can enter people's dreams but SOMEHOW can't control how he is depicted. If this is the best argument to the theory, than you haters are out of luck because that is some weak shit.

My guess is that the 3 eyed crow is connected to the Starks and may be an ancient Stark greenseer or most likely Bran himself. The children of the forest don't seem to be violent in nature and have only acted out in self defense. They most likely recruited Bloodraven due to his dual magical bloodline that allowed him to have greenseer capabilities. Bloodraven has no pride, no honor, no morals. He will do anything that needs to be done, the perfect person to lead the armies (the Others) of the children of the forest and cripple the human race who are spreading like a plague. Their interest in Bran is very interesting as Bran is possibly the only one capable of powerful skin change abilities that could stop the children in the long run.

Of course, this all might just be random tinfoil speculation but it would make the story far more interesting especially since the most we know is that the Others are part of the endgame, hell even that is completely uncertain, and we know next to nothing about why magic is on the rise or why and how the Long Night will be caused. Making Bloodraven and the children of the forest the main antagonists at least helps understand things a little better rather than just having the Others cause everything with no explanation behind it.

[LynnS]

15 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I think we are very familiar with Bloodraven's motive and story...

Bloodraven, Bryndon Rivers, violated all the laws of Gods and Men we have been introduced to including his Nights Watch Oath.

He served as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch for 13 years before abandoning his post and flying down from the wall.

Bloodraven embraces the darkness, it is his to rule. He knows no fear. He lectures Bran on not fearing the darkness, this directly contradicts Ned's original lesson about the only time one can be brave is when one feels fear.

The original Night's King resided in the Nightfort where we know there is an Underground Weirwood.

Bloodraven was in love with a woman (Seastar) who has some bizarre Eyes.

He fought a war against his brother.

He casts the sentence but does not swing the sword...

And he says in plain English he is unable to speak to people through the Weirwood Trees! BR is not the 3EC... but he still serves a purpose. He is the new Night's King and the return of the Others is likely his fault/doing.

Ravens are not crows...

Oh! Well done!  That's a wonderfully sinister twist.   Bran Co asks several times if Bloodraven is the 3EC and each time there is no answer.

Who sent you? (Bloodraven)

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Bran I

"He's dead." Bran could taste the bile in his throat. "Meera, he's some dead thing. The monsters cannot pass so long as the Wall stands and the men of the Night's Watch stay true, that's what Old Nan used to say. He came to meet us at the Wall, but he could not pass. He sent Sam instead, with that wildling girl."

Meera's gloved hand tightened around the shaft of her frog spear. "Who sent you? Who is this three-eyed crow?"

"A friend. Dreamer, wizard, call him what you will. The last greenseer." The longhall's wooden door banged open. Outside, the night wind howled, bleak and black. The trees were full of ravens, screaming. Coldhands did not move.

Meera again asks Leaf who is waiting for them.  If it is the 3EC.  Leaf answers that the greenseer is waiting rather than the 3EC.

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A Dance with Dragons - Bran II

"No. They killed him long ago. Come now. It is warmer down deep, and no one will hurt you there. He is waiting for you."

"The three-eyed crow?" asked Meera.

"The greenseer." And with that she was off, and they had no choice but to follow. Meera helped Bran back up onto Hodor's back, though his basket was half-crushed and wet from melting snow. Then she slipped an arm around her brother and shouldered him back onto his feet once more. His eyes opened. "What?" he said. "Meera? Where are we?" When he saw the fire, he smiled. "I had the strangest dream."

 

Bran assumes BR and the 3EC are the same, but never gets confirmation.  As others have pointed out, BR himself doesn't recognize the name.  If he can wear a thousand skins, he should know if he shows up in Bran's dream as a crow.

I think it's more telling that Coldhands tells Bran that the greenseer is his monster:

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Bran I

"A friend. Dreamer, wizard, call him what you will. The last greenseer." The longhall's wooden door banged open. Outside, the night wind howled, bleak and black. The trees were full of ravens, screaming. Coldhands did not move.

"A monster," Bran said.

The ranger looked at Bran as if the rest of them did not exist. "Your monster, Brandon Stark."

"Yours," the raven echoed, from his shoulder. Outside the door, the ravens in the trees took up the cry, until the night wood echoed to the murderer's song of "Yours, yours, yours."

 

All the ravens take up the cry as if they are one voice.

[LynnS]

14 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

He's the villain, the Night King, the one who caused the return of the Others, a man who knows no fear and rules the dark...

