ADwD 34: Bran 521

Bran is learning to become a greenseer. He can already do skin-changing/warging/posessing the bodies of most animals. Greenseeing seems to involve being able to see at any distance and even into the past. Into the future? I don't think so.

The three-eyed-crow man used to be called Brynden before he wandered into a cave beyond the wall and became one with a tree. That's quite a Stark name. Or is it a Tully name? Was there a Brynden Stark or Tully who went missing a long time ago?

Bran keeps posessing Hodor and is keeping it a secret from everyone. It's a bit weird and no good can come of it, I'm sure. Bran is in love with Meera and even at one point considers using Hodor to comfort her when she is upset about her brother.

Speaking of Jojen, he's not doing much, seems a bit depressed, wants to go home, but isn't. And he's having green dreams but I'm not sure what they're about, but they are what is upsetting Meera.

The Children of the Forest call themselves "those who sing the song of the earth". They live for hundreds of years, and when they die they store their memories in the trees. GRRM has been watching Avatar, hasn't he? The singers have been living in these caves for a million years. There are holes in the caves that go to the centre of the earth. Bran had better watch out for balrogs! The singers taught men how to use ravens to send messages, except that back in the day they used to speak the messages instead of having them written down and tied to their feet. I'd like to know more about the ravens. How do they know where to go? Or are they like homing pigeons, in which case once all the ravens are "home" presumably someone has to ride all over taking them away again. So why is this never mentioned?

While learning his new telepresence powers, Bran tries to talk to his dad in the past, and Ned calls out, "who's there?" I searched the first book and only Jon says "who's there" when Mormont is attacked by a zombie.

Soon Bran will be able to see anything anywhere, at least within range of a weirwood. It is less clear to me how he will be able to influence events. Animal attacks? Talking Ravens (Mormont's raven could be useful)? Or can Bran maybe make images appear in fires? Wooooo that would be interesting.

ADwD 13: Bran 196

Ages ago, Bran set out to find the three-eyed-crow, the greenseer, who could help him to master his superpower. It was a long journey. On the way, he had a series of adventures. In this chapter, he successfully finds and meets the three-eyed-crow. How often does that happen in Game of Thrones, I ask? He didn't get kidnapped. He didn't become any more disabled than he already was. He didn't abandon his quest and go off and do something else. He didn't even change direction every chapter and randomly roam around the map getting distracted by various side-quests. He's gone in a more or less straight line from Winterfell to the three-eyed-crow. It has to mean something. Either Bran is the true hero of this series and is going to end up on the iron throne, or else this is GRRM's biggest dummy yet, and he's going to die in a freak boating accident in the next chapter.

In this chapter we meet a real life Child of the Forest, who talks and everything. And is over 200 years old ("Men, they are the children") so probably knows a thing or two. We also find out that the three-eyed-crow (who can't move on account of having tree roots embedded in his skull) has been spying on Bran and influencing his dreams ever since he was a baby. Oh, and either Hodor or Bran loves Meera; I'm not sure which. And Jojen is suddenly very weak; I don't remember why. Hopefully the underground colony of Children of the Forest can fix him up.

ADwD 4: Bran 68

Bran, Hodor, Meera, Jojen and Summer are following the strange zombie Coldhands through the forest looking for a three-eyed crow. They're running out of food and Jojen is getting weaker. I'm not sure if we know the reason why; I don't remember Jojen getting injured or anything but it's been a while.

Coldhands goes off to find some bad guys who are nearby and sends the children away to take shelter in an abandoned village. Bran takes telepathic control of Summer and finds some dead Watchmen being eaten by another wolf, none other than Varamyr Sixskins who now permanently inhabits his wolf's body now that his human body is dead. They win a fight and then Summer/Bran have a taste of human flesh too.

At this point I don't understand the mechanics of wargs well enough to predict what will happen. Bran is seemingly unperturbed about tasting human flesh. Varamyr's pack have seemingly joined Summer but I don't know if wolf-Varamyr is more wolf-like or more human-like at this point so I can't tell how likely he is to betray them.

ASoS 56: Bran 755

Bran, Hodor, Meera and Jojen arrive at the scary Nightfort. Bran remembers lots of Old Nan's scary stories about it. One of the stories involves a cook who was cursed for slaying a guest. Old Walder Frey clearly needed a Nan to tell him scary stories.

Jojen thinks there is a way through the wall here but Bran is sure there is not. Then they all go to sleep (no watch?) but Bran is woken by scary noises. The giant black monster emerging from the well turns out to be none other than Samwell Tarly! (The scary wailing noises are Gilly's baby.) This is the first big coincidence of the series, I think. Every story is allowed one or two. Sam leads them through an underground tunnel and a talking magic gate (the most overt magic we have yet seen).

Bran gets a new skill: he can mind-control Hodor. That's a bit weird. Hodor doesn't seem to mind, though, or even notice.

We also learn a little more about the elk-riding man Sam, Gilly and the baby have been travelling with. They have called him Coldhands and he seems to be a brother of the Watch who has turned into a zombie, but seems to be more intelligent (and possibly more good) than your average zombie. In fact it is no co-incidence: Coldhands seemed to know where Bran would be and brought Sam to him. Next we will find out what Coldhands wants with Bran, but presumably it involves the three-eyed crow.

ASoS 40: Bran 545

What a rip-roaring adventure tale this chapter was. No complicated plot developments, no politics, no war strategy, just Bran, Jojen, Meera and Hodor, like hobbits on a journey. They cross the wasteland of The Gift of land to the watch, find an abandoned village and a holdfast on an island. Bran remembers old Nan telling him about a causeway to access it, and sure enough they cross and hold up in the tower. How did Nan know about the causeway? I bet there are some good stories about her to be told...

