Benjen Stark - plot purpose - and realistic explanation - of his absence...

[Free Northman]

I was thinking on how the Starks have lost so many of their older generation, leaving the kids to basically figure things out for themselves, when for the first time in a long while my thoughts strayed to Benjen Stark again.

Now personally, I have never been into the "Benjen Stark is Coldhands" or ''Benjen Stark is now a wight" or even "Benjen Stark is scouting the Land of the Others" far fetched theories.

The fact is, Benjen Stark is the last surviving member of the Eddard/Lyanna/Brandon/Rhaegar generation. He is in a position to fill a tremendous void in the Stark setup as it stands. In a stroke the Starks could have an experienced advisor back in their ranks, especially if the Watch has fallen and ceases to exist now.

Yes, he is missing and presumed dead, but in this entire series, pretty much every semi-major character that has been "presumed dead" has turned up alive later.

So the question then is: "Just where the hell could he possibly have been all this time without

A - Being dead; or

B - Being undead.

It's not like there are places North of the Wall where one can just hole up and wait out an injury until the coast is clear to return. Bran seems to have taken up the only such refuge there could possibly be North of the Wall.

So the question is, how can Martin plausibly bring Benjen back alive and normal after all this time North of the Wall?

As to the reason for his "presumed death": I think it is based on one requirement only: The need to have Jon as the only option for Robb's will.

Just like Bran, Rickon and Arya need to be presumed dead, so too Benjen has to be presumed dead so that him being alive cannot complicate the search for a Stark heir.

I am convinced that Benjen will return AFTER Jon is named heir. But in order to have him back, how on earth can Martin explain his lengthy absence in a plausible way?

Pretty much the only shortcut I can think of is Leaf taking Bran to a chamber deep within their cave, where Benjen has been lying in a magical sleep for all these months. But that really is not a satisfactory option, in my view.

Any thoughts?

[Budj]

Good questions. I hope this is not the case, but it is also possible that he just served as more motivation for Jon to view the watch favorably before he actually knew what it was.

[JaegrM]

If he's alive he's been ranging North of the Wall.

They've made a clear mention of how badass of a Ranger he is.

That's the only satisfactory answer for me.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

There is no satisfactory explanation for Benjen to show up alive at all. And truth to tell, no place for him anymore. He'd be automatically the patriarch of House Stark, invalidating everything the kids do and did.

In a Bildungsroman like ASOIAF, parental figures have to disappear, finally.

[Nozlym]

i kinda see it going down like in The Walking Dead tv show. The second season starts off with one the parents kids missing an everyone going out to try and find her. Time passes their search leads them to a refuge and they kind of forget about her. Anyways the main point she appears again in the last episode as a zombie, and no one expects to see her again. But it was obviously the most plausible outcome for her, but people refused to think it.

I can see that happening with Benjen. The war with the Others is raging on and one battle a member of the Nights Watch stumbles over a dead corpse, Benjen.

[Tagganaro]

There is no satisfactory explanation for Benjen to show up alive at all. And truth to tell, no place for him anymore. He'd be automatically the patriarch of House Stark, invalidating everything the kids do and did.

In a Bildungsroman like ASOIAF, parental figures have to disappear, finally.

Is this true? I'm seriously asking...I would think children of the original line would become before the brother. So all of Ned Stark's children would have to be exhausted (which they are as they are presumed to be dead at the moment), but that's not even factoring in Robb specifically naming Jon his heir (which he likely does anyway with or without Benjen being available).

So is it really necessary to have Benjen be gone to have Robb name Jon his heir? And if Benjen returns who gets King in the North status, the named heir in Robb's will or Ned's brother?

But yes I agree with pretty much everyone else that Benjen is likely dead at this point as there is no real logical explanation for where he could be. I've heard theories that he's now South of the Wall as the Hooded Man, or even farther North like in the Land of Always Winter or as a hostage of the Others, but neither one of these really makes much sense to me without some kind of real work explaining it.

[The Meeraculous Third Reed]

He knows.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Is this true? I'm seriously asking...I would think children of the original line would become before the brother. So all of Ned Stark's children would have to be exhausted (which they are as they are presumed to be dead at the moment), but that's not even factoring in Robb specifically naming Jon his heir (which he likely does anyway with or without Benjen being available).

So is it really necessary to have Benjen be gone to have Robb name Jon his heir? And if Benjen returns who gets King in the North status, the named heir in Robb's will or Ned's brother?

But yes I agree with pretty much everyone else that Benjen is likely dead at this point as there is no real logical explanation for where he could be. I've heard theories that he's now South of the Wall as the Hooded Man, or even farther North like in the Land of Always Winter or as a hostage of the Others, but neither one of these really makes much sense to me without some kind of real work explaining it.

De facto patriarch, not de jure. Yes, Bran, Rickon and the rest would come ahead of Benjen in succession, but as they are way off from being an adult, Benjen would make all the decisions for a decade.

[Tenshi]

What possible hints there are... for one, the cache Jon finds near the Fist. I'd say Benjen is the prime candidate for having buried it. Seeing the contents, this'd imply that Benjen has found a group of the CotF and likely joined them - leaving the weapons behind when he knew the Watch was coming there (either because they were enroute and it was a logical stop, or because the weirnet told him?). This may also establish a connection between Benjen and BR.

With Benjen as prime suspect, it'd seem very unlikely that he's thrown in his lot with the Others. While I don't rule out him being a conscious wight, I highly doubt he is Coldhands.

It would make sense, if Benjen found out more about the Others, that he'd stick around with the Children to learn all he can, possibly even fight along them to buy the watch more time.

