Bran is going a several-month-long training montage with the Three-Eyed Crow. And while Bran is unable to box against meat hanging in a refrigerated warehouse, nor able to dramatically jog around various landmarks in Philadelphia (on account of his disability), you can assume the training that he’s going through is pretty intense. Especially because of how long it’s taking.
Bran looks up and sees a crescent moon. He sees a full moon. He sees a new moon. He sees a waxing gibbous moon. Not necessarily in that order. I’m just saying, he sees a lot of moons as he’s training. There are a bunch of moon cycles going on. And as each moon cycle lasts 29.53 days, and he sees a lot of these moons over and over again, you can rest assured that quite some time has been passing with Bran learning.
Bran: Wow, I’m learning stuff. This is cool.
Leaf: It sure is. I guess.
Bran: Hey, is calling you all “Children” insulting to you?
Leaf: It sort of is. Our actual name is Defvljkhveflkj’hvf’ojkohfv.
Bran: Are you sure? Because it looks like someone just mashed a keyboard.
Leaf: Maybe someone mashed a keyboard. Maybe someone didn’t. The point is, that in the language of your people, that roughly translates to “Those Who Sing the Song of Earth.”
Bran: Okay, that’s really long too. So I’m just going to keep calling you all “Children.”
Leaf: *sigh* Whatever.
Bran: Say, why are you the only one I talk to?
Leaf: Oh, because I’m the only one of the “Children” who can speak your common tongue. I took it as an elective back in High School. All the rest of the children were doing stuff like Valyrian, Old Tongue, Ghiscari, Klingon, Esperanto, and Balto-Slavic.
Bran: I’d figure you could all just use your magic to speak all the languages or something. Like use your Greenseer skills or something.
Leaf: We’re not all Greenseers. For this is the last Greenseer.
She points at the Three-Eyed Crow.
Bran: Wait… he's the last? But aren’t I a greenseer… sort of? Isn’t Jojen?
Three-Eyed Crow: No. Jojen just gets high a lot and makes up stuff.
Bran: Yeah, I suppose I always sort of knew that in my heart. Say, Three-Eyed Crow. We don’t talk much. Tell me a little about yourself.
Three-Eyed Crow: Well, my name is Brynden. Brynden Rivers. Or it was back when I was not a person who lived inside of a tree.
Bran: Haha, wow. You have a name very similar to Ser Brynden Rivers, who in his day was nicknamed "Lord Bloodraven." Have you heard about him? He was the bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, aka "Aegon the Unworthy," with his sixth mistress, Melissa Blackwood. Remember that king? He's the terrible one that Tyrion was talking about in that chapter when he was droning on about the Golden Company. He legitimized his bastards and basically caused the Blackfyre Rebellion after his death due to a secession crisis. Lord Bloodraven was one of those bastards that was legitimized, just like Daemon I Blackfyre and Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers. Only while many of the other bastards are associated with joining team Blackfyre, Lord Bloodraven remained loyal to the crown and to Aegon the Unworthy's "true born" heir, Daeron Targaryen. He even lost an eye fighting against the Blackfyres. But after the Targaryen faction won, he continued to rise up and become powerful. He was even the original Varys-like character, becoming the Master of Whisperers at Kinsg Landing. People used to ask, "How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have?" That was a really messed up question to ask because he lost an eye in the war, defending it. Like when Saturday Night Live made fun of Dan Crenshaw. Just not cool. But I digress. Anyway, the answer to the question was "A thousand eyes, plus one." Referring kind of douche-ily to his one remaining eye, but also the thousand other eyes of the spies he controlled. It was sort of cool. But he wasn't just Master of Whisperers, as he was also elevated to become Hand of the King during the reign of his nephew, Aerys I Targaryen, and then later Maekar I Targaryen. However, after Maekar's death in 233 After Conquest (AC), there was a question of who the heir would be. A Great Council was called to determine who would take the throne. Aenys (I think it's pronounced "Anus") Blackfyre, a son of Daemon I Blackfyre, was one of those candidates, and Lord Bloodraven was not happy with that at all. By this time there had been THREE Blackfyre rebellions which Lord Bloodraven had fought against. So the story goes Lord Bloodraven wanted to end the Blackfyre line for once and all and invited Aenys to participate... BUT THEN HAD HIM MURDERED! Needless to say, people didn't think this was cool and he was arrested. Eventually he was allowed to take the Black and join the Night's Watch. It only took about six year after that until he was elevated to the position of Lord Commander. However, he went on a ranging mission beyond the Wall in 252 AC and never returned.
