A Game of Thrones-Chapter 53

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Bran VI
A Game of Thrones chapter
AGameOfThrones.jpg
POV Bran
Page 475 US HC (Other versions)
Chapter chronology (All)
Bran V
Jon VII  ← Bran VI →  Daenerys VI

Bran VII

Bran watches the Karstarks and then goes to the Godswood to pray for Robb and his family. Osha, who also prays to the Old Gods, disturbs his thought. She offers to go but Bran asks him to stay and tell him about hearing the gods. Then she tells him of the Others in the north, and that Robb should be marching north not south. Bran tells her he will tell his brother, and only has an opportunity to tell Maester Luwin. The Robb is marching is army south.

Synopsis

Bran is watching the last of Lord Eddard’s bannermen arrive at Winterfell from a guard turret through Maester Luwin’s fareye. The Karstarks are the last to arrive: Lord Rickard Karstark leads with his sons Harrion, Eddard, and Torrhen riding beside him. The Karstarks are said to have Stark blood in them, going back hundreds of years, but they do not look like Starks to Bran, big and fierce.

Bran has not been allowed to go out of the castle after the incident in the Wolfswood. Robb tells him that there are no men available to guard, and is not dissuaded by Bran’s argument that he can take Summer. The incident in the Wolfswood shames Bran that he is not able to protect himself; even Rickon would have been able to kick them. A year ago he would have visited the village anyway, climbing over the walls. Now he can only watch with Maester Luwin and Hodor.

Maester Luwin had taught Bran all the banners and now has faces associated with them. Bran asks how many knights, but Luwin tells Bran that there are over 12,000 men, but only 300 knights because the North holds to the Old Gods; knights are anointed in a sept of the Seven gods. Luwin tells him, "a man’s worth is not marked by a Ser before his name." Bran asks when they will leave and is told they must leave soon or the countryside will be eaten clean if stay much longer. Robb has a long way to go and the fighting has started. More men with join Robb as he travels south.

Bran tells Hodar that he does not want to watch anymore. Maester Luwin tells Bran that is brother is busy greeting the Karstarks, and Brans tells him that he wants to visit the Godswood. Hodor has been carrying Bran in a basket strapped to his back, an idea Luwin had gotten from baskets used by the women to carry firewood. Being carried this way did not shame Bran like being carried like a baby; there was the problem that Hodor sometimes forgot Bran was on his back when he went through a doorway. When Bran exits the castle there are Karstarks arriving. Some men mock him, and he had been warned of this by the maester, and Bran’s attitude was to let them mock; he did not want to stay in his bedroom where no one would mock him. Bran calls for Summer, and the Karstark horses reel as thedirewolf goes by.

When Bran arrives at the Godswood, Bran pulls himself out of his seat on Hodor’s back using a branch of the Weirwood. Then he lets Hodor lowers him down beside the water, and Bran tells Hodor that he wants to be alone with Summer. Bran has been finding himself drawn more to the Heart Tree, and now he takes comfort from the deep red eyes of the Heart Tree; the old gods are looking over him. He feels safe and it give time for him to think, which he has been doing a lot recently.

Bran now prays that Robb will not go away, the safety of his family, and for Richon to understand. Rickon had been wild and violent since he had learned the Robb was leaving. Rickon had disappeared once, and was finally been found in the crypts with [[Shaggydog]. When he was found Rickon slashed at the with a sword and Shaggydog, who was also wild, had bitten Gage on the arm and taken a chunk out of Mikken’s thigh; it had taken Robb and Grey Wind to bring Shaggydog under control. Now Farlen had chained Shaggydog in the kennels, and Rickon now cries more. Luwin and Bran had both asked Robb to stay, but he refused saying he does not want to go but has to. Bran believes this is only half a lie because Robb could have sent somebody else in charge of the force to guard the neck. Robb’s response is that Eddard would not send others to die while he stayed behind the walls of Winterfell, and Robb denies all who request being given battle command. Many of the lords try to test Robb by making demands, and he is able to handle them much as father did, and bend them to his will, even when anger flairs. When Greatjon Umber demanded right to command, he drew his sword against Robb. Grey Wind immediately reacted by biting of two of his fingers. Since the incident, the Greatjon was Robb’s staunchest supporter. That night Robb came to Bran’s bedchamber pale and shaken. Robb then states that Roose Bolton never says a word and only looks at him, and all Robb can think of is the room in the Dreadfort where they hang the skins of their enemies. Bran states that this is only a story of Old Nan, but then asks for confirmation.