He says he can't talk through the trees, and only claims to have "watched", "seen", etc. All passive Verbs which do not fit with being the 3eC... however if he appeared as the weirwood in Bran's falling dream then this makes sense, it also fits with how Mel sees him in the flames.

The three eyed crow could be a number of other people, Bran and Jon are options if you are open to time tricks... Green Men or Howland Reed are probably preferable options if you don't. I lean toward someone south of the Wall since it seems Bran stops dreaming of the 3eC after going under, and Jojen is the one who thought the 3eC was north of the wall and he seems to reliably misinterpret his dreams.

He stops having the crow dreams after his third eye is opened and learns to fly.  The 3EC does make an appearance north of the Wall when Bran is wed to the tree.  But specifically after the torches are put out and Bran hears his voice.

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

It had a bitter taste, though not so bitter as acorn paste. The first spoonful was the hardest to get down. He almost retched it right back up. The second tasted better. The third was almost sweet. The rest he spooned up eagerly. Why had he thought that it was bitter? It tasted of honey, of new-fallen snow, of pepper and cinnamon and the last kiss his mother ever gave him. The empty bowl slipped from his fingers and clattered on the cavern floor. "I don't feel any different. What happens next?"

Leaf touched his hand. "The trees will teach you. The trees remember." He raised a hand, and the other singers began to move about the cavern, extinguishing the torches one by one. The darkness thickened and crept toward them.

"Close your eyes," said the three-eyed crow. "Slip your skin, as you do when you join with Summer. But this time, go into the roots instead. Follow them up through the earth, to the trees upon the hill, and tell me what you see."

Although Bran seems to make a distinction between the voices of Bloodrave and the 3EC:

Quote

A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

Seated on his throne of roots in the great cavern, half-corpse and half-tree, Lord Brynden seemed less a man than some ghastly statue made of twisted wood, old bone, and rotted wool. The only thing that looked alive in the pale ruin that was his face was his one red eye, burning like the last coal in a dead fire, surrounded by twisted roots and tatters of leathery white skin hanging off a yellowed skull.

The sight of him still frightened Bran—the weirwood roots snaking in and out of his withered flesh, the mushrooms sprouting from his cheeks, the white wooden worm that grew from the socket where one eye had been. He liked it better when the torches were put out. In the dark he could pretend that it was the three-eyed crow who whispered to him and not some grisly talking corpse.

Leaf says that the trees will teach him although Bran's guide is the 3EC.   I suspect that mind connection is made when the crow opens Bran's third eye.  Bran does the same for Jon by touching him.  Touch is also employed by Quaithe to establish a connection with Dany. 

[LynnS]

9 hours ago, Slowpoke Martin said:

Not once in any of the ADWD Bran chapters is it ever confirmed that Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers is the 3 eyed crow. In fact, every time the 3EC is referenced, someone skips around it. Leaf, Coldhands, and even Bloodraven himself go out of their way to ignore the mention of a 3 eyed crow and respond with something else entirely different, Bran also pretends that its the 3EC speaking to him not Bloodraven. These are not conspiracy thoughts or delusions made up by fans due to the long wait between books, these are actual on page observations presented by the author to instill suspicion.

The biggest complaint about this theory is that somehow Bloodraven can't control how he appears in Bran's dreams. Really? Are you kidding me with this bullshit excuse? A greenseer, the most powerful magical entity presented in the story, can enter people's dreams but SOMEHOW can't control how he is depicted. If this is the best argument to the theory, than you haters are out of luck because that is some weak shit.

My guess is that the 3 eyed crow is connected to the Starks and may be an ancient Stark greenseer or most likely Bran himself. The children of the forest don't seem to be violent in nature and have only acted out in self defense. They most likely recruited Bloodraven due to his dual magical bloodline that allowed him to have greenseer capabilities. Bloodraven has no pride, no honor, no morals. He will do anything that needs to be done, the perfect person to lead the armies (the Others) of the children of the forest and cripple the human race who are spreading like a plague. Their interest in Bran is very interesting as Bran is possibly the only one capable of powerful skin change abilities that could stop the children in the long run.

Of course, this all might just be random tinfoil speculation but it would make the story far more interesting especially since the most we know is that the Others are part of the endgame, hell even that is completely uncertain, and we know next to nothing about why magic is on the rise or why and how the Long Night will be caused. Making Bloodraven and the children of the forest the main antagonists at least helps understand things a little better rather than just having the Others cause everything with no explanation behind it.

I agree completely.  BR can't control how he appears in Bran's dreams?  I don't buy that for one minute.  Bran has different dreams apart from warging Summer - he dreams of trees and crows and occassionally crows and trees together.