Three-Eyed Crow: *blinks, annoyed*
Bran: Wait... was that a blink or a wink? I can't tell because you only have one high.
Three-Eyed Crow: Are you done yet?
Bran: Done with what? The story? Yeah, I guess beca-OHHHHHH HOLY SHIT! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE EYE! YOU'RE THAT BRYNDEN RIVERS!
Three-Eyed Crow: Jesus Christ, that took you a while to figure out.
Bran: Dude, you're like a 125 years old.
Leaf: The powers here have allowed him to live a much longer lifespan than most humans.
Bran: Well, that’s sort of cool I guess. But do I really want to live a long lifespan if I have to be part-tree?
Jojen: *sigh* Life sucks, man.
Bran: Well that was a non-sequitur. Why are you so down, Jojen? Is it because you ran out of weed and it’s too cold up here to grow any more?
Jojen: A little, man. But it’s, like, you know, the trees remember things, man. They remember the secrets of life. They will remember us after we’re all long dead and gone.
Bran: Geez, what a Debbie Downer you’ve become. Stop talking about death, dude. Maybe you don’t have to die! You can become a REAL Greenseer like me.
Jojen: No way, dude. My part in this story is done. I’ve served my part, and now it’s time to just die. I know it, man. I know it.
Bran: Sorry about my friend Jojen, everyone. I think he has the seasonal affective disorder with all this cold weather.
The Children start to make Bran a little stick/tree throne of his own to sit on, which seems cool if you don’t think about the fact that they probably want to turn him into a tree man.
Three-Eyed Crow: Now I will teach you how to warg into ravens and shit. It’s pretty cool. Remember that whole “you will fly” line? Yeah. Awesome, right?
Bran: Oh, is that what you meant by teaching me to fly? Just warging into ravens? Because that seems pretty simply since I already figured out how to Warg into Summer and Hodor on my own. I could have probably figured out ravens and crows and shit too. I thought by teaching me to fly, you meant I’d get to ride one of Dany’s three dragons or something.
Three-Eyed Crow: No. Now come on. Let’s warg some more.
Bran enters into the spirits of the trees and all that. He senses life all around him. He then enters a raven, but he feels someone else in there.
Bran: Whoa, what’s all that life I feel?
Three-Eyed Crow: Oh, you know. It’s just other Children of the Forest who, over the millennia, had previously been inside of these birds.
Bran: Shit, how old are these ravens?
Three-Eyed Crow: Every time you warg into an animal, you leave a little of yourself behind. So your soul is mixing in with all of theirs.
Bran: This sort of feels like being the last guy in line at an Annabel Chong gangbang. I'm not even getting sloppy seconds. This is sloppy 300ths.
Jojen: The Children, like, totally think the life you’re feeling is the old gods, bro. When they die… they all join the godhood and become one with the gods, man. Far out.
Bran: WHAT?! When they die?! What the hell? Do you guys want me to die and become part of this freaky godhood?!
Meera: JOJEN! Stop saying stuff like that to Bran! You’re freaking him out.
Jojen: It’s not Bran who needs to be afraid.
Meera: …
Bran: …
Leaf: …
Bran: God, Jojen. You’re getting more and more cryptic.
Leaf: So anyway, to break the tension here, let me tell you all about the history of my people. There used to be a ton of us. But them mankind showed up and started murdering us all. Just like with the giants and the unicorns and stuff. Now there are so few of us, people believe we’re a myth.
