Illustration by:
Marc Simonetti
For many years devoted fans of George R.R. Martin's latest and most popular book series, A Song of Ice and Fire have been left salivating for the next installment in the series, mainly to find out the fates of fan-favorite characters whose stories expand throughout all five books that have been released so far like Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Arya Stark and so on. There are however, those characters who make a brief appearence for one, or two chapters, (some a bit more) who leave a mark on readers because of the importance to how their presence affects characters, events, and helps move the story forward with their their existence and the role they play, and in turn lead to many fans to dig through all the many pages of the series and come up with some fun and amazing theories.
Such characers inlcude, Ned Stark's brother and First Ranger of the Night's Watch, Benjen Stark. The re-animated Lady Stone Heart, aka Catelyn Stark, Sandor Clegane, aka The Hunds, his Borther Ser Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain that Rides. as well as who the mysterious Coldhands, Robert Strong, and The Gravedigger
Reddit user, and ASoIaF fan, _honeybird, took it upon herself to take a trip to Texas A&M's Cushing Library to dig up the original manuscript for George R.R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons book in search of some "lost chapters" that were said to have been moved to the next and yet unreleased book, The Winds of Winter in hopes that it would shed some light into the still not completed saga. Unfortunately said chapters were not found and we are still left to wonder and put forth more theories about the destiny of the characters and how the series will unfold.
What she did discovered though, was the relation between Benjen Stark and the magical/obsucre Coldhands.
There are many theories out there about Benjen, albeit most of them are pretty supported in jest.
There is one theory none the less, that has some pretty reasonable merits, and that is that Benjen Stark is the mysterious hooded character, Coldhands.
Many fans, myself included, have for a long time ran with the idea that Benjen Stark is/was the mysterious character, Coldhands. Well, now new evidence has surfaced that proves that theory, unfortunately, wrong.
Photo by: _honeybird
While revising the original manuscript for the book A Dance With Dragons, _honeybird came upon this page (see picture above) where the editor asks in a very confident manner if in fact Coldhands is Benjen Stark,
"is this benjen? I think it's Benjen...:) And does Bran never recognize him becasue he never sees his face fully?" to which G.R.R.M responds with a resounding "
NO".
There were many instances where ColdHands' actions, demeanor, and attire led people to put together the "clues'" and come to the conclusion that ColdHands was in fact, a reanimated Benjen Stark. Alas, this old and fun theory has now been debunked.
A bit of history/description of Benjen's and Coldhands events/history in the series.
Benjen Stark's dissapearence in A Game of Thrones (the first book in the ASoIaF series), is what
drives Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Ser Jeor Mormont to leave Castle Black in a quest to find Benjen, which in turn leads to Lord Commander. Mormont fidning out about the plans of the King Beyond The Wall to breach The Wall and head south. Along this excursion they also encounter White Walkers, an old and forgotten supernatural "clan" of undead beings.
At a later time in the series, another mysteroius "supernatural" being only known as ColdHands appears. Coldhands' first appearence has him encountiring Samwell Tarly, whom he refers to as "Brother" possibly hinting at him being a member of the Night's Watch at some point in his llife. After safely leading Sam, Gilly, and her baby to a secret passage that will get them over to the other side of The Wall, he commands for Sam to bring him Bran Stark, whom he leads to BloodRaven.
Are you disappointed by this new revelation? Are you hopeful that Benjen Stark might still be alive?
What are some of your favorite fan theories? Even better, do you have one? Share it and discuss it among readers of the series in the comments section.
A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of novels by author George R.R. Martin. It has inspired a live action adaptaion that is set to air it's fifth season on HBO on April 12th of this year
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