Bran Stark

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For the high jumper, see Brandon Starc.
Bran Stark
A Song of Ice and Fire character
Game of Thrones character
Bran Stark - Isaac Hempstead-Wright.jpeg
Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark
First appearance
Literature:
A Game of Thrones (1996)
Television:
"Winter Is Coming" (2011)
Last appearance
Television:
"The Iron Throne" (2019)
Created by George R. R. Martin
Adapted by D.B. Weiss & David Benioff
(Game of Thrones)
Portrayed by Isaac Hempstead Wright
In-universe information
Full name Brandon Stark
Aliases
Novels:
The Winged Wolf
Television:
Little Lord
Three-Eyed Raven
Bran the Broken
Gender Male
Title
Prince of Winterfell
Television:
King of the Andals and the First Men
Lord of the Six Kingdoms
Protector of the Realm
Family House Stark
Relatives
Ned Stark (father)
Catelyn Tully (mother)
Robb Stark (brother)
Sansa Stark (sister)
Arya Stark (sister)
Rickon Stark (brother)
Theon Greyjoy (foster brother)
Rickard Stark (grandfather)
Lyarra Stark (grandmother)
Hoster Tully (grandfather)
Minisa Whent (grandmother)
Brandon Stark (uncle)
Benjen Stark (uncle)
Lyanna Stark (aunt)
Lysa Tully (aunt)
Edmure Tully (uncle)
Brynden Tully (granduncle)
Robert/Robin Arryn (cousin)
Novels:
Jon Snow (half-brother)
Television:
Jon Snow (cousin/adoptive brother)
Origin Winterfell, The North
Brandon Stark is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic
fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television
adaptation Game of Thrones, where he is portrayed by English actor Isaac Hempstead
Wright. Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Bran subsequently appears in A
Clash of Kings (1998) and A Storm of Swords (2000). He is one of a few prominent
characters that are not included in the fourth novel A Feast for Crows (2005), but
returned in the fifth novel A Dance with Dragons (2011).

Bran is the second son and fourth child of Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn Stark of
Winterfell, the ancient capital of the North of the kingdom of Westeros. Bran
dreams of becoming a knight since childhood, but is rendered paraplegic by Jaime
Lannister in the first novel after stumbling upon the latter's affair with twin
sister Cersei Lannister. Awaking from a months-long coma, he is subsequently
plagued by dreams of a mysterious figure beckoning him to travel north beyond the
Wall. Bran's journey alongside a variety of companions lead him deeper into the
lore and magic of the North, where he begins to discover various mysterious powers
and abilities.

Martin told Rolling Stone in 2014 that Bran's momentous chapter with Jaime and
Cersei is what "hooked" many readers early in the first novel.[1] Bran's
characterization in later seasons of the show, including his relationship to the
White Walkers and the Night King, has generated many theories in the fandom, as
well as significant critical interest.

Contents
1 Character overview
1.1 Description
2 Storylines
2.1 A Game of Thrones
2.2 A Clash of Kings
2.3 A Storm of Swords
2.4 A Dance with Dragons
2.5 Family tree of House Stark
3 TV adaptation
3.1 Storylines
3.1.1 Season 1
3.1.2 Season 2
3.1.3 Season 3
3.1.4 Season 4
3.1.5 Season 6
3.1.6 Season 7
3.1.7 Season 8
4 References
Character overview
The youngest point of view character in the novels, Bran is in the very first
chapter and was set up by Martin as a young hero of the series. Mikal Gilmore of
Rolling Stone noted in 2014 that the moment in A Game of Thrones in which Jaime
Lannister pushes Bran to his likely death "grabs you by the throat".[1] Martin
commented in the interview:

I've had a million people tell me that was the moment that hooked them, where they
said, "Well, this is just not the same story I read a million times before." Bran
is the first viewpoint character. In the back of their heads, people are thinking
Bran is the hero of the story. He's young King Arthur. We're going to follow this
young boy—and then, boom: You don't expect something like that to happen to him. So
that was successful [laughs].[1]

In 2000, Martin called Bran the hardest character to write:

Number one, he is the youngest of the major viewpoint characters, and kids are
difficult to write about. I think the younger they are, the more difficult. Also,
he is the character most deeply involved in magic, and the handling of magic and
sorcery and the whole supernatural aspect of the books is something I'm trying to
be very careful with. So I have to watch that fairly sharply. All of which makes
Bran's chapters tricky to write.[2]

