Dragon-Warging: Will It Happen?

[hotweaselsoup]

I hope no one will skinchange a dragon, but let's assume it can be done. Skinchanging into humans and animals is possible, according to the books.

Let's assume that it is also possible to get into the skin of a magical creature.

I wonder why it would be more difficult than a boar, a shadowcat, a bear, an eagle, a direwolf, a raven.

Why should size matter?

Skinchanging is breaking and entering of a mind.

I guess the level of resistance of the mind matters.

That is why Bran has no problems slipping into Hodor.

Hodor resists but he is vulnerable, defenseless, easily used.

Hodor can only hide, whimper and distance himself as far as he can from Bran as Bran invades him.

Maybe dragons are not very strongminded and in that respect are easier than other animals, like cats.

I completely agree that the difficulty of warging an animal (or human) is related to its mind resistance/strength - independence if you will. Varamyr says something to the effect that dogs are "the easiest beasts to bond with", because they are connected to man/domesticated. "As a boot was shaped to accept a foot, a dog was shaped to accept a collar, even a collar no human eye could see." In other words, dogs are already subservient to man, so will not resist a skinchanger.

He goes on to say that wolves are harder to bond with. "A man might befriend a wolf, even break a wolf, but no man could truly tame a wolf." He equates bonding with a wolf to a marriage - you become part of the wolf, and the wolf becomes part of you. I see this type of bond as a consensual sharing, and not like the more master/slave situation you see with dogs, or with animals that fight your presence.

I think that dragons may be more like wolves than dogs. I also think that if anyone is going to successfully warg a dragon, it will only be because the dragon so-warged has already been broken, or enslaved, by a dragon-binding horn. Otherwise, I don't think it will be possible.

[DrogEriGalOn]

I was re-reading a Clash of Kings recently and after reading this thread remembered that when Dany first gets to Qarth and is walking through the city she is thinking about her dragons and how she doesn't know how to train them and how the knowledge has been lost, or something along those lines. I don't have the text on me right now, but would be interested if someone could post it.

Maybe Bran, or even Tyrion, or both could help Dany train her dragons to be able to control them in a fight. Or train them to let someone ride them if they can't be fully skinchanged into. They are pretty unruly at this point and kind of do their own thing, so it will have to happen at some point if they will, indeed, be used in battle. I guess it is either that, or someone skinchanges into them, or they don't get used at all. Or they will just let loose on Westeros as they did in Mereen.

[FanTasy]

Maybe Bran, or even Tyrion, or both could help Dany train her dragons to be able to control them in a fight. Or train them to let someone ride them if they can't be fully skinchanged into. They are pretty unruly at this point and kind of do their own thing, so it will have to happen at some point if they will, indeed, be used in battle. I guess it is either that, or someone skinchanges into them, or they don't get used at all. Or they will just let loose on Westeros as they did in Mereen.

Really, not to be rude but this easy thinking of skinchanging amazes me. I'm not questioning you in particular. Lots of people seem to think that every animal or human is there to be warged or skinchanged into at will if someone is able to do it.

If the dragon you speak of can be trained, controlled and ridden, why is this only an option after "they can't be fully skinchanged into"?

If there are other ways you can let them do what you want by bonding, gaining their trust, feeding them, caring for them?

[DrogEriGalOn]

Really, not to be rude but this easy thinking of skinchanging amazes me. I'm not questioning you in particular. Lots of people seem to think that every animal or human is there to be warged or skinchanged into at will if someone is able to do it.

If the dragon you speak of can be trained, controlled and ridden, why is this only an option after "they can't be fully skinchanged into"?

If there are other ways you can let them do what you want by bonding, gaining their trust, feeding them, caring for them?

I'm not really sure what you are saying based on the above. Are you saying that warging is easy or difficult?

I was just throwing the idea out there. I'm not really pro-warging or anti-warging, or even have an easy or hard thinking way about the process. No opinion really. I was just speculating that maybe Bran could be used to train the dragon via influencing it with his warging abilities. I dunno...just a thought based on my recent re-read of COK and the scene I mentioned previously.

ETA: definitely possible that you could bond/gain trust by feeding or caring for a dragon...if that is what you were saying

[FanTasy]

I'm not really sure what you are saying based on the above. Are you saying that warging is easy or difficult?

