However you feel about the recently-concluded seventh season of Game Of Thrones, we think we can all agree that Bran Stark has turned into your obnoxious college roommate who majored in philosophy and mocked your concerns about “grades” and “shelter” while crashing on your couch and eating all your food. He’s the Three-Eyed Raven, after all, which means he’s omniscient, and therefore cares not about the internet bill (and if he did stream something the other day, it was only because he needed a palate cleanser after accidentally warging into Tormund).
But one thing Bran Stark isn’t, according to the actor who plays him, is the Night King in the making. As Isaac Hempstead Wright tells Vulture, Bran’s still playing catch-up with his abilities, and therefore isn’t especially eloquent in sharing his insights. The actor points out that the previous Three-Eyed Raven was more of a “super senior,” someone who got to sit around for millennia and pore over the entire history of man- and Children Of The Forest-kind. So if Bran seems to focus on meaningless details while recalling his sister’s trauma, it’s because he’s overloaded with information and is having trouble filtering it all.
And while Bran may be detached from the human condition, he’s doesn’t want to see them all dead either. When asked what he thinks about the theory that Bran becomes the Night King—whose ice dragon could certainly help the paraplegic teen “fly,” per the old Three-Eyed Raven’s comment—Hempstead Wright says “it’s less that they’re the same person and more that they’re two of the ancient beings of Westeros. The Three-Eyed Raven has been around for God knows how long, and White Walkers have been reported since the beginning of time. As we’ve seen, they were created by the Children of the Forest, so we can’t get much more ancient than that.”
So yeah, Bran “Old Soul” Stark may be emotionally unavailable to his siblings, but he’s not looking to cover Westeros in ice either: “Perhaps we can think of it as these are two characters with a huge amount of power, but one is a Frankenstein’s monster who is driven by nothing but hatred and violence. Then there’s Bran, who uses his powers for good.” Of course, Hempstead Wright doesn’t write for the show, so the theory might be proven right in the end. But however it plays out, the actor shares our interest in learning “why the Night King is so obsessed with destroying mankind,” and says he hopes the final season will finally reveal all.
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