Booklist cited Bran as a notable character in 1999,[3] and the Publishers Weekly
review of A Game of Thrones noted, "It is fascinating to watch Martin's characters
mature and grow, particularly Stark's children, who stand at the center of the
book."[4]

Noting Bran's absence in 2005's A Feast for Crows, James Poniewozik of Time wrote
in his review of A Dance with Dragons (2011):

Some favorite characters were MIA for eleven long years. ADWD brings them back—
bastard warrior Jon Snow, exiled dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen, fugitive dwarf
Tyrion Lannister and crippled, mystical Bran Stark, among others—and almost from
the get-go that gives it a narrative edge over its companion book. Each, in his or
her own way, is dealing with a question of power.[5]

Description
Bran is seven years old at the beginning of A Game of Thrones (1996) and nine in
the first season of Game of Thrones (2011). He is the fourth child and second son
of Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark of Winterfell, Hand of the King, and his wife Lady
Catelyn, and has five siblings: an older brother Robb, two older sisters Sansa and
Arya, a younger brother Rickon, and an older illegitimate half-brother Jon Snow.
Bran is constantly accompanied by his direwolf Summer, the intellectually disabled
stableboy Hodor (who carries him around after his crippling), and the Reed siblings
Meera and Jojen.

Martin describes Bran as favoring his mother in appearance, having the thick auburn
hair and deep blue eyes of the Tullys.[6] According to Martin, Bran is strong
willed, but a sweet and thoughtful boy, well-loved by everyone at Winterfell.
Before his fall he enjoyed climbing and exploring the walls and ramparts of the
castle. He grew up wanting to be a knight for the kings guard, but those dreams
were quickly brought to an end when Bran had to face the fact that he will never
walk again.;[7][8] He is also dutiful and tough-minded.

With his dreams of being a knight dashed by the crippling attempt on his life in A
Game of Thrones, duty forces Bran to overcome his new limitations and embrace his
new abilities. Although he doesn't realize his newfound powers at first, he grows
to discover what he can accomplish.[9] His gradual acceptance of his seemingly-
prophetic visions (called the "greensight") and his ability to psychically inhabit
his direwolf Summer (which marks him as a type of skinchanger known as a warg) show
his growing maturity and his worth beyond the loss of his legs.[9] He also manages
to enter Hodor's mind, and later skinchanges into crows and even weirwood trees
under the mentorship of the Three-Eyed Crow.

Storylines
A coat of arms showing a gray wolf on a white field.
Coat of arms of House Stark
A Game of Thrones
In A Game of Thrones (1996), Bran accidentally sees Queen Cersei Lannister and her
twin brother Ser Jaime having sex; whereupon he is pushed from the window by Jaime
to keep the incest a secret, but he survives in a coma. Although it is speculated
by some characters that Jamie and Cersei pushed Bran, there were no public
accusations made against the crown.[8] While Bran remains unconscious, a fire is
set at an opposite tower as a distraction while an attempt is made on his life.
Catelyn, who has remained with Bran while Robb takes care of the fire,[10] is able
to delay the assassin long enough for Bran's direwolf, Summer, to kill him.
Senseless, Bran dreams of his falling from the tower and of a three-eyed crow that
offers to teach him to fly. With the crow's guidance, Bran wakes; but having been
crippled by the fall, he is unable to walk. Thereafter he relies on the giant
simpleton Hodor to move around, and a harness designed by Tyrion Lannister to ride
a horse. When Robb rides south to relieve Ned's arrest in King's Landing, Bran
becomes the acting Lord of Winterfell.[11]

A Clash of Kings
1998's A Clash of Kings finds Robb named King in the North, and Bran, as Robb's
heir, rules Winterfell in his brother's absence.[9] When Theon Greyjoy betrays the
Starks and captures Winterfell; Bran and Rickon escape, aided by the wildling Osha.
To hide his failure, Theon has two other children murdered and proclaims them to be
Bran and Rickon. Theon himself is betrayed by Ramsay Snow, the bastard son of Roose
Bolton. Having been hiding in the crypts of Winterfell, Bran and his companions
emerge to find the castle in ruins. They come upon a mortally wounded Maester
Luwin, who advises their traveling party to split. Osha takes Rickon in the
direction of White Harbor, while Bran, Hodor, Meera, and Jojen Reed set off north
to seek the three-eyed crow. Meanwhile, Bran has slowly accepted the veracity of
his dreams, and his ability to psychically inhabit Summer, which makes him a type
of skin-changer known as a warg.[9]

A Storm of Swords
Bran, Hodor, Meera and Jojen travel north to the Wall in search of the three-eyed
crow in A Storm of Swords (2000).

