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Coldhands is The Night's King


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The Night's King is a legendary Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, who lived during the Age of Heroes.

According to legend, the Night's King lived during the Age of Heroes, not long after the Wall was complete. He was a fearless warrior, who was named the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Later he fell in love with a woman "with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars", he chased her and loved her though "her skin was cold as ice", and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. (giving her his "seed" can be taken two ways, but I believe it means he impregnated her more than just having relations).

He brought her back to the Nightfort and after the unholy union, he declared himself king and her his queen, and ruled the Nightfort as his own castle for thirteen years. During the dark years of his reign, horrific atrocities were committed, of which tales are still told in the North. It was not until his own brother, the King in the North, and Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, joined forces that the Night's King was brought down and the Night's Watch freed. After his fall, when it was discovered that he had been sacrificing to the Others (possibly in similar way to Craster), all records of him were destroyed and his very name was forbidden.[1] It is likely this led the lords of the North to forbid the Night's Watch to construct walls at their keeps, ensuring the keeps would always be accessible from the south.

So: 1) He mated with a female Other (which we haven't seen yet) - QUEEN BEE? (as in, only one).

2) Which took his seed AND his soul, hence turning him into a not quite wight, not quite fully human.

3) He committed atrocities after naming her his queen, and keeping her at the Wall. I assume, perhaps, those atrocities included human blood sacrifice.

4) Old Nan talked to Bran about this story.

5) Coldhands is hanging out near the NightFort, which was his place on the Wall years ago.

6) He can't come South of the Wall, and sends Sam to get Bran.

If he was a Night's watchman, and he broke his vows with his abominable mating with an Other, and now has no soul as well, then he cannot pass through the Black Gate.

7) He gets Bran and takes him to Bloodraven.

The Night's King is ultimately taken down by a combination force of north (Joramun) and south King of the North.

Lots of thoughts here:

1) If the above is true, is he trying to help the Others because he may have a child or children from way back when (their descendants) who are part human/part Other?

2) Is he against the Others because they took his soul, and his reputation, as well as his human life?

3) Is he working with Bloodraven (well, at least we know he took Bran to him, but he may have other plans ultimately).

It is agreed - he has been dead a very long time. and smells vaguely of rot and death.

"They killed him long ago."

So is he angry at the Others, or potentially the humans who took him down?

Is he on a redemptive arc?

Or a vengeance arc?

Continuing on, the Horn of Joramun:

What if the horn is not eight feet long, but eight feet across. And it's part of the Black Gate. And we know that under that NightFort there are many weirwood roots. What if the Wall is filled with giant weirwoods. If the horn is blown, they awaken and break the wall down, and I did have a vision of the giant trees looking like krakens, with a big body and many branches-tentacles. Thoughts?

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I'm not sure if there is enough evidence to point to redemptive vs. vengeance, although I get more of a redemptive "vibe" from Coldhands.

Not a bad theory and can't think of any major holes off the top of my head.

Coldhands being the Night King makes light years more sense than Benjen.

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Well there are good reasons to believe Benjen is not Coldhands,due to what Leaf says about him being killed a long time ago,and Coldhands saying words in a strange tongue when he killed his dying elk.

But I don't like the Night's King as Coldhands either.Are we to believe that a man legendary for evil and atrocities,to the extent that all record of him was obliterated is now a glorified ferryman?

What does he do when not required by Bloodraven?Offer elk rides on the beach?It's bit like Sauron turning into a door to door turnip salesman,or Hitler devoting himself to Buddhism.

No.The Night's King was either terminated,if he could be.Or put somewhere very safe.

(What's in the crypts,Jon?)

Another candidate,suggested by Duckfield is this guy-Sam to Jon,ACOK,Jon 1

" He unfolded a square of parchment. "The paint has faded, but you can see where the mapmaker marked the sites of wildling villages, and there's another book... Where was it now? I was reading it a moment ago."

He shoved some scrolls aside to reveal a dusty volume bound in rotted leather. "This", he said reverently, "is the account of a journey from the Shadow Tower all the way to Lorn Point on the Frozen Shore, written by a ranger named Redwyn. It's not dated, but he mentions a Dorren Stark as King in the North, so it must be from before the conquest. Jon, they fought giants! Redwyn even traded with the children of the forest, it's all here." Ever so delicately, he turned pages with a finger. "He drew maps as well, see..." "

..................................................................................

Now the first thing one might say is that Redwyn wrote the book,therefore he's unlikely to be undead at this point.Fair enough,but he might have gone missing on a ranging after this.

King Dorren is mentioned in the Wiki (I know) as the seventh King of Winter,which may even predate the Night's King,though there may have been other Dorrens before the conquest.

The point is if he's that old,he may well have spoken the Old Tongue,as Coldhands did to the elk.And if he was a "friend" to the COTF,then perhaps they,or the greenseer of the day were able to save him from bondage to the Others by giving him free will and sentience.

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Well there are good reasons to believe Benjen is not Coldhands,due to what Leaf says about him being killed a long time ago,and Coldhands saying words in a strange tongue when he killed his dying elk.

