The Script to My Upcoming Video (Patron Early Access)

A song of ice and fire opens with Brandon Stark, the second born son of Eddard Stark. Some of you may be familiar with the concept of “The Monomyth” also known as “The Hero’s Journey”. In comparative mythology, the monomyth is the common template of a wide division of tales that involve a hero who goes on a decisive crisis, triumphs over the enemy and finally returns home change of transformed. The monomyth is seen everywhere in popular culture, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia, Dune, and also in A Song of Ice and Fire. 

Bran’s storyline up until his very last chapter in A Dance with Dragons has followed the monomyth precisely. This could mean that Bran Stark is actually the true hero in our story. As opposed to Daenerys or Jon Snow. 

Let’s breakdown the steps of the monomyth and apply them to Bran's arch in A Song of Ice and Fire. The Hero’s Journey can be separated into three acts each containing several steps.

Act One: The Ordinary world. 

Here we find our hero in a state of rest. Home in his safe place. He is oblivious to any adventures to come. It is at this stage that we learn key details about our hero, his outlook on life, his true nature, and capabilities. We see our hero as human, relatable to ourselves identifying with our hero in this stage allows us to empathize with later. As I said A Game of Thrones opens with Bran, as it is there that we learn all these things about Bran. He is at his home in Winterfell, we learn of his love of climbing, we learn that he is, for the most part, good-hearted. We learn that he is just a child like we all once were, this is why we empathize with him later after his fall.

Next, The Call to Adventure. At this stage, something happens which disrupt the comfort of stage one. Examples could be threats to his safety, his family, or his way of life. This stage in A song of ice and fire involves Bran falling from the tree after witnessing the queens infidelity, becoming paralyzed afterward,  and him beginning to receive dreams from the mysterious three-eyed crow who gives him cryptic messages.

Stage three is the Refusal of the call at this point the hero has fears that need overcoming, second thoughts or perhaps deep personal doubts as to whether or not he is up to the challenge. 

Bran fears life as a cripple and would much rather stay inside the skin of summer, even though Jojen warns him of the danger. 

He meant to do the things that Jojen asked, but once he was a wolf they

never seemed important. There were always things to see and things to smell, a whole

green world to hunt. And he could run! There was nothing better than running unless it

was running after prey. “I was a prince, Jojen,” he told the older boy. “I was the prince of

the woods.”

“You are a prince,” Jojen reminded him softly. “You remember, don’t you? Tell me who

you are.”

“You know.” Jojen was his friend and his teacher, but sometimes Bran just wanted to hit

him.

“I want you to say the words. Tell me who you are.”

“Bran,” he said sullenly. Bran the Broken. “Brandon Stark.” The cripple boy. “The Prince

of Winterfell.” Of Winterfell burned and tumbled, its people scattered and slain.

The next stage is meeting the mentor. At this critical turning point, the hero desperately needs guidance. He meets a mentor figure who gives him something he requires. It could be wise, advice, insight into the dilemma he faces, or even self-confidence.

Immediately one might think of bloodraven at this stage but it actually fits more with the structure of the monomyth of Jojen is the mentor. It is Jojen who convincing Bran to go out and begin their quest to find the three-eyed crow.

I dreamed of a winged wolf bound to earth by chains of stone and came to Winterfell to free him. The chains are off you now, yet still, you do not fly.”

“Then you teach me.” Bran still feared the three-eyed crow who haunted his dreams

sometimes, pecking endlessly at the skin between his eyes and telling him to fly. “You’re

a greenseer.”

“No,” said Jojen, “only a boy who dreams. The greenseers were more than that. They

were wargs as well, as you are, and the greatest of them could wear the skins of any

beast that flies or swims or crawls, and could look through the eyes of the weirwoods as

well, and see the truth that lies beneath the world.

“The gods give many gifts, Bran. My sister is a hunter. It is given to her to run swiftly,

and stand so still she seems to vanish. She has sharp ears, keen eyes, a steady hand with

net and spear. She can breathe mud and fly through trees. I could not do these things, no

more than you could. To me the gods gave the green dreams, and to you . . . you could be

more than me, Bran. You are the winged wolf, and there is no saying how far and high

you might fly . . . if you had someone to teach you. How can I help you master a gift I do

not understand?

