re: Game of Thrones S4:E4 "Oathkeeper" A Meltdown for Book Maesters (SPOILERS)

quote:

---

I think we are led to believe that the others killed the shite out of him. Nowhere in that story did I take it that the Children of the Forest (fricking stop with the god damn acronyms, everybody) saved him. Kinda seems like you are stretching to fit your theory.

---

The book doesn't explain how the Children help him, but the clear implication from the book is that they did. Nan's telling of the story is interrupted, and then this is from later in the same chapter, during discussion of Benjen being missing:

quote:

---

All Bran could think of was Old Nan's story of the Others and the last hero, hounded through the white woods by dead men and spiders big as hounds. He was afraid for a moment, until he remembered how that story ended. "The children will help him," he blurted, "the children of the forest!"

---

I didn't say that TCOF saved him. It's implied in the story sure but it's never confirmed. I'm saying what if they didn't save him?

And note that the "Last Hero" is never given a name. Much like the Night's Kings named is forbidden. Nan never says he is Brandon Stark, but she does say that the Night's King was perhaps a Brandon Stark.

As for the rest of the Night's King tale, it is not as evil as it seems. The Last Hero did meet a female Other and they fell in love and had a son for we know the Knight's King gave his Other-bride his "seed and soul." Perhaps they named their son, Brandon after his father and "Stark" after the winter he was born into or his mother's nature. The Last Hero and his Other bride loved their son and refused to sacrifice him. Or perhaps the Others only wanted pure human children, not half-human/half Other. So the Last Hero spirited him away from the Night Fort to find a place to keep him safe.

It would be here that the Last Hero finds the hot springs that Winterfell is built upon. Presumably the Others would not do well with hot water, so it was a perfect place to build a castle to keep his son safe. The Last Hero calls upon another great King from the far north, Joramun "who blew the horn of winter and woke giants from the earth." The giants came to help the Last Hero and his son Brandon the Builder construct a mighty castle over the springs so that the work could be done quickly. Fittingly they named the castle Winterfell because of the hopes that Winter will fall to the newly established House Stark.

The Last Hero then tells his son Brandon the truth about who he is and the deal the Last Hero made with the Others. Brandon Stark being half human, half Other had some of their magical powers. The Others are able to animate the flesh of their wights and control them. This is where the Stark warging trait comes from. Since the Stark bloodline has part of the Other's blood in it, they have the ability to control the bodies of others.

Before returning to the Night Fort, the Last Hero told his son, there must always be a Stark in Winterfell for he understood that his bloodline would always have the power to fight off the Others.

And so the Last Hero returned to his bride at the Night Fort. The Others would have been livid with the Last Hero for his betrayal, killed him and re-animated his dead flesh. This is where he became the corrupt Night's King of legend and the Others, through the Night's King caused the Watch to turn on the realms of men.

Bran the Builder understood what was happening. So he called other kings, like Joramun for help. Together they destroyed the Night's King and with the help of Joramum's giants and his own ice magic, Brandon the Builder he completed the Wall. And Brandon the Builder was not considered a kin-slayer like Bael the Bard's son because his father was already dead.

With the completion of the Wall and the destruction of Night's King, the Watch was free to fight for the humans again. For those that believe the NW=Lightbringer, it could be that Brandon the Builder "weilded" the Night's Watch in this battle. Or perhaps he named the 14th LC of the NW, a man named Azor Ahai. But in any case, human kind was finally able to beat back the Others and end the Long Night that lasted a generation.

quote:

---

I want Jon to meet Meera, and the Targ story to come out somehow,

---

WANT!

It was bullshite the way Meera was handled in the episode last night.

Excellent hunter, somewhat of a badass... gets cold cocked coming around a corner by a degenerate lowlife then treated as the typical victim woman.

Bush league but whatever.

quote:

---

And note that the "Last Hero" is never given a name. Much like the Night's Kings named is forbidden. Nan never says he is Brandon Stark, but she does say that the Night's King was perhaps a Brandon Stark.

---

I'm just not seeing the Last Hero as being any part of Team Other. I think its much more likely that the Last Hero is just a different telling of the Azor Ahai story.

All we really know about him is that he set out to save the world, things were shitty, he was in a bad situation with a broken sword, then something happened involving the Children of the Forest, then next thing you know he is slaying others with "Dragonsteel".

Dragonsteel could mean Valyrian Steel, or it could just be the North's name for "Lightbringer." Either way, I just don't think it would make sense for him to be aligned with the Others. Plus as others have pointed out, the timeline doesn't work out.

quote:

---

Finkle is Einhorn

---

Damn, son. You can remember all that? I have to wiki search everything hahaha

It's not so hard to remember when you re-read the series. I've done 8 re-reads through the years. And a lot of my theories I have had for years. And of course I look up things like the excerpt from Old Nans story etc

quote:

---

Plus as others have pointed out, the timeline doesn't work out

---

How's that? the Last Hero, AA and the Nights King all lived during the Age of Heroes.

The Long Night occurred during the Age of Heroes

haha doesn't seem that bad when you consider I read the first novel in 1999. So it's been what 15 years?

That's why I defend Bran and Brienne's chapters when people mention how boring they are. There's a TON of backstory and other important info and foreshadowing going on in them. And sometimes you get badass stories like the Last Hero or Nights King, etc. But most readers miss them cause they skip or half arse read these chapters

quote:

---

Poor Hodors have no idea

---

Yeah, I think it's funny too, at the same time, I bet Dany will be sped up a lot more than it was for us.

"Waited six years for A Dance With Dragons"


LINK