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Who buried the obsidian cache?


Mithras

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Simply because there's more evidence that Coldhands was in the vicinity of the caves and FOTFM, and has been more active, and more importantly, more recently, as opposed to Benjen, I think Coldhands buried the cache, at the behest of BR. I'm going to presume Benjen Stark deceased, until there are startling revelations proving otherwise.


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The major clue is that they were buried in a Night's Watch cloak. Whoever buried it had access to such a cloak. Mance never gave his up, as he had red silk embroidered into it. Coldhands is seen riding his elk with a cloak on. Benjen could have used his and then went on to find the source of the danger, or the CotF could have found a cloak from a dead ranger and used that to bury the cache.


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This is not a Benjen alive or dead thread. I personally think that we will see him in the next book dead or alive. What I want to emphasize is that if Benjen is alive and near the NW, there is no reason that he will bury this cache and stay out of the rangers. If Benjen had any chance to return to CB or communicate with the NW, he would have done it. In fact there were marks that he put on the trees but they are cut somewhere.



That is why the most suitable candidate is Coldhands, who may well be under BR's control. Sam learned that CotF gave the NW obsidian weapons every year. This is also another clue that these weapons come from the CotF.



The only possible reason why Benjen being somewhere near but not showing himself to the NW is that he is a conscious wight. And this is crackpot. Other than that, I never buy into that Benjen is anywhere near to the Fist.


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A further point that agrees with your own theory is that if it has been Benjen that buried that stuff then this gives a better explanation onto the reason why Ghost found its scent so easily, or even cared to grab Jon to it.

Obviously Ghost doesn't know the relative importance of obsiddian for humans, and there must be hundred of thousands of dead corpses / personal effects once belonging both to NightWatch rangers and Wildlings buried or forgotten around the forest.

That's why I'm sure it was Benjen as well. Ghost's behavior was too strange for any other option (Coldhands, Mance, etc.) to make sense to me. It was like he was following his scent. (Also, crackpot of mine: the reason why Ghost took forever to get to the wall when Jon sent him away is because he found Benjen again and ... did something.)

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I'm not a big fan of the "everybody's warging everything" theories, but I'm thinking something or someone was directing Ghost, probably Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers. He and the Children are most likely to know the significance of obsidian and the Others.



Coldhands knows where Bloodraven and the Children are.



So: The Children provided the cloak and its contents to Coldhands. Coldhands buried it where Bloodraven wanted him to. Bloodraven directed Ghost to lead Jon to the stash.


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If Benjen is alive why did not go back to the Wall at all to warn his brothers about the Others? I assume Benjen has gone a bit on his own accord in order to do what he feels he must to serve the Wall's ultimate purpose, to protect the realm. As long as he doesn't receive a new order, Benjen can still fulfill he last one which was to figure out what was happening beyond the Wall. If Benjen were to show his face then they could have him join everyone else and give orders regarding how to proceed. If Benjen indeed left the arrowheads, then he gave his brothers the opportunity to protect themselves against what was coming.

I want Benjen to survive. We need some heroes.

I do not necessarily want him to be Coldhands.

WIth all the comings and goings, and people hidden for years in ASoI&F, it is entirely possible that Benjen found a group of Tibetan like monks living in a temple on a mountainside not readily accessible to storming by the Others or wights. Or perhaps it too, is magically protected. Why not? We have one place on the Wall that is, Another where the Children are hold up (Hodor, grab Bran and Run), so why not some other folks that know the secrets? They could live on Yak milk cheese and butter, chicken and eggs, and possibly mushrooms and fish that grow iand live n the hidden caves and dark streams behind the temple. He is being taught the secrets of winter, what his nephew Bran saw when he looked into the heart of winter in Game. He's going to come back with something to help, huge amounts of obsidian and every lost piece of Valyrian steel.

Who left the stuff wrapped in the rangers cloak? Coldhands on the order of the greenseer or children.

Just my crackpot theory for the day, and opinion of the hour.

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One of the CotF could have done it.

That's what I'm thinking.

This is not a Benjen alive or dead thread. I personally think that we will see him in the next book dead or alive. What I want to emphasize is that if Benjen is alive and near the NW, there is no reason that he will bury this cache and stay out of the rangers. If Benjen had any chance to return to CB or communicate with the NW, he would have done it. In fact there were marks that he put on the trees but they are cut somewhere.

That is why the most suitable candidate is Coldhands, who may well be under BR's control. Sam learned that CotF gave the NW obsidian weapons every year. This is also another clue that these weapons come from the CotF.

The only possible reason why Benjen being somewhere near but not showing himself to the NW is that he is a conscious wight. And this is crackpot. Other than that, I never buy into that Benjen is anywhere near to the Fist.

That's why. That's their offering they made as part of the truce that they formed at the end of the war they had.

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This is what i think, I have no proof of this but here we go.



Ben Stark and his men meet up with some COTF and are given a pile of dragon glass as they did back in the day according to Sams books.



Ben Stark sends his boys back to the wall (I presume Ben Stark has some other quest he is on) with the pack of glass.



Bens men (something-or-the-other Flowers and the other guy and whoever else) are being hounded by others/walkers by night bury their heavy pack by day at the fist (a recognizable landmark) with the intention of going back to the wall, getting reinforcements, filling them in on dragon glass and its wonderful uses, and reclaiming it from their hiding spot.



They didn't quite make it however, so womp wooooommmmp.



If Ben Stark or Cold Hands had buried it I feel like they would have left a note of some kind. Even if it were a few words written in his own blood on his own small clothes, there would be a memo like, "insert in others, repeat".



Thats why I feel like it was a "broken play" by Bens posse that hid the glass there and that none of the men knew how to write.

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One of the CotF could have done it.

The problem with this thought is that why should they risk one of them while Coldhands can do their dirty job? If the Others capture one of the CotF and transform into a wight, they may risk all their secrets to the Others, which can gather enough information to dispel the warding that guards the cave.

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  • 1 year later...

I think cache was burried before NW reached Fist, but not much time passed. So maybe two or three days before they reached Fist, cache was already there.

 

I don't know how much time need to pass, in order for soil to freeze, but cache was buried recently, but doesn't necessarily mean it was buried at the same time Jon was looking for Ghost.

It was also raining at the beginning of their raiding trip. It was warm.

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Totally agree - Bloodraven through Coldhands. 

 

BR knew the NW would go to the Fist. 

We know Coldhands is in relative proximity to the Fist, as he saves Sam and Gilly from Chett's undead boil-

 

I tracked Mormont's raven and made it a POV for myself (the glories of early retirement) and I found the entire string of events too coincidental.

 

I have the notion that BR is involved in Small Paul saving Sam- He has an almost Lenny like obsession with Mormont's raven.  He carries Sam even though Sam does not have any ravens left and even after Sam tells him "they are not mine to give" Paul still believes Sam is giving him a raven.

Paul drops Sam moments before an Other appears and says that he just cant go on but has enough energy to attack the Other for hurting a horse.  It is Paul's bumbling into the Other that gives Sam the chance to learn how to kill the Other with the obsidian dagger.

Then Coldhands and Mormont's raven (and the other ravens that did not return to CB) save Sam.

BR has to know that Sam is the only one who can be trusted to get Bran through the wall.

Coldhands makes Sam swear to stay quiet "for the life you owe me".  

 

I think he went through all this trouble to save Sam so Sam could escort Bran across the wall- and give the knowledge of how to kill the Others back to the NW.  

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