Game of Thrones Theorycraft: Will Bran be Involved in Jon Snow’s Resurrection? 

By now — unless you’ve been living under a rock, in a cave with no internet access — you’ve seen the

teaser poster featuring a blood splattered Jon Snow, and the short teaser trailer featuring old clips with new dialogue from Bloodraven and Bran. These are quite unexpected moves from HBO and

, as no one really expected to see anything from Season 6, until the HBO yearender on New Year’s Eve. But the poster and teaser trailer do raise some valid concerns, mainly among the conspiracy nuts like myself. So, don your tinfoil hats, and jump aboard the crazy train with me, as we delve deep into another Game of Thrones Theorycraft.

The first piece of this puzzle comes from the teaser poster. Now, while it features Jon Snow, and while I am sure that it garnered the appropriate amount of attention that HBO was seeking, there is an important clue that many fans have simply glossed over: The blood. While the immediate consensus is that the blood belongs to Jon himself, I believe it belongs to someone else…or a group of someones. Think about it, if you were betrayed and murdered by your own sworn brothers — men who served under your command — and then you were resurrected, what would be your first act as a newly minted member of the living? Would you immediately seek bloody and murderous revenge on those who betrayed you? I know I would.

What if you happened to have a Valyrian steel sword at your side, and you just so happened to be an expert swordsman? Would you cut a bloody swath through those former sworn brothers of yours? Hell yes, I would. Imagine a lifetime of being scorned by the woman who was forced to raise you, but never showed an ounce of love toward you. Add to that the fact that you feel like you are never quite good enough, or on the same level as the trueborn children of the man claiming to be your father. Then, pile on the disdain you receive from the knights and officers, and general population of Castle Black because you carry with you the stigma of being a bastard.

And then, to top it all off, the one man who could never accept you, even though you had proven yourself time and again — Alliser Thorne — was the one to orchestrate your murder. Do you think all of that frustration, angst, and feelings of anger would come to the surface, once you had been resurrected?

So, Jon is brought back to the world of the living, and then kills anyone who had a hand in his murder. This is the first piece of the puzzle that HBO has given us. The blood from the poster is not his own, because it belongs to those who fall to Longclaw and his righteous vengeance. Next we have the teaser trailer. It begins with what we are going to call “Bloodraven’s Guide to Greenseeing.”

We watch. We listen, and we remember. The past is already written. The ink is dry.

Besides the obvious, what is Bloodraven telling Bran, here? He’s saying the past cannot be changed. He’s saying that as a powerful Greenseer, Bran can observe past events, but he can never change them, no matter how much he wishes to do so. In

, Bran sees the Godswood at Winterfell, and observes several past events.

His young father praying with a bowed head “Let them grow up close as brothers, with only love between them, and let my lady wife find it in her heart to forgive.” (Bran tries to call to his father, and Ned looks up at the weirwood as if he heard something)

A girl and a younger boy play fighting with branches. (Most likely Benjen and Lyanna)

A pregnant woman coming out of the black pool praying for a son to avenge her. (Most likely Ned’s grandmother)

A slender girl on her toes kissing a knight as tall as Hodor. (Theorized a young Nan kissing Ser Duncan the Tall)

A pale, dark-eyed youth cutting three branches from the weirwood and shaping them into arrows. (Theorized to be Bloodraven)

Other lords of Winterfell: tall, hard, stern men in fur and chain mail. (Kings of Winter)

A bearded man forcing a captive down on his knees, and a white-haired woman killing the captive with a bronze sickle. (Blood sacrifice to the Old Gods)

An interesting note about Bran and the Winterfell Godswood, and it’s weirwood tree. Later in

, Reek, née Theon Greyjoy, goes to Winterfell’s Godswood to pray, even though the Old Gods were not his gods:

A leaf drifted down from above, brushed his brow, and landed in the pool. It floated on the water, red, five-fingered, like a bloody hand. “… Bran,” the tree murmured. They know. The gods know. They saw what I did. And for one strange moment it seemed as if it were Bran’s face carved into the pale trunk of the weirwood, staring down at him with eyes red and wise and sad.

With these contextual clues, I firmly believe Bran has the potential to be a much more powerful Greenseer than Bloodraven, especially if he can reach those he is observing through the weirwoods. If the ink is truly dry, then how is Bran able to guide Theon to help the spearwives save fake-Arya? This event is a current one, which I believe holds ramifications for the events of Jon Snow’s demise and eventual resurrection.