The other hint are Othor and Jafer - the men who had accompanied Benjen. Presumably they'd been gone for quite some time, yet they were found close to the wall, and more so, at an easy-to-find spot (it could be anticipated that Jon would come there to say his vows). Also for some reason at least Othor went straight to the Lord Commander. Wights retain some of their memory, but are also comsumed by bloodlust it'd seem - might it be that they were sent back to report their findings to Mormont?

If so, the easiest (and ugly) explanation is that they were overtaken by the Others/wights just before getting home safe. A more difficult option is that they already were wights, but retained their humanity at least to some extent. As they could not pass the magics of the Wall by their own accord, "hiding" where they did would be a smart option. However for whatever reason (possibly the wall's magic again) they lost what control they had left, and attacked instead.

Final consideration is that was actually the intention... that Benjen needed LC Mormont to die, for whatever purpose. Arguably the Old Bear, for all his good sides, let the Watch deteriorate to the point of collapse, while forgetting what the watch was for.

(As for Benjen being a patriarch: he has been away from all politics for a very long time, and knows nothing of the realm. That alone would eliminate him, aside from his vows, and likely enough he'll have made another vow "beyond the wall").

[TheGreyKraken]

I honestly think Benjen is dead, if we find him i doubt he would be same old Benjen.

[chrisdaw]

De facto patriarch, not de jure. Yes, Bran, Rickon and the rest would come ahead of Benjen in succession, but as they are way off from being an adult, Benjen would make all the decisions for a decade.

From the wall? Unlikely. If anything he needs to be dead or undead because he'd put the Wall to rights, not Winterfell.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

From the wall? Unlikely. If anything he needs to be dead or undead because he'd put the Wall to rights, not Winterfell.

... which interferes with Jon's storyline. That's his job.

[Free Northman]

De facto patriarch, not de jure. Yes, Bran, Rickon and the rest would come ahead of Benjen in succession, but as they are way off from being an adult, Benjen would make all the decisions for a decade.

Robb would not have named Jon - a bastard son of Eddard - if Eddard's trueborn brother was still alive. Since Robb was willing to consider Jon despite him being a member of the Night's Watch, he would equally have had no reason to exclude Benjen for being a Brother of the Night's Watch either. Therefore, Benjen absolutely would have been named ahead of Jon.

Hence, Benjen HAD to disappear.

As for there being no role for him anymore, I absolutely disagree. Was there no role for the Blackfish, then? Benjen would be an adviser to the King in the North. If that King is Jon, well, Jon is old enough and now hardened enough to be his own man.

But Benjen's presence was an impossibility BEFORE Jon became heir. Because then:

Jon would not have held the Wall, Benjen would have

Jon would not have been elected Lord Commander, Benjen would have

Jon would not have been named Robb's heir, Benjen would have

In short, Jon would not have featured at all as the central figure that he is.

Benjen cannot reapear until Jon is seated on the Throne of Winterfell. But once that has happened, he can absolutely emerge as a central adviser, much as the Blackfish did for Robb.

And once Jon abdicates the Throne of the North to Rickon, Benjen can be Rickon's regent until Rickon comes of age.

That is absolutely a very real possibility. And would in fact be very good for the story as well, to reconnect the current Stark generation with their past. As it stands, most of Winterfell's older population has been eradicated, and the kids pretty much have been totally cut off from their heritage, tradition and family history. Most don't even know anything of Rickard Stark, their grandfather, let alone the events that made the Stark family what it is today.

Benjen can fill that family gap. And will do so, I believe.

[Lion of Judah]

I don't think Benjen is Coldhands, when Bran warged with Coldhands he pretty much tossed that possibility out the window. Coldhands has been dead for a long time and I would guess that a long time means before Benjen even disappeared. I for one would like to know what happened to him if he's dead or what the heck has he been doing if he is alive. I think Bloodraven might have some answers for us.

[Free Northman]

I honestly think Benjen is dead, if we find him i doubt he would be same old Benjen.

Too much has been made of Benjen's fate for him to just have died a random death somewhere in the Haunted Forest.

Martin doesn't let characters just vanish when presumed dead. The pattern is that they almost always return.

[King Tyrion VIII]

I 100% believe it plausible that Benjen can return alive with just a simple explanation that he has been ranging DEEP beyond the Wall. There's ALOT of land up there.

But I love this COTF theory someone just said.

And I'd love it if Benjen is our first POV in the Land of Always Winter. Which is VERY plausible and would be so BADASS.

[Ingelheim]

I think Benjen will be the POV in the Land of Always Winter. He is looking for something (or someone). I don't believe he is Coldhands; Martin is not as obvious as that.

[Runaway Penguin]

One thing Benjen can do after emerging from the Ranging (if he is Benjen and not zombie): repeat to Jon Snow (officially Stark by Robb's will) Halfhand's lesson about realm taking precedence to honor etc. There must be a Stark in Winterfell and Rickon is too young, so if Benjen reappears, he might convince Jon to step down from the Watch, accept King in the North's will and go south. Stannis (if still in game) would probably not object and confirm the decision of "usurper".

[rejndjer]

he's obvious about 3EC being brynden rivers.

[65536ob]

I don't think benjen is alive

But if he was then i think he was being chased by the others then he went into someplace like a cave that the others can't enter, but due to it being impossible to leave since when he entered he triggered a mgic barrier that prevented anything from getting in or out, and bran or bloodraven will disable the magic and he would be able to leave again, any reason of him not being able to get back due to there being too many others is unlikely since he already managed to get there so he should be able to retrace his steps to get back to the wall again.