Four Ways Bran Could Change the 'Game of Thrones' in Season 6
Hoping for more Bran in your next serving of Game of Thrones? Not to worry: the second-youngest Stark son — baby Rickon is still safe in the company of Osha, we hope — will be returning in a big way in the show’s sixth season, set to premiere on HBO in April. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright teased Bran’s prominent role in the current goings-on in Westeros. When last we saw him at the end of Season 4, the Warg-in-training had arrived at the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) to develop and hone his special powers. And the actor promises that Bran’s skills have definitely been sharpened during his season-long absence. “’I would have just been sitting in a cave going, ‘Oh, I can nearly do it now,’” he jokingly tells EW about why it was best for Bran to sit Season 5 out.
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Rest assured that Bran is going to be putting his powers to the test early and often in the next season. “Previously Bran’s seen tiny glimpses of future or past, but never has he been very much in control in the situation,” Hempstead-Wright reveals. “Now we’re given looks into very important events in the past, present and future of this world and Bran is beginning to piece them together like a detective, almost as if he’s watching the show.” Well, if Bran can play detective, so can we! Based on Hempstead-Wright’s clues, here are four ways we think Bran is going to make his presence felt in Season 6.
A Joyful Reunion
The suggestion that Bran is going to be able to peer backwards into Westerosi history dovetails nicely with an intriguing piece of casting news from earlier this year. As previously reported, Eddie Eyre has joined the Season 6 cast as Ser Alfred Hunrith — which some suspect is actually a cover identity for a young Ned Stark — a warrior who takes part in the raid on Rhaegar Targaryen’s Tower of Joy, where Ned’s sister Lyanna is being help captive. (It’s assumed, but still unconfirmed, that actors Robert Aramayo and Luke Roberts will also be part of this sequence as Stark ally Howland Reed and Targaryen affiliated Arthur Dayne respectively.) Indeed, on-set reports have already placed Hempstead-Wright on location for the Tower of Joy raid, strongly suggesting he’ll be revisiting this crucial incident for an as-yet unspecified purpose.
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Saving Jon Snow
Here’s our theory behind the purpose of Bran’s Tower of Joy flashback: up until now, everyone has (mostly) accepted the explanation that Jon Snow is Ned Stark’s illegitimate offspring. But as has been widely speculated, Snow could very well have Targaryen blood coursing through his veins — a development that would be crucial to any resurrection attempt after his assassination at the hands of treacherous Night’s Watch subordinates. A visit to the Tower of Joy could help Bran solve the famous “R+L=J” equation, and give him the evidence that could result in his brother/cousin having a second chance at life.
Driving the Dragon
Speaking of the Targaryens, Daenerys — the last surviving member (for now) of that fallen House — is currently lost in the wilderness, having been spirited out of Mereen by her dragon child, Drogon, and deposited on Dothraki-occupied grasslands. Should Bran mentally locate her, he could also presumably cast his Warg mind into Drogon’s scaly body, in the same way he’s previously seen the world through direwolf eyes. Of course, the question of whether Wargs can inhabit dragons is one that’s still hotly debated in Game of Thrones circles. For storytelling purposes, though, it would be the ideal way to get Daenerys back to Mereen and then onto Westeros in time for the rapidly-approaching Winter.
Rewriting Future History
Revisiting the past allows Bran to see how things were, and mentally projecting himself around the present shows him how things are. Leaping ahead into the future, though, is to visit a world that may or may not come to pass. As such, we’re anticipating at least a few apocalyptic visions of a Westeros overrun by White Walkers, and a Mereen in flames when the Tyrion/Varys alliance goes belly-up. These scenes (hopefully) won’t become reality, but at least they’ll give Bran an idea of the future he’ll have to marshal all his Warg-ish talents to unmake.
Game of Thrones premieres in April on HBO
