Brandon Stark has arguably had the most astonishing journey throughout Game of Thrones. We’ve seen him grow up before our very eyes into a young man. Not only that, the actor who plays him, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, was just 12 when the show started.
Crippled in the first episode after being pushed from a window by Jaime Lannister, Bran started to have vivid dreams. He then realized he had certain abilities: being able to see through the eyes of animals and tap into the past. After meeting with the Three-Eyed Raven and witnessing his death, Bran took his place, serving as the keeper of all memories in the realm. Since then, he’s been…different. No longer one to speak very much, whatever comes out of his mouth now is highly prophetic and deeply meaningful. But it’s also often puzzling, leaving those on the other end of the conversation (not to mention the viewers) wondering what’s up with Bran. Here are some of Bran’s best, and most meaningful, quotes from the last few seasons. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)
Fulfilling Theon’s Redemption
“Theon, you’re a good man. Thank you.”
Theon had a rough ride, struggling with his loyalty to the Starks and desire to be accepted and loved by his father. He betrays his adoptive—or one might say captive—family, kills many from Winterfell, and tries to take over the North. But after being captured by the despicable Ramsay Bolton, it’s a downhill road for the Greyjoy who’s reduced to a slave, a shell of a man known as “Reek.” He eventually escapes and redeems himself by saving Sansa and pledging allegiance once again to his true family. But he still holds tremendous guilt for what he’s done. That is, until Bran utters these words showing forgiveness, sadly right before Theon dies protecting him.
Confusing Jon Snow
Jon Snow: “You’re a man now.” Bran: “Almost.”
Jon hasn’t seen Bran in years, so understandably, when he sees how much Bran has grown, he makes this very valid comment. But after Bran’s puzzling, dazed answer, Jon looks confused and even a bit scared. What on earth happened to Bran? That eventually becomes clearer. But for a brother being reunited with his kin who he wasn’t sure would have or could have survived all this time, it certainly makes for an awkward first conversation.
Throwing Shade at Jaime
“The things we do for love.”
In these six short words, Bran confirms Jaime’s worst fears: that he not only remembers that Jaime pushed him out of the window hoping to kill him, but also that he remembers every last detail of the moment. Jaime said a variation of this same statement, “the things I do for love,” while looking at Cersei as he forcefully shoves the boy. So when Jaime tells Sansa he won’t apologize for what he did to her father, saying that everything he did was for his house and family, and Bran replies with these clever words, we can see the horrible fear of recognition come across Jaime’s face. It truly was priceless, and one of the best moments of the episode.
Why He Hasn’t Outed Jaime
“You wouldn’t be able to help us in this fight if I let them murder you first.”
One might wonder why Bran would keep quiet about the person who almost killed him when he clearly knows who it was. His answer when Jaime asks him that very question in private explains it. And it shows that Bran, now the Three-Eyed Raven versus the human he once was, does not operate from a place of emotion, but just straight logic and purpose.
He Knows What the Night King Wants
“An endless night. He wants to erase this world, and I am its memory.”
Everyone was so focused on fighting the Night King and his army of White Walkers and wights that no one seemed to ever stop and question what the Night King actually wanted in the first place. When Samwell finally wonders aloud, Bran answers hinting that perhaps it’s he the Night King wants, since Bran is the keeper of all of humanity’s memories. It’s in this moment that Bran decides to use himself as bait to try and capture the Night King.
A Clever Way to End a Conversation
“I’m going to go now.”
Can you imagine having a conversation with someone that you wish you could end, but don’t have an easy way out? If only your phone would ring, or someone would come to interrupt! Bran has that ability, as shown when he utters these words to Theon. After saying what he needs to say, Bran turns his head away, eyes roll back, and he begins warging to see what’s happening elsewhere. “Sorry, Theon, gotta go!”
Makes Jaime Question What Will Happen
“How do you know there is an afterwards?”
In the follow-up to Bran telling Jaime he won’t reveal the secret because they need him to fight, Jaime asks what will happen once the battle is over. Bran’s answer is a great cop-out, but also puzzling. Is he implying that they will lose The Long Night battle? (Spoiler alert: they didn’t). Or maybe he’s suggesting that, further into the future, they’re all doomed anyway? When it comes to Bran, who knows; half the time, we wonder if even he does.
Revealing Jon Snow’s True Identity
“He’s never been a bastard. He’s the heir to the Iron Throne. He needs to know. We need to tell him.”
Bran is not only the one who discovered Jon’s true identity, but he’s also the one who made sure the news was delivered to Jon at the right time, in the right way, and by the right person. By entrusting Samwell with this secret, Bran also got a tidbit of information he didn’t even know, and that he wasn’t able to see in his visions: that the High Septon annulled Rhaegar’s marriage to Elia and wed him to Lyanna Stark, making Jon Snow a legitimate child, not a bastard, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, and a Stark, though not in the way he had believed.
We’re Losing Him
“I’m not, really. Not anymore. I remember what it felt like to be Brandon Stark, but I remember so much else now.”
Meera was one of the first to discover what Bran had become, which was far from the boy she first met as she and her brother Jojen carried him about on a mission to find the Three-Eyed Raven. Her response, as she looked on with fear, was that the actual Bran she knew must have died in that cave.
Showing Sansa His Power
“I’m sorry for all that’s happened to you. I’m sorry it had to happen here in our home. It was so beautiful that night. Snow falling, just like now. And you were so beautiful…in your white wedding dress.”
It’s like talking to a psychic who says something so specific, so personal, that you can’t help but gasp. Imagine it coming from your own little brother? Sansa had a WTF look when Bran discussed her wedding and all of the terrible things that happened to her in the bedroom that night as if he were right there.