I was just throwing the idea out there. I'm not really pro-warging or anti-warging, or even have an easy or hard thinking way about the process. No opinion really. I was just speculating that maybe Bran could be used to train the dragon via influencing it with his warging abilities. I dunno...just a thought based on my recent re-read of COK and the scene I mentioned previously.

ETA: definitely possible that you could bond/gain trust by feeding or caring for a dragon...if that is what you were saying

I understand ... thanks for reacting ...it was not my intention to attack you with my post ... if it felt like this I am truly sorry.

It is just that in many posts warging or skinchanging is seen as a pretty cool thing. Yea, let's warg this, let's warg that.

You didn't say it like that though :)

I think GRRM shows us in the books that where there is no informed consent skinchanging is a horrible thing to do.

[The Sunset King]

If a dragon is really "fire made flesh" there might be unexpected difficulties that would have to be addressed to successfully warg one. Even though a dragon's nervous system probably bears considerable similarity to a normal animal there may well be some supernatural obstacles that would remain unknown to a skinchanger since dragon-warging appears to be unprecedented and not covered in histories/oral traditions. Also, Daenerys is not going to want someone messing with her dragons' minds in an attempt to get them to become more wargable.

[tze]

I completely agree that the difficulty of warging an animal (or human) is related to its mind resistance/strength - independence if you will. Varamyr says something to the effect that dogs are "the easiest beasts to bond with", because they are connected to man/domesticated. "As a boot was shaped to accept a foot, a dog was shaped to accept a collar, even a collar no human eye could see." In other words, dogs are already subservient to man, so will not resist a skinchanger.

He goes on to say that wolves are harder to bond with. "A man might befriend a wolf, even break a wolf, but no man could truly tame a wolf." He equates bonding with a wolf to a marriage - you become part of the wolf, and the wolf becomes part of you. I see this type of bond as a consensual sharing, and not like the more master/slave situation you see with dogs, or with animals that fight your presence.

I think that dragons may be more like wolves than dogs. I also think that if anyone is going to successfully warg a dragon, it will only be because the dragon so-warged has already been broken, or enslaved, by a dragon-binding horn. Otherwise, I don't think it will be possible.

That's the thing though---have dragons in ASOIAF really been portrayed in the same category of independence as wolves? I don't think that's what GRRM has actually been showing us. It's what we as readers expect, absolutely. But if you examine dragons here in detail, I think dragons actually seem far more domesticated than wolves. Dragons in ASOIAF haven't been portrayed as uncontrollable, naturally untameable monsters---they have been tamed, by humans, for thousands and thousands of years. We're told there's some sort of magic involved, but the one we've seen ridden (Drogon) isn't being ridden with magic, and whatever magic was used in Valyria was apparently common enough among humans for a society of dragonlords to successfully ride dragons for thousands of years (whereas skinchanger magic, which granted seems far more powerful, is also far rarer). Could Valyrian magic allow humans to control wolves? Apparently not. Yet they were able to control dragons---if so much magic was required to control dragons, why not have "lesser sorcerers" also use "weaker" magic to control "weaker" animals like wolves, lions, or bears as ground forces? Perhaps because it didn't actually take extreme amounts of magic to control the dragons, because dragons actually are more easily domesticated than wolves or lions. When have we ever seen a wolf, unbound to a warg, take food from a human's hand, dwell in a human city, or allow a human to ride on its back? Never. Yet Dany's three dragons did all of these things without any magical form of control. More importantly, Dany rides Drogon without using a dragon horn---rather than attribute that to Dany's personal awesomeness or magical blood, I think the implication might be that dragons aren't quite as un-domesticated as readers might expect.

These three dragons, especially. They've been living with humans practically their entire lives. They were capable of being sustained on human breast milk. They actually needed human intervention to be hatched in the first place! To me, that doesn't indicate the sort of "separation from human society" found in the wolf and direwolf species. Nobody ever truly tames a wolf. Nobody ever keeps a wolf as a pet (unless you call Ned your Dad, but that's due to the Stark kids' warg bond, not due to wolves' inherent love of being dominated by humans). Wolves don't need human intervention to make wolf cubs. Wolves can't survive on human breast milk. Varamyr says that dogs are easier to warg than wolves because dogs expect to basically be "collared" by humans. Well, dragons have been "collared" by humans for milennia, and these three dragons in particular have been collared by some form of human control, willingly and unwillingly, basically since a human hatched them.

