Category: Game of Thrones

What “Bran The Broken” Can and Cannot Do.

In my last blog, I spun some crazy fan theory towards the end accusing Bran of conspiracy against Dany.  I did not even research this fiction topic before writing that piece because I was overwhelmed by how the show ended, and I am seeing some conflicting views about what Bran Stark, currently known as the King of the Six Kingdoms in GoT show after the season finale, is capable of doing as a Three-Eyed Raven. So I am pulling all the things together here, which I found online plus my own deduction. Some spoilers ahead.

These are speculations and no one knows for sure since the show did not go over much about what Bran did or did not.

Bran refers to himself as the “memory” although per the definition of Greensight he is, in fact, able to foresee some future “glimpse” through the prophetic visions/dreams since he is the Three-Eyed Raven. Getting some cryptic clues about the future is not quite the same as foreseeing the future clearly. Because what you do in the present can change the parallels of what you foresaw as a vision of a future, the only catch is that you need to decipher it in order to be able to warn others to change the outcome. But over time, if you become good at understanding the clues in your visions, you become more and more of an intuitive expert. And it is possible for you to influence things the way you want. That is what I am assuming happened in Bran’s case.

Even before he became the Three-Eyed Raven he sensed all the present and near-future events correctly in his dreams (like his father Ned Stark’s execution around the time when it happened). But the problem with that he did not know why he saw his father in the crypts of Winterfell where all the statues of the past deceased Stark members were there. Even if he knew that his father was being executed, he did not have the means to stop, since it is a distant event.

Plus as the TER he can warg into animals and per the link below he warged into young Hodor’s mind going back in time, hmm.. quite some superpower!

Also read: Game of Thrones: Here’s What Bran Can and Can’t Do With His Three-Eyed Raven Powers

An Investigation Into Whether Bran Stark Knew His Game of Thrones Fate All Along

(Note: I have included hyperlinks, so you can read from where I am taking my assumptions).

I would believe that through experience Bran has become good at deciphering future clues. From another perspective of timelessness, perhaps there is no difference between past, present, and future since they all already have happened. So trying to change the future timeline could as well change the overall harmony of the timeline. BTW Bran warged into young Hodor’s mind as I said before, observing him going mentally unstable over the future event when Hodor dies “trying to hold the door”! I am not sure if, as a TER in the making, Bran had the choice not to go into Hodor’s mind back in time, then what would happen to the present Hodor at that moment? Then he had to be a normal person which would destroy the past-present harmony. Quite a paradox!

Plus Bran also calls his father in the vision going back in time to see Jon’s birth, where Ned Stark looks back at hearing a voice. If the past cannot be changed and the “ink is dry” then at that present moment Bran did not have any choice but to call his dad because it was tied to the past event.

In the final episode, when Bran said to Tyrion after being nominated as the King of the six kingdoms, he said, “Why do you think I came all this way?” It is an implication that he knew he was being crowned as the king, plus Brienne as his new head of the king’s guard was wearing the raven sigil in her outfit. So he came prepared.

Bottom line, as  TER he has the ability to time travel through perception, but either intentionally or due to some limitation to TER’s ability, he let things take their course. He does not wish to mess with the timeline. So it will remain as a debate about whether he let Dany go mad following her fate or if he had a direct part in it.

So reading all this, what part do you think he played in influencing the course of events in the season finale? What is your opinion on this? Write below in the comment section.

Here is my own take:

Did Bran Influence Dany’s demise?

Game Of Throne Season Finale Honest Review- (SPOILER ALERT!!)

SPOILER ALERT!! If you did not watch GoT Season Finale or anything at all then STOP reading and go watch them before you proceed.

I planned to write episode by episode review for GoT Season 8. But just as the plot development of this season was so rushed, my review is crammed up and rushed too, because “ain’t nobody got time for that!”

This GIF is basically what the summary of my review, but if you still wish to continue reading then go on. Although I am rambling and venting here there are some good points ahead. Check the highlighted lines at least. You can skip through by episodes but I am talking about things that are related but beyond each episode. So it might be worth the long read.