Bran: So then you created the White Walkers to kill mankind in revenge… only the whole thing backfired and now the White Walkers want to kill everything and end all life? The White Walkers represent death itself and the Three-Eyed Crow represents knowledge… and knowledge is life, and therefore the White Walkers want to defeat the Three-Eyed Crow?
Leaf: Ugh. You’ve been watching too much TV, man. No. Look, can I tell my story or not?
Bran: *shrug* I guess. We’re not going anywhere. We’re just montaging here for months on end.
Later, Meera and Jojen go exploring the caves.
Meera: Technically, it’s called “spelunking.”
Fine. They go spelunking.
Bran: Awww! But I want to go too!
Three-Eyed Crow: But you can’t. You need to stay here and train more. Also you can’t walk so you literally can’t.
Bran: Hahaha, we’ll see about that!
Bran wargs into Hodor and follows Meera and Jojen. They turn around and look.
Meera: Do you think that’s just Hodor being dumb and curious by following us… or do you think that Bran has warged into him and is following us like a creeper?
Jojen: There is no way to tell for sure. Let’s ask him a question. Hey, Hodor! What’s four plus two!
Hodor/Bran: Uhhh… Hodor?
Meera: So does that clear things up for us or not?
Jojen: I… don’t… know.
So Hodor just continues to follow them. Hodor used to fight it when Bran entered him (heh), but now he just gives up. Bran can feel Hodor retreat into a corner of his own being, balled up and afraid while Bran takes over.
Bran/Hodor: No one must know I am doing this to Hodor. Because everyone can clearly tell that it’s a pretty messed up thing that I’m doing.
At the end of one cave, Bran/Hodor sees a bunch of other Children of the Forest, these guys are all tangled up in tree roots just like Brynden.
Bran/Hodor: Freaky, man! I mean, ermm, “Hodor.”
Bran feels that one day he’ll be just like them. Surrounded by tree. It freaks him out. He tries to tell himself that being a greenseer is just as awesome as his childhood dream of becoming a knight. But it’s not. Who wants to be a tree?
Later, probably another couple of moon cycles after, Jojen gets even more depressed and mopey. Apparently he has seen his own death in his green dreams, and yet won’t do anything to prevent it.
Bran: Maybe I should warg into Hodor and hug Meera. No wait. That would literally be the creepiest thing I have ever done. And I am the king of creepy now.
Meera runs off before Bran can either creep on her, or say some encouraging words.
Another few months pass. More montages. More moons.
Three-Eyed Crow: Okay, it’s time!
Bran: Time for what?
Leaf: Here, eat this weirwood seed paste. It’s, like, magical and stuff.
Bran: How so?
Three-Eyed Crow: It will wed you to the trees.
Bran did want to be married to a tree… but who else would wed a broken boy like hi—
Bran: —Wait! Wait! Did the narrator just say Bran “did” want to be married to a tree?
Uhh… yes. It looks like I did.
Bran: But it doesn’t even make sense in the context of the sentence. That clearly meant to say Bran DIDN’T, yet it says DID. Jeez. ANOTHER blatant editing error in the book? Hell, was this thing even edited?
Three-Eyed Crow: Whatever, stop bitching. Eat this paste. It will help you see visions.
Bran: Why didn’t you just give this to me in the beginning? You spent months and months doing training for me in order to see visions. But apparently this whole time, all I had to do is eat the paste from these tree seeds and I’d get the powers?
Leaf: Indeed, honestly life is just as boring for us up here as it is for you. We figured we’d just stretch things out for a while for our own entertainment.
The Three-Eyed Crow shakes his head at Leaf, disapproving of the honestly.
Leaf: Uhh… ermm… I mean the powers were always in you, Bran! In your blood. This will just help you reveal them. Yeah.
Bran: *grumble* You still could have given it to me months ago.
Bran takes a taste of the paste. The first taste is gross.
Bran: Nasty, this tastes like Jojen’s tube socks.
Then he has another taste.
Bran: Hrmm, the second spoon is better. This one is sort of like grapefruit. You know, a little bitter… but passable.
The third spoonful is even better than the first two.