A storm comes. Hodor gets scared but Bran discovers he can calm him by reaching out with his powers. That will be useful. Then Jojen sees men in the village. Will they try to get in the tower? Will Bran and company be able to escape in the morning? Bran becomes Summer and it turns out that whoever the men are, they are afraid.

ASoS 24: Bran 331

Bran is on a journey. It's all a bit Fellowship of the Ring. The landscape is described. Eagles fly overhead: that's probably not good. We get to hear a story from a long time ago about places that have not been mentioned before. Green Men may make future appearances.

They meet a Liddle who offers them shelter and a cave and tells them news of the wider world. Bran vows to be nice to Liddles if he ever gets the chance.

ASoS 9: Bran 122

Bran is still addicted to his wolf virtual reality game, and is annoyed when Jojen pulls his headset off right when he's in the middle of fighting and about to eat a deer.

They're living in an abandoned watchtower in the woods in the middle of nowhere.

There's a bit of a debate about who is really in charge and what they should do, and in the end Bran agrees to go along with Jojen's plan of visiting the three-eyed crow beyond the wall. Who this is we don't know, but I suspect it will turn out to be some wildling close to Mance Rayder. Bran knows he can't keep just being a wolf: apparently it's possible for a warg to take full control of the host animal and even pick which animal to control, which sounds like a pretty awesome telepresence superpower which I suspect Bran will master before the end of the saga.

ACoK 69: Bran 862

Finally we find out what Bran has been up to all this time: hiding out in the crypt with Osha, Hodor, Rickon, Meera and Jojen. Apparently they just made some false tracks to the woods, send the wolves on to make more tracks (which Theon wasted his afternoon trying to follow before killing the Miller and his family in exasperation) and then doubled back to hide in the last place anyone would look, right underneath Winterfell.

Bran can mind-meld with his wolf at will now, and like a virtual reality addict or a kid who can't stop playing Fortnite, needs to be reminded to eat and go to the toilet. He learns that Winterfell has been burned, so they make their way out of a crypt with a brief dramatic interlude while we find out whether or not Hodor can open door with rocks jammed against it.

We get direct confirmation that it was Bran who helped Jon, though Bran is not sure how and whether he really did that.

Everyone is dead except for Maester Luwin, who advises them to split up just before he dies (with a helping hand from Osha) but is a little unclear on where they should go since war is everywhere. Osha and Rickon head east and along the kingsroad (maybe they will make it to Riverrun), while Bran, Meera and Jojen head north. I'm not sure where they might end up. The wall?

ACoK 46: Bran 599

Hard to believe, but Theon's plan seems to be working so far. Ser Rodrick has gone off to the rescue of Torrhen's Square and Theon has been able to take over Winterfell with a handful of thugs. He's forced Bran to yield, but the smallfolk can see through it. The blacksmith, Mikken, refuses to yield and gets a spear through the neck for his trouble. Even poor Hodor gets a beating. Theon is going for the Joffrey style of rule, and I can't see it working out any better for him. Theon wasn't there at the end of AGoT when all the lords were getting excited about Robb being the King in the North. I'm sure they'll help him re-take Winterfell at their earliest convenience.

Osha has joined with Theon. Either she's up to something clever, I'm about to get payoff for thinking the Starks are mad for keeping her around in the first place.

Bran 469

Bran gets mail. Robb has won a battle against Stafford Lannister. We already knew that, but Bran feels a bit meh about it because he has never heard of Stafford. I can relate to that: it's a feeling I often get reading ASoIaF. Anyway, the Walders Frey's uncle is dead. They're pretty ok about that, and Bran is still worried. Which *perfectly* matches what Jojen predicted in his dream about not liking his delicious supper and the Freys enjoying their scraps!

So now Bran believes everything Jojen says. Except he says that Bran is going to to be murdered soon and have his face cut off, so that's not great. Also there is a prediction about Winterfell being flooded by the sea, which everyone inexplicably takes literally despite being told the dreams are cryptic. Probably it means Stannis or the Greyjoys (the ones with ships) are going to attack.

Poor Lady Hornwood (who everyone was trying to marry for her lands) married Roose Bolton's bastard and ended up dead shortly after. Now there is some infighting amongst the northerners over the Hornwood land and there's not much anyone can do because the King in the North is busy fighting Lannisters. Why can't everyone just get along?

Bran 393

Bran hangs out with Meera and Jojen who are his new best friends now that everyone else has gone home after the big party. Apparently Jojen has "greensight" which is some sort of ESP power, and they think Bran has the same power on account of his dreams and wolf mind-melding.

Bran is so freaked out by this he mind-melds with Summer and she attacks Meera and Jojen, but they seem pretty cool about it, because Jojen knows this is not the day he dies.

Maester Luwin is highly skeptical, being a man of science, but there comes a point when there is so much evidence you ought to start believing in magic. One of these days Bran will make a solid prediction about something he could not otherwise have known and then everyone, including Bran, will believe in his magic powers.

Bran 293

Bran goes to a party. He mind-melds with his wolf. Lady Meera of House Reed and her brother Jojen of Greywater Watch (not much older than Bran) turn up to pledge allegiance. Apparently they live in mud and eat frogs. They want to see the Direwolves.

Everyone starts dancing but Bran can't, so he goes to bed and dreams that he is Summer and Meera and Jojen are in the wood.