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Is Bran Stark secretly the Night King? This is the wild theory that has been tearing through the internet this week ahead of Game of Thrones‘s big Season Seven finale and it is starting to convert a heck of a lot of fans.
While the theory may not make a lot of sense on first glance — how could the paralyzed teen boy be the walking, stalking, ice spear-hurling embodiment of all that is horrifying and unholy? — it’s managed to convince a lot of people. You see, once you examine the ever-expanding body of evidence, it makes a ton of sense. Sort of. Kind of. Okay, maybe not so much.
Explain this theory!
Okay, okay! Nerdist has a great breakdown of the theory (believed to have been started by a Reddit user named turm0il26). The gist of the theory is this: In an attempt to defeat the Night King, Bran has been using his ability as Three-Eyed Raven to travel back to specific moments in Westerosi history, only his efforts have all been in vain. Everything he’s attempted to do to change history has ensured it. These events include:
- Visiting the Mad King, Aerys Targaryen, to instruct him to “burn” the wights to save the living. The Mad King supposedly heard voices and he would repeatedly say “Burn them all!” He developed an obsession with fire and placed caches of wildfire all over Kings Landing. When the city fell, he gave the order to “Burn them all!” which Jaime took as a threat, so Jaime killed him. This saved the city, but set up the chaos that would make up the bulk of the drama that is Game of Thrones.
- The other part of the theory is that Bran warged into other Brandon Starks in history. Specifically, he warged into the body of the mythic “Bran the Builder,” who is responsible for designing many of Westeros’s most breath-taking works of architecture, including the Wall. It was thus designed to keep the White Walkers out – but it will fail.
- Finally — and this is the crux of the theory — he wargs back into the body of the First Man that the Children of the Forest turn into a White Walker. He gets trapped in this form, and twisted from the experience, becomes the Night King.
Additional parts of the theory include the idea that the reason why the Night King “spared” Jon at Hardhome was because part of Bran recognized his brother and that Bran’s outfit of choice in his “visions” resembles the outline of the Night King’s. There’s also a pesky photoshop floating around meant to make people believe the connection is true.
Why Does This Theory Totally Make Sense?
First of all, ever since we found out that Bran can sort of use his “time travel” powers to be heard by people in the past, I have liked the idea that maybe — just maybe — he was responsible for the Mad King’s obsession with fire. I’ve also liked the theory that links Bran to Bran the Builder, a mysterious, but important, figure in Game of Thrones lore. After all, they’re both magically-powered Brandon Starks. So, I’m with this theory so far.
Bran is also repeatedly warned against lingering too long in his visions of the past. The idea is that he will get stuck there forever. Now that he’s pushed away his one real friend, Meera, he’s flying solo through his Three-Eyed Raven sessions. Bran is nothing if not prone to ignoring boundaries.
Finally, Bran does seem to have some sort of vague connection with the Night King. When he goes back and watches the Children of the Forest transform this poor guy into a zombie king, he winces along with him. Likewise, when he decides to fly solo for the first time in his visions, the Night King seems attuned to Bran’s presence in a way no other being has been so far.
Not to mention, director Alan Taylor did hint that fans should brace themselves because the biggest plot point of the entire series would be revealed this week. This theory would also place all the drama of the series on the tracks of a convenient closed-loop of magical…uh…timey-wimey stuff. It would fit the bill.
Why Is This Theory Complete Lunacy?
Oh boy. Here we go.
We still haven’t worked out the complete mechanics of Bran’s abilities, but it seems like his ability to travel to different historical events and his power to warg into animals and people are separate skills. In fact, the one time he used both in tandem results in the tragedy that is “Hodor.” While he could whisper “Burn them all” to the Mad King and maybe communicate with a past (also mystically-powered) Brandon Stark, there’s so far no evidence he can warg into the bodies of people living in the past. Hence, it’s unlikely he is trapped in the body of the Night King.
Another reason he’s probably not the Night King? Well, if he were, why did the former Three-Eyed Raven work so hard along with the Children of the Forest to protect him? If their goal was to end the White Walkers — and if the former Three-Eyed Raven had insight into what happened to Bran — then why not just kill him? Why train him up? Why sacrifice yourself to create that which you are fighting to destroy? Perhaps they did not know, but also, how would they not? If anyone possessed any insight about this, it would be the former Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest.
Finally, this is a practical concern, but there are only seven episodes left of Game of Thrones in total. This season has thrown a lot of action our way, but the new rules and revelations dropped on us recently seem to exist to contract the plot and not to further complicate it. To explain the logic behind this big of a twist would take an immense amount of storytelling space — and that’s space the showrunners probably don’t have at this point. Consider how much time the show has set up revealing that Jon Snow is Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark’s son. Have they really set up enough foreshadowing to land the reveal that Bran is the Night King?
Maybe, possibly, but I’m betting not.
