Coldhands/Theories

Theories may be removed if ...

Stated as questions or possibilities. More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main page. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that are also standalone theories. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response.

Coldhands seems to be a brother of the Night's Watch: he wears black and calls Samwell Tarly "brother." Therefore, the dominant theory is that Coldhands is a dead or missing brother of the Night's Watch. Possibilities include:

• The Night's King, who was a known consort of the Others
• Benjen Stark, who disappeared beyond the Wall during a ranging
• One of the Raven's Teeth who followed Bloodraven to the Wall

Evidence Against

The Night's King was said to be deposed, his name "wiped from the memory of man", which sounds like he was thoroughly destroyed and likely to have been burned if it was known he was consorting with the Others.

Leaf, a child of the forest, says of Coldhands: "They killed him long ago". The likes of Will, Waymar Royce, and Benjen Stark died/went missing only two years prior, a small amount of time for someone over 200 years old. In an original manuscript, George R. R. Martin declared that Coldhands was not Benjen Stark.

It has been theorized that Coldhands is simply one of the Raven's Teeth who followed Bloodraven to the Wall, dying protecting his Lord Commander, and being subsequently revived as some sort of weight.