[Weirwood Ghost]

The trees could be green-seers. Men with the ability to tap in are "green-seers"...something to consider sure.

Crows are messengers. As per TWoIaF they were purported to have have once spoken messages orally to men...think Mormont's crow. But this virtue for communication between men was lost over time, and the crows became mere messengers between Men, via scrolls attached to the crows legs.

Metaphorically the crows are see'ers and messengers. Think of all the times crows circling are mentioned in the text. Wherever there is a crow, whether feasting on corpse eyes or flying ahead, they are assimilating what is happening. Every time I read of a crow feasting on eyes, I consider this as a way of the crows to absorb memories, knowledge. If flying overhead it's observation. There are so many references obvious and subtle to crows being present in the scenes of the text. Don't go running off to Feast for Crows, they are present in abundance in every book.

[Dragonsbone]

When I first read the theories about Bran being a time traveler, I was sure that this is tinfoil and not going to happen. This was too cliche, and overused in syfy. Also it would not fit within the fantasy genre and within ASOIAF. But now, years later, I think that it is definitely a possiblity, and a very likely one. What changed my mind: 

First, George himself introduced it, in a light way, within the Bran Chapters in ADWD. Bran can see into the past, but is been told by Bloodraven that he can not change it. Bloodraven also notes that he himself tried to talk to his past but did not work:

"I have my own ghosts, Bran. A brother that I loved, a brother that I hated, a woman I desired. Through the trees, I see them still, but no word of mine has ever reached them. The past remains the past. We can learn from it, but we cannot change it."

This Quote is crucial. We learn that Bloodraven has definitely tried to talk and possibly change the past. Presumably it has not worked. GRRM writing style is such that first he introduces an idea, then build this idea up and then lets it develope. I am pretty sure that Bran will be able to talk to characters in the past. We already saw a glimpse of it in the Theon chapter. These are all hints, that Bran will be able to time travel by using his powers. 

Spoiler

The second thing that makes me believe that Bran will time travel I can not talk about here. 

If he will be able to interact with the past, it is at least not unlikely, that he will end up being the catalyst for all the events that have happened from the beginning of the story. Then, the three eyed crow may be he himself, talking to his younger self. The story becomes cyclic. Bran is the three eyed crow because he allways was. This is not a contradiction to what Bloodraven said. Bran won't change the past, but rather make it happen. There is no time travel paradoxon within the story. I still don't like the idea, but it makes sense.

[LiveFirstDieLater]

2 hours ago, LynnS said:

I agree completely.  BR can't control how he appears in Bran's dreams?  I don't buy that for one minute.  Bran has different dreams apart from warging Summer - he dreams of trees and crows and occassionally crows and trees together.

I've never understood the arguement that he doesn't know how he appears, the 3eC has a conversation about flying, having wings, and he's always asking for corn, come on...

I would agree that the tree dreams and crow dreams are different, although they can appear together, but the tree doesn't talk.

2 hours ago, LynnS said:

He stops having the crow dreams after his third eye is opened and learns to fly.  The 3EC does make an appearance north of the Wall when Bran is wed to the tree.  But specifically after the torches are put out and Bran hears his voice.

Although Bran seems to make a distinction between the voices of Bloodrave and the 3EC:

I'm not sure about this... he does say he pretends BR is the 3eC, RED FLAG, but his only time hearing the 3eC talk seems to be after eating the Weirwood paste and the lights going out. The 3eC tells him to go into the trees above him, instead he ends up looking out of the Heart Tree in Winterfell... I still want to know what he would have seen if he looked out of the frozen trees above, if I'm right then these are the same twisted spires of ice he was falling towards in his original falling/3eC dream. The Heart of Winter.

2 hours ago, LynnS said:

Leaf says that the trees will teach him although Bran's guide is the 3EC.   I suspect that mind connection is made when the crow opens Bran's third eye.  Bran does the same for Jon by touching him.  Touch is also employed by Quaithe to establish a connection with Dany. 

I'm also still of a probably unpopular opinion that when the 3eC flys at Brans face pecking his forehead and blinding him, the crow is taking memories from him, like of Jaime pushing him... 

Quote

The crow took to the air, cawing. Not that, it shrieked at him. Forget that, you do not need it now, put it aside, put it away. It landed on Bran's shoulder, and pecked at him, and the shining golden face was gone.

Or whatever he saw in the Heart of Winter and didn't understand.

[LynnS]

1 hour ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I'm not sure about this... he does say he pretends BR is the 3eC, RED FLAG, but his only time hearing the 3eC talk seems to be after eating the Weirwood paste and the lights going out. The 3eC tells him to go into the trees above him, instead he ends up looking out of the Heart Tree in Winterfell... I still want to know what he would have seen if he looked out of the frozen trees above, if I'm right then these are the same twisted spires of ice he was falling towards in his original falling/3eC dream. The Heart of Winter.

