We have a brand new “Game of Thrones” theory involving Bran Stark and the Night’s King from reddit user YezenIRL. This probably won’t happen in the books, mostly because the Night’s King isn’t actually a character in the books.
YezenIRL dubbed this the Bran Stark Mindbowl theory — so we’ll stick with that.
Bran Stark’s importance to defeating the Others
As YezenIRL points out — and Season 6 of “Game of Thrones” made readily apparent — Bran Stark will be a pivotal chess piece in the ultimate battle against the Others.
“From Jojen’s cryptic comments to Samwell at the end of season 3 that none of the kings or armies of Westeros can stop them, to the Three Eyed Raven’s promise of a greater destiny, to [show Coldhands] straight up telling Bran that he needs to be ready and waiting when the Night King makes it to the world of the living; All indications point to Bran’s role in stopping the Others being pivotal, if not the most pivotal.”
-YezenIRL
Next, YezenIRL draws a very important — and entirely realistic — conclusion about an event that occurred in Season 6’s episode The Door. In that episode, the Night’s King physically touched Bran’s arm and left a mark while Bran was having one of his see-the-past visions. The mark broke the magic of the cave Bran and others were hiding in, which enabled the Others to enter, which led to the death of the Three Eyed Raven, Hodor, Summer and others.
But the ripple effect of the mark on Bran’s arm has probably only just begun. It will likely have far-reaching consequences, one of which is the possibility that the mark will break the magic of the Wall, and once Bran passes through the Wall, the Night’s King and the Others will be able to pass through as well.
But YezenIRL thinks not of the fact that the mark exists, but of how it came to exist. “If contact with Bran’s consciousness by the Night King can physically affect Bran, then logic follows that Bran’s projection can physically affect the Night King,” wrote YezenIRL.
In other words, if the Night’s King can touch and leave a “real life” physical mark on Bran via a “dream sequence,” then logic holds that Bran could do something similar to the Night’s King. Which brings us to the next part of the Bran Stark Mindbowl theory.
Why the relationship between Bran Stark and the Night’s King matters
If we accept this possibility as fact, it opens up several interesting doors. “This is advantageous because while the Night King can guard himself with hoards of wights, Bran can hypothetically project his consciousness anywhere the Night King is, and as a projection of consciousness cannot be physically affected by the surrounding wights,” wrote YezenIRL.
YezenIRL then theorizes that in a future sequence — again, most likely only in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and not in the books — the Night’s King and Jon Snow will be battling in a sword fight. Bran will be watching via a dream sequence.
Does that remind you of something? YezenIRL says it reminds him of the Tower of Joy scene, where Bran watched Ned Stark duel Arthur Dayne.
How the Bran Stark Mindbowl theory could play out
In this Bran Stark Mindbowl theory, Jon Snow would be playing the role of Ned Stark, while the Night’s King would be playing the role of Arthur Dayne. The duel between Stark and Dayne ended with Howland Reed stabbing Dayne in the back while Dayne was focused on Stark.
Since Bran can probably physically affect the Night’s King through dream sequences, then the theory holds than Bran will play the role of Howland Reed. So while Jon Snow has a swordfight with the Night’s King — a fight he will most likely be losing — Bran will “save the day” at the end by stabbing the Night’s King in the back, presumably killing the “real life” Night’s King in the process given their dream-link.
YezenIRL sees it playing out a little differently, and he theorizes that Bran will “grab [the Night’s King] similar to how [the Night’s King] marked Bran in Season 6, using his powers to bring the Night King to his knees for Jon to strike the final blow.”
No matter how it plays out, the endgame of the theory is the same: Bran will use his mindpowers to defeat the Night’s King through a dream sequence, hence the name of the theory — “Mindbowl.”
I like this theory since the first two episodes of Season 7 have been portraying a good amount of similarities between the past and present (Aegon conquers on three dragons = Dany has three dragons on Dragonstone, Danny was born during a storm and arrives during a storm, etc.). So if we believe this theory then we will need a weapon used by Bran. Howland Reed used a knife and therefore, so will Bran. Which knife then is the question? My thought is that it will be the knife used to try to kill Bran back in Season 1 and glimpsed in episode 1 of Season 7 when Sam if flipping through books.