The Winds of Winter , return of Benjen Stark ?

[Nahkuri]

She might've meant "long time" as what would seem like a long time to Bran.

Anyways. Martin said there'd be stuff about the lands that are really North. Maybe we get a retrospective Benjen POV prologue. Like he has found out something crucial to understanding the Others and has gone all the way up north to find out more.

[Nahkuri]

I'm just bumping the thread with a shameless double post because I think I'm such an excellent person.

Here's a thought. Keep an eye out for Joseph Mawle. If he's cast for the fourth season, I think we'll find out about who coldhands is.

[Prince of the North]

I'm just bumping the thread with a shameless double post because I think I'm such an excellent person.

Here's a thought. Keep an eye out for Joseph Mawle. If he's cast for the fourth season, I think we'll find out about who coldhands is.

This a great thought and you can bet that we'll all be looking out for word of Joseph Mawl being cast. But a couple of thoughts:

1) If Coldhands does make an appearance in the show he could always be played by someone different.

2) (HBO series spoilers)

I'm waiting with bated breath for any sign in the show that Coldhands will in fact make an appearance. I'm really afraid Bloodraven/the Three-Eyed Crow and Coldhands may simply be written out. After all, there is a great deal of consolidation/elimination of characters that absolutely must be done to bring this great story to the screen. Also, it seems to me that if the Three-Eyed Crow, Coldhands, etc. are going to be in the story they should have been foreshadowed somewhere along the line and they haven't been mentioned at all. Then, there's the business of the Three-Eyed Crow being changed to the "Three-Eyed Raven" and Jojen telling Bran he couldn't kill the Three-Eyed Raven "because the raven is you" in the show.

I hope I'm wrong but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned.

[robbrown]

I think Benjen is back already, as the Hooded Man in WF. He may have already been farther north than we've seen , but we get to hear about it ..or once there is a suitable Stark established in WF, he'll be free to do something else.

There are now two experienced Stark leaders ,Jon and Benjen ... one for the wall and one for WF .

That would make Benjen a deserter of the Nights Watch which isn't very Stark-like.

[theREALjonsnow]

Mance is the Hooded Man & Coldhands is BenJen. it is known

[Despot]

I don't know what to think. On one hand, maybe he has some role to play yet - and to do so, he needs to be alive and capable to speak. Also, it would be very, very interesting to hear what he has to say. And he is a Stark. In short, it would be good to see him again.

On the other hand, in George's world, even the best fighters are "normal" men (Arthur Dayne, Rhaegar, etc.) They tend to die. When the circumstances are bad enough. And circumstances doesn't get much worse than beyond the Wall, in the middle of the Winter, with bunch of Others fluttering around. In short, he should be dead. It's that realism note that made " ASOIAF" so good. And unfortunately, one "off -screen" death would be very realistic.

I like the proposal of @Veltigar and other guys - that Benjen will be a prologue character. That would give us both - information, and realism at the same time. Nice solution.

[Where Boars Glow]

Could it also be possible that Benjen Stark had died, but had been reanimated into a Wight? Who leads an attack of some sort

This has always been my first though. He will lead the charge of dead men against the watch

[Logodnica]

I would like to know what Benjen has seen and done but I'm not sure how that would happen. Would GRRM add him as a POV? Would he just show up at Castle Black after Jon's stabbing where Mel is a POV? Or would Bran see him and describe the action?

[FattyPeon]

She might've meant "long time" as what would seem like a long time to Bran.

She didn't say "long time ago", she said "long ago". There is a significant difference in connotation there. She is clearly implying it was a long ass time ago. You would never say "long ago" to mean "a couple of years ago", right?

[ebevan91]

I would like to know what Benjen has seen and done but I'm not sure how that would happen. Would GRRM add him as a POV? Would he just show up at Castle Black after Jon's stabbing where Mel is a POV? Or would Bran see him and describe the action?

I think it would be weird for him to just randomly show up out of nowhere as a POV.

But I'd love to have him as a POV. Imagine the gold mine of info that could come from his POVs.

[Prince of the North]

She didn't say "long time ago", she said "long ago". There is a significant difference in connotation there. She is clearly implying it was a long ass time ago. You would never say "long ago" to mean "a couple of years ago", right?

Hmm...

[bemused]

That would make Benjen a deserter of the Nights Watch which isn't very Stark-like.

I disagree. That's only true by a very black and white , superficial reading of the situation....Remember Qhorin's advice / teaching to Jon when he goes to join Mance. We know Jon hasn't deserted , but to many of the characters , he has...because they don't fully understand the stakes.

I doubt Benjen would betray the important commitments he made in his vows. And if WF and the Wall are connected by magic, or if both are important to the defense against the Others , he would still be acting with the best interests of the NW at heart... If you want to focus on technicalities, he left on a ranging , has never returned , one bit of information has led to one action , and another , and another ..and he's still away on that same ranging..

[FattyPeon]

Hmm...

OMG Coldhands is Benjen.

(not sarcasm)

[Prince of the North]

OMG Coldhands is Benjen.

(not sarcasm)

Well, that's what I think but let me tell you a little bit about how I finally came to it. I started out thinking Coldhands might be Benjen. Then, I read Leaf's statement that Coldhands was killed "long ago" and immediately thought that ruled out Benjen as even a possibility for Coldhands. Then, I simply realized that the idea that because Leaf is long-lived she absolutely must mean hundreds or thousands of years ago when she says "long ago" is just as much of an assumption as anything else. It doesn't necessarilly mean anything because people don't always reference time in the same way in real life or in this story (as The Dornishman's Wife, for example, so aptly showed in the quote I linked).

[Nephew of Dragons]

I hope so. I had gone pretty far with my own excitement about the Coldhands/Benjen thing until I began a re-read. Now I just pray that they find him alive.

[FattyPeon]

Yeah, that is probably what she would say whether she meant 2 years or 200 years.

[aryagonnakill]

Well, that's what I think but let me tell you a little bit about how I finally came to it. I started out thinking Coldhands might be Benjen. Then, I read Leaf's statement that Coldhands was killed "long ago" and immediately thought that ruled out Benjen as even a possibility for Coldhands. Then, I simply realized that the idea that because Leaf is long-lived she absolutely must mean hundreds or thousands of years ago when she says "long ago" is just as much of an assumption as anything else. It doesn't necessarilly mean anything because people don't always reference time in the same way in real life or in this story (as The Dornishman's Wife, for example, so aptly showed in the quote I linked).

Yeah, that is probably what she would say whether she meant 2 years or 200 years.

I agree here because the actual point of her statement had nothing to do with how long he had been dead, it was really just a statement to Bran that Coldhands was not in any danger outside the cave.

[Lord Davos Seaworth]

I seriously wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him again. He's one of the ultimate disappearing characters and it would be disappointing to most if he's gone, but if GRRM wants to keep it real, he can't have every non-POV character who disappears come back into the story.

[FattyPeon]

I seriously wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him again. He's one of the ultimate disappearing characters and it would be disappointing to most if he's gone, but if GRRM wants to keep it real, he can't have every non-POV character who disappears come back into the story.

GRRM wanting to "keep it real" doesn't have anything to do with the story though.. If Benjen has a role to play he'll be back, and if not, not. Just like all the other characters who have disappeared.

[a7neu]

I read somewhere that perhaps Benjen was killed, but warged into a wight's body... hence Coldhands. That explains the helpfulness, the black hands and that he (meaning, the walker corpse) died "long ago."