I think so as well.  Falling is flying, so the spears of ice may seem to fly up at him.  I have also thought that the icy spears were ice and snow encrusted trees seen from above.

Quote

I'm also still of a probably unpopular opinion that when the 3eC flys at Brans face pecking his forehead and blinding him, the crow is taking memories from him, like of Jaime pushing him... 

I think that's an interesting interpretation and I like it a lot.  

Quote

Or whatever he saw in the Heart of Winter and didn't understand.

I think this is a vision of the future (the end of the world) all the cotf and greenseers are dead (bones of dreamers impaled on icy spears) and a curtain of light and beyond... another comet.

https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/mc_naught35.jpg

[LiveFirstDieLater]

9 minutes ago, LynnS said:

I think so as well.  Falling is flying, so the spears of ice may seem to fly up at him.  I have also thought that the icy spears were ice and snow encrusted trees seen from above.

Yes...

9 minutes ago, LynnS said:

I think that's an interesting interpretation and I like it a lot.

Thank you!

9 minutes ago, LynnS said:

I think this is a vision of the future (the end of the world) all the cotf and greenseers are dead (bones of dreamers impaled on icy spears) and a curtain of light and beyond... another comet.

https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/mc_naught35.jpg

Bloodraven's lair is full of bones, presumably of other dreamers...

Quote

"Bones," said Bran. "It's bones." The floor of the passage was littered with the bones of birds and beasts. But there were other bones as well, big ones that must have come from giants and small ones that could have been from children. On either side of them, in niches carved from the stone, skulls looked down on them. Bran saw a bear skull and a wolf skull, half a dozen human skulls and near as many giants. All the rest were small, queerly formed. Children of the forest. The roots had grown in and around and through them, every one. A few had ravens perched atop them, watching them pass with bright black eyes.

I actually think there is also some connection between the pale wormlike root coming out of Bloodraven's eye and:

 

Quote

 

She walked away from him, to the door on the right.

"No," Pyat screeched. "No, to me, come to me, to meeeeeee." His face crumbled inward, changing to something pale and wormlike.

 

I think the similarities between Bloodraven's lair and The House of The Undying are way to much to be coincidence... and in the end they seemed to try and consume Dany... I think Bran is in similar danger.

[JNR]

On 10/27/2017 at 1:08 PM, Ser Maverick said:

So now that we have established that Bloodraven is not the three-eyed crow, who, or what, is it?

First, I think you're right that Bloodraven is not the 3EC.  Well done.

Second, beyond what you wrote, I think we get a clues about this from Bran's dreams in ACOK.   Yes, he dreams about the 3EC, but he also dreams about a different entity:

Quote

"They do," Bran said with sudden certainty. "They dream tree dreams. I dream of a tree sometimes. A weirwood, like the one in the godswood. It calls to me. "

Quote

And there's dreams where the crow comes and tells me to fly. Sometimes the tree is in those dreams too, calling my name. 

Quote

On this night he dreamed of the weirwood. It was looking at him with its deep red eyes, calling to him with its twisted wooden mouth, and from its pale branches the three-eyed crow came flapping, pecking at his face and crying his name in a voice as sharp as swords.

Which of these best fits Bloodraven?  The tree, or the crow?  Well, come on:

Quote

The sight of him still frightened Bran—the weirwood roots snaking in and out of his withered flesh, the mushrooms sprouting from his cheeks, the white wooden worm that grew from the socket where one eye had been.

Quote

A three-eyed crow should have three eyes. He has only one, and that one red. Bran could feel the eye staring at him, shining like a pool of blood in the torchlight. Where his other eye should have been, a thin white root grew from an empty socket, down his cheek, and into his neck.

And Bloodraven's whole goal has been to summon Bran to the cave.  Of course he's been the one calling to Bran, as we find in Bran's dreams cited above.

IMO it's not really a question: Bloodraven is the tree. Not the crow.

Yes, Bran does think Bloodraven is the 3EC, but Bran is a small child who has not learned to think things through very well.  We can do better, and we should.

As to the true identity of the 3EC, I think that's fairly well implied in the above passages, plus Bran's coma dream.

[LynnS]

16 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I think the similarities between Bloodraven's lair and The House of The Undying are way to much to be coincidence... and in the end they seemed to try and consume Dany... I think Bran is in similar danger.

