[S1E1] The Burning Vision

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Twitter at @LacyMB.

[S1E1] The Burning Vision

We also learn that Albie once had an affair, but he finds the courage to tell his wife about it. The thing is, she already knew, and viewers are led to believe the barn burning scene has something to do with that illicit romance.

While Burned Ones have superhuman durability that make them resistant to direct attacks from fire magic,[3] they are susceptible to other forms of fairy magic. Light Fairies can obscure a Burned One's vision with a blinding light, Earth Fairies can temporarily bind them with vines,[2], Mind Fairies can probe their memories, and Water Fairies can summon a powerful stream of water to push them away.[3] Additionally, Zanbaq oil is effective in rendering a Burned Ones unconscious for a few hours.[4]

He returns to a dark, empty house and only turns on the over the counter light in the kitchen while he gets a beer from the fridge. Then he drinks the beer and watches television by the light of a single reading lamp over his chair in the living room, with just his two pet fish for company. He watches a nature program about gnats with a 3-7 day life cycle, emphasizing the seeming insignificance of his own life.

Tensions rise at camp between Osha and Meera Reed before Bran diffuses the situation. Jojen Reed experiences a seizure while sleeping, and Meera explains they are caused by his visions. Jojen then tells Bran that in his vision he saw Jon with the wildlings.[21]

Bran, Hodor, Jojen, and Meera are north of the Wall and Bran is looking through Summer's eyes, now having the ability to look through him whenever he wants. They wake him up which angers Bran. They warn him that if he stays in the wolf too long, he will stay in Summer permanently and lose everything he has ever known. Later, Summer discovers a Heart tree, to which Bran request Hodor to carry him to it. Bran skinchanges with it and has a vision of another Heart tree on a hill, the Three-Eyed Raven, his father about to be executed, a flight of ravens, White walkers and wights, including a glimpse of the Night's King turning Craster's last son, the Iron Throne sitting empty with snow falling around it, himself falling from the tower, a dragon flying over King's Landing, and finally the same tree on a hill again, all while a strange voice tells him to find him "beneath the tree, North." Bran suddenly returns to his own consciousness and then tells the others that he knows where they have to go.[25]

Bran and his group eventually reach the giant weirwood tree on the hill, but are attacked by a group of wights. Jojen is fatally stabbed and Meera attempts to save him, but Jojen tells her to leave him for dead. They are helped by Leaf, a Child of the Forest who leads them into a cave after burning Jojen's body when Jojen dies. She explains that the wights cannot enter, as the magic that reanimates them has no power there. She then leads them deep into the cave to the Three-Eyed Raven, who is revealed to not be a bird but a very old man whose body is fused to the roots of the weirwood tree. Meera begins to tell him that Jojen has died and before she can finish the raven says that Jojen knew what would happen the moment he left, and went anyway. When Meera asks how he knows that, the raven says that he has been watching them for all of their lives with a thousand eyes and one. The raven tells Bran that the hour is late, and Bran replies that he did not want anyone to die for him. The raven states that Jojen died so that Bran could find what he lost. Bran asks if the raven will help him walk again. The raven answers that Bran will never walk again, but he will fly.[28]

Bran continues his training under the Three-Eyed Raven. He and the raven watch a vision of his late father Ned and his uncle Benjen Stark as young boys training in the grounds of Winterfell by a young Rodrik Cassel. Bran also witnesses his late aunt Lyanna Stark as a young girl and a much younger Hodor. Through the vision, Bran learns that Hodor used to be a stable boy named "Wylis" before he became simpleton, who is carefully protected from harm by a middle-aged Old Nan. While Bran longs to stay in the vision, he is pulled out by the Three-Eyed Raven, who warns him that he may become too enamored with the past to want to return to reality. Bran finds Meera outside the cave, viewing the world beyond; still grieving over the loss of Jojen. Meera tells Bran that she was having trouble coping with their apparent inaction to the coming war. In response, Bran reminds her that it is no longer safe anywhere outside, to which Meera continues to spurn him. After Bran leaves, Leaf tells Meera of her importance to Bran's future.[31]