Bran: OMG… is this Cinnamon Toast Crunch? This tastes amazing!
He quickly swallows down the whole bowl.
Three-Eyed Crow: Now, slip from your body. Don’t be Brandon Stark. Go into the trees.
Bran closes his eyes and goes into the trees. But not just any tree. He opens his eyes, and he sees that he’s the trees in the godswood of Winterfell.
Bran: My dad, he’s still alive!
Leaf: No. He’s dead.
Three-Eyed Crow: For trees, time works different. They can see the past, the present and the future, all at once. You know, it's like the quantum realm in Avengers: Endgame and shit.
Bran: But he heard me! I called out for him and he looked up!
Three-Eyed Crow: Maybe he sensed something, but you can’t really communicate with him like that. Don’t worry in time you’ll be able to see far beyond the trees themselves. But for today, you’ve probably had enough of a lesson. You should go to bed.
Bran: Okay.
Bran goes to sleep. But instead of dreaming, he’s back in the godswood at Winterfell once more. He sees his father again, but this time he’s younger.
Bran looks up and sees a crescent moon. He sees a full moon. He sees a new moon. He sees a waxing gibbous moon. Not necessarily in that order. I’m just saying, he sees a lot of moons as he’s training. There are a bunch of moon cycles going on. And as each moon cycle lasts 29.53 days, and he sees a lot of these moons over and over again, you can rest assured that quite some time has been passing with Bran learning.
Bran: Wow, I’m learning stuff. This is cool.
Leaf: It sure is. I guess.
Bran: Hey, is calling you all “Children” insulting to you?
Leaf: It sort of is. Our actual name is Defvljkhveflkj’hvf’ojkohfv.
Bran: Are you sure? Because it looks like someone just mashed a keyboard.
Leaf: Maybe someone mashed a keyboard. Maybe someone didn’t. The point is, that in the language of your people, that roughly translates to “Those Who Sing the Song of Earth.”
Bran: Okay, that’s really long too. So I’m just going to keep calling you all “Children.”
Leaf: *sigh* Whatever.
Bran: Say, why are you the only one I talk to?
Leaf: Oh, because I’m the only one of the “Children” who can speak your common tongue. I took it as an elective back in High School. All the rest of the children were doing stuff like Valyrian, Old Tongue, Ghiscari, Klingon, Esperanto, and Balto-Slavic.
Bran: I’d figure you could all just use your magic to speak all the languages or something. Like use your Greenseer skills or something.
Leaf: We’re not all Greenseers. For this is the last Greenseer.
She points at the Three-Eyed Crow.
Bran: Wait… he's the last? But aren’t I a greenseer… sort of? Isn’t Jojen?
Three-Eyed Crow: No. Jojen just gets high a lot and makes up stuff.
Bran: Yeah, I suppose I always sort of knew that in my heart. Say, Three-Eyed Crow. We don’t talk much. Tell me a little about yourself.
Three-Eyed Crow: Well, my name is Brynden. Brynden Rivers. Or it was back when I was not a person who lived inside of a tree.
