--- title: Game of Thrones Theory Could Explain Bran's Strange Behavior description: Could Bran turn out to be the physical embodiment of the Lord of Light on Game of Thrones? canonical: https://time.com/5579736/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-lord-of-light/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-29T18:24:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:24:31.019Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Game of Thrones Theory Could Explain Bran's Mysterious Behavior og:description: Where did Bran go during the Battle of Winterfell? og:url: https://time.com/5579736/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-lord-of-light/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39d20a218f42ba23/69894922b21a9c542d500859/game-of-thrones-s8-e3-bran-stark.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Game-of-Thrones-S8-E3-Bran-Stark og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Game of Thrones Theory Could Explain Bran's Mysterious Behavior twitter:description: Where did Bran go during the Battle of Winterfell? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39d20a218f42ba23/69894922b21a9c542d500859/game-of-thrones-s8-e3-bran-stark.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This _Game of Thrones_ Theory Could Explain Bran's Mysterious Behavior During the Battle of Winterfell > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 29, 2019 6:24 PM UTC  Helen Sloan—HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 29, 2019 6:24 PM UTC **Warning:** This post contains spoilers for [_Game of Thrones_ ](http://time.com/4913247/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere-date/)[season 8](http://time.com/4913247/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere-date/). Before Arya swooped in to save the day by [stabbing the Night King](http://time.com/5579377/game-of-thrones-arya-kill-night-king/) with her Valyrian steel dagger in “The Long Night” episode of _Game of Thrones_, Bran Stark spent some time immersed in one of his [greensight](https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Greensight) visions. “I’m going to go now,” he told Theon before warging into a flock of crows to keep an eye on the battle. However, some fans are speculating that Bran may have been up to more than just spying on the Night King. A [theory laid out by Reddit user DontMicrowaveCats](https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/binsug/spoilers%5Fthe%5Fbran%5Fis%5Fthe%5Flord%5Fof%5Flight%5Ftheory%5Fis/) suggests that just as the Night King seemed to be the physical embodiment of the [Great Other](https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Great%5FOther), the god of darkness and evil in the faith of R’hllor, Three-Eyed Raven Bran is the physical embodiment of the Lord of Light. --- > “” --- The Redditor goes on to explain how a comment that George R. R. Martin made about Beric Dondarrion’s resurrections in a [2017 interview with TIME](http://time.com/4791258/game-of-thrones-george-r-r-martin-interview/) may foreshadow this reveal. “\[Beric’s\] not a living human being anymore,” Martin said. “His heart isn’t beating, his blood isn’t flowing in his veins, he’s a wight, but a wight animated by fire instead of by ice, now we’re getting back to the whole fire and ice thing.” If those who are brought back by the power of the Lord of Light are still considered wights, then it would make sense for the Night King’s diametric opposite to be the one resurrecting them just as the Night King channeled the power of the Great Other to reanimate his own wights. “The Night King is a physical entity, his opposite should be too. The Lord of Light likely has a physical presence. So who is it? they don’t ever explicitly show any other being with \[the Night King’s\] level of power (or do they?)” DontMicrowaveCats writes. “If the Night King can reanimate the dead, his ‘light’ opposite should have an equal level of power to bring life. And if \[the Night King’s\] reanimated dead fight for evil, then his opposite’s reanimated dead would fight for good/the living.” Our Reddit user also explains how Arya’s Valyrian steel dagger could play into this. Basically, the theory banks on the idea that, similar to how Bran’s meddling in the past ended up being the [cause of Hodor’s condition](http://time.com/4344388/game-of-thrones-hodor/), it will be revealed that Three-Eyed Raven Bran is the reason the dagger was the weapon used by the assassin who tried to kill him as a young boy. Don’t forget that it was Bran who gave Arya the dagger in season 7. --- > “” --- Essentially, everything in the show that seems like it was done by the Lord of Light — [resurrecting Jon](http://time.com/4313758/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-alive-dead-resurrection-magic/), giving [Melisandre the power](http://time.com/5579333/game-of-thrones-melisandre-arya/) to light the trenches, etc. — has actually been brought about by Bran. This would ostensibly make Bran the show’s most impactful character. But if true, it also begs the question of whether the same rules apply to Bran’s powers that applied to the Night King’s — i.e., if Bran was the one who reanimated Jon then would Jon die if Bran did? After the events of Sunday, we know that the popular [Bran is the Night King theory](http://time.com/4909961/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-night-king/) is bogus. But that doesn’t mean _Game of Thrones_ doesn’t still have a major Bran twist up its sleeve. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5579736/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-lord-of-light/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5579736/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-lord-of-light/"},"headline":"This Game of Thrones Theory Could Explain Bran's Mysterious Behavior During the Battle of Winterfell","datePublished":"2019-04-29T18:24:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:24:31.019Z","description":"Where did Bran go?","url":"https://time.com/5579736/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-lord-of-light/","keywords":["Television","game of thrones","TV","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39d20a218f42ba23/69894922b21a9c542d500859/game-of-thrones-s8-e3-bran-stark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39d20a218f42ba23/69894922b21a9c542d500859/game-of-thrones-s8-e3-bran-stark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Game-of-Thrones-S8-E3-Bran-Stark","caption":"","creditText":"Helen Sloan—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5579736/game-of-thrones-bran-stark-lord-of-light/","name":"This Game of Thrones Theory Could Explain Bran's Mysterious Behavior During the Battle of Winterfell"}}]}] ```