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Theory: Bran's plan


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This is my first post here so I thank you in advance for your patience and apologize if this has already been covered. I've heard the Bran=Night King theory many times and while it's intriguing I've never bought into it. The reason for this is that Bran's (and anyone else's as far as I know) warging abilities are limited to creatures of lesser intelligence. Unless I have missed something he was only able to warg into Hodor because his mind was damaged by the paradox. This makes it seem a huge stretch to believe Bran could warg into (and become trapped in) a being arguably as powerful, or more so, than the Three-Eyed Raven. The idea that Bran becomes trapped somewhere while warging has been hinted at so many times throughout the series that I don't think it should be ignored, but I'm skeptical that somewhere is inside NK, past or present. There is, however, a creature NK relies on greatly that I believe Bran could possibly warg - Viserion. Bran's plan to act as bait for NK seems futile, but I fully expect him to have an idea of what he will do once NK comes for him that he likely did not feel the need to tell the others. I can't imagine he would willingly sacrifice his infinitely useful knowledge for nothing. I could be way off base here, but it seems like warging the dragon NK rides in on would be a fairly good idea. Though we don't know if dragons can kill NK (as Bran himself said in S02, no one has ever tried) Viserion would probably have a better chance than anyone of being able to at least divert or overpower him. As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong here, I could well be) no one knows for sure what happens if you die while warging - if Bran were killed by NK while warging Viserion, could his consciousness remain in the dragon? Having an undead ice dragon as Three Eyed Raven could have epic implications for unity in the magical forces of Westeros. 
Side question- I've read a few articles lately that assume Bran/3ER can see what happens in the future. I had always thought that 3ER's abilities were limited to seeing what is happening presently (through raven warging) and what has happened in the past (through weirwoods) and that his ability to know what's going to happen came from his unique ability to see all of the pieces in play simultaneously. Am I incorrect here? 
Another side question- if Bran straight-up dies, what happens to 3ER? 
Thank you for reading and enjoy the episode!

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I agree Bran is not the NK, and I maintain he can't see the future any more than a tree can.

I think his warging into Hodor showed his powers have exceeded the 3ER and suggests he could warg into another human or developed being. He could possibly warg into a WW or a freshly resusitated dead person he knows, but Viserion is a great call. We saw what happens to someone killed while warging - the wilding who fancied Ygritte, who warged into his eagle for scouting. His soul did become 'trapped' in the bird with all the hated for Jon that his human master had - until it was killed soon after.

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The reason Bran can warg into Hodor is indirectly tied to Hodor's mental state, but it seems more because Hodor doesn't fight back.  Most people when they feel something trying to possess them would, and since it's their home turf they win out against the warg.  Bran, being the three eyed raven might be strong enough to warg into normal people, but I agree that it seems unlikely he could over power the Night King.

More likely what will happen is as CrypticWeirwood points out, that Bran upon death will warg into a weirwood tree and become an old god.  We don't have a very good idea of how much power he would retain/gain from such a change.

Bran does have greensight which allows him to see the future, but such visions are prophetic and unclear so it is hard to say how useful that ability is.

It is possible (maybe) that he could warg into Viserion instead.  If we want to win the war in the next episode that is probably how they will do so.  But I'm not sure if he can, because of the Night King's control over Viserion and what it might mean to be wighted.  Personally I find it more likely that he would become an old god than that he would become Viserion and I'm not sure he can do both.

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OK, trying again, still having trouble with format, but here goes:

Thanks for the OP, @branstarkoverdrive - you've given the idea a lot of thought.  

I don't think Bran will warg into the NK, either.  I believe we get the most complete info about death while warging in the Varamyr Prologue to ADWD.  Varamyr tried desperately to warg into the wilding woman Thistle as he was dying, but she fought him fiercely and was able to keep him out.  (Perhaps intelligence in itself isn't as much of a factor as resistance, though of course, it's more likely that resistance increases with intelligence, or at least awareness, of what is happening.)  The last thing Varamyr remembers: 

 

Quote

 

  • The white world turned and fell away. For a moment it was as if he were inside the weirwood, gazing out through carved red eyes as a dying man twitched feebly on the ground and a madwoman danced blind and bloody underneath the moon, weeping red tears and ripping at her clothes. Then both were gone and he was rising, melting, his spirit borne on some cold wind. He was in the snow and in the clouds, he was a sparrow, a squirrel, an oak. A horned owl flew silently between his trees, hunting a hare;
  •  Varamyr was inside the owl, inside the hare, inside the trees. Deep below the frozen ground, earthworms burrowed blindly in the dark, and he was them as well. I am the wood, and everything that's in it, he thought, exulting. A hundred ravens took to the air, cawing as they felt him pass. A great elk trumpeted, unsettling the children clinging to his back. A sleeping direwolf raised his head to snarl at empty air. Before their hearts could beat again he had passed on, searching for his own, for One Eye, Sly, and Stalker, for his pack. His wolves would save him, he told himself.
  • That was his last thought as a man.

I've heard a lot about Bran warging into Vision, but for some reason I don't think this will happen, I can't tell you why, and of course I may be dead wrong.  At least not in 8.3.  I think the NK may not show up at WF at all that episode, unless to 'raise' the Stark dead in the WF crypts - a terrifying thought to me.  I believe he will continue South, perhaps to KL, though in Bran's earlier visions the shadow of the dragon he sees flying over KL has intact wings.  Perhaps the NK will go to the Isle of Faces?  I just wrote about this in another thread, but you might check out this video, which explores the new opening credits and notes the Isle of Faces being shown, a fact that totally escaped me before I saw this video. Those opening credits fly by so quickly.  Anyway, see what you think (start about 4:35 into it):

 

 

ETA:  I don't seem to be able to separate my last paragraph from the quoted material.  But hope it makes sense.  

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