Bran: Haha, wow. You have a name very similar to Ser Brynden Rivers, who in his day was nicknamed "Lord Bloodraven." Have you heard about him? He was the bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, aka "Aegon the Unworthy," with his sixth mistress, Melissa Blackwood. Remember that king? He's the terrible one that Tyrion was talking about in that chapter when he was droning on about the Golden Company. He legitimized his bastards and basically caused the Blackfyre Rebellion after his death due to a secession crisis. Lord Bloodraven was one of those bastards that was legitimized, just like Daemon I Blackfyre and Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers. Only while many of the other bastards are associated with joining team Blackfyre, Lord Bloodraven remained loyal to the crown and to Aegon the Unworthy's "true born" heir, Daeron Targaryen. He even lost an eye fighting against the Blackfyres. But after the Targaryen faction won, he continued to rise up and become powerful. He was even the original Varys-like character, becoming the Master of Whisperers at Kinsg Landing. People used to ask, "How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have?" That was a really messed up question to ask because he lost an eye in the war, defending it. Like when Saturday Night Live made fun of Dan Crenshaw. Just not cool. But I digress. Anyway, the answer to the question was "A thousand eyes, plus one." Referring kind of douche-ily to his one remaining eye, but also the thousand other eyes of the spies he controlled. It was sort of cool. But he wasn't just Master of Whisperers, as he was also elevated to become Hand of the King during the reign of his nephew, Aerys I Targaryen, and then later Maekar I Targaryen. However, after Maekar's death in 233 After Conquest (AC), there was a question of who the heir would be. A Great Council was called to determine who would take the throne. Aenys (I think it's pronounced "Anus") Blackfyre, a son of Daemon I Blackfyre, was one of those candidates, and Lord Bloodraven was not happy with that at all. By this time there had been THREE Blackfyre rebellions which Lord Bloodraven had fought against. So the story goes Lord Bloodraven wanted to end the Blackfyre line for once and all and invited Aenys to participate... BUT THEN HAD HIM MURDERED! Needless to say, people didn't think this was cool and he was arrested. Eventually he was allowed to take the Black and join the Night's Watch. It only took about six year after that until he was elevated to the position of Lord Commander. However, he went on a ranging mission beyond the Wall in 252 AC and never returned.
Three-Eyed Crow: *blinks, annoyed*
Bran: Wait... was that a blink or a wink? I can't tell because you only have one high.
Three-Eyed Crow: Are you done yet?
Bran: Done with what? The story? Yeah, I guess beca-OHHHHHH HOLY SHIT! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE EYE! YOU'RE THAT BRYNDEN RIVERS!
Three-Eyed Crow: Jesus Christ, that took you a while to figure out.
Bran: Dude, you're like a 125 years old.
Leaf: The powers here have allowed him to live a much longer lifespan than most humans.
Bran: Well, that’s sort of cool I guess. But do I really want to live a long lifespan if I have to be part-tree?
Jojen: *sigh* Life sucks, man.
Bran: Well that was a non-sequitur. Why are you so down, Jojen? Is it because you ran out of weed and it’s too cold up here to grow any more?
Jojen: A little, man. But it’s, like, you know, the trees remember things, man. They remember the secrets of life. They will remember us after we’re all long dead and gone.
Bran: Geez, what a Debbie Downer you’ve become. Stop talking about death, dude. Maybe you don’t have to die! You can become a REAL Greenseer like me.
Jojen: No way, dude. My part in this story is done. I’ve served my part, and now it’s time to just die. I know it, man. I know it.
Bran: Sorry about my friend Jojen, everyone. I think he has the seasonal affective disorder with all this cold weather.
The Children start to make Bran a little stick/tree throne of his own to sit on, which seems cool if you don’t think about the fact that they probably want to turn him into a tree man.
Three-Eyed Crow: Now I will teach you how to warg into ravens and shit. It’s pretty cool. Remember that whole “you will fly” line? Yeah. Awesome, right?
Bran: Oh, is that what you meant by teaching me to fly? Just warging into ravens? Because that seems pretty simply since I already figured out how to Warg into Summer and Hodor on my own. I could have probably figured out ravens and crows and shit too. I thought by teaching me to fly, you meant I’d get to ride one of Dany’s three dragons or something.
Three-Eyed Crow: No. Now come on. Let’s warg some more.
Bran enters into the spirits of the trees and all that. He senses life all around him. He then enters a raven, but he feels someone else in there.
Bran: Whoa, what’s all that life I feel?
Three-Eyed Crow: Oh, you know. It’s just other Children of the Forest who, over the millennia, had previously been inside of these birds.
Bran: Shit, how old are these ravens?
Three-Eyed Crow: Every time you warg into an animal, you leave a little of yourself behind. So your soul is mixing in with all of theirs.
Bran: This sort of feels like being the last guy in line at an Annabel Chong gangbang. I'm not even getting sloppy seconds. This is sloppy 300ths.
Jojen: The Children, like, totally think the life you’re feeling is the old gods, bro. When they die… they all join the godhood and become one with the gods, man. Far out.