Now, to the sequence of events in the teaser trailer. While it was full of many different scenes, the last two are what interest me the most.

Notice how the light begins to fill the scene as Jon is bleeding out into the snow, and then it switches to Bran going into a warg-state. Again, while these are old scenes, I believe HBO is leaving breadcrumbs behind, for us to follow. Is this Bran seeing Jon dying? Or, are we being shown a clue as to what Jon may do before he breathes his final breath? Let’s go back to

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold …

Jon’s last thought was of his direwolf — with whom he shares the warg bond — Ghost. Now, many of you will be quick to point out that show-Jon really has never displayed the warging ability of his younger brother, Bran. In fact, up to now, the show has only shown Bran to have that ability, but that doesn’t mean Jon won’t or can’t display these abilities, as well.

It is my theory that Bran will see Jon’s death (in real time), possibly through the eyes of the late-lamented Jeor Mormont’s raven, and as Jon’s life passes from his body, Bran will help him guide that lifeforce into Ghost, for safe keeping. That will allow Melisandre to have time to bring Jon’s body back from the dead, and then Jon can return to his body and begin his new life, freed from the vows of the Night’s Watch. One final clue from the books, that Jon and Bran have previously seen each other in their dreams, thus establishing a bond through Bran’s Greenseeing and Jon’s latent ability to warg. In

“Jon?” The call came from behind him, softer than a whisper, but strong too. Can a shout be silent? He turned his head, searching for his brother, for a glimpse of a lean grey shape moving beneath the trees, but there was nothing, only… A weirwood. It seemed to sprout from solid rock, its pale roots twisting up from a myriad of fissures and hairline cracks. The tree was slender compared to other weirwoods he had seen, no more than a sapling, yet it was growing as he watched, its limbs thickening as they reached for the sky. Wary, he circled the smooth white trunk until he came to the face. Red eyes looked at him. Fierce eyes they were, yet glad to see him. The weirwood had his brother’s face. Had his brother always had three eyes? “Not always,” came the silent shout. “Not before the crow.”

So there it is, the precedent set down in the books, from which the television show —

— draws its inspiration (albeit sometimes rather loosely). The real question remains, will this be the method by which Jon returns to the realm of the living? I guess we’ll just have to keep speculating and waiting for April, 2016 to get here.

HBO dropped the first teaser trailer for Game of Thrones Season 6 yesterday. Let’s talk about...

Hot on the heel’s of the first Season 6 promotional image, HBO has uploaded the first teaser...

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I don’t think he will, but he’ll probably be watching.

That first quote from Ned about “let them grow up close as brothers” referring to Jon and Robb is a good clue for R+L=J. Never thought of that till now

I think a very old Bran in the future will be involved, not the present Bran.

Great read. Also, it is very intriguing to me how and when Bran will convey Jon’s true parentage to him. Or will it be Bran that sends this message at all..

I think Howland Reed will be the one to tell Jon.

Great read. Also, it is very intriguing to me how and when Bran will convey Jon’s true parentage to him. Or will it be Bran that sends this message at all..

Thanks! Also, I could easily see Bran leading Jon to the crypts under Winterfell where a possible clue to his parentage waits. Maybe a Targaryen wedding cloak or Rhaegar’s silver harp lies in Lyanna’s tomb.

Nice Job Sir. This is good. Very good indeed. I had completely forgotten about that last quote and it’s HUGE now that it’s in a new light. Cooooooool

Wow, awesome theories. What a beautiful sight it would be if Bran sends Jon a vision that his destiny lies in Winterfell..then upon hearing of the defeat of the Boltons at the hands of Jon, Howland Reed makes the journey to Winterfell..where Jon, Howland Reed, and Littlefinger all make a trip down to the cripts to tell Jon of the Tower of Joy.

If the show’s going to bring Howland Reed in, as the one who tells Jon, what need is there for LF to be around when that happens? Unless…. could the show be about to tell us Howland Reed has been there the whole time, hidden in plain sight? Bring out the fin foil!

