Why Coldhands is Bran's monster

[The Dornishman's Wife]

its alright u have right to ur opinion but i think BR is a straight up guy and tells everything how it is (more so then Stannis - he is 150 years old he has no time for bs and flattery )

dont see why he would say "he died long ago" ( 3 years isn't long ago )

instad of saying "its Benjen Stark"

You might take that gripe up with GRRM, who obviously feels that 3 years is long ago, or at least lets his characters use "long ago" in this way all over the books. Especially in this context of course, as the question was whether the wights might kill him, "long ago" is practically anything that's clearly before the current skirmish.

(BTW and just to get this detail straight, it's not BR who makes the long ago remark but Leaf.)

[Cersei of the Kingsguard]

well i can't say anything to convince you so i will just say "hodor" .

at least we can agree to disagree , and may the time show us the truth .

[lojzelote]

OTOH, if CH is a random NPC who just hides his face for the lulz (also possible), it's quite likely that nothing more will be said about his id at all.

Perhaps he doesn't do it for lulz, but because his face face is terrible to look at? I mean, his hands went black, who knows in what state his face is. Might be pretty disgusting. He's a risen dead after all.

[Melifeather]

The way that it is phrased makes me read it as if Coldhands is stating the he is Brandon Stark, as in THE Brandon Stark from long ago. Tyrion uses a similar line calling himself "your monster", which seemed very deliberate to me, like a clue left by the author.

Likewise, the vision Bran has of the man being executed (sacrificed) by the woman in front of the heart tree, and the line, "Brandon Stark tasted the blood." In both cases, I don't think GRRM meant Bran. I think Coldhands is Brandon Stark.

Why would future Bran need to send Coldhands into the past for help if he already is a powerful greenseer?

[Melifeather]

If you go back and read the entire "your monster" dialog, he is describing Bloodraven, not himself:

Personally I think CH is just a dead Brother warged by Bloodraven because Bran would be more comfortable following a brother of the NW than a dead Wildling.

Thank you for inserting this quote!

Bran was calling Coldhands a monster in this instance. If you read only the sentences that pertain to Bran, you understand that he was still looking and thinking about Coldhands, not Bloodraven.

[Dan slayer of hot pies]

i think coldhands is just some long dead ranger. when leaf says they killed him long ago, 3 years would not be long to a COTF.

[Roadside Rose]

The way that it is phrased makes me read it as if Coldhands is stating the he is Brandon Stark, as in THE Brandon Stark from long ago. Tyrion uses a similar line calling himself "your monster", which seemed very deliberate to me, like a clue left by the author.

Likewise, the vision Bran has of the man being executed (sacrificed) by the woman in front of the heart tree, and the line, "Brandon Stark tasted the blood." In both cases, I don't think GRRM meant Bran. I think Coldhands is Brandon Stark.

Why would future Bran need to send Coldhands into the past for help if he already is a powerful greenseer?

I think the quote you are referring to is this. And great catch!

Could this Brandon be Brandon Stark(Ice Eyes) great grandson of Edrick Snowbeard?

Some might wonder that a duck can talk at all. No matter, Griff. You are no knight and I am

Hugor Hill, a little monster. Your little monster, if you like. You have my word, all that I desire is to be leal

servant of your dragon queen.;

[Lord Damian]

Coldhands may have become awake when Bran reopened his eyes. Coldhands is probably kin to him. Benjen or "the Nightking", who may have been a Stark. Bran is a child of destiny with imense power.

[Frey-A-La-Mode]

Although possible, I never liked the idea of communicating through weirwoods with people from the past... It's too scifi for me...

Agreed. Another Sci-Fi trope that has been done to perfection already is the whole "knowing-the-future-traps-you-into-fulfilling-it" (Frank Herbert did that amazing well in the Dune series)

[Mladen]

Agreed. Another Sci-Fi trope that has been done to perfection already is the whole "knowing-the-future-traps-you-into-fulfilling-it" (Frank Herbert did that amazing well in the Dune series)

Well, in ASOIAF it's what's prophicized is bound to happen... But, not in the way we sometimes interpret it.

[Rubacava]

So you guys think that sending someone from future is not ASOIAF-type ? Too sci-fi ? Well looking in the candles and seeing far away is sci fi too.

Bran already travels through time.

[Mad Monkey]

I think it can be done well but I definitely agree that once you go into the realm of predestination and stable time loops it just adds another layer of complication into the story. For one, if Bran can teleport people through time and space at will like that, why wouldn't he use this power to greater effect? From a meta-fictional perspective, what is the purpose of introducing such an elaborate use of magic / technology into the story if it can be replaced just as well by having Coldhands be aligned with Bloodraven or another character from the present day? We already have wights in the story, what does having a time-traveling wight add to justify the complication?

So you guys think that sending someone from future is not ASOIAF-type ? Too sci-fi ? Well looking in the candles and seeing far away is sci fi too.

Not the same. The glass candles are a plot convenience. Bran looking into the weirwoods is interesting but doesn't shatter the very concept of causality the way time travel and teleportation do. If it turns out that Bran could do these things, it basically has to either change the entire story since there are so many plot complications that would essentially be eliminated by this.

[Bushido]

Bran's monster - monster of Bran's kind = greenseer.

If Bran names BR a monster, it is Coldhands' opinion that Bran is a monster as well, since both are greenseers, hence the possessive form: Bran's monster.

There is also poetry & wit in the written words, not just hidden clues :D

[lojzelote]

CH is pretty open about being dead though, e.g. not only showing his hands but also readily explaining the black blood pooling in them after death to turn them black and all that.

I don't know... If Coldhands is truly Bran's uncle, why to cover his face at all? I mean, if the fellowship is willing to follow an anonymous walking dead, wouldn't they be all the more willing to follow a walking dead who used to be Bran's nice uncle? Why should CH hide his face? They already think Benjen's dead anyway; he isn't sparing anybody grief or anything. I really think he's just being considerate to the living. (Or GRRM simply tried to make him appear more mysterious.)

[Ororo727 Jon Snow Fangirl]

Didn't Bloodraven establish that it's not possible to interact with/influence people in the past? That they're just like shadows? From Bran's experience, it seems like it's possible to elicit feelings or provoke a sense of being watched, but nothing more. Hence, I'm not sure someone in the future/present could give such specific, clear instructions to someone in the past.

Indeed it was.

[Eli Stark]

Hey everyone,

It's a new crackpot theory and lets make it short.

In one possible world Bran becomes powerful after BR's trainings or any other way. He becomes a great greenseer and somehow sends Coldhands from future to find him and help younger Bran at the wall.

That's why Coldhands says that he's Bran's monster.

I don't get it. How is Bran time-traveling if the flux capacitor hasn't even been invented yet?

[IRON BANK]

I more saw it as the current three eyed crow sent cold hands to Bran. Knowing it might be harder for him to control a human let alone a dead one. So the three eyed crow picks a dead human who if knowing the purpose of his reanimation will help out willingly making said dead cold hands a willing participant thus easier to control. If this dead coldhands is Ben Jen then that woud about sum up the reasoning of covering his face so he wouldn't be recognized and helping at all costs.