Bran: WHAT?! When they die?! What the hell? Do you guys want me to die and become part of this freaky godhood?!
Meera: JOJEN! Stop saying stuff like that to Bran! You’re freaking him out.
Jojen: It’s not Bran who needs to be afraid.
Meera: …
Bran: …
Leaf: …
Bran: God, Jojen. You’re getting more and more cryptic.
Leaf: So anyway, to break the tension here, let me tell you all about the history of my people. There used to be a ton of us. But them mankind showed up and started murdering us all. Just like with the giants and the unicorns and stuff. Now there are so few of us, people believe we’re a myth.
Bran: So then you created the White Walkers to kill mankind in revenge… only the whole thing backfired and now the White Walkers want to kill everything and end all life? The White Walkers represent death itself and the Three-Eyed Crow represents knowledge… and knowledge is life, and therefore the White Walkers want to defeat the Three-Eyed Crow?
Leaf: Ugh. You’ve been watching too much TV, man. No. Look, can I tell my story or not?
Bran: *shrug* I guess. We’re not going anywhere. We’re just montaging here for months on end.
Later, Meera and Jojen go exploring the caves.
Meera: Technically, it’s called “spelunking.”
Fine. They go spelunking.
Bran: Awww! But I want to go too!
Three-Eyed Crow: But you can’t. You need to stay here and train more. Also you can’t walk so you literally can’t.
Bran: Hahaha, we’ll see about that!
Bran wargs into Hodor and follows Meera and Jojen. They turn around and look.
Meera: Do you think that’s just Hodor being dumb and curious by following us… or do you think that Bran has warged into him and is following us like a creeper?
Jojen: There is no way to tell for sure. Let’s ask him a question. Hey, Hodor! What’s four plus two!
Hodor/Bran: Uhhh… Hodor?
Meera: So does that clear things up for us or not?
Jojen: I… don’t… know.
So Hodor just continues to follow them. Hodor used to fight it when Bran entered him (heh), but now he just gives up. Bran can feel Hodor retreat into a corner of his own being, balled up and afraid while Bran takes over.
Bran/Hodor: No one must know I am doing this to Hodor. Because everyone can clearly tell that it’s a pretty messed up thing that I’m doing.
At the end of one cave, Bran/Hodor sees a bunch of other Children of the Forest, these guys are all tangled up in tree roots just like Brynden.
Bran/Hodor: Freaky, man! I mean, ermm, “Hodor.”
Bran feels that one day he’ll be just like them. Surrounded by tree. It freaks him out. He tries to tell himself that being a greenseer is just as awesome as his childhood dream of becoming a knight. But it’s not. Who wants to be a tree?
Later, probably another couple of moon cycles after, Jojen gets even more depressed and mopey. Apparently he has seen his own death in his green dreams, and yet won’t do anything to prevent it.
Bran: Maybe I should warg into Hodor and hug Meera. No wait. That would literally be the creepiest thing I have ever done. And I am the king of creepy now.
Meera runs off before Bran can either creep on her, or say some encouraging words.
Another few months pass. More montages. More moons.
Three-Eyed Crow: Okay, it’s time!
Bran: Time for what?
Leaf: Here, eat this weirwood seed paste. It’s, like, magical and stuff.
Bran: How so?
Three-Eyed Crow: It will wed you to the trees.
Bran did want to be married to a tree… but who else would wed a broken boy like hi—
Bran: —Wait! Wait! Did the narrator just say Bran “did” want to be married to a tree?
Uhh… yes. It looks like I did.
Bran: But it doesn’t even make sense in the context of the sentence. That clearly meant to say Bran DIDN’T, yet it says DID. Jeez. ANOTHER blatant editing error in the book? Hell, was this thing even edited?
Three-Eyed Crow: Whatever, stop bitching. Eat this paste. It will help you see visions.
Bran: Why didn’t you just give this to me in the beginning? You spent months and months doing training for me in order to see visions. But apparently this whole time, all I had to do is eat the paste from these tree seeds and I’d get the powers?