I really think this is one area where GRRM is playing on his readers' expectations. We have never seen anyone ride on the back of a direwolf. We have never seen any human interact peacefully with an unwarged wolf. We have been told of a culture that tamed and rode dragons for thousands of years, but heard of no culture which produced humans capable of taming wolves or direwolves, generation after generation, over the course of thousands and thousands of years---not in Essos, and not even in Westeros, where skinchangers are rare and wargs apparently rarer (since all wargs are skinchangers, but not all skinchangers are wargs). The Targaryens, who do not have a reputation for producing sorcerers (Bloodraven/Shiera Seastar supposedly got their powers from their mothers' sides), nevertheless had no trouble controlling their dragons. If strong magic is needed to ride a dragon, why weren't Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters considered some of the premier sorcerers of their age? We have witnessed a human being ride on a dragon's back without the aid of any magic (as Dany isn't a skinchanger and has no dragon horn). From the actual evidence presented to us, I think the dragon species is actually far closer to human society, and more amenable to being controlled by humans, than wolves and direwolves have ever been. Therefore, I'll be shocked if any of the Stark wargs has any trouble controlling a dragon. These kids cut their "warging" teeth on direwolves---we've never even heard of any modern-day wargs ever bonding to a direwolf, let alone founding great empires on armies of warged direwolves.

If a dragon is really "fire made flesh" there might be unexpected difficulties that would have to be addressed to successfully warg one. Even though a dragon's nervous system probably bears considerable similarity to a normal animal there may well be some supernatural obstacles that would remain unknown to a skinchanger since dragon-warging appears to be unprecedented. Also, Daenerys is not going to want someone messing with her dragons' minds in an attempt to get them to become more wargable.

I think the point is that dragons aren't literally fire made flesh. They certainly breathe fire, but can they do so continuously? We don't know. But nobody is ever burned merely by touching their scales, fires don't blaze more potently in their presence, and magic doesn't increase where they dwell---their "mother", Dany, is not a sorceress, and Slaver's Bay didn't suddenly experience an influx of fire magic (or any type of magic) with the arrival of the dragons. We don't know that dragon-warging is unprecedented; skinchangers are incredibly rare, and are apparently primarily found in cold, snowy places that might very well be inhospitable toward dragons. In fact, fear of skinchangers stealing their dragons would explain why the Targs were so incredibly reticent toward visiting the North, and as far as I can tell never even tried taking a dragon beyond the Wall.

And if someone tries to warg these dragons, I sincerely doubt Dany would be able to do anything to stop it. Her bond with Drogon is much weaker than the bond skinchangers can form with animals, and while a stronger skinchanger can supposedly (or so Varamyr tells us) "displace" a weaker skinchanger, I can't see how someone whose "skills" (such as they are) are so much weaker than a skinchanger could in any way prevent a skinchanger from doing whatever he/she wants with those dragons.

[PatrickStormborn]

If you think a dragon is easier to warg than a wolf, then I'm honestly astounded. Dragons have to be tamed with magic. Wolves do not have to be. The only reason Dany could tame Drogon is because she's pretty much his surrogate mother. There is no evidence to suggest that any other dragonriders could tame their dragons without spells.

My theory is that Bran will manage to warg Rhaegal or Viserion so that Jon can bond with one of them. I don't think he's going to be able to warg Drogon, and I don't think he's going to be able to warg a dragon long enough to overpower Daenerys - and I certainly don't think he's going to be going against Daenerys.

If Jon or Arya warg a dragon, then what's the point of Bran being more powerful than them? Dragons are more powerful than wolves; they are literally fire made flesh. Therefore only the most powerful of wargs should be able to warg them. Bran is the winged wolf; Jon, Arya, Sansa and Rickon are not.

[tze]

If you think a dragon is easier to warg than a wolf, then I'm honestly astounded. Dragons have to be tamed with magic. Wolves do not have to be.

Ah, but this is exactly my point. Name one time that a wolf has ever been tamed without magic.

If Jon or Arya warg a dragon, then what's the point of Bran being more powerful than them? Dragons are more powerful than wolves; they are literally fire made flesh. Therefore only the most powerful of wargs should be able to warg them. Bran is the winged wolf; Jon, Arya, Sansa and Rickon are not.

