Here’s the deal. Ever since Bran Stark came back from Beyond the Wall, he has been creeping the hell out of everyone, including the audience, with his intense stare. Last season he creeped out Sansa and Littlefinger, this season Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, and Jaime have been at the receiving end.
What’s with that, dude?
So Jimmy Kimmel was all of us when he asked Isaac Hempstead-Wright on the mystery behind Bran’s stare. Turns out, its a lot simpler than we all thought. That’s just…bad eyesight.
Yep. Isaac apparently has very poor eyesight and is practically blind without his glasses. Now Bran obviously doesn’t wear glasses so Isaac has to do without. So most of the time he’s being outright deadpan, that’s just Isaac seeing nothing.
Bran Stark was pushed out of a tower window by Jaime Lannister in the very first episode of Season 1, and that started the entire chain of events that is Game of Thrones. Crippled by the fall and then driven from Winterfell, Bran went through an extraordinary journey beyond the Wall and emerged as Three-Eyed Raven. This new identity gave him the power to see everything past and present everywhere, but robbed him of his social skills somewhat.
Now Jaime and Bran have come face to face again, and Episode 1 of Season 8 ended on a death glare match between the two. Kimmel asked Isaac about that scene which has inspired many memes, and Isaac answered:
“I’m kind of getting good at this sort of intense stare. But it’s kind of aided by the fact that I’m completely blind when I’m on set. I don’t have my glasses, and I don’t have contact lenses.”
Isaac also narrates an incident from Season 7 when he unsettled Sophie Turner. After a particularly uncomfortable scene between Sansa and Bran, Isaac relates, “She said to me, ‘Isaac, your stare is like — you’re staring into my soul’ and I was like, ‘I can’t see you!’”
So there it is! No wonder Bran always manages to unsettle anyone he is looking at.