I’d think Howland Reed needs to come into the show, wanting to know the fate of Meera & Jojen. The one guy he’ll think could help would be…. Jon Snow. But, drat! Too late! And he’d got so much to tell Jon as well….. Like…. R+L=J….. is really about Jojen? Jon’s just been a doppleganger all this time? He’s really the real Jojen, and Meera really is his sister……

Wonder if this opens up to become…… Jon slays Rams, who, as we know, is not just a psychopath. He’s damn good scrapper.

“Hey, Jon. I’m your Dad” – That’d be kinda Star Wars, right, as hinted at.

Still, I don’t see where LF figures in with Howland Reed, going with Jon into the crypts underneath Winterfell. Howland Reed is the only survivor from ToJ. He’s the only one capable of telling Jon of events there.

Why is LF there? Fuck LF. That happening would be a holy moment in ASOIAF terms. He can’t be there! It’s the equivalent of chucking a dog turd on the table during Christmas lunch! 😱

It’s the equivalent of chucking a dog turd on the table during Christmas lunch! 😱

haha. Just about lost my coffee upon reading that. Good one, Gaia. :D

Definitely a possibility that Bran leads Jon into the crypts to find some clue to his heritage but without something else – such as Howland’s word – why would Jon see, the harp for example, as anything other than a hint that maybe his “Aunt” wasn’t kidnapped by Rhaegar. He has no reason (yet) to suspect he is the son of Lyanna so it seems illogical, without some additional help, that Jon’s thoughts upon finding the harp would go to, “oh shit, this means Lyanna’s my mum and Rhaegar is my dad.”

Awesome article. My tinfoil hat is double strapped and I’m all in on this Rollercoaster. My first thought when I read Johns death was he warged. No other explanation. So I’m stoked for the idea he comes back and shreds those traitorous birches at the wall. Winter is Coming early for those folks.

I hope the fight between Jon and Alliser is awesome. Don’t make Thorne a chump and have Jon easily best him. Alliser is a good sword and I want him to at least go down fighting.

Awesome article. My tinfoil hat is double strapped and I’m all in on this Rollercoaster. My first thought when I read Johns death was he warged. No other explanation. So I’m stoked for the idea he comes back and shreds those traitorous birches at the wall. Winter is Coming early for those folks.

Thanks! It would be glorious to see Jon just wreak havoc on those assholes.

It sure would, love to see that and really like your theory!

Maybe while warging he gets his vengeance. And the blood on his face is from Jon-Ghost ripping out some throats over Jons body. That would be fun. Especially makes sense since he didn’t have his sword with him when he was attacked. Right?

No he does. He unsheathed longclaw just when it’s too late.

I think it’s going to be Benjen who tells Jon.

I have a slightly different take on the teaser. I think BR is saying that “we” (BR andCofTF) can only watch and remember. But Bran can perhaps do more. Perhaps Bran can see the past, and will be moved to try and learn how to help, or change the past? Maybe that’s what makes him different from BR and CofTF? Maybe that’s exactly why they need him.

I tend to agree with you re: the blood on Jon’s face. Beric Dondarrion and in fact GRRM himself have made a point in saying that with resurrection you lose a part of yourself, that there’s a cost, as with Lady Stoneheart she comes back a revenge-mad blood addict; how heartbreaking would it be to see our hero returned to us but having lost his compassion and forgiveness. Not that I’m saying I think Thorne should be forgiven, but to see Jon just go on a murderous rampage would certainly not be so ‘heroic’…

If his soul is in his wolf, then he never truly died. A nice loophole for that inconvenient side effect of resurrection if you ask me. What Razor so thoughtfully proposed to us, if I understand it right, is that Bran helps Jon reach his potential as a warg in his final moments. This allows his soul to be kept safe in his wolf. He won’t be stonehearted, if you will.

I’m going to reply to my own comment. What if you were Alliser and you just mudered Jon? What would you do next? I know what I would do. Find some stupid men and tell them to go kill Jon’s wolf. Well, Ghost isn’t so easily killed. And if the evidence presented is correct, a Jon piloted Ghost might be even harder to kill. What if Jon does the majority of his bloody work on the traitors as Ghost? Fuck yea.. I wanna see ghost kill some folks either way….