I'm not 100% convinced that Bran is the only potential greenseer in the Stark family. These guys have already beaten the odds by producing six wargs in a single generation, so I don't think we can claim the odds simply prevent more greenseers in the family. (For that matter, look at the little hints: greenseers among the Children have red or green eyes, as do Ghost and Shaggy. Greenseers sit on thrones of weirwood, and at least one throne in the Vale, where Sansa is, consists of weirwood. Arya chooses to sit on a weirwood chair in the House of Black and White. Could be going somewhere there.) Injuries supposedly help open your third eye, and Bran has simply been injured more severely than any of his siblings (and that's one reason I'm very interested to see what happens to Jon post-stabbing). He's got a head start, yes, but I don't think we can crown him King of the Stark Wargs just yet.

I believe it was Septon Barth (I might be wrong there) who wrote that dragons are "fire made flesh". But did Septon Barth, who served King Jaehaerys I, know this for sure? He wasn't a dragonrider. He was serving the Targaryens. He had every reason to work to enhance the mystique of dragons to further the prestige of his king. I don't think we can take his pronouncement as gospel. And I don't think dragons are more "powerful" than wolves. More destructive, yes. But not more inherently powerful. Men killed off the dragons. Men haven't killed off the wolves----not even the direwolves, as Leaf tells us the direwolves will outlast both the Children and the giants.

I think GRRM is playing with out expectations here. We've been trained to think of dragons as the greatest, wildest, most powerful creatures. But there are significant reasons to doubt that orthodoxy in the world GRRM has created.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

^ Regarding possible hidden Stark greenseers, remember that Rickon had the same dream about Ned being in the dungeon that Bran did, without the benefit of the coma that Bran had that arguably "activated" some of his abilities.

[PatrickStormborn]

^ Regarding possible hidden Stark greenseers, remember that Rickon had the same dream about Ned being in the dungeon that Bran did, without the benefit of the coma that Bran had that arguably "activated" some of his abilities.

Yes, I actually had this same thought. But I think Rickon is probably just capable of having green dreams, rather than being an actual greenseer.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Ah, but this is exactly my point. Name one time that a wolf has ever been tamed without magic.

<snip>

As usual, I agree with you. I love reading your posts because you seem to hit on valuable points — like Targ propagandists with an agenda and motivation to make dragons seem bigger and badder than they really are, to keep the regime propped up — that no one else does. It's refreshing.

I think dragons are kind of the ASOIAF equivalent of the Titanic — built up so much that there's nowhere for them to go but down in disaster. "They're big and huge and powerful and invincible and look how incredibly powerful and game-changing they are!"

And watch, they're going to sink.

[The Sunset King]

I think the point is that dragons aren't literally fire made flesh. They certainly breathe fire, but can they do so continuously? We don't know. But nobody is ever burned merely by touching their scales, fires don't blaze more potently in their presence, and magic doesn't increase where they dwell---their "mother", Dany, is not a sorceress, and Slaver's Bay didn't suddenly experience an influx of fire magic (or any type of magic) with the arrival of the dragons. We don't know that dragon-warging is unprecedented; skinchangers are incredibly rare, and are apparently primarily found in cold, snowy places that might very well be inhospitable toward dragons. In fact, fear of skinchangers stealing their dragons would explain why the Targs were so incredibly reticent toward visiting the North, and as far as I can tell never even tried taking a dragon beyond the Wall.

And if someone tries to warg these dragons, I sincerely doubt Dany would be able to do anything to stop it. Her bond with Drogon is much weaker than the bond skinchangers can form with animals, and while a stronger skinchanger can supposedly (or so Varamyr tells us) "displace" a weaker skinchanger, I can't see how someone whose "skills" (such as they are) are so much weaker than a skinchanger could in any way prevent a skinchanger from doing whatever he/she wants with those dragons.

Though dragons may not literally be actual fire, there is some purpose to the phrase in the ADWD Daenerys chapter utilizing it in her thoughts (they did, after all, hatch in a ritual involving fire and blood magic). There are many strange features to dragons that do not fit with what skinchangers or even greenseers are used to so a warg planning to try to enter a dragon may end up encountering some form of unpleasant surprise upon trying. Quentyn Martell too thought he had a strategy to claim a dragon but it did not go as intended. Valyrian magic was based on blood and fire which more closely aligns with dragons while Greenseers and skinchangers are accustomed to north Westerosi abilities which meshes very well with normal animals and the seemingly not normal direwolves possessed by the Starks. It may be possible for a normal skinchanger to warg a dragon, however there is quite a decent probability that not just any advanced skinchanger can force their way into a dragon's body. Considering that, like with the Stark direwolves, there was more than just natural forces at work in the appearance of Daenerys's dragons it is difficult to be certain that the type of power which warging draws from would affect a dragon in the same way a dog, cat, or wolf would be affected.