If they stayed here, hidden down beneath Tumbledown Tower, no one would find them.

He would stay alive. And crippled.

Bran realized he was crying. Stupid baby, he thought at himself. No matter where he

went, to Karhold or White Harbor or Greywater Watch, he’d be a cripple when he got

there. He balled his hands into fists. “I want to fly,” he told them. “Please. Take me to the

crow.”

This leads directly into the next stage Crossing The Threshold, the hero is now ready to act upon his call to adventure and begin his quest. This can be an emotional, physical, or spiritual quest. The hero may either be pushed into it or go willingly. At this point, our hero finally crosses the threshold between the world with which he is familiar and the world which he is not. This stage signifies the Hero’s commitment to his journey. This is the point in asoiaf when bran decides to find the three-eyed crow.

The next stage, Test, allies, enemies. Now that the hero is finally out of his comfort zone he is confronted with more difficult challenges that test him in a variety of ways. The hero must overcome each challenge he is faced with on the journey towards the ultimate goal. The Hero must find out who can be trusted and who cannot be. He may meet the enemy and earn allies who will each in their own way help prepare him for the greater ordeals in the future. This stage is where his skills and powers are tested and every obstacle he faced allows us to receive deeper insight into his character and identify with him even more.

This is halfway through the stages of the monomyth, it is also the stage that a song of ice and fire left off on. Bran, along with Hodor Meera, and Jojen journeying beyond the wall, meeting cold hands, the children of the forest and bloodraven. At several points, bran's powers are tested, and he meets several figures of questionable allegiance. 

The name of the next stage might surprise you. Approach to the inmost cave. The inmost cave may represent many things in the hero's story. Most importantly it can represent an actual location in which lies a terrible danger, which up until now the hero has not had to face. In a song of ice and fire, bran is literally in a cave, along with the children of the forest. The caves are said to go on without end. Could Bran’s inmost cave actually be deep within bloodraven's cave? Or is it more metaphorical?

The next stage is the supreme ordeal. It could be a dangerous physical test or deep inner crisis that Bran must face in order to survive or for the world in which bran lives to continue to exist. The could either be bran facing his greatest fear or his most deadly foe. Bran will have to draw upon all of his skills and his experiences he’s gathered in order to overcome his most difficult challenge.

The next stage is, reward. After defeating the enemy, and surviving death, and finally overcoming his greatest personal challenge, bran is transformed into a new state, emerging as a stronger person and often with some prize. It may come in several forms. A secret, an object of great importance or power, or greater knowledge or insight. Whatever the reward, Bran will have to quickly put it aside in order to prepare for the next stage.

The Road Back. This stage in the monomyth represents a reverse echo of the call to adventure in which bran had to cross the first threshold. Now he can return to home with his reward.  The moment before the Bran finally commits to the last stage of his journey may be a moment in which he must choose between his own personal objective and that of a Higher Cause.

The penultimate stage is the resurrection. This would be the climax of bran’s story, at this point bran will have his final and most dangerous encounter with death. This last battle also signifies something much more than Brains own existence. Its outcome will have far-reaching consequences to the ordinary world and the lives of those he left behind. If bran fails, others will suffer. Ultimate bran should succeed, destroy his enemy and emerge from the fight cleansed and reborn.

The final stage is the Return. Bran will return to the ordinary world but be changed. He will have grown as a person, faced many terrible dangers including death, and learned many new things. Brans return may bring hope to those he left behind, a direct solution to their problem, or even a new perspective to consider. Ultimately Bran will return to where he started but things will never be the same again. 

George RR Martin has followed the monomyth perfectly up until this point. Whether or not he will continue to follow this structure with Bran no one can say for certain.  But if Bran's story does fulfill each stage of the Monomyth we can predict the broad Strokes of his storyline.  Bran was also one of the five principal characters that George RR Martin stated would survive to the end of A Song of Ice and Fire in a leaked note to his publisher from the 90s. This would obviously make sense if bran was meant to fulfill the monomyth.