My thought train is rolling now. Maybe that is how Jon’s body is kept safe; with the help of Ghost. Because again, if I were Alliser, when if the other first things I would do is burn Jon’s body. Unless we get to see Jon rise again from a fire, which would be cool, maybe he saves his own body as Ghost, thus unwittingly preserving his own body for the possibility of resurection. Admittingly Melisandre needs to have a roll in this all, she does see it all coming with her daggers in the dark and keep Ghost close as he may be your only hope pep talks.

Agree. GRRM has said many times that he does not like developing characters in pure “black and white” or good guy vs. bad guy terms. GRRM likes “grey” characters. Anybody expecting Jon to be resurrected as a pure, good-guy “hero” will be highly disappointed. Jon Snow as we knew him is dead. I expect the resurrection of Jon Snow to be more like a resurrection of Lady Stonehart rather than a resurrection of Beric Dondarrion. In other words, we may not like the creature that Jon Snow returns as.

And by the way, here is my theory on the promotional poster of “Jon Snow”. That poster, in my opinion, is not intended to show that Jon Snow is “alive” as many have suggested. That poster is intended to show that Jon Snow is in fact dead. I believe what we will see in the next season is the very same or similar image of Jon Snow who has been hung up or sort of crucified by the men who assassinated him as a warning to other brothers of the Night’s Watch as to what happens to traitors. The blood is probably from a raven pecking at his dead body. I believe that will be the cold opening to Season 6. Then, after that, we may not see or hear much about the Night’s Watch for most of the Season, all the while leaving the average viewer with no other feeling than simply, Jon Snow is dead.

While I do think Jon’s personality will change a bit,making him harder, it won’t be a result of resurrection. It will be the result of “Killing the boy, and letting the man be born.” pretty literally, in this case.

I think that’s what kit meant when he said “I’ve been told I’m dead”.. I’m sure they told him he changes so much that it’s going to be like acting as a new character. He’s going to look the same, at least recognizable but isn’t going to be the same at all. Whatever changes him, he’s not who he was anymore.

Totally with you Aegon. GRRM’s said stuff in the past about the improbability of coming back from death unaltered. But that alteration need not be too dramatic:

1. If Jon has warged it’s not a ‘true’ death in the Skinchangers sense. 2. Purely from a structural point of view you can’t alienate the audience too far from the character they have come to know and care about (over how many pages and years?!!).

That is UNLESS, Jon is to become the anti-hero to Dany’s hero. I don’t buy that for a second though. Throughout the story our sympathies have been lead to the Starks and similar to point 2 above, you can’t simply just revert that and expect the audience to stay with you and keep giving a damn.

Then again though, that kinda flies in the face of the theory (not totally sold on it but very open to exploring) of Dany going mad. I somehow think the betrayal ‘for love’ plays a part in this.

“Anybody expecting Jon to be resurrected as a pure, good-guy “hero” will be highly disappointed. Jon Snow as we knew him is dead.”

But. :( Well, I just hope that’s not going to be the case. Where he will be a mindless Coldheart type (like what they say Catelyn Stark is in the books I forget the name) cause Jon needs to be, at least deep down, who he’s always been in order to get proper resolution, satisfaction, out of his hero arc. He can be a changed, mostly hardened man but I want Jon the boy to still be a part of him when he learns of his parents, who he is, and has his revenge etc.

Sadly, I think you’re probably right. When has this story ever been one of sunshine and rainbows? Why would they have a beloved character rise up from the dead like Jesus and save the day? And I thought too from the tilt of his head on that poster with eyes closed looks weird. Though, why would they parade the fact they just killed the LC and then throw him on a stake to mock when they know there’d be consequences to doing that.

Where is this stake and mockery coming from?

I don’t think Jon Snow’s murder will sit well with ALL the brothers of the Night’s Watch either. But you have to keep the conspirator’s motives in mind and understand the critical events that took place. In their minds, Jon Snow really did betray the Night’s Watch by bringing Wildlings south of the Wall. In their minds, Jon Snow was probably already a traitor – responsible for killing Quaran Halfhand and joining the Wildling army as well as sleeping with a wildling (Ygrette). On top of all that, they are fresh off a battle with the Wildlings who are directly responsible for killing some of their brothers. With all that in mind, the Lord Commander Jon Snow literally opens the gates to the Wildlings to offer safe passage. To be clear, the conspirators are short-sighted, but still, in their minds Jon Snow’s actions show him to be nothing more than a traitor and therefore Allister Thorne and others would gladly parade Jon Snow’s dead body as that of a traitor.

