Bran Stark

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire

Brandon Stark

Artwork by Anja Dalisa ©
Alias	Bran Bran the Broken The Winged Wolf
Title	Prince
Allegiance	House Stark
Culture	Northmen
Born	In 292AL[1], at Winterfell
Book(s)	A Game of Thrones (POV) A Clash of Kings (POV) A Storm of Swords (POV) A Feast for Crows (Mentioned) A Dance with Dragons (POV)
Played by	Isaac Hempstead-Wright
TV series	Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3

Brandon Stark, typically called Bran, is Eddard and Catelyn's second son. His life changed irrevocably when he suffers a crippling injury and relies on the servant Hodor to aid his mobility. He is usually accompanied by a direwolf named Summer and has prophetic dreams. He is one of the major POV characters in the books. In the TV series he is played by Isaac Hempstead-Wright.^[2]

Contents 1 Appearance and Character 2 History 2.1 A Game of Thrones 2.2 A Clash of Kings 2.3 A Storm of Swords 2.4 A Dance with Dragons 3 Family 4 References and Notes

Appearance and Character

Bran has inherited the Tully coloring from his mother, having auburn hair and blue eyes.^[3][4]

He has a fascination with climbing and exploring along the walls and ramparts of Winterfell.^[5][6] Like his siblings, he is dutiful and tough-minded.^{Citation needed} He is usually accompanied by a direwolf named Summer, with whom he shares a strong warg connection.^{Citation needed}

See here for more images of Bran.

History

Bran is the second son and fourth child of Lady Catelyn and Lord Eddard Stark, head of House Stark and Warden of the North. He was born at Winterfell in 291 AL^[7][3]. He is named after his late uncle, Eddard's elder brother Brandon,^{Citation needed} whose death was one major event in the series that led to Robert's Rebellion.

Bran has three older siblings (Robb, Sansa, and Arya) and one younger (Rickon). He also has a bastard half-brother, Jon Snow. Bran was educated by Maester Luwin and trained with weapons. He dreamed of becoming a knight of the Kingsguard.^[6]

A Game of Thrones

Bran is among a group of twenty men who witness Eddard dispense the king's justice to a deserter of the Night's Watch, the first time Bran is allowed to accompany such a group. On the way back to the castle, the group finds a dead direwolf and her pups - Bran and each of the other Stark siblings receives one of the young animals as a pet.^[7] During the royal visit to Winterfell, Bran fights Prince Tommen in the yard under the supervision of master-at-arms Ser Rodrik Cassel.^[3]

On a climbing expedition, Bran passes a window through which he sees the queen and her brother Ser Jaime making love. He is shocked after being spotted and loses his grip, almost falling before being caught by the Kingslayer. Jaime then pushes him from the window, intending to kill him to keep secret the incestuous love affair, but Bran survives and enters a coma.^[6]

While Bran is comatose, he is saved by his direwolf from an assassination attempt: the wolf tears out the killer's throat. During that coma, Bran has many visions, including a three-eyed crow that tells him it can teach him to fly. With the crow's guidance, Bran wakes and immediately names his direwolf Summer.^[8] Bran is crippled from the fall and unable to walk, but the crow tells him that he is the winged wolf bound in chains. After he wakes, he learns much Northern lore from Maester Luwin and Old Nan.

When Tyrion Lannister stops at Winterfell on his way back from The Wall, he gives schematics for a saddle designed for Bran's crippled form, despite threats from Bran's brother Robb, acting as Lord of Winterfell, and the direwolves. ^[9] Later, while testing this out on a ride in the Wolfswood, Bran is ambushed by a band of wildlings and Night's Watch deserters, but is rescued by Robb, Theon Greyjoy, Grey Wind, and Summer. ^[10]

Afterwards, he begins to bond with the sole survivor of that band, Osha, due to their shared faith in the old gods. When Robb calls the Northern banners following Lord Eddard's arrest in King's Landing, Bran witnesses the incident with the Greatjon, and is the acting Lord of Winterfell when Robb rides south. ^[11] Later, Bran has a dream of his father in the crypts of the castle - he ventures there with Osha, finding nothing - but, almost immediately, Maester Luwin receives a raven-borne message informing Winterfell of Ned's execution by King Joffrey's command. ^[12]

