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Episode 4 Basically Confirmed That Bran Stark Is The Lord Of Light—Not The Three-Eyed Raven

** This post contains spoilers to Game of Thrones so far. Continue at your peril. **

Season 8 of Game of Thrones saw the living triumph over the dead, as Arya Stark plunged her Valyrian steel dagger into the Night King, destroying him and his armies before he was able to kill Bran in front of the weirwood tree.

And while Bran Stark did pretty much nothing during “The Long Night”, other than sit and give the Night King his shadiest stare, he still may be the most important character in the series and in the history of Westeros, if this theory by Reddit user Don’tMicrowaveCats is anything to go by.

He argues that Bran, as the Three-Eyed Raven, is the physical manifestation of the Lord of Light, just as The Night King was the physical manifestation of Death, and Jon Snow is a ‘fire wight’ as a direct opposite to The Night King’s White Walkers and ice wights.

Let’s take a look at who/what The Lord of Light is.

The Lord of Light, otherwise known by “R’hollor” in the East, is the deity of a religion founded in the continent of Essos. He is associated with fire, light, and heat and is symbolized mostly by a read heart on fire. His red priests and priestesses (such as Thoros of Myr and Melissandre) have spread throughout the known world, preaching the Lord as “A god of light and love and joy, and a god of darkness, evil, and fear, eternally at war.”

If the god of darkness is physically manifested as the Night King, then it would make sense for his opposite, The Lord of Light, to also have a physical manifestation. That manifestation might just be the Three-Eyed Raven.

Hear out u/DontMircrowaveCats:

In an interview with Time Magazine last year, G.R.R.M. explicitly made sure to bring up Beric Dondarrion.

“he’s not a living human being anymore. His heart isn’t beating, his blood isn’t flowing in his veins, he’s a wight, but a wight animated by fire instead of by ice, now we’re getting back to the whole fire and ice thing”

So Beric is a “fire wight”. And thats obviously foreshadowing something. The big question is, if the Night King animates the ice wights, who then animates the fire wights?

Here are the Facts:

  1. Bran is a powerful warg. We know he gets visions of the past, present and future…and can manipulate the past to help save his future self. We don’t yet know the extent of this power.

  2. We knew the Night King can reanimate the dead into evil still-dead soldiers. But this episode we learned he can also manipulate snow and ice at will, sending a full blown blizzard. (This is key.)

  3. Followers of the Lord of Light believe that their Lord is always at war with his evil opposite diety. Theres always a dichotomy. Light vs Dark. Good vs Bad. Fire vs Ice. Everything in this world has an antithesis.

  4. The 3 eyed raven seems to be NK’s eternal adversary. He intentionally killed the OG 3 eyed raven, and ever since he’s been after Bran.

  5. The lord of light supposedly has a “purpose” for everyone. Consequently, everyone supposedly brought back by the lord of light helped Arya defeat the Night King.

  6. Bran gave Arya the dagger, and offered himself as bait. So like the Lord of Light, everything Bran has done recently also ultimately leads to Arya defeating the Night King.

Here’s how the Night King fits into all of this.

  • If the Night King is Lord of Death, Night, and Ice…he should have an equal opposite. That opposite would of course be the Lord of Life, Light, and Fire (ie. The Lord of Light) .

  • The Night King is a physical entity, his opposite should be too. The Lord of Light likely has a physical presence (or a physical champion at the very least). So who is it? they don’t ever explicitly show any other being with NK’s level of power (or do they?)

  • If the Night King can reanimate the dead, his “light” opposite should have an equal level of power to bring life. And if NK’s reanimated dead fight for evil, then his opposite’s reanimated dead would fight for good/the living.

  • George R.R. Martin confirmed this logic, with his mentioning the existence of the “Fire Wight”. Beric, Jon, (and maybe the Hound) are one of them. So the above theory that the Lord of Light is the NK’s opposite holds water

  • If the NK can manifest snow and ice at will. Then his opposite should be able to manifest fire at will. And maybe…communicate with others through it.

  • Bran and the Lord of Light are working towards the same goal.

  • The 3 Eyed Raven is the NK’s ultimate adversary….the force hes always at battle with.

The simplest explanation to all of this …The 3 Eyed Raven is the Night King’s opposite. The NK’s opposite is the Lord of Light. Therefore, Bran = the Lord of Light (or at least what people think is the Lord of Light due to the signs he brings)

Arya’s dagger plays a pretty important role in it all.