Now having said that, Jon Snow’s death in the TV show is portrayed in a much different fashion that the way it is in the book. As such, GRRM may take a completely different path in dealing with the aftermath of Jon Snow’s death than the way I’m guessing the TV show may handle it.

In the books Melissandre has a vision where she sees Jon surounded by skulls.

There are lots of skulls in Bran’s cave under the weirwood tree.

I also think the blood is a representation of Green-Seeing and and the weirwood tree’s crying eyes, not of battle.

I like this theory better than having the Mel bring him back. Jon has always favored the old gods like the other members of his family. Don’t really see him accepting the lord of light.

Trailers have been trolling viewers since the actionfilm 80’s by cutting and pasting two different scenes in sequence to give the illusion that one character does something to another. This is to raise speculation and to grow an audience by being talked about as a TV product. I’m fairly sure that if John does really rise, Melissandre will have a hand in that and not Bran.

The most likely scenario concerning Bran: For a brief moment Bran’s meditation is disturbed as he feels an icy cold shiver on his spine. Someone close to him has passed on.

Can anyone explain why the pregnant women coming from the poop is supposed to be neds grandmother and why she would want vengeance?

I wonder the same thing. They never really talk about the previous lady starks. I don’t think they’be ever mentioned Ned’s mom, and I don’t remember anything about is grandmother.

Neds mother was a Mormont and grandmother was a Locke I believe.

I just googled it. You’re right Ned’s grandmother was a Locke and I didnt see anything significant about her. Ned’s mother was also a stark, her and Ricard were cousins. Completely pointless information, but I never knew that.

It’s basically a guess, Bran is seeing through the winterfell heart tree and his visions are moving cronologically backwards through time. Slow at first, then faster and faster. The pregnant woman is his second or third vision just after Lyanna and sometime before the tall knight (Set Duncan possibly). That would put the woman into the grandma to great grandma time frame if she is a Stark. Since she at the WF heart tree bathing naked people generally assume she is. It all guesswork and theorycraft.

Indeed, that’s the part I can’t settle in this article. Other than that, I agree 100%!

I said this before I think Jon snow is dead, but bran will warg into his body, hence the eyes in the poster being hidden.

I think Bran will ride a dragon if R+L theory is correct and bran has more reason to take back winterfell.

If it went that route I would be majorly disappointed. What purpose is there for Mel to be at castle black? Bran will be Bran and Jon will be Jon.

I know many people hate Mel and don’t want her to be the one who resurrects Jon but, that’s how it’s going down. May as well accept it.

If you think GRRM is so predictable, you haven’t been paying attention.

The Mellisandre resurrection plot has been foreshadowed too much. It would be very unlike GRRM to be that obvious.

Taken a walk on the wild side lately Lou?

I have a feeling melisandre is not going to be around for very long in season 6 as everyone expects

Perhaps… She looked more than disconsolate after returning to the Wall having failed Stannis and the rest of the Baratheon line really. Perhaps she will go out like Beric in the books and give up her life for Jon’s. Not sure what else she has left to give besides that story wise.

I always figured the youth cutting the three weirwood branches was the bastard brother of the last Stark king in the north (meaning the king who knelt, not robb). When the northern army was marching down the neck to meet aegons army, this bastard brother had a plan to kill aegons dragons by stealth, using weirwood arrows. He didn’t execute the plan, though. But this might make for a cool comparison to Jon, since he is/was also a bastard brother of a king in the north. Is he destined to kill dany’s dragons? Don’t have any sources to back me up right now, though. Thought it was somewhere in the world book.

Cool thought that id like to hear more about. Would definitely need to site some in text evidence tho.

Interesting… I like that idea, you’ll have to elaborate if you can.

Could be but the Blood Raven reference is pretty strong. Of course every one is assuming the visions are chronological. I have a memory of Bran seeing in no particular order.

I also seem to remember the Green Seer inherits the knowledge of all of those who have gone before. I think the vision of the arrows could come from anytime and is a clue as to how to kill the White Walkers. Just think they won’t go into the Green Seer’s cave and I can’t ever remember seeing them in any sacred Groves.

Even visually the Weirwood seems to embody the idea of fire and ice in its wood and leaves.

