Chapter 17 – Bran

Wait, what? Bran’s gonna wake up? Whoa, I wasn’t expecting this — at least, I didn’t think he’d wake up so soon. Once again G.R.R.M manages to surprise me with his choice of POV. I honestly expected to return to Dany by now.

Okay, so Bran isn’t technically awake yet. He seems to be having a coma dream.

This dream is kinda weird. But then dreams are supposed to be like that.

[quote]He wanted to cry.

Not cry. Fly.

“I can’t fly,” Bran said. “I can’t I can’t . . .”

How do you know? Have you ever tried?

The voice was high and thin. Bran looked around to see where it was coming from. A crow was spiraling down with him, just out of reach, following him as he fell. “Help me,” he said.

I’m trying, the crow replied. Say, got any corn?[/quote]

What.

Okay, so . . . more dream stuff. Bran sees many things he can’t possibly know about, such as his mother on a ship and his brother Robb practicing with real steel.

[quote]He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.[/quote]

What. Um, the shadow with the hound face is obviously Sandor Clegane, but I’m not sure about the other two. Is Ser Jaime with the caravan? I can’t remember, but if he is he’s probably the “golden and beautiful” shadow. As for the giant, black blooded shadow . . . it’s not Mr. Payne, is it? What’s his deal? Is he literally inhuman? I don’t understand dreams.

[quote]Bran looked at the crow on his shoulder, and the crow looked back. It had three eyes, and the third eye was full of terrible knowledge.[/quote]

What.

[quote]Bran looked down. There was nothing below him now but snow and cold and death, a frozen wasteland where jagged blue-white spires of ice waited to embrace him. They flew up at him like spears. He saw the bones of a thousand other dreamers impaled upon their points.[/quote]

Ooh, what a beautifully macabre image. He’s not dreaming — he’s in limbo, or coma-world (or something). That’s pretty fascinating — the crow is telling him to fly, to stop falling before he touches the ground, to wake up before he’s impaled on a spike and his coma kills him. Don’t die, Bran.

[quote]”Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?” he heard his own voice saying, small and far away.

And his father’s voice replied to him. “That is the only time a man can be brave.”

Now, Bran, the crow urged. Choose. Fly or die.

Death reached for him, screaming.

Bran spread his arms and flew.[/quote]

I just got chills. Oh, and now I’m tearing up. Why am I tearing up? You can’t read if you have tears in your eyes, you idiot. I’ll be right back.

Okay, I’m good, and so is Bran: he’s awake.

[quote]Winter is coming . . .

The window was open and it was cold in the room, but the warmth that came off the wolf enfolded him like a hot bath. His pup, Bran realized . . . or was it? He was so big now. He reached out to pet him, his hand trembling like a leaf.

When his brother Robb burst into the room, breathless from his dash up the tower steps, the direwolf was licking Bran’s face. Bran looked up calmly. “His name is Summer,” he said.[/quote]

Ooooooh. Wait, that’s the end?

Summary Time: Bran falls through limbo for a while, interacting with his . . . conscience? Spirit animal? God? Something helpful that takes on the form of a three-eyed crow, anyway. He escapes limbo and finally names his direwolf, but not before spying three shadowy figures that make me nervous and leave me with questions.

There’s not much to this one — it’s short, light on content and high on mind-bending imagery, but hey, Bran’s awake! I’m so excited to see more stuff in Winterfell — does Bran remember his dream? How will he react to being crippled? How will Robb react to the news of Ser Jaime and the queen’s betrayal?

Ugh, so many questions, and virtually no answers. Not fair. (Not really. I don’t expect to get most of these answered until much later in the book.)

It’s nice to write a short update again for a change — I was getting kinda burnt out writing these last few reaction posts.

Thanks for reading.

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