Bran Stark and Bloodraven

A comm by the13sav 💗

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some crows + theon

Remember that one Jon chapter in ACOK in which he wargs into Ghost for the first time and encounters a manifestation of Bran as a weirwood?

When he closed his eyes, he dreamed of direwolves [..]

Jon?

The call came from behind him, softer than a whisper, but strong too. Can a shout be silent? He turned his head, searching for his brother, for a glimpse of a lean grey shape moving beneath the trees, but there was nothing, only...

A weirwood.

It seemed to sprout from solid rock, its pale roots twisting up from a myriad of fissures and hairline cracks. The tree was slender compared to other weirwoods he had seen, no more than a sapling, yet it was growing as he watched, its limbs thickening as they reached for the sky. Wary, he circled the smooth white trunk until he came to the face. Red eyes looked at him. Fierce eyes they were, yet glad to see him. The weirwood had his brother's face. Had his brother always had three eyes?

Not always, came the silent shout. Not before the crow.

He sniffed at the bark, smelled wolf and tree and boy, but behind that there were other scents, the rich brown smell of warm earth and the hard grey smell of stone and something else, something terrible. Death, he knew. He was smelling death. He cringed back, his hair bristling, and bared his fangs.

Don't be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him.

- Jon VII, ACOK

I’ve always wondered about this but passage because the whole thing is so strange and a bit confusing.

So Bran reaches out and touches Ghost - we’re not sure where but I always just assumed between the eyes because he tells Jon that he must open his eyes and see.

People say that this was Bran awakening Jon’s warging powers but I’m not so sure. For starters, I think Jon was the first or the stark kids to warg; or at the very least, he was the first one to bond with his direwolf.

“Can’t you hear it?” Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else. “There,” Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them, smiling.

- Bran I, AGOT

Plus, Jon is already warging into Ghost at the time of the encounter so it can’t be that. If that’s not the case then, what does this mean? What is Bran doing if he’s not triggering Jon’s already active warging powers?

There’s also something else that is quite confusing. So Bran touches Ghost and the scene changes.

And suddenly he was back in the mountains, his paws sunk deep in a drift of snow as he stood upon the edge of a great precipice. Before him the Skirling Pass opened up into airy emptiness, and a long vee-shaped valley lay spread beneath him like a quilt, awash in all the colors of an autumn afternoon.

- Jon VII, ACOK

I’m not too sure about what just happened here. Are we meant to believe that Ghost is physically transported to the mountains? Or is Ghost experiencing the world on two planes: one physical and one metaphysical? Ghost’s real body remains at the weirwood tree but his consciousness is transported to a different place? But then this conscious has a corporeal form? I don’t get it….

Another thing to note is that Ghost seems out off by Bran because he smells of death. We know that Bran is in the crypts of Winterfell when this is going down so that would explain why he smells that way. So is Ghost afraid of death? Is he afraid of the dark? How much of the metaphysical is Ghost able to sense? If memory serves me correct, Ghost was also scared at the Fist of the First men because he presumably smelled death there too. It might just be animal things or it might point to something deeper.

Anyway, Ghost shows some aversion to what’s going on but Bran then tells him not to be afraid of the dark. He must first embrace it. And this is when Bran reaches out and touches Jon to open his eyes.

Don’t be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him.

So this is all happening while Bran is experiencing a very physical journey to the underworld (an important part of a hero’s journey). So can this be taken as foreshadowing of something that will come to fruition when Jon has to go through his own brush with death? What will opening his eyes to “see” mean for Jon then? Is it similar to when Bran gets all those visions while he’s comatose in AGOT? Maybe this is what will happen to Jon. He will also get visions that remind him why life is worth living; and why life is worth fighting for.

While he’s in a coma, Bran sees past the curtain of light and peaks into the Heart of Winter. The three-eyed-crow tells him that this is why he must live, because winter is coming. Bran then wakes up and names his direwolf ‘Summer’ - as in opposition to Winter. I think it’s possible that we get something similar with Jon. He might have to see what death actually looks like and make the decision to live again so that he can bring about the spring.

And if Jon has to see beyond death, how does that relate to Ghost being, you know, a ‘ghost’? One who exists in the boundaries between life and death. So does he see the living and the dead because he is a part of both? Is this what is needed for Jon’s role as one who will defeat death once and for all? He has to see and conquer death so that new life (spring) can emerge? This could be another reason why Jon has to warg into Ghost after death.

This also brings forth questions of the innate power within Ghost. Namely, how he functions as a vessel of “seeing” and “watching”. To watch is a very prominent motif in Jon’s arc. He is someone who is constantly in the shadows, seeing and watching. He joins an order of men named the Night’s Watch. And even more poignant is that the NW’s primary purpose is to watch for winter - and winter means death. Ghost is a watcher and as one who exists in the boundaries between life and death. Let us remember that he is found with his eyes open when all the other direwolves have theirs closed….