There are many horrible stories that come with travelers, and it is impossible to say which is real, although some are obviously impossible. Then the letter from Sansa arrives with the seal of Winterfell. After Robb reads the letter he crushes it. Robb states that she says nothing of Arya, and asks what is wrong with her. Bran states she had lost her wolf, remembering the day four of the guardsmen had returned with bones of Lady. They buried the bones in the cemetery where the faithful servants had been buried; she had gone south and only her bones returned like Lord Rickard Stark, Brandon Stark , and two hundred men, and none had returned. Now father, Arya, Sansa, Jory Cassel, and Tomard had gone south not come back and later mother and Ser Rodrik had gone and not come back. Now Robb was going south and it frighten Bran. Bran prays that the gods look after Robb and his men going south, and that that they should defeat the Lannisters and bring father back.

Bran is surprised by words from Osha, who was apparently able to move quietly in irons she has to wear. When Summer comes around the pool to sniff her, she flinches. Bran calls Summer back and asks Osha, who he had not seen since she was taken capture, what she is doing here, and she replies they are her gods too, and the only gods beyond the wall. Bran notes that she looks more womanly with her longer hair and her dress of brown spun. She tells how Gage lets her out to do her prays from time to time while she lets him do what he wants under her skirt when he feels the need; it is nothing to her and she likes the smell of four on his hands and he is gentler than Stiv. She offer to leave but Bran asks her to stay and tell what she means about hearing the gods. She tells him to open his ears, to which Bran replies that it is only the wind. She asks him who sends the winds; they see you and hear your words. Bran asks what they say and she replies that they are sad because they cannot help his brother in the South, as the old gods have no power there with all the weirwoods were destroyed thousands of years ago; they cannot watch his brother because they have no eyes. Now he listens and it seems there is sadness, and then he hears Hodor, who arrives naked. When Osha sees Hodor she states that he has giant blood in him due to his size. When Bran tells her that Maester Luwin taught him that there are no more giants, Osha tells him that the Maester should ride beyond the Wall. The giants often breed with men beyond the Wall, producing half-breeds. It goes hard on the woman that breeds with a giant because the child will tear them apart. As Hodor returns to dress at Bran’s command, Bran notes he is very big. Osha confirms there are giants beyond the Wall, and worse than giants: when men leave their fires they often do not come back and sometimes when they do they are Wights with blue eyes and cold black hands. She had tries to tell Robb, the maester and Theon this but they would not listen. This is why she left the north and joined Stiv and the rest of those fools. Mance Rayder, once a sworn brother of the Night's Watch, who thinks he can fight since Wrights are no more than Rangers, but what does he know. Osha states that she, unlike Mance, is of the north. Osha laments that she cannot get Robb to listen, and Bran tells her to tell him and she will get Robb to listen. She tells Bran that Robb should be marching his army north, not south.

We learn that the King-Beyond-the-Walll, was once a sworn brother of the Night's Watch who came from the Shadow Tower. Bran also recalls when the bannermen first began to arrive, how they tested Robb. Bran also knows from his brother that King Robert is dead, and that their lord father has been imprisoned for treason.

Bran does not get to tell Robb because he took his meal in the solar with the great lords to make final plans for the march; Bran had to act the host to the Karstarks in the Great Hall. When he arrives in the hall, he feels the eyes on him, and then hears them murmuring about his being broken. He whispers under his breath that he wants to be a knight, which Maester Luwin overhears. He tells Bran that some call his order the knights of the mind, and that Bran could forge his maester’s chain at the Citadel in Oldtown. Bran states that he wants to learn magic and the crow promised he would fly. The maester tells him that he can teach Bran many things but no one can teach him magic. Bran replies that the Children of the Forest could teach him. Now he remembers he promised Osha, and tells the maester of the threat in the north. The maester promises to talk to Osha, but it is obvious it will do little good.

Two days later, Robb and his army leave Winterfell to march south. Robb tells Bran that now he must be a lord; Bran, who never felt so little, alone or scared, did not know how to be a lord. He is told to listen to the maester and to take care of Rickon; Rickon had refused to come down, stating that no one ever comes back. Robb states that mother will be home soon and he promises to bring father back. As Robb’s force leaves, Bran remembers Osha’s words: he is marching the wrong way. Then he hears the cheers from the village, and thinks they will never cheer for him. All that seems to be left in Winterfell are women, children, old men and Hodor.

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References and Notes