[ADWD Spoilers] Bran's Endgame

[zazer]

I'm of the thought that Bran does not remain a tree. I'm not sure where is path might go. He could warg a dragon, reunite the remaining Stark children or even make another pact with others. This might be too simple but perhaps Bran's path might lead him back to Winterfell. There was some foreshadowing of Bran handling lordship duties in GOT. Bran the Peacemaker!

[Green Hereseer]

[This is a re-post from an old heresy. It's actually more pertinent here than it was there.]

Bran is going to lead (or otherwise be important to) the forces of Ice/Cold/Death/"Old Gods" against "life" and the realms of men.

There are many ambiguities surrounding the specifics of this storyline, including:
--Is Bloodraven the Three Eyed Crow? If not, who is?
--Who/what is Coldhands, and who re-animated him?
--What is the true motivation of Jojen Reed?
--Are the Wights made/controlled by the Others?
--What exactly is the connection (if any) between the Wights, the Others, and the Children of the Forest/Singers?

I do not have answers for any of those questions, but I do not think those questions/answers have much baring on what to me seems like overwhelming evidence in favor of Bran being led north on behalf of the forces of Cold. Here is that evidence, as I see it:


1) Why Bran?

Bran is powerful-- for whatever reason(s), the Stark children are powerful wargs, and are deeply attached to the magic of the North.

Bran is the right age-- Rob is a first-son who is born to rule/inherit Winterfell. Jon is a bastard of questionable parentage. As a second son Bran dreams of knighthood, valor and strength. He is old enough to engage in a quest, and young and impressionable enough to potentially be misled into one.

And most importantly, Bran is a victim-- he has lost everything to brutal men, including his legs (i.e. strength and conventional masculine identity), his future, his father, his home, many friends, and all of his belongings. This is essential. The fact that Bran is initially connected to his visions of the 3EC following his fall reeks of opportunism on someone's part.

Whoever is drawing Bran north by sending him and Jojen visions is trying to recruit a person who has every reason to eventually turn on humanity. Bran has been destroyed by men, so when he is eventually shown his full potential-- the power that was taken from him returned and magnified many many times over-- what will he want to do with it? Would he use it to help Men, or to punish them?


2) What has GRRM shown us about the cave, the singers, and Bloodraven?

The cave is a place of darkness-- Bran's firsthand accounts of the cave basically describe the quintessential monster's lair: bones, darkness, labyrinthine passageways. While the Singers themselves do not appear fearsome, I think it is hard to ignore GRRM's suggestion that there is more than meets the eye there.

Jon's vision of Bran in Clash of Kings is unequivocal-- When out ranging with the Half-Hand, Jon has a vision of Bran as a weirwood. Based on Bran's firsthand accounts and Theon's revival, the Weir-net allows Bran to travel through space, but also back in time. The bran who visits Jon is older and more experienced. We know because the present Bran is still at Winterfell during this vision. We know that Jon's vision is true because it is also his first active Warging experience and informs him about the Wildlings nearby. So what does Jon sense of the place where his brother Bran is a tree? It's a place of darkness. A place of cold. A place of bones. It gives him real bad vibes. Bran tries to make it seem ok, but in his reference to the "third eye" (a common symbol of wisdom) future-Bran betrays the fact that he is not really a regular person anymore, like someone else...

Bloodraven has lost much/most of his humanity-- He lives in a near timeless state, away from any other humans, in a dark cave full of bones. He can reach through time and space without effort, but cannot move what remains of his body. He is no longer human, and in all likelihood no longer identifies as such. (Yes, I have heard the theory that he is still a Targaryan supporter, but I think that may have gone bye-bye when he stopped being a man.)

The Singers have also lost much to Men-- They used to have free reign of Westeros, but are now all but extinct living in a cave at the edge of the world. They reminisce about other beings now gone from the world. Why would they have any sympathy for humanity? It is in no way clear why they would need or want any arrangement with a human greenseer, so I won't speculate on what the deal is, or the power dynamic involved. Suffice to say that I think they've got major beef and that they are going out fighting.


3) This might be where I go off the rails a little:

As some heretics have mentioned, the Singers' "weir-porridge" is suspicious as hell-- I think it's Jojen-soup. I think that blood sacrifice has been shown to be powerful in this world, and that Jojen sacrificed himself so that Bran could achieve his ultimate power. What Jojen's motivation is for that, I will not speculate on here. But Jojen has seen his death, and has suggested that it draws near as they arrive in the caves. He also seems quite certain it is imminent at the end of ADwD and seems resigned to it.

I think that if/when Bran finds out, it will be because his cave-dwelling friends reveal it to him at a time and in a manner of their choosing. At that point he would likely be sufficiently disassociated from his humanity to worry too much about it, and they would reassure him that Jojen went to his death fully aware and by choice.



4) Where does all of that lead?

On the one hand, it is sad to think that a character for whom the reader has a lot of love and sympathy will fight on the "bad side." On the other hand, I think it makes complete sense based on GRRM's vision of the world:
--Men are most-often horrible.
--Life is cruel and random.
--Happy endings and "true" knights are just foolishness from Sansa's songs.

and perhaps most importantly:
--What is evil from one perspective can seem completely just or even essential from another perspective.

With that in mind, I would argue that the whole point of this is to put the reader in a position where s/he will have to decide if s/he thinks humanity should continue. One way to look at it would be to say that if the forces of Ice/Death/What-have-you were to win, the world would get a clean slate. If any humans do survive, they would perhaps begin again, possibly (although not likely) with better results.

I have a feeling that in the end, Bran may choose to let humanity survive, but I think prior to that he will be a force against Men.