Post by Weasel Pie on Feb 22, 2016 23:24:10 GMT
Bran the Timelord: If Bran learns to time travel, affect/change the past, or even participate in it through skinchanging other characters, we could well end up with Bran as KotLT, Bran as Jon's Father, Bran as every other Bran who lived, etc. Big stuff.
Bran's currently getting his lessons in skinchanging and weirnetting, which seems to absolutely include some time-travelling.
Suppose Bran masters these two skills (which we're pretty sure he will, I don't think anyone can argue that he won't).
Bran as time-travelling greenseeing skinchanger is 100% feasible and there is plenty of text that he's on this path already. Pretty powerful stuff. And there are myriad possibilities how this could play out. I'll explore a few of my ideas here.
For instance, GRRM decided to name all of those extremely important historical characters Brandon, not me. Suppose Bran is all or some of them? Suppose Bran is also some other mystery characters? He doesn't need to be them for their entire lives, just at certain key moments.
I'm thinking Bran will travel back through time and will warg characters in the past, affecting the current story. Too sci-fi, you say? Fantasy/sci-fi mashups happened before with some of the greatest – Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant series, Vonnegut, Bradbury, L’Engle – mixing genres to great effect. Hell, even Mark Twain did it.
It’s wonky time in BR’s cave. BR tells Bran that the trees are past, present and future. There are a berjillion Brandon Starks in the story. Bran says about Old Nan: She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.
No, I don’t think Bran is every Brandon ever, but I do think he’s visited and occupied some of them. And I think the sheer volume of Incredible Brandon Starks is a clue.
Slip into GRRM's head for a moment. Why give so many historical characters the same name? Because it doesn't matter that they all have the same name? Or because it matters very much?
Brandon the Bloody Blade, son of Garth Greenhands, drove away Giants, battled the CotF, ancestor of House Stark
Builder of Winterfell: Read Bran II AGoT Chapter 8 with this as a possibility. He's got an incredibly intimate and detailed knowledge of Winterfell, and a joy for every secret wonky detail.
First King of Winter:
Builder of the Wall:
Builder for Storm's End with Durran:
Bran the Builder (II?) designed the Hightower:
Brandon the Breaker, defeated the Night's King:
Brandon the Shipwright, built ships, lost sailing the Sunset Sea
Brandon the Burner, his son, burned all the ships afterwards:
Brandon Ice Eyes, reclaimed the Wolf's Den and drove out the slavers:
Brandon the Bad
Brandon (f. Bennard), Brandon (f. Cregan), not much to distinguish them
Brandon the Daughterless, the Lord in the legend of Bael the Bard
Brandon Stark (f. Willam), whose wetnurse was Old Nan:
Brandon Stark (f. Artos), a twin, not much known
Brandon Stark, Ned's brother:
And
Our Bran: warg, skinchanger, is working on opening his third eye, has already travelled to the past and possibly interacted with it. Is bitter about his affliction, has a terrible secret about inhabiting and using Hodor. Often uses Summer to feel free and run.
In time, Bran will be able to see beyond the trees. And that past, present, and future are one. Nor will your sight be limited to your godswood.
Despite BR telling Bran that he cannot possibly contact the people he sees through the weirnet, we have evidence that he can (Ned and Theon and even Jon).
The following might be distasteful but it’s there in the books. Bran is falling for Meera, and even considers skinchanging Hodor to touch/comfort her when she’s despondent.
I could put on Hodor' s skin, he thought. Hodor could hold her and pat her on the back. The thought made Bran feel strange, but he was still thinking it when Meera bolted from the fire, back out into the darkness of the tunnels.
Hodor maybe well be a descendant of Dunk, if Bran’s weirvision shows Dunk chatting up the maiden at Winterfell. Dunk’s ancestry is unknown but there are plenty of Giant references. So there is a possibility (in my mind) that Bran will warg Hodor to get closer to Meera in that Cave. Sick, distasteful, and something GRRM has been hinting at: Bran as Hodorapist of Meera. Crazy talk. Even crazier would be to consider the result. Giant blood, CotF/crannog blood, greenseer blood, Stark/warging/Ice blood, skinchanging blood. Not impossible, but requires a rethink of the timeline in Bran’s weirnet vision.
Namely Hodorapist Bran and Meera could be the parents of Jon Snow. Crazy, I admit it, and I don’t believe this 100%. But GRRM himself is setting up something between a Bran/Hodor and Meera, he’s given us the endless underwater sea and the bottomless pool in Winterfell, from whence emerges a pregnant woman begging the old gods for a son to avenge her.