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GoT Season 8, episode 1 & 2. What were they BTW? Oh, Dany felt entitled and Sansa didn’t like her from the beginning. Also, Dany didn’t care about Jon being her nephew, she was more worried about his claim to the  (ugly) iron throne, blah blah, etc. But episode 3 and 5 were complete shockers. And I also read the leak of final episode 6 before it was aired.

So I would talk about episode 3 onward. So without any further ado.

Episode 3: I asked this important question in my previous blog post (link below) already. How TF Arya just jumped out of nowhere at the Night King? I thought there was some hidden theory behind this, but just as the show proceeded afterward, it seems like we had to take things as they were without expecting logic. After all, the showrunners D&D might at one moment thought about bending the law of Physics or expected common logic because it is a fantasy show, but when we could use a few ideal closures from a fantasy series (like the king and queen happy endings), they decided to keep it real instead! I will elaborate more in the next points. But nonetheless, The Battle of Winterfell was beautiful and captivating. Arya is my favorite character and I loved her killing the Night King. But the plot was not well-written, and Jon/Dany seemed kind of useless despite putting their fair share of efforts.

Game Of Thrones- Season 8, Episode 3, and Avengers: End Game- What’s the catch!? SPOILER ALERT!!

Episode 4: There is a very practical conversation between Lord Varys and Tyrion Lannister about the rightful owner of the Iron Thrones, and how men usually have better claims to kingdoms just because they are men claimed by Varys. This argument is fair, although termed by many as sexist, matches the real world scenario. There are many strong female protagonists and as the show ended, you would have noticed that it did not benefit who it was supposed to. So calling the show sexist is at least pointless even though there are many plotholes.

What else?

Cercei chops off Missandei’s head and ticks of Queen Dany really bad. And why not? ‘Cause Cercei is a b*tch. But some of us still took the mother of Dragon’s mercy and kindness for granted a little bit even though Missandei’s last word “Drakarys” was a good hint towards what Dany was about to do.

Episode 5: I was so shocked that I vented right after watching the show on Quora:

What is your review of Game Of Thrones S8E5?

I personally always thought Daenerys Targaryen’s character was slightly over-rated. She put on a philanthropic benevolent mask to get to the point of conquering King’s Landing which she always thought of as the ultimate destiny, but deep down she was really hungry for power. She has Targaryen blood (her daddy was the mad king after all) in her and her previous dialogue from past season about “I will take what is mine with fire and blood” should’ve been a strong cursor. But still, it was just too much to bear just in one episode. Most viewers said they didn’t mind Dany turning into evil showing her true colors, but her “mad queen” character arc in season 8 was very drastic and that is where the main issue lies. Like, I do understand that up to episode 3 or 4, she came out to be too entitled, and always demanding others blind obedience. She turned out to be quite annoying but I already had a sense since season 6 or 7 that for her it was more like a journey than the ultimate destination (i.e ruling the seven kingdoms). But on a scale of 1 through 100% on negativity, if she was 20-30% bad in first three episodes of the season finale, in 4, she became maybe 40% bad and you cannot blame her for that as I am about to describe why, but from 5 she is like 150% rotten evil. Like WTF! Did someone do some magic to her? 

Dany sacrificed too much, she had lost half of her armies in the battle of Winterfell, two dragons, close loyal friends like Jora and later Misseandei because of Cercei and she was turning more and more people into enemies as some people by default disliked her including Sansa. Some people put her on a pedestal as well like Jon and Tyrion because of her display of (albeit tactical and fake) benevolence. And then his lover Jon appeared to be his nephew plus a legitimate claimer of the iron throne. Still, ultimately, she burned down an entire city for no apparent reason, even after clearly winning. This part I cannot accept. She already executed Varys for treason and it was vicious enough. But after the battle was won and when the bell rang, she could’ve taken her Drogon straight in front of Cercei and burn her down. I know the show plotted and hinted everything up to this point that she might snap at the last moment. But it was too much to bear.

