The Winds Of Winter Theory Solves A 25-Year-Old Mystery & The Next Game Of Thrones Spinoff Could Help Set It Up

A principle about The Winds of Winter suggests one risk for a long-standing thriller, and one other upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff might complement the thought. The long wait for The Winds of Winter has left followers with fourteen years to take a position on most of the ebook collection’ greatest factors of intrigue. Issues like the Prince That Was Promised prophecy, the sender of the Pink Letter, and the identification of Coldhands are among the many topics readers are most eagerly awaiting George R.R. Martin’s decision for.

The Game of Thrones ending supplied some hypothesis on how the ebook collection will finish, and whereas it appears that evidently some issues, like Bran turning into king, are set to transpire within the novels, others could not. Sport of Thrones season 6 reintroduced Benjen Stark after his disappearance means again in season 1, claiming that the Kids of the Forest saved his life after he was stabbed by a White Walker blade and ended up in a half-dead state, stopping him from returning south of the Wall. This was the present’s achievement of the Coldhands principle.

What We Know About Coldhands In A Track Of Ice & Fireplace

Coldhands Is A Lifeless Brother Of The Night time’s Watch

Colhands from "A Song of Ice and Fire" — Coldhands from *A Track of Ice and Fireplace*. Art work by omer88.

Coldhands is a mysterious character past the Wall whom audiences have seen in A Storm of Swords and A Dance with Dragons. He is carrying Night time’s Watch apparel, has a pale face, and wields a sword, driving round on an elk with a flock of ravens that comply with his orders and scout for him. Like Varamyr in A Dance with Dragons, Coldhands is the type of mystical character that we see in A Song of Ice & Fire solely within the true North or deep in Essos, establishing a way of thriller and intrigue about his identification.

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Coldhands is lifeless and might’t cross by the Wall, much like Benjen in Sport of Thrones. Nonetheless, his eyes aren’t blue just like the Others (White Walkers). In his first look, Coldhands meets Sam and Gilly after they flee Craster’s Hold. In A Dance with Dragons, Coldhands kills Night time’s Watch mutineers from Craster’s Hold, then escorts Bran, Jojen, Meera, and Hodor to the Three-Eyed Crow’s cave, which he additionally can’t enter. These are the details we learn about this character, they usually increase quite a lot of potentialities for who he may be.

Coldhands Will not Be Benjen Stark in The Winds Of Winter

GRRM Has Confirmed It Will not Be Benjen Stark

Whereas Sport of Thrones merged the storylines of Benjen Stark and Coldhands, the 2 threads are going to stay separate in The Winds of Winter. In 2015, Martin confirmed that Coldhands shouldn’t be Benjen Stark in A Track of Ice & Fireplace, eliminating one of many main and sure the obvious candidates for who the character may be. Different widespread theories embrace Brynden Rivers (who’s additionally extensively believed to be the Three-Eyed Crow), one of many characters from a gaggle referred to as the Raven’s Tooth, the Night time’s King, or both Waymar Royce or Will from the AGoT prologue.

The Night time’s King is a separate character from the books, not the “Night time King” of the White Walkers from Sport of Thrones.

These are all of the characters we all know of who’re lacking Night time’s Watch brothers, so until Coldhands is somebody totally new, he is doubtless one in all these candidates. We solely know of the Raven’s Tooth from the Dunk & Egg novellas and The World of Ice & Fireplace, and Brynden Rivers and the Night time’s King aren’t ever talked about within the TV present. Combining the story with Benjen Stark’s within the TV collection was a means of simplifying the plot and never incorporating new parts. The books will take a distinct route.

Principle: Coldhands Is One Of Brynden Rivers’ Raven’s Tooth

The Raven’s Tooth Are The Most Probably Candidates

Brynden Rivers covered in tree branches in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 8

First, Brynden Rivers was a Targaryen bastard of King Aegon IV who lived throughout the time of the Blackfyre Rebellions and served because the Hand of the King for Aerys I and Maekar I. Through the reign of Aegon V, also called “Egg,” Brynden Rivers was despatched to the Wall to affix the Night time’s Watch. He finally rose to grow to be the Lord Commander, then disappeared past the Wall. It is generally believed that Brynden Rivers turned the Three-Eyed Crow.

If Brynden Rivers is the Three-Eyed Crow, then one in all his supporters may very well be Coldhands.

If Brynden Rivers is the Three-Eyed Crow, then one in all his supporters may very well be Coldhands. The Raven’s Tooth had been a gaggle of guardsmen private to Brynden Rivers who fought beside him in Westeros after which finally joined him when he was despatched to the Night time’s Watch. Leaf, one of many Kids of the Forest, talked about that Coldhands died way back, confirming that he would not be Benjen or one of many different two Night time’s Watch rangers. We additionally know that the Night time’s King betrayed the Night time’s Watch and made sacrifices to the Others, which might be counterintuitive to Coldhands.

Sophie Turner looking serious as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones and the tentative cover for The Winters of Winter by George R.R. Martin

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The Raven’s Tooth are the strongest candidates, although it is an anticlimactic principle in a means, because it withdraws a way of individuality. We do not have a reputation or character connected to any of those males, which could push some readers away from supporting the speculation. Nonetheless, it undeniably provides up, and Home of the Dragon even bolstered the thought by suggesting Brynden Rivers was their model of the Three-Eyed Raven.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms May Introduce The Raven’s Tooth

The New GOT Spinoff May Additional The Principle

We have already seen Home of the Dragon take a stab at some basic A Track of Ice & Fireplace theories, offering the showrunners’ takes on George R.R. Martin’s mysteries. For instance, the choice to have Laenor Velaryon flee to Essos clears up a obscure second from Martin’s textual content, the Aegon’s Dream suggestion provides supplementary materials to the motives within the Dance of the Dragons, and, as talked about, the Brynden Rivers ordeal. Hopefully, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms can proceed to do the identical.

We cannot see Brynden Rivers in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1, which is ready to be launched later in 2025 as an adaptation of “The Hedge Knight.” Nonetheless, we will meet Brynden and sure a few of the Raven’s Tooth if the present goes on to season 2, as they had been launched in “The Thriller Knight.” They’re going to be introduced again once more in “The Sworn Sword.”

After all, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is not affirmation of what’s going to occur in The Winds of Winter, however the Sport of Thrones prequel has been celebrated by George R.R. Martin. If the present finds success and one of many Raven’s Tooth stands out as a personality, it might present a suggestion as to who Coldhands will likely be, offering materials Martin has but to disclose in his books.