There is a chance that dragon-warging is not unprecedented but it is extremely unlikely to have happened during the reign of the Targaryens. If it occurred, it most likely was prior to the start of that dynasty due to the lack of historical evidence on the subject during the dynasty's existance (some unfavorable but true things are recorded as well). An ambitious skinchanger like Varaymr or a rebel would have had considerable incentives to test such skills on a creature that could potentially provide very significant power and prestige.

I agree that if it is possible for a powerful skinchanger to warg the dragons then Daenerys is going to have a serious problem should one decide to do so and succeed. However, my main point about her reaction is that she is not likely to ally with anyone advocating doing so or trying to secretly attempt it. Daenerys would in all probability try to hunt down and kill the skinchanger to prevent the person from doing what Varamyr did to his various animals. If dragon warging happens in the story, the warger may very well be a foe of Daenerys rather than an ally. It is equally possible that some skinchangers will end up overestimating their own abilities as Daenerys may be overestimating the usefulness of her dragons.

[tze]

There are many strange features to dragons that do not fit with what skinchangers or even greenseers are used to

Like what?

Daenerys would in all probability try to hunt down and kill the skinchanger to prevent the person from doing what Varamyr did to his various animals. If dragon warging happens in the story, the warger may very well be a foe of Daenerys rather than an ally.

The issue with that is, if skinchanger(s) warg those dragons, then Dany would find herself dragon-less. I can see her being upset . . . but from a practical standpoint, what could she do about it? She could get cranky and throw a fit, but I don't see how the skinchanger(s) would be at all afraid of her. Suddenly the skinchanger(s) would be the one(s) with the uber-powerful death machines, and what would Dany have that could stand up to the dragons? Not the Unsullied. Not the Dothraki. She doesn't have any magical powers of her own. If she tried to "hunt down" the skinchanger(s) who took the dragons . . . well, all they'd have to do is sic the dragons on her and her army.

[coalstrawbean]

But Bran has already been flying. Many times. It is in the books.

Yeah, I read the books too. Bran falls while the crow tells him to fly and open his third eye, wouldnt exactly call that flying. Are you some sort of animal rights activist for fantastical creatures? Do you think Ghostbusters was a cruel movie?

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

However, my main point about her reaction is that she is not likely to ally with anyone advocating doing so or trying to secretly attempt it. Daenerys would in all probability try to hunt down and kill the skinchanger to prevent the person from doing what Varamyr did to his various animals.

You're a skinchanger who has commandeered a dragon. Would you really tremble in your boots at the thought of Dany coming after you? :P

[FanTasy]

Yeah, I read the books too. Bran falls while the crow tells him to fly and open his third eye, wouldnt exactly call that flying.

In ADWD Bran flies at least one raven, if I recall correctly.

ETA

AGOT Bran III:

<Bran spread his arms and flew. Wings unseen drank the wind and filled and pulled him upward.

(...)

Bran soared. It was better than climbing. The world grew small beneath him.

"I'm flying!" He cried out in delight.>

ADWD Bran III:

Bran slippes into the raven.

<Before long he was flying around the cavern (...) even flapping out over the abyss and swooping down into itscold black depths.>

<As a raven he flew with the murder.>

[hotweaselsoup]

That's the thing though---have dragons in ASOIAF really been portrayed in the same category of independence as wolves? I don't think that's what GRRM has actually been showing us. It's what we as readers expect, absolutely. But if you examine dragons here in detail, I think dragons actually seem far more domesticated than wolves. Dragons in ASOIAF haven't been portrayed as uncontrollable, naturally untameable monsters---they have been tamed, by humans, for thousands and thousands of years.

I don't know if we know that the dragons of Valyria were tamed. We are told that they were controlled by dragonhorns and spells. This makes me think that the wild dragons were not tameable, but could only be broken by means of sorcery. If you think about it, if dragons were easily domesticated, why would you even need these fancy horns and spells at all?

