The Connection Between Benjen & Coldhands On 'GoT'

With the surprise and long awaited return of Benjen Stark on Game Of Thrones, many more questions came along with him. Benjen returned in dramatic fashion, arriving on horseback and wielding aflame flail to save Meera & Bran from the clutches of some really angry wights. Once he removed his hood and started telling Bran where he had been all this time, we learned that he had been stabbed by a white walker, left for dead and then saved by the Children of the Forest. So, he had been busy. One questions still remained, though. Is Benjen Stark Coldhands?

Coldhands is a character form the books who comes from beyond The Wall and has the physical appearance resembling a White Walker. The only difference is the fact that this character had their wits about them and had the intellect of a living (and not evil) human being. This is markedly different from the wights, who basically just run around grunting and trying to kill people. Benjen completely fits this description now, upon his return from battling White Walkers in the North.

Book readers have known about Coldhands for a long time. Many theories have been floating around about whether Coldhands was it's own character or whether it was actually Benjen Stark. Well, if anyone still questioned whether they were two different characters, tonight may have put those questions to rest. Benjen Stark is definitely Coldhands according to showrunner D.B. Weiss who said as much in the "inside the episode" featurette.

It's going to be really interesting to see where this whole thing plays out. Benjen/Coldhands will certainly be a force to help Bran navigate his strange Greenseeing/Warging journey. Hopefully this isn't the only theory that is confirmed this season. I'm looking at you, R + L = J.

Images: HBO