His fur was white, where the rest of the litter was grey. His eyes were as red as the blood of the ragged man who had died that morning. Bran thought it curious that this pup alone would have opened his eyes while the others were still blind.

- Bran I, AGOT

When Arya meets the Ghost of Hight Heart, she compares her eyes to Jon’s direwolf. And the Ghost of High Heart seems to be operating on some kind of magic that might be of the First Men- and the old gods. And the Ghost of High Heart can see things.

Arya spied the small pale shape creeping behind the horses, thin white hair flying wild as she leaned upon a gnarled cane. The woman could not have been more than three feet tall. The firelight made her eyes gleam as red as the eyes of Jon's wolf. He was a ghost too.

- Arya VIII, ASOS

Not to mention, Ghost the albino direwolf has an obvious connection to Bloodraven. Bloodraven is powerful in the magic of the Old Gods and can also see things. Bloodraven, like Jon, is a watcher as he too joined the Night’s Watch and served as its Lord Commander.

His hair fell to his shoulders, long and white and straight, brushed forward so as to conceal his missing eye, the one that Bittersteel had plucked from him on the Redgrass Field. The eye that remained was very red. How many eyes has Bloodraven? A thousand eyes, and one.

- The Mystery Knight

It gets interesting when we consider the powers working within Ghost, and through him. The power of the Old Gods. See, Ghost is like a weirwood in wolf form. Literally.

And suddenly Ghost was back, stalking softly between two weirwoods. White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted. Like the trees …

- Jon VI, AGOT

And Jon thinks that Ghost belongs to the Old Gods.

Red eyes, Jon realized, but not like Melisandre’s. He had a weirwood’s eyes. Red eyes, red mouth, white fur. Blood and bone, like a heart tree. He belongs to the old gods, this one. And he alone of all the direwolves was white. Six pups they’d found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow.

- Jon XII, AGOT

Ghost’s red eyes are those of a greenseer. Again, one who sees beyond what others can.

“Those you call the children of the forest have eyes as golden as the sun, but once in a great while one is born amongst them with eyes as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest. By these signs do the gods mark those they have chosen to receive the gift. The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance. But once inside the wood they linger long indeed. A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. Greenseers.”

- Bran III, ADWD

So does Ghost have the power of the old gods? Is he a vessel of the old gods? An emissary sent to aid Jon specifically? Ghost had red eyes that see, and Jon the watcher can tap into them to see as well. But what other power can Jon tap into, through Ghost’s red eyes that can see very far?

Direwolves, as we know from George R.R Martin, are magical creatures. But Ghost seems to be capable of much more than what is expected of a regular direwolf, even one bonded to a warg. I’m not just talking about his coloring but about certain ‘powers’ he seems to possess. For one, he is able to sense his siblings. He can sense whether they are alive or dead; he senses that Summer and Shaggy are alive, senses Nymeria is alive, senses Lady is dead, and also senses that Greywind is dead before Jon gets news of the Red Wedding.

There were five of them when there should have been six, and they were scattered, each apart from the others. He felt a deep ache of emptiness, a sense of incompleteness.

- Jon VII, ACOK

But that’s not all. There are instances of him going beyond just sensing his siblings. It’s almost like he can “see” them; not just “see” where they are but also “see” what they’re doing.

A wild rain lashed down upon his black brother as he tore at the flesh of an enormous goat, washing the blood from his side where the goat's long horn had raked him.

- Jon I, ADWD

His black brother was the closest, prowling over wet rocks and through dark holes in the ground. He had taken down a monstrous goat, a shaggy white goat as big as any elk with a long horn jutting from its brow, and he was gorging on its flesh, sharing the kill with his other half.

- Longer version from a deleted AFFC chapter; same scene as above but longer

In another place, his little sister lifted her head to sing to the moon, and a hundred small grey cousins broke off their hunt to sing with her. The hills were warmer where they were, and full of food. Many a night his sister’s pack gorged on the flesh of sheep and cows and horses, the prey of men, and sometimes even on the flesh of man himself.

- Jon I, ADWD

On the other side the wind was colder still, the wolf sensed. That was where his brother had gone, the grey brother who smelled of summer. With the cliff between them, he could not sense his brother, but sometimes when he padded down the long cold burrow under the ice and poked his nose through the hard black bars, he could feel him. The snow was falling where his brother was, covering all the woods in white. And there were hunters near, living men and dead men, and the ones who wore the shapes of men but smelled only of cold.

- Deleted Jon AFFC chapter

Is this what Bran awakened during the encounter with Jon? He awakened Ghost’s (and Jon’s) ability to “see” things like a weirwood can? And let’s remember that Bran was working through a weirwood…

Correct me if I’m wrong but ghost is the only direwolf that can do this, yes? Perhaps this is where Ghost being ‘a ghost’ comes into play. Because he can straddle the boundary between life and death, then that means he can see who is on either side (dead - Lady and Greywind, alive - Summer, Shaggy, Nymeria); it could also explain how he knows Summer is alive even though he cannot actually sense him. This could also explain why Summer is the only other direwolf able to sense which of his siblings is alive or dead; because Bran made a journey to the underworld, both figuratively and literally.