I also thought that this was an image of Brandon Snow (Torrhen Stark’s bastard brother) crafting weirwood arrows to stealthily kill Balerion, Maraxes. And Vhagar……. Fwiw History of Westeros and Radio Westeros agree with us, but no one can know for sure.

So after doing some quick research it seems there’s is no direct evidence of Brandon Snow using weirwood arrows in his attemp to assassinate the dragons, it is an assumption. The visions are of events in the winterfell godswood, the timeline would roughly match (assuming the visions are in reverse chronological order) and the person is making 3 arrows (for three dragons). So that much is speculation.

Bran’s vision describes “a pale dark-eyed youth” and we know that Bloodraven is an albino and as such has red eyes. Bran would certainly have noticed that.

The next novella in the Dunk and Egg series is supposed to be “The Shewolves of Winterfell” where Dunk and Egg lend their swords there. Bloodraven has a knack for showing up where those two go. But he wouldn’t be a youth, so I am really starting to like the Brandon Snow theory much better.

Bran’s vision describes “a pale dark-eyed youth” and we know that Bloodraven is an albino and as such has red eyes. Bran would certainly have noticed that.

Good analysis. I think the main thought here is that the pale = albino and dark-eyed = black or red. But now that you bring up the point about Brandon Snow, I like that idea better.

The only reason I mentioned Blood Raven was his victory over Bittersteel and the accusation he used enchanted arrows. The second reason is I was thinking any weirwood grove not just WF, and Raven Tree seems to be an important space for BR and for green seer’s being that all the ravens are there to warg with.

I’m excited for more of a story for Bran because even though a lot of the show watchers find him really boring I absolutely love him. He’s going to be extremely important for the entire story and well being of Westeros and I can’t wait

There could be loads of purpose for Mel but I reckon the whole AA reborn theory is a loose end, to keep people thinking. It doesn’t have to be all bad if bran took over Jon completely.

The show has provided no clues or foreshadowing that Jon is a Warg. Arya as well. They’ve avoided their capabilities entirely. I don’t think it likely that Jon will Warg on the show. Not that no hints or foreshadowing is proof or anything…just saying the books made it very clear. That Jon and arya both or Wargs or have the capability to be a Warg. Just a thought.

There is foreshadowing wi Arya from Mel when she meets her on tv and when the faceless men question Arya’s ability to become no one. I also think there were a few hints when Jon was with wildlings and mance.

I get the reasons for Jon wanting to kill the Night’s Watch brothers who betrayed him but I don’t think he will. Book Jon is really soft and emotional. So I feel he will just take the ones who want to go with him south and leave them.

It’s about time Bran got back in the back.

Great read. Listening to and analyzing various theories is always fun.

Saying the blood on Jon in the poster is Thorne’s or Olly’s or another traitor’s is over analyzing the poster.

The next season picks up where the last one ended – with a dying or dead Jon Snow. The blood on the poster emphasizes that fact. Nothing more.

Saying the blood on Jon in the poster is Thorne’s or Olly’s or another traitor’s is over analyzing the poster.

The next season picks up where the last one ended – with a dying or dead Jon Snow. The blood on the poster emphasizes that fact. Nothing more.

Fair point, but look at Jon’s death scene, the blood pulls to the left and back of his head. Nowhere near his face, eyes, nose…etc.

I agree that it seems as though the poster is being over analysed. Even with the blood pooling to the back of him S5’s final scene, it makes sense to show Jon with blood on his face in a teaser poster– to me it only symbolises the violence that encapsulates his story and fate up until this point in an abstract, artistic way… To show a poster of Jon with stiletto/dirk wounds in his chest or wherever those crow gits got him would not be as impactful a message to viewers.

It looks like the sap coming from the eyes of a weirwood, not like he went on a bloody rampage. To me, it is an indication of involvement of the gods or perhaps Bran.

I think in the books in the Varamyr chapter there was something about when he tries to ward into the human but gets rejected…it leads to him going “through the trees” to end up in his wolf. Isn’t it plausible that Jon wargs through the trees (likely assisted by Bran), has a little chat, learns of his parentage, and then gets to Ghost/accepts his warging ability, only to then be resurrected by Mel. The only thing that seems off here though is that HBO did NOT include a Mel clip in the rapid montage! If she’s really going to have a hand in the resurrection, should we have had a breadcrumb there?