The thesis for the theory hinges on ‘The Catspaw Dagger,’ which you may recognize as the dagger that was originally used in an attempt to kill Bran in Season 1, that popped up in Sam’s book at the Citadel when he was reading about the Targaryen Dynstasy, that Bran gave to Arya in Season 7, and that Arya used to kill both Littlefinger and more importantly, The Night King. No one is certain where the dagger came from, only that it is very old and linked to the Targaryen kings.

HBO

Now that we’ve gotten the facts out of the way, here’s the full theory. Buckle up for some time manipulation shenanigans.

The Theory

It all but obvious at this point, Bran has been manipulating the plotline the entire time. He knew exactly how the battle was going to end. He knew exactly how to kill the Night King, because he set the trap himself. While warging during the battle, he was likely manipulating events to lead to the final conclusion.

Everything he has done has revolved around getting the dagger to Arya and getting her safely to the NK. That plan was set in motion all the way back in Season 1.

Future Bran made sure that dagger was sent to kill his childhood self. He put the key piece in play. He then warged into Summer to kill the assassin.

Farther back than that, the dagger may have belonged to Aerys Targarian (passed down through their family), and Bran messed with him to make sure it got where it needed to go. (Maybe Jaime or Littlefinger picked it up after the Mad King was slain).

Arya’s training was also crucial/pre-planned. She would have never trained to kill without….1) Bran’s assassination attempt being pinned on Tyrion (because of the dagger). And 2) King Robert’s Death.

We already know how he could have manipulated the assassination. He could have also been warged into the wild boar that killed King Robert, if it were for the good of the realm.

Melesandre told Arya last episode what Syrio Forel told her before he was killed, “What do we say to the god of death? Not today”. Homage to the fact that her training was all destined from the beginning.

All of the war and death that was sparked because of Bran. He knew it would happen, but he saw how the alternative story lines would play out, where the Night King wins. He sacrificed whoever he had to for the good of the realm. Much like lord Varys (who he spoke to through the flames after he was cut)

Bran has actually been manipulating the past to ensure Arya got where she needed to be to kill the Night King.

  • Beric getting brought back to life so many times….it wasn’t the shitty priest saying a prayer. Both he and Melesandre said he shouldn’t have that power. In fact, it was Bran bringing him back to life so he could help Arya during the battle.

  • The hound surviving. Septon Ray told him he thought he was a corpse. He also told him that he pretty much died multiple times while he was recovering, but he kept coming back to life. After he comes back to life, he’s fighting for good. Again, hound ended up a key figure in getting Arya to the NK.

  • Jon coming back. No evidence again to suggest Melesandre’s prayer did it. She completely gave up, and he didn’t come back to life until a while after.

  • The trench lighting on fire…again, it didn’t seem to be Melesandre’s words that did it. You could see she was getting frustrated/confused when it wasn’t working at first. It was actually Bran summoning fire.

  • Lord Varys hearing the voice in the flames after he was cut….which is said to be what lead to him ending up in King’s Landing and rising to power. After that scene with the priestess in the Pyramid, it cut to Bran’s face.

HBO

Bran being the Lord of Light raises further questions, however.

We know Bran is the most powerful living being other than the Night King. We know both he and the Lord of Light are working towards the same goal, and both manipulate the storyline.

It makes sense that Bran is the Lord of light, and all past 3 Eyed Ravens were also the Lord of Light. Or at the very least they’re representatives of him .

Where was Bran during the battle? Making shit happen. This would make the Night King’s death wayyy less anticlimactic than it was.

Some interesting questions then come up if this all plays out. When the Whites die, their wights they turned die.

If Bran dies, does Jon automatically die too?

Now that the Night King is dead, who’s the Lord of Light’s new opposite to balance out the dichotomy? (Cersei? Danny? perhaps)

If that wasn’t enough, he has further evidence to back up his theory.

  • Bran’s powers are strongest by the Weirwood trees. Aka the “Heart Trees” The trees were worshiped by the First Men (and Children of the forest?) as gods. They’re known as “Heart Trees”. The lord of light is also known as the “Heart of Fire”, with a symbolic heart.

  • The Children of the Forest brought back Benjen as a fire-wielding fire wight. They’re obviously the key to the power of both the NK and the Lord of Light. They could have created the 3 eyed raven/LoL the same as they created the NK as a counter balance

  • Bran (or the OG 3 eyed raven) are likely who drove Aerys II Targaryen mad, whispering for him to “Burn them all”. He’s been fighting the future battle from the past for a long time.

  • In the episode followup commentary, they implied they randomly picked Arya to kill the NK at some point; and wove the episode to heighten the surprise. Its hard to believe that decision was really random

Whether or not Bran is the Lord of Light, we know that he is forever in Arya’s debt.

h/t: Reddit, Fandom Wiki

Edward Stockwell