We could also ask why the GoHH mistook Arya for the Lord who smells of Death and what does this have to do with Summerhall.   I don't think she was referring to Beric.   What has Bloodraven been up to for the last 47 years pinioned to a tree. 

Bran doesn't seem to recollect the vision at the end of the world for something so traumatic and frightening. Whomever or whatever he saw seems to be one of those missing memories.

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Arya VIII

Cold fingers walked down Arya's neck. Fear cuts deeper than swords, she reminded herself. She stood and approached the fire warily, light on the balls of her feet, poised to flee.

The dwarf woman studied her with dim red eyes. "I see you," she whispered. "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death . . ." She began to sob, her little body shaking. "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

 

A greenseer could of course 'come to her hill'. 

[LiveFirstDieLater]

43 minutes ago, LynnS said:

We could also ask why the GoHH mistook Arya for the Lord who smells of Death and what does this have to do with Summerhall.   I don't think she was referring to Beric.   What has Bloodraven been up to for the last 47 years pinioned to a tree. 

Bran doesn't seem to recollect the vision at the end of the world for something so traumatic and frightening. Whomever or whatever he saw seems to be one of those missing memories.

A greenseer could of course 'come to her hill'. 

Interesting, a quick search seems to show the only other use of "dark heart" is in reference to the heart at the center of the House of the Undying... hmmm

[LynnS]

28 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Interesting, a quick search seems to show the only other use of "dark heart" is in reference to the heart at the center of the House of the Undying... hmmm

He is shown places of interest in his coma dream including Braavos.

[LiveFirstDieLater]

16 minutes ago, LynnS said:

He is shown places of interest in his coma dream including Braavos.

Hmmm, I'm not sure about that... 

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

38 minutes ago, LynnS said:

He is shown places of interest in his coma dream including Braavos.

No, he is not.

Unless... are you thinking that the giant in armor made of stone is the Titan of Braavos? If so, I would say it would not make much sense because this happens before Bran 'saw clear across the narrow sea'.

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He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise.

 

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

1 hour ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Interesting, a quick search seems to show the only other use of "dark heart" is in reference to the heart at the center of the House of the Undying... hmmm

Nice catch.

[OtherFromAnotherMother]

4 hours ago, Dragonsbone said:

I am pretty sure that Bran will be able to talk to characters in the past. We already saw a glimpse of it in the Theon chapter.

What makes you believe Bran is not already in the cave at this point?

[LynnS]

3 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Hmmm, I'm not sure about that... 

He is shown Braavos the center for the faceless men and Vaes Dothrak with it's sacred mountain, the place where Dany must pass beneath the shadow.  It's astonishing that his viewpoint to so far above, that he can see across continents and seas.

Not to confuse that with the heart of darkness and soul of ice; to use Melisandre's description of the one whose name cannot be spoken. The question is whether Bran is shown a location or into the heart and mind of some...thing.

I'm not really sure where Dany is located within her vision at the HoU. She seems to be in the otherworld. I think of ensorceled doors as portals for the mind.  Before she meets the undying, she passes through the doors of the House of Black and White:
 

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

Dany left him behind, entering a stairwell. She began to climb. Before long her legs were aching. She recalled that the House of the Undying Ones had seemed to have no towers.

Finally the stair opened. To her right, a set of wide wooden doors had been thrown open. They were fashioned of ebony and weirwood, the black and white grains swirling and twisting in strange interwoven patterns. They were very beautiful, yet somehow frightening. The blood of the dragon must not be afraid. Dany said a quick prayer, begging the Warrior for courage and the Dothraki horse god for strength. She made herself walk forward.

The place itself is a crossroads, the door to the north and south, bridge to east and west.  

Getting back to Bloodraven; I wonder now if he is the one Jaqen H'Gar refers to when he makes his oath to Arya:

Quote

A Clash of Kings - Arya IX

"Swear it," Arya said. "Swear it by the gods."

"By all the gods of sea and air, and even him of fire, I swear it." He placed a hand in the mouth of the weirwood. "By the seven new gods and the old gods beyond count, I swear it."

He has sworn. "Even if I named the king . . ."

 

[LiveFirstDieLater]

3 minutes ago, LynnS said:

He is shown Braavos the center for the faceless men and Vaes Dothrak with it's sacred mountain, the place where Dany must pass beneath the shadow.  It's astonishing that his viewpoint to so far above, that he can see across continents and seas.

Not to confuse that with the heart of darkness and soul of ice; to use Melisandre's description of the one whose name cannot be spoken. The question is whether Bran is shown a location or into the heart and mind of some...thing.

Ok, I see what you're saying... 

And I'd love to know what Bran saw...