Chapter 17: Bran

Bran’s direwolf gets a name.

Characters:

• Bran Stark - Middle child of Eddard Stark and Cat Tully, recently defenstrated. In a coma. Currently dreaming or something. 
• The Three-Eyed Crow - also known as (SPOILER) Bloodraven. 

Location: Winterfell

What Happens:

Bran Stark has a chapter long dream/prophecy/vision quest.

Bran is told to fly, and instead he falls. Bran believes that he will wake up before he hits the ground, like in dreams. The crow that is with him asks him what if he doesn’t wake up, and Bran starts to cry. Bran doesn’t know how to fly, and the crow tells him that flying is easy. Bran looks for wings and doesn’t find them. The face of Jaime Lannister appears (saying “The things I do for love”) and the crow tells him not to think about that.

Bran looks down again and he can see the entire world and everyone in it. In Winterfell, it appears he is seeing things in real time. He sees Robb looking taller than he remembered. He sees other Winterfell people working and the weirwood in the godswood. To the east he sees his mother on a ship. South, he sees the Trident and his father pleading with the king. He sees Arya watching and Sansa crying. In Essos he sees the Free cities and Vaes Dothrak, and all the way to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred. (WHAT?)

North, Bran sees Jon alone, cold. Past the Wall, he sees endless forests and snows and he keeps looking north. He “looked deep into the heart of winter” and was afraid. The crow tells Bran that Bran knows now why he must live.  It’s because winter is coming, and Brand still doesn’t understand and keeps falling.

The crow has three eyes and the “third eye was full of a terrible knowledge.” Looking down, Bran has to choose between flying and dying. So Bran opens his arms and flew. Bran enjoys flying. The Crow stabs Bran in the face with his beak. Bran wakes up, Robb comes running into the room, and Bran names the wolf “Summer.”

Characters Mentioned:

• Maester Luwin – Maester at Winterfell
• Jaime Lannister (unnamed)  - Kingslayer
• Robb Stark – If you don’t know by now, please. Oldest son of Eddard Stark.
• Hoder – A stableboy who is a giant and has some sort of mental disability.
• Mikken – I think the armorer at Winterfell. Probably not long for this world.
• Catelyn Stark (unnamed) – Lady of Winterfell.
• Ser Rodrik – Master of Arms of Winterfell. Seasick.
• Sansa Stark – Eldest daughter of Eddard and Cat. Kind of girly.
• Arya Stark – Younger daughter of Eddard and Cat. Kind of angry.
• Jon Snow – Bastard son of Eddard or so we think. Protector of the Kingdom of Men.

Thoughts:

First, he sees something from his past. (Maester Luwin trying to convince him not to climb by making the clay boy that they threw off the roof.)Then Bran sees a bunch of stuff happening in real time. Except this quote about what is surrounding Eddard, Sansa, and Arya by the Trident.

Quote

There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

Clegane, Jaime, and … ? I would guess Older Clegane, but he’s not there. It’s not Robert, because Robert was already named. Or could the “golden and beautiful” be a Tyrell? Or perhaps a Martell?

Bran goes to Vaes Dothrak and Asshai by the Shadow? What does THAT mean? I am SHOCKED that we are learning about Asshai already. And the dragons are stirring? Will there be more than just Dany’s dragons?

I wonder what the “terrible knowledge” is in the crow’s third eye.

Could his “vision” of Jon be in the future too? (I doubt it, honestly.)

And the part where Bran goes north and then more north forever until he looks into the “heart of winter?” That is some imagery. The “curtain of light at the end of the world?” What is going ON in Plantoes? Year long seasons of unpredictable length, children of the forest, dragons, weird ice people? WHEN WILL THE WINDS OF WINTER COME OUT GEORGE? COME ON. I swear, if that book is not released by the time I’m done with this absurd project, I will … I don’t know. Give up? Go to Santa Fe, watch a movie in his theatre, and eat some stacked enchiladas?

The part where the weirwood LOOKS AT BRAN? I never noticed that before. I never realized they could shift their vision. How cool is that? With Bran using the trees in the future is he looking at himself? Or is that Bloodraven? I need to read faster.

Oh, and what about the bodies on the ice? Are those people who didn't fly? How long has Bloodraven been trying to find a new tree? Are there other seers before BR?

Locations Mentioned:

• Winterfell – The Godswood, Mikken’s Forge, Maester Luwin’s balcony, the yard
• The Bite – I think this is the first we hear of the Bite, other than the maps.
• The Trident – Where Lady was executed and Rhaegar died of a Warhammer to the Chest.
• Narrow Sea – divides Westeros from Essos.
• Free Cities – Where exiles go, but there are also people living there. I think it might have been inhabited before Westeros?
• Dothraki Sea – Where the Dothraki chill. Not actually made of water.
• Vaes Dothrak – Dothraki city. We will go there eventually.
• Jade Sea - ?
• Asshai by the Shadow  - Weird place. According to the fake history book I have, there are no children in Asshai.
• The Wall – Huge wall that separates the seven kingdoms from the wild north.

Links to Previous Chapters:

• Prologue
• Bran I
• Catelyn I
• Daenerys I
• Eddard I
• Jon I
• Catelyn II
• Arya I
• Bran II
• Tyrion I
• Jon II
• Daenerys II
• Eddard II
• Tyrion II
• Catelyn III
• Sansa I
• Eddard III

Named Character Death Count: 5*

*I am not counting anyone who died before the events of Game of Thrones. So anyone who died in previous rebellions will not be included, e.g. Rhaegar Targaryen, Lyanna Stark, Brandon Stark, etc.