The Message of Bran’s Ascension

[RamseyFTW]

Game of Thrones is about power. I argue that the message of Bran’s ascension is that power ultimately lies in controlling the narrative.

Tyrion explicitly says as much: “What unites people: armies, gold, flags?” “Stories. There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it.” “[Bran] is our memory. The keeper of all our stories.”

Bran’s stories are of course just that: stories. We don’t know their truthfulness. But as “the keeper of all our stories” Bran’s stories become everyone else’s truth.

We don’t know that Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen. He may well be Ned Stark’s bastard. Aside from Bran’s story, the only evidence is the highly circumstantial evidence Sam found indicating that Jon at least could have been Rhaegar’s son. Daenerys notes how dubious the story is, but Bran had already gained control by understanding what was plausible and what Jon wanted to believe. By controlling the story, Bran caused the fracture between Jon and Daenerys that led to his ascension. We’ve seen very little tangible evidence of Bran’s powers of vision. We’ve seen that he’s crippled and that he seems to have epilepsy. Yet he is able to use his weakness to convince people that he has some special vision. No one has ever rigorously tested his vision. Like fortune tellers he generally ensures he is vague enough to be considered accurate irrespective of the outcome. His strength in the game is not in his vision but in his ability to deceive.

There have been earlier indications that ultimate power lies in controlling the narrative. Back in Season 3, Littlefinger asked “Do you know what the realm is?” “A story we agree to tell each other over and over until we forget that it’s a lie.” He’s almost right, but he is mistaken about the consent involved. It’s a story someone tells until everyone else forgets that it’s a lie.

Brienne also demonstrated she understood the power of controlling the narrative in documenting Jamie’s life. If the chronicle she writes in is what is passed on to future generations, then she has created what will be the truth for those who are to come in the manner she sees fit.

A ruler who is considered good or bad is not considered so because of his actions but because of the narrative about him. If you can gain control of that narrative you can cause the leader to be good or bad in the minds of the people, and that’s what power really means. Physical power is very limited. Rape or assault is an exertion of power for a few minutes. Even in murder, the victim escapes control at the moment of death. Controlling the story transcends death itself. If you can control the narrative, you can compel others to do your will even after they are dead.

Consider the MeToo movement as an example – generally women who have had power exerted against them. They have pursued justice, and undeniably taken back power, through telling their stories and controlling the narrative. Look at how far the accused men have fallen and how high the women involved have risen and you cannot question that controlling the story is a more potent force than physical harassment or rape.

The message of Bran’s ascension is that storytellers sit atop the world, because in controlling the narrative they control the world. True power is controlling someone’s mind, which you do through controlling the information they receive. Storytellers are the ones who feed people information, so they are the ones who really wield power in the world. The writers are ultimately putting themselves on the Iron Throne. You don’t need physical might, armies, and dragons to rule. You need to control the information. In this age of Fake News, it’s a powerful message.

[ummester]

Interesting idea. In this case Bran is not only a parable for the MSM but also big social media tech companies like Facebook and Google - especially considering his connection to the 'wiernet'. It's funny, I noted elsewhere that Dany is a type of Marxian Oligarch, as she changed the power base in Essos by pitting the slaves (proletariat)  against the masters (bourgeoisie). Perhaps Bran knew that Dany was an entitled revolutionary and all it would take is the R+L=J story to tip her over the edge in Westeros. Perhaps 1984 had a big influence on GoTs/ASoIaF.  

I think Bran is very deliberately ambiguous in the show - but I do think there are enough little hints to reveal he is some kind of puppet master. Exactly how he pulled the strings is not decipherable though.

I also think it is more likely that Bran was magical and he controlled the narrative, therefore he controlled the narrative magically.

I think it the books it will play out more as a conspiracy between the Children and Bran, or even the Children being the ultimate puppet masters of the puppet master and thus regaining control of Westeros via Bran.

When you loook at it all this way its kind of a nihilistic ending - the Others may just be part of Bran/The Childrens propaganda machine to get Bran on the throne.

[It_spelt_Magalhaes]

I've said thison the Ser Brienne and the Book thread and elsewhere too. 

Propaganda creates conflict and wins wars. 

Hell, didn't LF get to where he was at the height of his Lord Paramount of the Vale power by lying his ass off to gullible idiots like Catelyn Tully?

Wasn't Varys' absence from KL what allowed Cersei's narrative to hide her hand in the destruction of the Faith and most of the court, and then use Daenerys' imminent arrival as a fear tool to consollidate her reign?

Regardless of maybe-evil, Bran's appearance as 'memory of the world' is tattamount to 'I'll provide the war' mentality. All he needs to do is open his mouth.

He did it before.

 

[RFL]

Of course its about the stories.  Varys indicates to Tyrion that he will not be included in the histories of the battle of the Black Gate even though he was instrumental.  He asks if the final book at the end treats him kindly and is told he is, for all intents, omitted.  The seven kingdoms were united by dragon fire and yet we don't "remember" the burning of the Lannister army that was likely equal to the burning of the Golden Company (and oddly reminiscent of it).  Brienne writing in the white book is telling.  John Aryn early on writes to Ned of the histories of black hair overcoming blonde (and is this about Jon Snow or about Joffrey).  

[Nerevanin]

I also think that it is very possible that Bran is manipulative person. And I think you are up to something with the control of the stories. After all, there's a saying that the history is written by the victors. And let's not forget another example of power that lies within the controlled story - seasons ago Arya witnessed the play in Braavos and she is shocked / angry / disappointed when she finds out that her father is portrayed as a traitor. She knows some things that were happening back then, we (the audience) know more or less the whole story but the common folk in Braavos and other parts of Essos and Westeros know only this story told in the play and the story is controlled by the victors of the confrontation, aka Cersei.

[Davidlopan]

I was amazed at the chutzpah of invoking the power of a good story at the epilogue of one of the greatest storytelling travesties of all time, but then I got thinking... has Bran warged into the story itself and fucked it up from the inside... which turned into a mirror-on-mirror metafeedback so I gave up... But yeah Bran turned increasingly sinister as this season progressed, almost a Palpatine figure. Or Leto Atreides in the Dune saga

[John Meta]

We, the audience, know that Bran can see events in the past. We know about Hodor. We know he can actually do these things. So I'm not sure how the post is getting from point A to point B when we know point A (i.e. the premise that Bran isn't doing the things that are claimed) is false.

What I mean is that the post is presenting the proposition that we don't know whether or not Bran is able to visit the past, but we know that he can because it's audience knowledge via the information presented. The characters may not know it, but we do. Bran is simply the memory of the world. The meaning of Bran's ascension is the saying, whoever doesn't learn from the past is doomed to repeat it. It's the message of breaking the wheel.