A Dance with Dragons

In A Dance with Dragons (2011), Bran, Hodor, Meera and Jojen are joined by the
mysterious Coldhands, and a Child of the Forest named Leaf takes them to the three-
eyed crow (actually a human telepath), who in turn offers to train Bran in
retrocognition and clairvoyance.

Family tree of House Stark

vte
Descendants of Rickard Stark
TV adaptation

Isaac Hempstead Wright plays the role of Bran Stark in the television series.
Bran Stark is played by Isaac Hempstead Wright in the television adaption of the
series of books.

Storylines
Brandon "Bran" Stark is the second son and fourth child of Eddard and Catelyn
Stark. He was named after his deceased uncle, Brandon.

Season 1
Bran receives one of a litter of recovered direwolves given to the Stark children
and names him Summer. During the King's visit to Winterfell, Bran accidentally
interrupts the Queen, Cersei, having sex with her brother, Jaime, who shoves him
from the window. While he is unconscious and recovering from his injuries, Summer
kills an assassin sent to murder Bran. When he awakens Bran cannot recall the
events before his fall and finds that he is crippled from the waist down, forced to
be carried everywhere by the stableboy Hodor. Slowly, he realizes that he has
gained the ability to assume Summer's consciousness, making him a warg or a
skinchanger. After his older brother, Robb, is crowned King in the North, Bran
becomes Robb's heir and the Lord of Winterfell.

Season 2
After Theon Greyjoy captures Winterfell, Osha helps Bran and his younger brother
Rickon go into hiding. To cement his claim on Winterfell, Theon has two orphan boys
killed and their bodies burned, and passes their charred corpses off as Bran and
Rickon. After Theon's men betray him and Winterfell is sacked, Bran, Rickon, Hodor,
Osha and their direwolves head north to find his older brother Jon Snow for safety.

Season 3
Bran and his group encounter Jojen and Meera Reed, two siblings who aid them in
their quest. Jojen shares Bran's "greensight" and tutors him in his prophetic
visions. After coming close to the Wall, Osha departs with Rickon for Last Hearth
(to keep him safe) while Bran insists on following his visions beyond the Wall.
Bran and his group encounter Sam and Gilly, who try to persuade Bran not to venture
beyond the Wall, but Bran claims it is his destiny and leaves through the gate with
Hodor and the Reeds.

Season 4
During their travels beyond the Wall, Bran and his group stumble across Craster's
Keep, where they are captured and held by Night's Watch mutineers, led by Karl
Tanner. Night's Watchmen led by Jon eventually converge on Craster's Keep, but
Locke, an agent of Roose Bolton, pretending to be a new Watch recruit, finds Bran
first and takes him hostage. Bran wargs into Hodor and snaps Locke's neck. The
group then continues on without telling Jon, who Jojen claims would stop them. Bran
eventually reaches the heart tree but is set upon by wights outside the entrance.
Jojen is killed in the attack, but the Children of the Forest lead Bran and his
company safely into a magic cave, to meet the Three-Eyed Raven. The Three-Eyed
Raven declares that Bran will not walk again but will fly, instead.

Season 6
As part of his training, Bran is shown several visions of the past, including Ned
Stark and Howland Reed confronting Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Gerold Hightower at the
Tower of Joy, and sees how the Children of the Forest injected one of the First Men
with dragonglass in a ritual to create the Night King, the first White Walker, as a
defense against the other First Men. However, the Three-Eyed Raven is always quick
to withdraw Bran from the visions, warning that he may become trapped in them if he
stays too long. Growing bored with his slow progress, Bran enters a vision on his
own and witnesses the Night King in the present day, who sees Bran and marks him,
making the Three-Eyed Raven's cave vulnerable to the White Walkers' magic.

The Three-Eyed Raven enters Bran into another vision of Winterfell's past to impart
all his knowledge, but before the transfer is completed the White Walkers attack
the cave, killing the Three-Eyed Raven, Summer, and the Children of the Forest.
Bran, still caught in the vision, wargs into Hodor through the latter's younger
self (named Wylis), and he and Meera flee as Hodor carries Bran's unconscious body
out of the cave. Meera carries Bran into the forest, while Hodor gives his life to
hold back the cave door against the army of wights until they overwhelm him. Bran
witnesses how his warging accidentally linked Hodor's past and present mind,
inducing a brain damaging seizure in young Wylis and causing him to repeat Meera's
command to "hold the door" over and over, until he can only slur the word "Hodor".