But I don't like the Night's King as Coldhands either.Are we to believe that a man legendary for evil and atrocities,to the extent that all record of him was obliterated is now a glorified ferryman?

What does he do when not required by Bloodraven?Offer elk rides on the beach?It's bit like Sauron turning into a door to door turnip salesman,or Hitler devoting himself to Buddhism.

No.The Night's King was either terminated,if he could be.Or put somewhere very safe.

(What's in the crypts,Jon?)

Another candidate,suggested by Duckfield is this guy-Sam to Jon,ACOK,Jon 1

" He unfolded a square of parchment. "The paint has faded, but you can see where the mapmaker marked the sites of wildling villages, and there's another book... Where was it now? I was reading it a moment ago."

He shoved some scrolls aside to reveal a dusty volume bound in rotted leather. "This", he said reverently, "is the account of a journey from the Shadow Tower all the way to Lorn Point on the Frozen Shore, written by a ranger named Redwyn. It's not dated, but he mentions a Dorren Stark as King in the North, so it must be from before the conquest. Jon, they fought giants! Redwyn even traded with the children of the forest, it's all here." Ever so delicately, he turned pages with a finger. "He drew maps as well, see..." "

..................................................................................

Now the first thing one might say is that Redwyn wrote the book,therefore he's unlikely to be undead at this point.Fair enough,but he might have gone missing on a ranging after this.

King Dorren is mentioned in the Wiki (I know) as the seventh King of Winter,which may even predate the Night's King,though there may have been other Dorrens before the conquest.

The point is if he's that old,he may well have spoken the Old Tongue,as Coldhands did to the elk.And if he was a "friend" to the COTF,then perhaps they,or the greenseer of the day were able to save him from bondage to the Others by giving him free will and sentience.

Hmm, delivering Bran to Bloodraven and the COF is not a menial task, much more important than being a "glorified ferryman."

Yes, the evidence the OP presents is circumstantial; however, it is well presented and much more plausible than the Coldhands = Benjen argument. That is not to say that there are not other possibilities, but I would need to see more evidence in the direction of King Dorren...at this point seems too far-fetched.

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Hmm, delivering Bran to Bloodraven and the COF is not a menial task, much more important than being a "glorified ferryman."

Yes, the evidence the OP presents is circumstantial; however, it is well presented and much more plausible than the Coldhands = Benjen argument. That is not to say that there are not other possibilities, but I would need to see more evidence in the direction of King Dorren...at this point seems too far-fetched.

Ty. While it is complete speculation, it seems to make sense. In addition, it appears that there may end up being a showdown between Coldhands and BLoodraven - over Bran.
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Hmm, delivering Bran to Bloodraven and the COF is not a menial task, much more important than being a "glorified ferryman."

Yes, the evidence the OP presents is circumstantial; however, it is well presented and much more plausible than the Coldhands = Benjen argument. That is not to say that there are not other possibilities, but I would need to see more evidence in the direction of King Dorren...at this point seems too far-fetched.

The suggestion is that it's a ranger called Redwyn,not King Dorren.Redwyn lived in the time of King Dorren.

And unfortunately the novels don't give many more clues than that,other than the obvious. Dorren lived before the conquest.And Dorren may have been one of the earliest Stark kings.

It would be convenient if Martin had outlined the precise history of the Night's King,Coldhands,Benjen and all of the history of Westeros,really.

But he has been remiss in leaving out substantial parts.Hopefully he will give us more evidence to consider in the next novel.

Although,until then we may just have to put up with the evidence in the current novels.

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I think one thing most can agree on is that Benjen is a highly unlikely candidate...

So where IS Benjen? My son thinks Hardhome, but I don't. He's not at House Thenn, because I think we would know from Sigorn (maybe not). Where is our Benjen???
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benjen makes more sense to me. i dont think his story would have even been mentioned unless it was going to be explained at some point. makes more sense than the nights king imo.

Got an idea why the HBO series cast a different actor?
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So where IS Benjen? My son thinks Hardhome, but I don't. He's not at House Thenn, because I think we would know from Sigorn (maybe not). Where is our Benjen???

He's gone marching up to the heart of winter,to see what all the fuss was about.Be back soon.

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So where IS Benjen? My son thinks Hardhome, but I don't. He's not at House Thenn, because I think we would know from Sigorn (maybe not). Where is our Benjen???

If I may offer my humble, yet unpopular at times, opinion?

I think Benjen is the Hooded Man at Winterfell. The Hooded Man and Theon seem to know eachother and the Hooded Man seems to have reason to think Theon should be dead. Theon shows him his hand and the man lets him go free. Seems like the Hooded Man has some sense of ironic justice.

eta bad keyboard! bad!

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benjen makes more sense to me. i dont think his story would have even been mentioned unless it was going to be explained at some point. makes more sense than the nights king imo.

Coldhands has been around lots longer than Benjen. The CotF call Coldhands old, and they live many times as long as humans.
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