I read the article where the show makers saying that Dany felt empty at that point when the bell rang! WoW! What logic! She had been feeling empty for quite some time now and her atrocities could have continued well after the battle was won. But she went full-on displaying her pilot skills and 1 dragon army power burning innocents who were not necessarily disloyal to her and they hated Cercei too.  Cercei already planted wildfire as backup plans, in case Dany’s army broke into the Red Keep. She already thought about killing her innocent civilians while burning the enemy soldiers. But she underestimated that Dany could do far worse.

And yet again Cercei dies a romantic death in her brother-com-lover’s arms. I read that the show makers thought since they came together in this world as twins, they are leaving the world together as well. WoW! Sounds beautiful! But my complaint from GoT from the beginning is- when innocent and great heroic characters die barbaric death, somehow the evil characters die some lame (not so satisfying) death. Like why Joeffrey died by poison!? Her mama Cercei the b*tch, who is one of the nastiest characters could have died being barbecued by Dany’s dragon. But no! Killing Cercei alone is justified since Cercei tested Dany’s patience and executed Missaendei.

There were a few other things in the show like the CleaganeBowl but they were nothing of my interest. And also the appearance of the white horse at the end to take Arya. Who knows perhaps it was Bran trying to help her sister via that horse. I am just disappointed that Dany who had so many accomplishments under her belt had to sabotage her success because she lost her patience at the last moment. Because showrunners remember she is the mad king’s daughter (so she must be mad) and blood speaks louder than the personal character as they didn’t find any other reason why Dany could be denied the seven kingdoms besides just being a female contender (oh wait, that would be typical and sexist). Her father Aerys did not become crazy overnight. A lot of things lead to that point, plus his family’s long lineage of incestual DNA could make him crazy. He became a fan of burning people and things. It seems like Dany just got started with that hobby by burning disloyal Lord Varys alive and on the next, she went down burning millions. BTW completely off-topic, Aerys had similar planning like Cercei with wildfire (read the link).

I thought Dany came out of fire intact with her Dragon babies in the previous season. At that point, she was a superhuman, who should not have been painted as a mere mortal mad evil at the last moment. 

Also, I do understand not all prophecies can come true and some partly come true. But the showrunners threw out most of the prophecies previously depicted in the show from the book out of the window.

Episode 6 (The last one): Probably because I already read the leaks online, this episode seems kinda fair and logical. Which makes sense why some people took episode 5 pretty normally since they knew the entire season 8 plot leaks from the beginning. As if the writers of GoT tried to tie the loose ends for good or bad in this episode. Tyrion gets caught for treason. He indirectly manipulates Jon to kill Dany, and so does Arya warn him because otherwise he would be killed by Dany as a throne contender. And just when poor Dany is about to sit on her coveted throne, she gets into a lovey-dovey conversation with Jon and gets stabbed in the heart. Her Drogon melts the iron throne with fire in grief as if-if his mother cannot keep it, no one can! Fair enough! I thought it was quite intelligent for a dragon! I wish the dragon could use his common sense to not burn so many innocent people in Kings Landing but that would’ve been disloyal to his mother which could cause him death penalty as well.

But Jon just didn’t kill Dany, he verified her twisted sense of fairness before doing so. She is talking about freeing people, yet still, seems dead set on demanding loyalty. Then how is she freeing everybody from the wheel/chain? When she was asked why she burned the entire city, her logic was Cercei underestimated her. Her friend was killed! Sounds legit! She could’ve burned Cercei alone as I said before. But then she added something important, “the world we need won’t be built by men loyal to the world we have”. At this point, it is quite clear that she has been heartless all along and she went too big picture in her head. She didn’t want to verify which civilians were still loyal to Lanisters and which were not. She straight-up burned everything so she can build things from the ground up. Causing massacre is no big deal for her if she has to, even though she freed thousands albeit, in exchange for loyalty, she never flinched to kill anyone who she thought were deserving.

But again Cercei’s wildfire would’ve killed most people if soldiers tried to enter the Red Keep, so if she didn’t do it, Cercei’s planning would do it. Dany is getting all the bad names. But anyway at this point, the show writers tried to make it clear why she must be murdered.