In another vision, Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven view the events that unfolded at the Tower of Joy towards the end of Robert's Rebellion. Ned Stark rides to the Tower of Joy with five of his bannermen, one of them being Howland Reed, to find Lyanna Stark. The tower is guarded by two Kingsguard: Ser Arthur Dayne and Lord Commander Gerold Hightower. After the two refuse Ned's requests to learn his sister's fate, the eight men duel. While Gerold Hightower is killed early on, Arthur Dayne single-handedly defeats nearly all of Ned's retainers, and is about to kill Ned himself when Howland Reed unexpectedly stabs Dayne through the back of the neck, having been injured early on, but not killed. Bran is shocked that the stories he heard were not as honorable as the events that actually unfolded. Ned finishes off Dayne by partially decapitating him with his own sword, Dawn, and hears a woman scream from the tower. As Ned runs into the tower to find Lyanna, Bran calls out to him. Ned stops to look around, but is confused because he cannot find the source of the voice. Before Bran can discover what is in the tower for himself, the Three-Eyed Raven brings both of them out of the past. While he acknowledges that the younger Ned had heard Bran, he also warns Bran not to interfere with the past.[32]

In another vision of the past, thousands of years ago, Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven witness several Children of the Forest, including Leaf, create the first White Walker. Once out of the vision and shocked at the revelation, Bran asks Leaf why they did it, and Leaf confesses it was to prevent the First Men from destroying more of their sacred weirwood trees and the extinction of their people during the Wars which endangered the Children. She then reminds Bran that it was his ancestral culture with inevitably made this a necessary action.[33]

Meera drags Bran through the woods beyond the wall, while he is still caught in visions about past and future events. They are chased by wights and just when they are about to kill them, a hooded person arrives and is able to kill all the wights, using a flaming chain. He urges Bran and Meera to come with him. Later, when they make camp, their rescuer reveals himself, and to Bran's surprise, it is his presumed to have been dead uncle Benjen. He explains that he was stabbed by a White Walker and left to die, but the Children of the Forest rescued and stopped him from becoming a Wight. He says that Bran must now be the new Three-Eyed Raven, and that he shall be waiting for the White Walkers when they come to the realms of men.[34]

Benjen takes Bran and Meera to a Weirwood beyond the wall, and explains that he cannot pass due to magic used during the building of the Wall to make sure the dead can't go beyond it. He then rides off, leaving Bran and Meera alone by the weirwood. Bran sees the weirwood, and begins to crawl over to it. Meera asks him if he is ready, and he replies that he is now the Three-Eyed Raven - he has to be ready. He then places his hand on the tree and returns to his vision in the Tower of Joy. Following his father inside, he watches Ned find Lyanna in a bed of her own blood. She whispers to him and reveals she has just given birth to a newborn son, imploring Ned to protect him from Robert Baratheon. As Ned takes his infant nephew in his arms, Bran looks on and gulps, realizing the baby is his "half-brother" Jon.[35]

Bran thanks her for her help, though she is upset this is all he has to say to her, despite the fact that Jojen, Summer, and Hodor all sacrificed themselves to help Bran. However, Bran says that he is not "Bran Stark", and the many generations of the Three-Eyed Raven have all flown into him, meaning he can experience everything. Meera tearfully tells Bran that he died in the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. Having another vision in the Godswood, he is reunited with his long-lost sister Arya, whom Bran initially thought was going to King's Landing to kill Cersei, a target on her kill list. With all three surviving children of Ned and Catelyn together, Bran gives Arya the dagger, explaining it is wasted on a cripple. When she asks why such a lowborn assassin would have a dagger made of Valyrian steel, Bran monotonously says that someone of a much higher position of power must have hired him and given the dagger to him. The three siblings then continue into the castle together, Arya pushing Bran's chair.[38]

Later, Bran meets with the recently-arrived Samwell Tarly in his chambers. After explaining his abilities to Sam, Bran confirms via raven scroll that Jon is returning to Winterfell alongside Daenerys Targaryen. Though Bran already knows the truth about Jon's parentage and stresses that Jon needs to know as well, Sam reveals that Jon is actually the legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, the High Septon having secretly annulled Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell. Using his Greensight, Bran witnesses the secret wedding of Rhaegar and Lyanna, realizing they genuinely loved each other and that Robert's Rebellion was based on a lie. Revisiting the vision Lyanna giving birth to her son, Bran hears Lyanna tell Ned that Jon's name is Aegon Targaryen, and thus, the one true heir to the Iron Throne. Later, through his flock of ravens at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Bran watches the Night King destroy a large portion of the Wall using the undead Viserion, allowing his army to march south.[40] 041b061a72