There was so much trauma at the end of Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones that, understandably, the silver lining may have slipped our minds. While the Three-Eyed Raven died, it seems — is Bran the Raven now on Game of Thrones ? Max Von Sydow's character may have been struck down, but his position isn't going anywhere.
Granted, the Raven was an old man who lived in a tree. Was he ever really alive? For a while in Season 6, I wasn't sure that anyone could see him other than Bran, and perhaps Leaf. I think the Raven is truly dead — he vanished from the tree and from Bran's vision. However, before he died, the Raven said that it was time for Bran to "become him" even though he was not ready. I'm unclear as to how Bran can leave the tree as the Raven, while that old dude was stuck inside it. Will any Weirwood tree do? Good thing there's one in Winterfell.
Also, I 100 percent agree that Bran is not ready for this job. Arya is better at being Faceless than Bran is at Ravening right now. On his first "solo mission," Bran got touched by the Night's King and started this whole mess. What will he do without the old Raven to guide him? I'm not saying that I necessarily blame him for the deaths of Hodor, Leaf, the Raven, and Summer. I have trouble blaming any Stark for making the decisions that they make, with the maybe exception of Robb Stark, who probably should have sucked it up and married the Frey girl. But still like, he was in love. I get it.
In HBO's Inside The Episode featurette for "The Door," executive producer David Benioff describes the Raven's last moments as an attempt to "upload all of his knowledge" into Bran at the last second. I wonder if this is going to continue in the next couple of weeks. He didn't wake up after the Raven vanished, and could be trapped in the flashbacks until he learns to control these abilities.
Poor Meera, to be honest. She wanted to leave that tree and go home so much, and it happened in the worst possible circumstances. Not only that, but now she's got to carry Bran herself with White Walkers on their tail. If there has ever been a time to drop out of magic school, this is it. Unfortunately, Bran might be stuck on a path towards becoming the new Raven that's more of a collision course than anything else.
Image: courtesy of HBO