It’s quite speculative, but I think another reason for why Ghost can “see” his siblings is because they are in near death situations, or are in situations where death hangs in the air. Like when he “sees” Shaggy in Skaagos, Shaggy is wounded from his fight with the unicorn (and the unicorn is dead). In the last quote I posted above, Ghost can “see” the Others and Wights who surround Bloodraven’s cave and can identify that some are dead. Note that Ghost can also “see” the Others and even though they wear the shapes of men, Ghost can see that they aren’t really men because they smell of cold (and also bring death in their wake).

Jon isn’t anywhere near his siblings but he can see all these things through Ghost. Does this mean that Ghost is able to see beyond Jon’s physical constraints? Or that Jon, through Ghost, can cast his eyes far and see? But how far does that go? Is it just something to do with the pack? Or can it be extended to other people/places? After all, after the encounter with Bran, Ghost saw the wildling camp and that had nothing to do with his litter mates.

I just can’t wait to see how Jon’s resurrection plays out because this ability to see is something that could potentially be made stronger after Jon’s resurrection. Jon, like Bran, will have journeyed to the underworld and emerged from it. Perhaps the encounter with Bran was sowing the seeds for things Jon could do in the future. But there is still the question: does he need to warg into Ghost for this or can he do it on his own? If his bond with Ghost is multiplied exponentially after death such that they share a soul, does Ghost’s power transfer over to Jon? What are the constraints here?

Another question that greatly interests me is, if Ghost is the one who not just senses but sees his siblings, is this indicative of a special place he has among the pack? Is he the pack leader maybe? Or perhaps the pack protector?

They arrived, flushed and breathless, to find Jon seated on the sill, one leg drawn up languidly to his chin. He was watching the action, so absorbed that he seemed unaware of her approach until his white wolf moved to meet them. Nymeria stalked closer on wary feet. Ghost, already larger than his litter mates, smelled her, gave her ear a careful nip, and settled back down.

[Jon] messed up her hair again and walked away from her, Ghost moving silently beside him. Nymeria started to follow too, then stopped and came back when she saw that Arya was not coming.

- Arya I, AGOT

Far off, he could hear his packmates calling to him, like to like. They were hunting too.

- Jon I, ADWD

He was no longer certain they were wrong. Every night Ghost prowled along the Wall, hunting for a way through, called by a brother he could not feel, a hunger he could not sate. And Jon ran with him, in the darkness of his dreams.

- Deleted Jon AFFC chapter

There’s obviously a weird power that’s active within Ghost that isn’t exhibited by the other direwolves. Not to mention his incredible intelligence which also isn’t seen in the other direwolves; the other direwolves are intelligent, but Ghost’s intelligence seems almost human.

A vast blue-white wall plugged one end of the vale, squeezing between the mountains as if it had shouldered them aside, and for a moment he thought he had dreamed himself back to Castle Black. Then he realized he was looking at a river of ice several thousand feet high. Under that glittering cold cliff was a great lake, its deep cobalt waters reflecting the snowcapped peaks that ringed it. There were men down in the valley, he saw now; many men, thousands, a huge host. Some were tearing great holes in the half-frozen ground, while others trained for war. He watched as a swarming mass of riders charged a shield wall, astride horses no larger than ants. The sound of their mock battle was a rustling of steel leaves, drifting faintly on the wind. Their encampment had no plan to it; he saw no ditches, no sharpened stakes, no neat rows of horse lines. Everywhere crude earthen shelters and hide tents sprouted haphazardly, like a pox on the face of the earth. He spied untidy mounds of hay, smelled goats and sheep, horses and pigs, dogs in great profusion. Tendrils of dark smoke rose from a thousand cookfires. This is no army, no more than it is a town. This is a whole people come together.

- Jon VII, ACOK

I get excited just thinking about how this could manifest with Jon as a commander of armies. He could very well become a commander who can see across enemy lines, can see their formations, who’s leading them, what sort of supplies they have, how big their numbers are, etc. It’s kind of a scary thing to have. Jon wouldn’t need to send so many scouts if he can just see things for himself. Plus it brings to mind Jon’s parallels with the Norse god Odin, who can see into all realms through his high seat Hlidskjalf.

One last thing to note, Bran says that Ghost was the only direwolf to have his eyes open when the wolf pups were found. This is obviously a nod to Jon being more mature than what is expected of him at the time, plus we must remember Maester Luwin asserting that bastard grow up faster than trueborns. But perhaps there is a magical explanation of that as well. It’s not just that Jon sees and understands the real threat from up north, but he can see on a metaphysical realm in a way that none of the others can.



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