A Clash of Kings

After Robb becomes King in the North, Bran, as Robb's heir, becomes the Prince of Winterfell, and rules the castle in his brother's absence.^[13] He befriends Meera and Jojen Reed, children of his father's most trusted friend, Howland Reed.^[14]

While sleeping, Bran frequently enters Summer's mind (though he thinks he is simply dreaming) and begins to become more bestial. Jojen recognizes Bran's ability as skinchanging, and instructs him on how to use it properly. After learning of Bran's visions, Jojen claims that if Bran goes north beyond the Wall, he can find the three-eyed crow from his dreams.^[15]

When Theon Greyjoy betrays the Starks and captures Winterfell, Bran and Rickon hide in the crypts.^[16] To hide the truth of their escape, Theon has two other children murdered and skinned by "Reek" and proclaims them to be Bran and Rickon.^[17]

Theon is betrayed by Ramsay Bolton, who has Winterfell burned and takes the surviving women and children to the Dreadfort. Ramsay does not act out of loyalty to the Starks, but acts in coordination with his father to betray the Starks, and even massacres those loyal to the Starks outside of Winterfell.^[18]

The brothers and their traveling party split. Rickon and Osha set off in the direction of White Harbour. Bran, Hodor, Meera and Jojen Reed go north to seek the three-eyed crow.^[16]

A Storm of Swords

Ramsay Bolton was in on the trick played by Theon with the miller's children, so Bolton's men search for the real Bran and Rickon.^[19] Bran, Meera, Jojen, and Hodor travel in secret to evade them.

Enroute to the Wall they stop at Queenscrown. While hidden inside the castle they spot men in the village.^[20] Summer attacks the men, among whom is Bran's half-brother, Jon Snow. Summer's attack gives Jon the opportunity to get away from his wildling companions.^[21]

They eventually reach the Wall at the Nightfort and meet Samwell Tarly of the Night's Watch. He leads them through a secret door at the bottom of a well that takes them through to the north side of the Wall. There they meet Coldhands, an enigmatic figure of uncertain allegiance.^[22]

A Dance with Dragons

Bran, Meera, Jojen, Hodor, and Coldhands continue their journey through the Haunted Forest in search of the three-eyed crow. The journey is long and cold, and they suffer on the brink of starvation. To try and sate his hunger, Bran feasts on human flesh while inside Summer.^[23]

They reach the cave of the three-eyed crow, but are ambushed by wights just outside the cave’s entrance. Bran wargs into Hodor to fight off the wights, but blacks out and wakes up again inside the cave. The cave is warded against White Walkers and wights, so Coldhands cannot accompany them inside. Inside the cave, the group meet the remaining Children of the Forest and the three-eyed crow.^[24]

The three-eyed crow teaches Bran about greenseeing and skinchanging. Bran is fed a paste of weirwood seeds, which awakens his greenseeing gifts. He then wargs into the weirwood roots around them and sees his father, Eddard, through Winterfell's heart tree in the past. He tries to speak to Eddard, but all that is heard is a whisper on the wind.

The three-eyed crow explains that he can look into the past through the weirwoods, but cannot change the past. Bran then later dreams again through Winterfell’s heart tree and sees flashes of the past as far back as the old Kings of Winter. While inside the cave, Bran continues to warg into Hodor to explore the deeper parts of the cave.^[25]

It appears that Bran contacts Theon through the weirwood tree at Winterfell before Theon is forced to help the spearwives rescue "Arya Stark" (Jeyne Poole).^[26]

Family

v • d • e POV Characters In AGOT Will / Bran / Catelyn / Daenerys / Eddard / Jon / Tyrion / Arya / Sansa In ACOK Maester Cressen / Bran / Catelyn / Daenerys / Jon / Tyrion / Arya / Sansa / Davos / Theon In ASOS Chett / Bran / Catelyn / Daenerys / Jon / Tyrion / Arya / Sansa / Davos / Jaime / Samwell / Merrett In AFFC Pate / Arya / Sansa / Jaime / Samwell / Cersei / Brienne / Aeron / Areo / Asha / Arys / Victarion / Arianne In ADWD Varamyr / Bran / Daenerys / Jon / Tyrion / Arya / Davos / Theon / Jaime / Cersei / Areo / Asha / Victarion / Quentyn / Griff / Melisandre / Barristan / Kevan

References and Notes

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at House Stark. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of House Stark. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.