My theory on Joan’s resurrection is that they’ll put his body in an ice cell in the wall and he’ll come back as a White BUT because he warged into ghost at the last minute he’ll be able to put his soul back into that body and have control over it like cold hands. I haven’t read it in a while but this was based around the AA prophecies.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/91041-the-compelling-jon-snow-resurrection-theory-that-even-game-of-thrones-fans-arent-talking-about-yet I just read this theory that includes theon. Do you think it still works, even though there’s been spoilers that he’s back in the iron islands?

Theon’s blood sacrifice could very well holdup. I don’t know though. He’s rather far from the Wall for it to work. Of course, I don’t know how blood magic sacrifices work, so maybe?

Yeah its odd to me, but it seems to work if somehow they preserve jon. It’s something else to file away and compare to when it all comes to light.

If Stannis is dead, who’s going to behead Theon on the show?

Something to keep in mind is that GRRM doesn’t do “revenge”…at least not in the way that we are accustomed to seeing. Remember how after after the Red Wedding, you wanted there to be some kind of immediate retribution for what they did to Robb and his mother? Well that kind of satisfaction for revenge was never provided. Tywin Lannister was eventually killed, but, his death had nothing to do with anyone getting revenge for the Red Wedding. And there are many other examples throughout the book where revenge isn’t really provided. In that regard, I don’t think Jon Snow’s death will be any different. So the idea that Jon will be resurrected and then go on the warpath killing those people who murdered him is not in keeping with the way GRRM has written the story so far.

I agree that the assumption that a resurrected Jon will be primarily motivated by a desire for revenge says way more about audience wish-fulfillment than it does about what’s likely to happen. Razor asks, “if you were betrayed and murdered by your own sworn brothers — men who served under your command — and then you were resurrected, what would be your first act as a newly minted member of the living?” My answer would be: It would depend entirely on the nature of the post-death experience. Beric was revived many times; LSH was dead for days before her body was found. I don’t think that you can compare either with what will happen to Jon. A person who has crossed over, transcended death and come back might be utterly immune to such petty, self-serving emotions as vengeance, having perhaps seen a much bigger picture. He could just as likely come back, not as a superhero, but with what in our world might be described as a Buddha consciousness.

And I frankly don’t think that giving his readers the cheap gratification of tit-for-tat payback falls within the author’s value system. ‘You hurt me, so now I’ll hurt you’ is the kind of primitive thinking that leads to feuds and wars, and GRRM’s underlying message is powerfully anti-war, in my perception. Remember, he grew up in the era when boys were being drafted and sent to Vietnam to die for nothing.

This is cool, but good for book readers and probably too complicated for any Unsullied, TV show-only types. I feel like stories are always made simpler for viewing, rather than reading unfortunately. Maybe there was a reason for that, as many people complain that Bran’s plot is without question the most out there and boring of any character in the books. I think maybe D&D were not sure what to do with him just yet knowing how weird and fantasy-like his story becomes, because how do you explain cutting a surviving Stark out of the picture entirely for a season? Rickon I understand as he is too young to have much impact… However Bran travelling all that way to the Raven only to get cut out seems strange even if he’s only supposed to be training with a Greenseer. GOT has always done well with character development, and if Bran is going to come back strong I think they will have to ease him back in because with all that warging he’s too dissimilar to anyone else on the show as the other Starks haven’t shown that capability yet.

Bran can still do a job on the show, but for a TV show that utilises foreshadowing in abundance the most obvious thing seems to have Melisandre resurrect Jon. From there I think he abandons the Night’s Watch as it’s a lost cause, goes south to handle the Boltons and in the process galvanises the North with Sansa and Rickon. From there maybe he connects with Sam at Horn Hill via raven, plans to gather all the valyrian steel in the kingdom as well as dragon glass on Dragonstone, and heads back up north with a much larger army– if the White Walkers find a way to get through the Wall. I don’t know about the Night’s Watch, maybe he kills them all and puts Tormund in charge of Castle Black, or just leaves them to get mauled by the Walkers. I also don’t know how Baelish fits into all this but I assume he will play a part as well. Maybe Bran controls the dragons somehow if needed against the Walkers as Dany still can’t control them too well. I really don’t know anything, but I do think D&D will dumb it down for TV for sure.