After the wight army catches up to them again, Bran and Meera are rescued by Bran's
uncle Benjen Stark, who had been killed by the White Walkers several years prior
but was revived by the Children. Benjen whisks the duo to safety and advises that
Bran is now the Three-Eyed Raven and must learn to control his powers before the
Night King attacks the Seven Kingdoms. Benjen leaves Bran and Meera at the weirwood
in the Haunted Forest, as the Wall's magic prevents the dead (and therefore,
Benjen) from passing it. Bran touches the weirwood and witnesses the rest of the
vision of Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy. He discovers that Lyanna Stark died giving
birth to Rhaegar Targaryen's son Aegon, whom Ned found and raised as Jon Snow at
Lyanna's dying request.

Season 7
Bran returns to Winterfell, which has been rebuilt and reoccupied by the remaining
Starks. Jon Snow has traveled to Dragonstone to meet with Daenerys Targaryen, after
which he is finally reunited at Winterfell with Sansa and Arya, who are both
concerned by Bran's knowledge about their tribulations following Ned's execution.
Littlefinger gives Bran a Valyrian steel dagger (the one used by Bran's would-be
assassin in season one), which Bran passes to Arya. Meera leaves Winterfell to
return to Greywater Watch; Bran's indifference to her departure makes her realize
that Bran "died" in the Three-Eyed Raven's cave. For that reason, Bran remains
aloof from his siblings as well. He uses his greenseeing abilities to discover
Littlefinger's betrayal of Ned. When Sansa confronts Littlefinger about his treason
towards House Stark, Bran corroborates the accusations leveled against him, and
Arya executes Littlefinger at Sansa's command.

Samwell Tarly arrives in Winterfell and comes to visit Bran. Bran tells Sam his
discovery that Jon is the bastard son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, but Sam mentions a
former High Septon's record of annulling Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell so that
he could marry Lyanna. Bran uses greenseeing to confirm that the marriage took
place, and then revisits the vision of the Tower of Joy, discovering that's Jon's
real name is Aegon Targaryen. Bran declares that Jon is therefore the heir to the
Iron Throne.

Season 8
Bran is reunited with Jon when he returns to Winterfell with Daenerys Targaryen and
her forces. Bran reveals to them that the Night King has reanimated Daenerys'
dragon Viserion and used it to breach the Wall. Bran urges Sam to tell Jon the
truth of his parentage, upon which Jon abdicates his claim in favour of Daenerys'.
Jaime later arrives at Winterfell to aid in the fight against the dead, but Bran
does not reveal Jaime's role in crippling him.

At the war council before the battle against the dead, Bran explains that the Night
King desires to create an endless winter and will try to kill him during the
battle, due to his ability to hold humanity's collective memories. He convinces the
council to let him wait in the Godswood as bait for the Night King. Theon, who has
returned to Winterfell to fight the dead with his men, offers to defend Bran, and
Jon and Daenerys plan to hide in wait to attack the Night King when he emerges. The
Night King eventually breaches the castle and approaches Bran, killing Theon in the
process. He is about to kill Bran, but Arya intervenes and manages to stab the
Night King with the Valyrian steel dagger, eliminating the Night King as well as
all the other White Walkers and undead he resurrected.

Westeros is left without a ruler when, after Daenerys successfully wrests King's
Landing from Cersei Lannister, she proceeds to burn the surrendered populace of the
city, during which Cersei is also killed. Jon fails to dissuade Daenerys from
further destruction and ultimately assassinates her. He is arrested. Weeks later,
Tyrion Lannister proposes choosing Bran as the new king before a council of the
lords and ladies of Westeros. He reasons that it would make a good story to unite
the people, suggesting that future kings be elected by the lords of Westeros rather
than inheriting the crown. When Tyrion asks Bran if he is willing to be king, Bran
replies, "Why do you think I came all this way?"[12] The council holds a vote and
all agree except for Sansa, who instead requests the North's independence. Bran
agrees, being stylized as Bran the Broken, King of the Six Kingdoms. He appoints
Tyrion as his Hand of the King. Later, Brienne, Bronn, Davos, and Sam form Bran's
Small Council. It is revealed Bran has decided to exile Jon to the Night's Watch
for killing Daenerys as a compromise. As Jon leaves, he apologizes to Bran for not
being there for him, but Bran responds, "You were exactly where you were supposed
to be."[13] Bran tasks himself with finding Drogon.

References