Whackpot, I know.
Even stranger to consider would be Bran warging young Hodor through the weirnet. It seems that Hodor is of an age with the last generation of Stark kids, maybe a little older than Brandon. Say Bran plugs his HDMI weirnet cable into WF again, and happens to see Young Hodor.
Nothing would prevent him from trying to skinchange.
In fact (and this is a recent addition to my theory) the show seems to be going in this direction, with the casting of young Hodor and the promo shots of Bran and BR standing in Winterfell.
In the cave, BR tells Bran that it’s easier to slip into the skin of something that has already gotten used to it. Bran already knows this by slipping into Summer’s skin so easily. And he’s secretly doing it with Hodor the entire time.
None of them must know.
And the very first time Bran skinchanges Hodor in the tower, there is no great struggle.
"Be quiet!" Bran said in a shrill scared voice, reaching up uselessly for Hodor's leg as he crashed past, reaching, reaching.
Hodor staggered, and closed his mouth. He shook his head slowly from side to side, sank back to the floor, and sat crosslegged. When the thunder boomed, he scarcely seemed to hear it. The four of them sat in the dark tower, scarce daring to breathe.
"Bran, what did you do?" Meera whispered.
"Nothing." Bran shook his head. "I don't know." But he did. I reached for him, the way I reach for Summer. He had been Hodor for half a heartbeat. It scared him
Can this possibly mean that Hodor had been skinchanged before? Maybe.
If a Branned Hodor was romping through the Winterfell of the past, he’s already practiced acting like Hodor in the Cave. Nod, smile, say Hodor a lot. Who would he meet?
Who else would be try to skinchange? His strong able namesake Brandon?
All I’ll say about that is if Bran uses Hodor to actually engage with the past, then GRRM’s interview comments about “the noble girl doesn’t run away with the stableboy” are freaking hysterical. And Sansa’s rant to Arya that she should just marry Hodor are in perfect alignment.
In the show, BR says he's been watching all three of them. Bran and Hodor and Meera. Why would D&D include Hodor and Meera?
Interesting thought about BR, who seems to have some regrets about the past, and frustrations he can't actually connect with people in his past. Which is why he tells Bran it's impossible, but I think it's possible for Bran.
I've also wondered. We have a few cases where things seem to mis-remembered or mistakes or false memories or unreliable narration. What if these are glitches in the Matrix, so to speak?
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey, everywhere.
Bran's cave chapters in Dragons:
"[...]Now I am as you see me, and now you will understand why I could not come to you … except in dreams. I have watched you for a long time, watched you with a thousand eyes and one. I saw your birth, and that of your lord father before you. I saw your first step, heard your first word, was part of your first dream. I was watching when you fell. And now you are come to me at last, Brandon Stark, though the hour is late."
First of all, what's a long time to Bloodraven? Born circa 175. He was sent to the Wall circa 233. Bran was born circa 290. ADWD takes place circa 300.
How in a-frozen-hell-reserved-for-Starks is ten years "a long time" for a 125 year old tree man?
Let's throw in this quote from Jojen, where he's really talking about Bran being a greenseer.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
What if it's Brandon Stark who is living a thousand lives?
We also have:
The Knight of the Laughing Tree: Howland prayed to the old gods (Weirnet), and Brandon's dream was always to be a Knight. Sigil fits. Bran the Timelord skinchanges Howland through the Tardis Weirnet and plays out the story he was told. Why would Bran NOT take the opportunity to become the knight he always wanted to be?
The Hooded Man of Winterfell: Bran has already contacted Theon via the weirnet. The Hooded Man knows things very few other people would know.
Possible? Shrug.
and Bran's crazy knowledge of Winterfell in AGoT Bran II (pls read when you have a chance).
We also have the bizarro lightning connection, which also happened when Bran first warged Hodor. In a tower.
Old Nan told him a story about a bad little boy who climbed too high and was struck down by lightning.
...
Most of all, he liked going places that no one else could go, and seeing the grey sprawl of Winterfell in a way that no one else ever saw it. It made the whole castle Bran's secret place.
His favorite haunt was the broken tower. Once it had been a watchtower, the tallest in Winterfell. A long time ago, a hundred years before even his father had been born, a lightning strike had set it afire. The top third of the structure had collapsed inward, and the tower had never been rebuilt. Sometimes his father sent ratters into the base of the tower, to clean out the nests they always found among the jumble of fallen stones and charred and rotten beams. But no one ever got up to the jagged top of the structure now except for Bran and the crows.
