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They should use Bran next season to mostly build up the history and lore of Westeros, particularly

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in regards to Rhaegar and Lyanna.

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THIS x 10000000000000000. I think that Jojen and Meera should tell the Knight of the Laughing Tree story as well.

Exactly, and I believe they do that. There really isn't a heck of a lot that happens between the wall and the cave. You could have one scene with Bran per episode and still accomplish a lot:

Scene 1 - They leave the Wall heading north and tell stories to pass the time or possibly around the fire at night. Jojen tells the story of TKOLT. They need to do this as soon as possible to tie in with the revelations that are coming once Bran connects to the Weirwood Web. That's one of the reasons that I hope they actually show that story with Jojen providing a voice over to provide some visual connection between the girl in the story and when Bran sees Lyanna later through the heart tree at Winterfell.

Scene 2 - They meet Coldhands. They probably lead you to believe that he's coming to do them harm, not sure. He's not going to just show up and say "Hi, I'm here to take you to the 3-eyed crow." Probably something similar to what happens when Sam finds them at the Night's Fort and Meera attacks him, but this time Meera loses and Coldhands lets her up, letting them know that he means them no harm.

Scene 3 - Travelling with Coldhands. Jojen starts his decline. They start to notice strange things about Coldhands

Scene 4 - **Varamyr has warged into the wolf. Unlike the book, he dies when the raiding party attacks Castle Black from the South, which happens within the first 2 episodes, possibly the first.***
Varamyr's pack is tracking them and Coldhands goes back to deal with them. While he's gone, the group shares their concerns about whether or not he is a friend. He returns with food, they confront him about why he doesn't appear to be entirely human, and he reveals the truth that he is, in fact, dead (or undead, as the case may be).

Scene 5 - The elk dies, Jojen is growing weaker and all seems very bleak.

Scene 6 - They finally make it to the cave and have to fight their way in. Ends with Bran unconscious and the Hodors are left wondering whether or not the wights got him.

Scene 7 - Bran wakes in the cave. We are introduced to the children of the forest.

Scene 8 - Bloodraven

Scene 9 - Brans first "connection" with the Weirwoods. He sees things from the past and present including his father, Lyanna and Brandon, etc. May also see his uncle Benjen, which would explain why he is on set this year. Benjen may be part of some flashbacks, Bran may glimpse what happened to him or he may even see him alive, who knows. When it comes to visions, I have no idea what the writers will do; that's one area where they have NOT stuck that closely to the books.

I have these listed by scene, not episode. With everything else that's going down, they could probably split this up and have some episodes with no Bran scenes at all. They could do one per episode, but I doubt they will.

The one problem with this is that it leaves nothing for Bran's storyline in season 5. Of course (and here's hoping), once they get Bran tapped in, they can have an entire season where Bran is there to provide foreshadowing and backstory while the other storylines catch up. We can also get that from him talking with Bloodraven.

This post was edited on 8/20/13 at 12:40 pm