Game of Thrones season 7: Some fresh questions about Bran Stark

facebooktwitterreddit

You might need to put on your tinfoil hat for the conclusion that this Game of Thrones enthusiast has made about Bran Stark … or does it make sense?

Yours truly has already started musing about what exactly Bran Stark has going on in this season of Game of Thrones. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Metro had this find online, so I’ll tip my hat (or would a salute with a sword be more appropriate?) for this Reddit discovery.

To get you in the right mindset, it’s time for a comparison. If you’re a Doctor Who fan, it’s a bit like River Song and the Doctors always meeting at different points in the timeline. However, those events have already taken place prior to River’s canonical first appearance in “Silence in the Library.” Remember how she asks the Doctor what they have been through together, only to realize this is the first time he meets her? The Redditor also points out that the show has already proven that this kind of time loop can happen within Game of Thrones thanks to Hodor.

Titled “The identity of the Night king (based on tv-series facts),” the Reddit user posits that Bran basically creates another stable time loop and wargs into the Night King prior to his becoming the Night King, and then gets stuck.

Well, technically, the idea is that Bran has already created this stable time loop (to use a good word, it’s “timey-wimey,” thanks Tenth Doctor), meaning he exists in the current time period of the show as both the Bran Stark we know and the Night King. We just haven’t seen him do it, because we haven’t reached the part of his timeline where he does it.

To think more on that, it would add a new layer to his claims that he isn’t Bran Stark. One has to wonder if some part of his mind actually already knows that he’s going to do this and that there’s no real way to avoid it, because, well, stable time loops have that name for a reason. They can’t really be altered.

The comments, of course, have plenty of sussing out what’s going on and whether or not this could actually happen, but let’s take another look at what’s been said about Bran recently. The impression is that Bran is in way over his head, and if the purpose of the Three-Eyed Raven is to combat the White Walkers, might what’s left of Bran actually decide that putting those powers to work might be the only way to stop what’s happening?

With just two episodes left in this season of Game of Thrones, it seems like we’ll need to save this for season 8 if it actually happens.

Next: Our favorite feminist moments of 'Eastwatch'

Additionally, this kind of big, bomb-dropping reveal — and Bran being driven to this decision within the context of the show, because we’d likely see it happen if that’s what’s going on, something else the Redditor picks up on — practically requires something particularly bad to happen … something that might happen as soon as the season 7 finale or even “Beyond the Wall,” episode six of Game of Thrones‘ seventh season.