So our week of Game of Thrones theories continues today with another exciting one - the theory that Bran Stark could in fact also be both Bran the Builder and the Three Eyed Raven...
Credit: HBO
Where has the theory come from?
Bran the Builder is widely accepted as having built Winterfell with magic under the eyes of heart trees. A quote from first novel Game of Thrones says in the second chapter of the trees: "They were old, those eyes; older than Winterfell itself. They had seen Brandon the Builder set the first stone, if the tales were true; they had watched the castle's granite walls rise around them."
There's also rumours within the history of Westeros that Bran the Builder was the youngster who instructed Durran on how to construct Storm's End, with a quote directly from the Clash of Kings book reading: "A seventh castle he raised, most massive of all. Some said the children of the forest helped him build it, shaping the stones with magic; others claimed that a small boy told him what he must do, a boy who would grow to be Bran the Builder."
We've seen almost-solid evidence that Bran is able to interact with people of the past through his warging visions, as he visited The Tower of Joy with the Three Eyed Raven and called out for his father. Eddard Stark did turn around but failed to see anyone - the Three Eyed Raven passed it off as Eddard hearing a 'whisper in the wind', but surely we'd be silly to believe in that sort of coincidence where Game of Thrones is concerned.
By the way, we're not the first people to come up with this theory. In fact, Old Nan (remember her) may have thought that all the Brandon Starks throughout history were one. The first novel reads: "Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favourite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head."
Then we have something we've known ever since the first few chapters or episodes of the series, in that Bran Stark knows more about his first home of Winterfell that anyone should know at such a young age. He knew there was a secret access point to the inside of Winterfell's wall and much more.
Symbolism may be present in Bran's second point of view chapter in the first book, where it reads: "Bran could see all of Winterfell in a glance. He liked the way it looked, spread out beneath him, only birds wheeling over his head while all the life of the castle went on below."
It continues: "It made him feel like he was lord of the castle, in a way even Robb would never know.
"It taught him Winterfell's secrets too. The builders had not even leveled the earth; there were hills and valleys behind the walls of Winterfell. There was a covered bridge that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower across to the second floor of the rookery. Bran knew about that. And he knew you could get inside the inner wall by the south gate, climb three floors and run all the way around Winterfell through a narrow tunnel in the stone, and then come out on ground level at the north gate, with a hundred feet of wall looming over you. Even Maester Luwin didn't know that, Bran was convinced."
This is all great evidence backing up what may become of Bran Stark and Brandon the Builder. But why do we think Bran could also be the Three Eyed Raven? Simply because of what the Three Eyed Raven said to him before his death in the fifth episode of the sixth season. "Time for you to become me", he told Bran.
One user of Reddit also explained how we may have all been told Bran is the Three Eyed Raven back in the third season of the television series, when Jojen said to Bran: "You can't kill it, you know? ... Because the raven is you." There's definitely the possibility that Bran Stark is a whole new Three Eyed Raven, but if Bran is indeed the same Brandon as all the Brandon Starks of time gone by, he could both be the Three Eyed Raven he met AND be a new Three Eyed Raven at once.
How plausible is the theory?
Look, we're no expert when it comes to the miniscule details of the Seven Kingdoms' lore and history, so there are probably a few holes to be picked with this theory. However, with time travel, visions, affecting the past and potentially even the future, there is room for a lot to happen. Bran's warging and tuition by the Three Eyed Raven - perhaps from himself - means that anything could truly be possible. There's got to be some truth to this...
Game of Thrones continues Sundays in the US on HBO and Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic.
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