Re our assumptions on dragon fire defeating the others. That white walker going through the burning hut in hardhome, he didn’t seem to even break a sweat. Perhaps fire only works on the wights.

Aww Razor! Our tinfoil King. Love your theory crafting stuff.

So a lot of this I’m 100% on board with already – Bran helps Jon warg, Mel deals with the body – who better than Mel after all to deal with a body, the minx 😜 And thats a good vehicle for Jon to get a little history lesson from Bran on his parentage and role to come. The new bits for me are the possibility that through this route Jon returns less changed than LSH, BD since he wasn’t really dead in his soul and they couldn’t warg. So that’s a relief. In terms of audience engagement, too much change to a character we so love would be hard to maintain if we’re still expected to love him. And on that point….Jon killing Olly, regardless of justification, doesn’t sit well with me. Our big sexy bad ass but noble hero killing a traumatised and manipulated child? Nope, not good. And for those worrying about Howland being made superfluous from all this: it doesn’t negate his necessity as a witness to convince the others (side note: I don’t like the Meera theories, but that bloody stupid and oh-so familiar haircut of hers can’t surely just be a sartorial choice…wardrobe dept trolling me?)

The other new thing this got me thinking on was altering the past. I’m happy with wierwood.net (depending very much on how it’s handled!!!!) and I was always aware of incidents where Bran, Bloodraven in one case I think too, was apparently talking through the ‘leaves’ but I hadn’t put this together with the possibility to alter the past. I need to mull this one over a bit more because the implications could be huge and right now my brain is rebelling because my heart is telling it ‘nope, we don’t like that’. Communicating I can totally embrace, messing with time and altering events, nope. It’s kinda the equivalent of ‘He awoke to sunlight coming through the window and the noise of old nan’s knitting needles clacking beside him. It had all been a dream and there were sausages for breakfast. “come Summer” Bran patted the bed to his spaniel.’

Ooh and also, someone mentioned they’ll go straight for Ghost now (nooooooooooooo 😪) and that makes tragic sense BUT I assume also that means the resurrection will have to happen quite fast. Not happy about rumours that it may take a few episodes to happen….but I suppose Jon/Ghost could escape from castle black for a bit ‘with’ Bran whilst the body is back to life but seemingly in a coma. And yes, I’m expecting some physical evidence in the crypts too! CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!!

What’s next Razor?!! Wanna try to bring some order to how things will play out between Jon and Aunty Dany? Or Bloodraven: good or bad guy? Or The White Walkers : mankind’s greatest threat or just a bunch of misunderstood environmental activists?

Moar, Razor! We want mooooooooooooar! /roar 😘

…”The blood from the poster is not his own, because it belongs to those who fall to Longclaw and his righteous vengeance.”

OMG yes I can only hope this is what will happen! Can’t wait to see it!

I’ve been looking at some pictures of Weirwood crying. It reminds me of the first poster with Jon. To me he looks pake as a weirwood crying. But its not Jon crying but Bran.. who wargs into Jon?

Bran can warg Hodor because Hodor has a weak, childlike mind and can’t fight back. If Bran watches Jon dying he can pick a moment were Jon is weak and warg him?

And if he does that too long Bran might get trapped in Jon and Jon will die in Bran. As result, Jon Snow is dead and Bran Stark looking like Jon Snow fights the Boltons .,.

Based on the limited number of days that IHW spent filming this year I don’t think Bran will be playing that much of a part this year. I think his role is purely to set up the Tower of Joy flashback. Nice conjecture however – just don’t build your hopes up. If the series doesn’t play out the way you think it should you’ll just end up disappointed all over again. Wait and see and keep an open mind.

I’m not going to direct this comment at any one particular poster, my mother brought me up far too well for that. And how to choose?!!

Jesus Christ! I’m beginning to understand now why George holds such a strong line on no fan fiction.

Unbe-fucking-lievable complete and utter foundless fantasy drivel gets spouted. Wish the site could deliver mild electrical shocks to posters submitting la-la piffle. We could take a weekly vote on who gets a stronger shock. Might jolt some sentience into them. Oooh and a chocolate fountain for top voted posts squirted straight down the lucky winner’s throat (walmac you’ll do alright here!!)!!

Aaah, rant over. I feel much better now 😎 *whistles a jaunty tune*

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