Nowadays, when people talk ‘Game of Thrones,’ one of the most popular topics is theories about Brandon Stark, and where the show might be going with his character and his abilities as they head into the final season. A big theory that came out of Season 7 was the idea that Bran somehow managed to get trapped in the body of the Night King sometime in the past, and therefore IS the Night King in the present, giving the mysterious character some motivation and potential redemption for the final stretch of episodes. However, not everyone is on board with that theory, and in all honesty, there is not all that much credible and definite evidence to support it.
While speaking to website Nerdist about the popular fan theory, the actor who plays Bran, Isaac Hempstead Wright stated:
“It just doesn’t feel like Game of Thrones. It feels a little bit too Hollywood.”
The theory that Hempstead Wright does hope for though, has Bran becoming another character we have already seen in the show. He hopes that it will be revealed that Bran is actually the original Three-Eyed Raven (played by Max Von Sydow) that trained Bran, meaning a crazy time loop. In his words:
“It seems a little bit more plausible [than the Night King theory] and it doesn’t have so many insane ramifications for the story line. That would be quite a neat little thing that would sum up that whole circular arc… We’ve already see Bran mess with time and create one paradox, so it would be quite nice to give his entire story a paradox. That would justify how he can meddle with time, because he exists in a closed loop, a sort of non-linear existence.”
Personally, I think the idea of Bran becoming the older Three-Eyed Raven seems a bit more out of the blue (pun intended) than the theory about him becoming the Night King, especially since the show has already gone out of its way to show the unexpected consequences of Bran’s time-travel (poor Hodor) and has a tendency for tragedy befalling all of its characters, especially the Starks.
What are your thoughts on the idea? Could Bran be the Night King or the Three-Eyed Raven? Neither? Is there even enough time left to delve into complicated time-travel ideas like this? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