Bran's currently getting his lessons in skinchanging and weirnetting, which seems to absolutely include some time-travelling.
Suppose Bran masters these two skills (which we're pretty sure he will, I don't think anyone can argue that he won't).
Bran as time-travelling greenseeing skinchanger is 100% feasible and there is plenty of text that he's on this path already. Pretty powerful stuff. And there are myriad possibilities how this could play out. I'll explore a few of my ideas here.
For instance, GRRM decided to name all of those extremely important historical characters Brandon, not me. Suppose Bran is all or some of them? Suppose Bran is also some other mystery characters? He doesn't need to be them for their entire lives, just at certain key moments.
I'm thinking Bran will travel back through time and will warg characters in the past, affecting the current story. Too sci-fi, you say? Fantasy/sci-fi mashups happened before with some of the greatest – Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant series, Vonnegut, Bradbury, L’Engle – mixing genres to great effect. Hell, even Mark Twain did it.
It’s wonky time in BR’s cave. BR tells Bran that the trees are past, present and future. There are a berjillion Brandon Starks in the story. Bran says about Old Nan: She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.
No, I don’t think Bran is every Brandon ever, but I do think he’s visited and occupied some of them. And I think the sheer volume of Incredible Brandon Starks is a clue.
Slip into GRRM's head for a moment. Why give so many historical characters the same name? Because it doesn't matter that they all have the same name? Or because it matters very much?
Brandon the Bloody Blade, son of Garth Greenhands, drove away Giants, battled the CotF, ancestor of House Stark
Builder of Winterfell: Read Bran II AGoT Chapter 8 with this as a possibility. He's got an incredibly intimate and detailed knowledge of Winterfell, and a joy for every secret wonky detail.
First King of Winter:
Builder of the Wall:
Builder for Storm's End with Durran:
Bran the Builder (II?) designed the Hightower:
Brandon the Breaker, defeated the Night's King:
Brandon the Shipwright, built ships, lost sailing the Sunset Sea
Brandon the Burner, his son, burned all the ships afterwards:
Brandon Ice Eyes, reclaimed the Wolf's Den and drove out the slavers:
Brandon the Bad
Brandon (f. Bennard), Brandon (f. Cregan), not much to distinguish them
Brandon the Daughterless, the Lord in the legend of Bael the Bard
Brandon Stark (f. Willam), whose wetnurse was Old Nan:
Brandon Stark (f. Artos), a twin, not much known
Brandon Stark, Ned's brother:
And
Our Bran: warg, skinchanger, is working on opening his third eye, has already travelled to the past and possibly interacted with it. Is bitter about his affliction, has a terrible secret about inhabiting and using Hodor. Often uses Summer to feel free and run.
In time, Bran will be able to see beyond the trees. And that past, present, and future are one. Nor will your sight be limited to your godswood.
Despite BR telling Bran that he cannot possibly contact the people he sees through the weirnet, we have evidence that he can (Ned and Theon and even Jon).
The following might be distasteful but it’s there in the books. Bran is falling for Meera, and even considers skinchanging Hodor to touch/comfort her when she’s despondent.
I could put on Hodor' s skin, he thought. Hodor could hold her and pat her on the back. The thought made Bran feel strange, but he was still thinking it when Meera bolted from the fire, back out into the darkness of the tunnels.
Hodor maybe well be a descendant of Dunk, if Bran’s weirvision shows Dunk chatting up the maiden at Winterfell. Dunk’s ancestry is unknown but there are plenty of Giant references. So there is a possibility (in my mind) that Bran will warg Hodor to get closer to Meera in that Cave. Sick, distasteful, and something GRRM has been hinting at: Bran as Hodorapist of Meera. Crazy talk. Even crazier would be to consider the result. Giant blood, CotF/crannog blood, greenseer blood, Stark/warging/Ice blood, skinchanging blood. Not impossible, but requires a rethink of the timeline in Bran’s weirnet vision.
Namely Hodorapist Bran and Meera could be the parents of Jon Snow. Crazy, I admit it, and I don’t believe this 100%. But GRRM himself is setting up something between a Bran/Hodor and Meera, he’s given us the endless underwater sea and the bottomless pool in Winterfell, from whence emerges a pregnant woman begging the old gods for a son to avenge her.
Whackpot, I know.