We're told there's some sort of magic involved, but the one we've seen ridden (Drogon) isn't being ridden with magic, and whatever magic was used in Valyria was apparently common enough among humans for a society of dragonlords to successfully ride dragons for thousands of years (whereas skinchanger magic, which granted seems far more powerful, is also far rarer).

As I stated before, I think that Daenerys (and by extension, the Targaryens) figured out a way to bond with their dragons that obviated the need for dragonbinding horns. The dragonlords of old "mastered" their dragons, whereas the Targaryens "married" them, if you will. So, what we see between Dany and Drogon is not indicative, in my mind, of what we might have seen in old Valyria. When Dany rides Drogon, Drogon sometimes goes in the direction that Dany wants, but not always. Ghost often doesn't obey Jon as well. (It's quite hilarious, actually: Jon shouts "No, Ghost! Stay! Stay!", and Ghost just runs away.) In my mind, this is GRRM's way of letting us know that neither dragon, nor wolf, is tame. Befriended maybe, married even; but not tame.

Could Valyrian magic allow humans to control wolves? Apparently not. Yet they were able to control dragons---if so much magic was required to control dragons, why not have "lesser sorcerers" also use "weaker" magic to control "weaker" animals like wolves, lions, or bears as ground forces?

The Valyrian dragonlords put down rebellions in their slave mines through strong sorcery. Which implies that they did use their magic to control "weaker" animals - like humans.

Perhaps because it didn't actually take extreme amounts of magic to control the dragons, because dragons actually are more easily domesticated than wolves or lions. When have we ever seen a wolf, unbound to a warg, take food from a human's hand, dwell in a human city, or allow a human to ride on its back? Never. Yet Dany's three dragons did all of these things without any magical form of control. More importantly, Dany rides Drogon without using a dragon horn---rather than attribute that to Dany's personal awesomeness or magical blood, I think the implication might be that dragons aren't quite as un-domesticated as readers might expect.

We can agree to disagree on this, but again, I don't think we can look at the Dany/Drogon relationship and assume that the dragonlords had similar relationships with their dragons. In fact, it is because Daenerys does not seem to need a dragonhorn to ride her dragon - and we never hear of any Targaryens needing these horns either, by the way - while we are told that the dragonlords DID need such horns, that I think it's safer to assume that what Dany and Drogon have is different than what may have been happening in old Valyria.

And if someone tries to warg these dragons, I sincerely doubt Dany would be able to do anything to stop it. Her bond with Drogon is much weaker than the bond skinchangers can form with animals, and while a stronger skinchanger can supposedly (or so Varamyr tells us) "displace" a weaker skinchanger, I can't see how someone whose "skills" (such as they are) are so much weaker than a skinchanger could in any way prevent a skinchanger from doing whatever he/she wants with those dragons.

I don't think Drogo or Viserion or Rhaegal, as they are now, are "warg-able". On the other hand, should Euron manage to break one, or more, of the dragons with his hellhorn, and thereby take control of them - I think these broken dragons will be "warg-able".

[Free Northman]

Bran's "flying" is yet to occur as of DWD. When Bran meets Bloodraven the first thing he asks him is "Can you heal my legs". Bloodraven replies: "You will never walk again, Bran, but you will fly".

Clearly, this ability to fly is still in the future. So it is more than whatever he has achieved in the past.

Coming back to the Dragon warging, I don't think Bran or any of the Stark kids will form a bond similar to the bond with their wolves with any other creature.

Any dragon warging will not be on a "Drogon is now my new winged brother" level as is the case with the wolves.

Dragons are not as loveable as wolves. They are scaly, reptilian, alien creatures, that will be warged as and when needed, and not as constant companions.

Most likely, Bran will warg a Dragon to destroy it, or to repell it from attacking him or his allies, but not to make it his constant companion.

[FanTasy]

Bran's "flying" is yet to occur as of DWD. When Bran meets Bloodraven the first thing he asks him is "Can you heal my legs". Bloodraven replies: "You will never walk again, Bran, but you will fly".

I can understand whythat you read it as a thing that has yet to happen. I ETA-posted in #97 two references to what is in AGOT and in ADWD. In my personal interpretation this suggests flying 'by crow and raven'. :D

Back on topic to the question of dragon-warging. I am curious if GRRM is going to use this. If so, it will be a terrific read!