Leaf: Indeed, honestly life is just as boring for us up here as it is for you. We figured we’d just stretch things out for a while for our own entertainment.
The Three-Eyed Crow shakes his head at Leaf, disapproving of the honestly.
Leaf: Uhh… ermm… I mean the powers were always in you, Bran! In your blood. This will just help you reveal them. Yeah.
Bran: *grumble* You still could have given it to me months ago.
Bran takes a taste of the paste. The first taste is gross.
Bran: Nasty, this tastes like Jojen’s tube socks.
Then he has another taste.
Bran: Hrmm, the second spoon is better. This one is sort of like grapefruit. You know, a little bitter… but passable.
The third spoonful is even better than the first two.
Bran: OMG… is this Cinnamon Toast Crunch? This tastes amazing!
He quickly swallows down the whole bowl.
Three-Eyed Crow: Now, slip from your body. Don’t be Brandon Stark. Go into the trees.
Bran closes his eyes and goes into the trees. But not just any tree. He opens his eyes, and he sees that he’s the trees in the godswood of Winterfell.
Bran/Tree: HOLY CRAP! Winterfell! OH HELL! Is that MY DAD?!
Bran sees Ned Stark.
Bran/Tree: Dad! DAD!
Ned Stark hears something in the wind as he kneels in the godswood. But Bran freaks out and retreats back to the cave.
Bran: My dad, he’s still alive!
Leaf: No. He’s dead.
Three-Eyed Crow: For trees, time works different. They can see the past, the present and the future, all at once. You know, it's like the quantum realm in Avengers: Endgame and shit.
Bran: But he heard me! I called out for him and he looked up!
Three-Eyed Crow: Maybe he sensed something, but you can’t really communicate with him like that. Don’t worry in time you’ll be able to see far beyond the trees themselves. But for today, you’ve probably had enough of a lesson. You should go to bed.
Bran: Okay.
Bran goes to sleep. But instead of dreaming, he’s back in the godswood at Winterfell once more. He sees his father again, but this time he’s younger.
Bran/Tree: Dad! Dad! DAD!
His father appears to look up at him, but Bran realizes that his father is just looking at the rustling of leaves.
Ned: Now where was I? Oh right. *ahem* Let them grow up as close as brothers, with only love between them and let my lady wife forgive me.
Bran: Oh yeah! Is this more vision reading time? Okay, let me figure this vision out. Okay… okay… that’s my dad talking about people growing up “as close as brothers” meaning that they’re not actually brothers. This Jon Snow = not actually Robb’s brother because he’s a secret cousin. And dad won’t tell mom because the vow he made to aunt Lyanna. Okay. Next!
Bran sees a girl and a younger boy, play fighting with branches.
Bran: Aunt Lyanna and maybe my dad as even younger kids, I assume. It’s possible that it could be Uncle Benjen instead of my dad though.
A pregnant woman coming out of a black pool and praying for a son to avenge her.
Bran: This is harder. It seems we’re going further back in time at every vision though. So probabably my grandma or great grandma. I need more context to be sure though.
A slender girl, kissing a tall knight.
Bran: A young version of Old Nan, kissing Ser Duncan the Tall. He was the one who escorted Brynden Rivers, AKA Lord Bloodraven, AKA the Three-Eyed Crow, up to Castle Black to take the Black. Obviously must have stopped by Winterfell on the way. Guess I better read those damn Dunk & Egg prequel short stories.
A pale, dark-eyed youth cutting tree branches and shaping them into arrows.
Bran: No clue. Probably just some Stark from ages ago.
Bearded men and a white-haired woman committing a sacrifice by slitting a captive’s neck open with a sickle.
Bran: Well, Old Nan used to tell me that back in the day we northerners committed blood sacrifice. So this is probably be diving back really far into the past. So it’s sort of like I… uhh… MmmMmmm… I can actually taste the blood from that guy’s neck now. Like, the blood is spilling onto the ground and into the tree roots and since I'm a tree now I can taste it. Crazy. But also delicious.
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