Who is Coldhands?

[LordQorgyle]

for me he is one o the seventy-nine sentinels

[Lady Blizzardborn]

I'm hoping he's a Stark, but not one of the ones we've heard about. I'd love a Brady Bunch moment where he complains about who everyone only wants to talk about the Brandons. "Brandon, Brandon, Brandon!"

I also like the idea that he's Daemon II.

[James Arryn]

He's the brother from an Other's mother.

[ToTheWolves]

plot twist, he's a random no-name crow brought back as a wight and being warged by bloodraven

Got my vote

[Sans A Stark in Winterfell]

Nah, I think he's someone from the past that is important, judging by him being missing from the show. They don't like to explain things that happened pre AGOT. I say he is Brandon Stark, but which one? We may never know.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

He's the brother from an Other's mother.

Good one!

[Sans A Stark in Winterfell]

I just had a thought about the belief that CH is Benjen, if he were Benjen, why didn't they include CH in the show? They made a big deal about Ben being missing so CH's present wouldn't be "unnecessary" and omitted.

[Victarian Revolution]

When Coldhand kills his elk for food he recites an ode to him in a language Bran doesn't understand (the Old Tonugue)

So if Coldhands is Benjen, when did Benjen learn to speak the Old language, or when is stipulated that he does?

In my opinion, Coldhands is something old and long gone, either some remnant of the Age of Heroes, Azor Ahai or some random member of the Nights Watch controlled by Bloodraven

[Skoboe]

For a while I thought Coldhands was Brandon Stark...the way Brandon died would have left and ugly wound around his throat and crushed his larynx. While Coldhands had a gravelly voice and kept his neck covered.

But now I just think he was an extra character put in there just to get Bran's little company to the Tree.

Kind of reminds me of The Mouth of Sauron in LotR...perhaps he was someone in the past, but now he's just a servant, and who he was is not important to the current story.

[Talking Hodor]

plot twist, he's a random no-name crow brought back as a wight and being warged by bloodraven

This makes the most sense.

[Talking Hodor]

Benjen is gone to extreme far of north to solve bigger mysteries. if coldhands was Benjen then he would have told Bran that he is his uncle. he rides stag. do we know any baratheon who joined NW ??

No, but Cersei and half the whores in KL have been known to ride a stag. Oh, and Loras likes riding a stag too.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

For a while I thought Coldhands was Brandon Stark...the way Brandon died would have left and ugly wound around his throat and crushed his larynx. While Coldhands had a gravelly voice and kept his neck covered.

But now I just think he was an extra character put in there just to get Bran's little company to the Tree.

Kind of reminds me of The Mouth of Sauron in LotR...perhaps he was someone in the past, but now he's just a servant, and who he was is not important to the current story.

Which one? There have been so many. If you mean Ned's brother, that's not possible. Coldhands is definitely someone who was in the Night's Watch and that Brandon never was.

[Skoboe]

Which one? There have been so many. If you mean Ned's brother, that's not possible. Coldhands is definitely someone who was in the Night's Watch and that Brandon never was.

Yeah Ned's brother. It was on my first read mind you :)

The connection I saw was the throat injury Brandon had to have suffered, and the way CH kept his throat covered and the way he talked. There was a bit about his height and gauntness also that appealed to that idea.

While the clothes CH wears are of the Nightwatch, if "they killed him long ago" then his original clothes could have long ago rotted away, right? What he wears now could have been taken from any number of dead bodies north of the wall at any time.

It's highly probably that he is an ex ranger, but nothing is definite until it's written so.

[JasonJD]

Sure he will. You just don't notice the tens or hundreds of times Martin introduces nobodies and they actually turn out to be nobodies. It's right up his alley (which, his alley is unpredictability) to pique readers' interests in the character and we NEVER find out if he's someone we've heard of. If you don't believe Martin has done that lots of times go back and read through all of the books. For the sake of unpredictability, Martin has introduced lots of characters that we never hear from again, and have no clue, whatsoever, whatever happened to them and never will. He does NOT want us thinking we know what will happen in the book and he'll do anything, including throwing lots of named or nameless characters at us, making us think they're relevant when they aren't and vice versa.

If you follow the theories on this board, there's really only 10 to 15 characters on Planetos, all fooling each other by pretending to be other people.

[Ziriath]

I have read a theory that he used to be Jeor Mormont. His body wasn't burned, apparently. In show, the fookin legend of Gin alley has taken his body apart and quite likely ate him, hence no Coldhands.

Coldhands is thin, but Jeor's stature isn't described much, and it's possible undead people lose weight after their death anyway.

[The_Greatest_Walrus]

He doesn't seem evil. If he is the NK, does that mean that mean that he was never evil in the first place, that he has become good over the centuries, or that he is just biding his time? They all are interesting possibilities.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Yeah Ned's brother. It was on my first read mind you :)

The connection I saw was the throat injury Brandon had to have suffered, and the way CH kept his throat covered and the way he talked. There was a bit about his height and gauntness also that appealed to that idea.

While the clothes CH wears are of the Nightwatch, if "they killed him long ago" then his original clothes could have long ago rotted away, right? What he wears now could have been taken from any number of dead bodies north of the wall at any time.

It's highly probably that he is an ex ranger, but nothing is definite until it's written so.

I agree. He could get new clothes. I don't know why people think that's impossible.

Could be a lot of throat-injured guys. If he was killed by a Wilding they might have slit his throat. The Others don't seem to do that much.

Tall and gaunt does rather say "Stark" to me. But there have been so many Starks in the Watch. Maybe it's Osric. He was the youngest ever LC, elected at age 10. Then he might be hiding his throat because of the wrinkles looking very unattractive after being dead for a few hundred years, and the voice could just be because he's old (and there's always that being dead part).

[smashedhalo]

Just a thought, but could it be Ser Waymar Royce. Or at least his body. GRRM has a tendency to have whoever was in the prologue show up later in the books. aGoT was 2/3 but no Royce. The most recent I've read was ADoD, but every prologue type comes back later either in the background i.e. JH as Pate, 6skins in the wolf pack/corpse of the woman that helped him.

Royce has never popped up, multiple rangings to find him. All to have his puppet corpse strings get usurped by the CoTF to play UPS man for Bran.

Sam nor Bran would have know what Royce looked like either.

Lastly the lack of decay on CH. The wrights at the cave mouth in ADoD were decayed, most wrights show signs of decomposition. Royce's wounds/death came directly from a WW blade. The other rangers if i recall were killed by him(Royce) or freezing from proximity to WW. Just a thought really

[Lady of Butterflies]

In show, he is with Lady Stoneheart, Arianne, and the Greyjoys.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

Just a thought, but could it be Ser Waymar Royce. Or at least his body. GRRM has a tendency to have whoever was in the prologue show up later in the books. aGoT was 2/3 but no Royce. The most recent I've read was ADoD, but every prologue type comes back later either in the background i.e. JH as Pate, 6skins in the wolf pack/corpse of the woman that helped him.

Royce has never popped up, multiple rangings to find him. All to have his puppet corpse strings get usurped by the CoTF to play UPS man for Bran.

Sam nor Bran would have know what Royce looked like either.

Lastly the lack of decay on CH. The wrights at the cave mouth in ADoD were decayed, most wrights show signs of decomposition. Royce's wounds/death came directly from a WW blade. The other rangers if i recall were killed by him(Royce) or freezing from proximity to WW. Just a thought really

This brings us right back to the line "they killed him long ago."

Check this out and get back to me with your thoughts: Advanced Crackpottery 2 - Wighting Theory.