Even stranger to consider would be Bran warging young Hodor through the weirnet. It seems that Hodor is of an age with the last generation of Stark kids, maybe a little older than Brandon. Say Bran plugs his HDMI weirnet cable into WF again, and happens to see Young Hodor.
Nothing would prevent him from trying to skinchange.
In fact (and this is a recent addition to my theory) the show seems to be going in this direction, with the casting of young Hodor and the promo shots of Bran and BR standing in Winterfell.
In the cave, BR tells Bran that it’s easier to slip into the skin of something that has already gotten used to it. Bran already knows this by slipping into Summer’s skin so easily. And he’s secretly doing it with Hodor the entire time.
None of them must know.
And the very first time Bran skinchanges Hodor in the tower, there is no great struggle.
"Be quiet!" Bran said in a shrill scared voice, reaching up uselessly for Hodor's leg as he crashed past, reaching, reaching.
Hodor staggered, and closed his mouth. He shook his head slowly from side to side, sank back to the floor, and sat crosslegged. When the thunder boomed, he scarcely seemed to hear it. The four of them sat in the dark tower, scarce daring to breathe.
"Bran, what did you do?" Meera whispered.
"Nothing." Bran shook his head. "I don't know." But he did. I reached for him, the way I reach for Summer. He had been Hodor for half a heartbeat. It scared him
Can this possibly mean that Hodor had been skinchanged before? Maybe.
If a Branned Hodor was romping through the Winterfell of the past, he’s already practiced acting like Hodor in the Cave. Nod, smile, say Hodor a lot. Who would he meet?
Who else would be try to skinchange? His strong able namesake Brandon?
All I’ll say about that is if Bran uses Hodor to actually engage with the past, then GRRM’s interview comments about “the noble girl doesn’t run away with the stableboy” are freaking hysterical. And Sansa’s rant to Arya that she should just marry Hodor are in perfect alignment.
In the show, BR says he's been watching all three of them. Bran and Hodor and Meera. Why would D&D include Hodor and Meera?
Interesting thought about BR, who seems to have some regrets about the past, and frustrations he can't actually connect with people in his past. Which is why he tells Bran it's impossible, but I think it's possible for Bran.
I've also wondered. We have a few cases where things seem to mis-remembered or mistakes or false memories or unreliable narration. What if these are glitches in the Matrix, so to speak?
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey, everywhere.
Bran's cave chapters in Dragons:
"[...]Now I am as you see me, and now you will understand why I could not come to you … except in dreams. I have watched you for a long time, watched you with a thousand eyes and one. I saw your birth, and that of your lord father before you. I saw your first step, heard your first word, was part of your first dream. I was watching when you fell. And now you are come to me at last, Brandon Stark, though the hour is late."
First of all, what's a long time to Bloodraven? Born circa 175. He was sent to the Wall circa 233. Bran was born circa 290. ADWD takes place circa 300.
How in a-frozen-hell-reserved-for-Starks is ten years "a long time" for a 125 year old tree man?
Let's throw in this quote from Jojen, where he's really talking about Bran being a greenseer.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
What if it's Brandon Stark who is living a thousand lives?
We also have:
The Knight of the Laughing Tree: Howland prayed to the old gods (Weirnet), and Brandon's dream was always to be a Knight. Sigil fits. Bran the Timelord skinchanges Howland through the Tardis Weirnet and plays out the story he was told. Why would Bran NOT take the opportunity to become the knight he always wanted to be?
The Hooded Man of Winterfell: Bran has already contacted Theon via the weirnet. The Hooded Man knows things very few other people would know.
Possible? Shrug.
and Bran's crazy knowledge of Winterfell in AGoT Bran II (pls read when you have a chance).
We also have the bizarro lightning connection, which also happened when Bran first warged Hodor. In a tower.
Old Nan told him a story about a bad little boy who climbed too high and was struck down by lightning.
...
Most of all, he liked going places that no one else could go, and seeing the grey sprawl of Winterfell in a way that no one else ever saw it. It made the whole castle Bran's secret place.
His favorite haunt was the broken tower. Once it had been a watchtower, the tallest in Winterfell. A long time ago, a hundred years before even his father had been born, a lightning strike had set it afire. The top third of the structure had collapsed inward, and the tower had never been rebuilt. Sometimes his father sent ratters into the base of the tower, to clean out the nests they always found among the jumble of fallen stones and charred and rotten beams. But no one ever got up to the jagged top of the structure now except for Bran and the crows.