Since the unforgettable Hold the Door episode (literally called “The Door”), which fully displayed Bran’s ability to influence the past, present, and future—Game of Thrones fans have speculated about the youngest living Stark boy’s role in other events in this series. Among these theories are that Bran is actually the very Brandon Stark who built the wall—a theory that often references this passage from George R.R. Martin’s books:
“I could tell you the story about Brandon the Builder,” Old Nan said. “That was always your favorite.” Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. 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.
Along with this is another similar theory that Bran is actually the NightKking, which makes sense because his blood is that of the First Men, who the Children of the Forest used to turn men into White Walkers. It’s a theory that actor Isaac Hempstead Wright told me he thinks it would be pretty cool to be the Night King—even though he thinks it’s a stretch.
But there’s another, more recent event that fans have long speculated Bran might be behind, which was recently discussed on the Game of Thrones Reddit. As u/EaseGaming pointed out:
We just watched the scene in which Jamie and Robert Baratheon were discussing the Mad King and the events around Jamie killing him. Jamie says that he kept saying “burn them all” even after he had stabbed him.
My girlfriend brought up a good question that I had never considered – is it possible that he had some sort of vision of the future and saw that the White Walkers were coming and that is what drove him mad? and as a result he was saying “burn them all” in regards to the White Walkers?
Now, taking this a step further, we know that history says that the Mad King Aerys Targaryen was known to hear voices. Is it possible that Bran traveled into the past and messed with Aerys Targaryen’s mind as he did with dear, sweet Hodor? Consider Bran’s motivations here. The Targaryen dynasty was the last time there was a unified Westeros. It’s possible that he used his ability as the Three-Eyed Raven to convince Aerys to fight the White Walker threat using the full power of the Seven Kingdoms. Another reading of this could be that Bran knows he needs to manipulate Aerys in order to set this whole series of events into motion.
That would mean Bran is behind the biggest event in recent Westeros history and responsible for ending 300 years of Targaryen rule. That’s a lot of pressure for one angsty teen.
