Bran Stark (The Lion and the Dragon)

## Bran Stark

**Bran Stark** is a member of House Stark and was the fifth child and third son of Eddard Stark and his wife Morya Frey. He has three brothers; Robb, Jon and Rickon; and two older sisters, Sansa and Arya.

## Appearance and Character

Bran favors his mother Morya in appearance, having the thick black hair and black eyes of the Blackwoods that came through her mothers side.

Bran is a sweet and thoughtful boy, well-loved by everyone at Winterfell. He has a fascination with climbing and exploring along the walls and ramparts of the castle. Morya once jested that Bran could climb before he could walk, however, his climbing often distresses her. Like his siblings, Bran is also dutiful and tough-minded, but also possesses a propensity for adventure and excitement; he yearns to see far off places one day and dreams of becoming a knight. His cousin Lady Branda Stark fondly thinks to herself that Bran was always "stubborn and curious", and in like manner constantly wanted to join in the play of the older boys, believing himself an adult at seven.

Bran owns grey breeches and a white doublet, the sleeves and collar of which are trimmed with vair. When riding, he wears a dark grey woolen surcoat with silver buttons, as well as fur-lined boots and gloves. Bran clasps his fur-trimmed cloak with a heavy silver pin, but the boy's favorite clasp is a wolf's-head brooch of silver and polished jet which makes him look lordly.

## History

Born at Winterfell in 290 AC at the height of summer, Bran is the third son and fifth child of Morya Frey and Eddard Stark, Castellan of Winterfell. He is named after his late uncle, Eddard's elder brother Brandon, who died during the War of the Usurpers.

Bran has four older siblings (Robb, Jon, Sansa, and Arya) and one younger (Rickon). As a child, Bran was educated by Maester Luwin and trained with weapons by the master-at-arms, Ser Rodrik Cassel.

Bran enjoys exploring the castle, as he believes it allows him to know its secrets. Since he was a babe, Bran often climbed the walls of Winterfell, scaring Morya to death. Once, she pleaded for him to stop, and extracted a promise for him to do so, which he kept for barely a fortnight. When Bran, wracked with guilt, confessed this to Eddard, he ordered his son to the Winterfell godswood to cleanse himself, where Bran was eventually found asleep in the tallest sentinel tree. Ned then accepted his climbing, but told him to try to not let his lady mother see him. Lady Stark then turned to others in the castle: first, Maester Luwin, who once made a boy out of pottery and threw it from Winterfell's walls to show Bran what would happen if the boy were to fall while climbing, then, to Old Nan, who told him a story of a boy who climbed too high, was struck by lightning and had his eyes eaten by crows, and finally the castle guards, who chased Bran from tower to tower in an attempt to haul him down. Each attempt was fruitless, and Bran continued his climbing. The boy enjoys swinging from the gargoyles of the First Keep and feeding corn to the crows atop the broken tower.

Bran loves hearing Old Nan's stories, preferring the scary ones above all else concerning the children of the forest, the Long Night, and the Others. He is also enthralled by tales of mystery knights and the Kingsguard, and asks to hear their stories over and over until their names become like music to him.

### Fall from the Tower

Bran is among a group of twenty who witness his father, Eddard Stark, dispense the king's justice to Gared, a deserter of the Night's Watch, the first time Bran is allowed to accompany such a group. When they find a dead direwolf and her pups on the way back to Winterfell, Bran passionately protests against killing the pups. Bran and each of the other Stark siblings receives one of the young animals as a pet.

Bran begins climbing to Winterfell's broken tower so he can feed the crows. When near a window in the First Keep, however, he discovers his brother, Jon, and a Stormlander squire from House Mertyns having sex, although the boy does not understand their actions. Jon pushes Bran from the window in desperation, intending to kill the boy to keep the homosexual affair a secret, but Bran survives and enters a coma.