”Bran The Broken” gets to be the king of six kingdoms because The North stays independent and rightfully under queen Sansa’s command. Fair enough even though it made a lot of fans dissatisfied. But even though he is surrounded by advisers/whisperers, he can fact check for himself with his Three-Eyed-Raven superpower vision, plus he is not entitled to the throne and he does not need to. Arya could be a good choice but her hands are tainted with blood. Show writers do not want any kind of murders or wrongdoers in the realm as I suppose because people have had too much of it, although Dany, Arya, Jon all of them were favorite potent contenders. I like how it went down to a Stark kid and coincidentally someone who was pushed out of the window by Jamie. Basically, Bran won the throne doing nothing and sitting on his chair. Bran cannot father an heir as well as pointed out in the show by Sansa and Jon was sent to the wall to be the nights keep even though he seems to leave beyond the wall with wildings and I thought the wall melted down by the frozen dragon. I like how they are trying to keep it as a democracy and diminishing all possibility of an heir from any of the eligible males whether it is Bran or Jon. Even though Jon turned out okay, thanks to his Stark blood, he still has Targaryen blood from dad’s side which can bring more mad off-springs. The showrunners don’t want any of those possibilities at this point. Otherwise, Dany could’ve been killed by Arya using her faceless skills. She wouldn’t get caught and still could escape to the west which she did anyway and Jon could’ve been the king just fine. But the writers don’t want to hurt Arya & Tyrion’s future as both remain intact and get a second (or I forgot to count how many) chance(es). And as I explained, Jon has partial Targaryen blood. At this point any Targaryen means proven madness, no more cities/civilizations need to be burned. Even if he is a good man, his next generation can turn crazy. Jon was not a result of incest as Dany, her brothers and their father Aerys were, even Joeffrey is one such example even though he was a Lannister. I think the book and the show hint towards the abnormalities among children from incestual relationships. Since Dany was dead, Jon at this point didn’t have any chance of having an affair with another Targaryen family member. But what if the Targaryen bloodline itself carries some abnormal genes due to being a unique family tree? If the show makers decide to somehow make another surprise season later, we might see Jon’s bustard popping in the future to claim the heir, even though he is not supposed to father children. But well, you know he is going to have fun with the wildings.

Sansa is the only person I truly am happy for (and I am happy for Ghost reuniting with Jon Snow). I read an article where they were comparing car models with GoT characters. Very funny! And they mentioned Sansa as Tesla model 3- went through production hell and difficulties but still is a fine car and keeps getting better and smarter as it acquires more experience(could not be apter). So Sansa with her regal and fashionable gown looks splendid as a queen in the north. She does look like an updated smarter queen.

After the last episode, I see what the show writers wanted GoT to be. Game of Thrones-where no one ultimately gets the thrones, those who tried very hard hurt themselves. And those who didn’t care, plus a handful of the show writer D&D’s personal favorites are still lives.

Moral of the story: Keep it real and keep your feet on the ground. Don’t act all kind and merciful if you are not and don’t feel entitled to your dreams/positions/power (hinting towards Dany).

Oh! Don’t work hard, work smart! Or do nothing at all (talking about Bran Stark)!

Or maybe the plot twist is Bran went into people’s head and did all these messes so that he gets to be the king. Doesn’t he say he was waiting for this all along or something? Because of the way the Night King was lured towards him and killed suddenly by Arya and how Dany went completely cray-cray without notice burning everything to a crisp- is the only “plausible” explanation in this hurried season that Bran connected with the Night King and possibly went into even Dany’s head. If he can warg into animals, because he is the Three-Eyed Raven now, can he not warg into people? Or maybe he is the one who controlled Drogon burning King’s Landing civilians, otherwise, why did he not warn anyone about this event? Since he can see the future. Now he is about to warg into Dragon’s mind to find out where he is at.

Read it here: Why didn’t Bran warn about Dany?

Bonus: The number of blunders observed- coffee cups, Jaime’s grown hand and plastic bottle underneath Samuel Tarly’s chair. Well, he invented plastic because he was stopped from almost inventing democracy. Just kidding!

Thanks for reading…

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