👁️ House Stark · Transformed

Bran Stark

Also known as: Brandon Stark · The Three-Eyed Raven · Bran the Broken · The Winged Wolf

Titles: King of the Andals and the First Men · Lord of the Six Kingdoms · Prince of Winterfell

Portrayed by: Isaac Hempstead Wright · Origin: The North · Seat: Winterfell / Red Keep · First appears: S1E1 “Winter Is Coming”

“I'm not Brandon Stark anymore. I'm the Three-Eyed Raven.”

Biography

Bran Stark's story begins with the series' inciting crime: a boy who loved to climb found Jaime and Cersei Lannister together in the Broken Tower, and was pushed from the window to keep the secret. He woke from the coma paralyzed, his memory of the fall gone — and with something new in his dreams, a three-eyed raven leading him north. His coma-vision marked the opening of a door that would never close. While the War of the Five Kings burned, Bran fled Theon's sack of Winterfell with Hodor, Osha, and Rickon, and chose the harder road: not to a brother's army, but beyond the Wall, toward the raven.

The journey consumed nearly everyone who shared it. Jojen Reed died within sight of the weirwood; inside it, the ancient greenseer fused to the tree began teaching Bran to swim through time itself. His education ended in catastrophe — touched by the Night King in a vision, he led the dead straight to the cave, and his escape was paid for by the most devastating time-loop in the series: holding the door, he reached back through decades and broke a stableboy's mind, creating Hodor with the same words that killed him. The boy who entered the cave never left it; what walked out wore his face and carried the memory of the world.

As the Three-Eyed Raven he became the war's living archive and its bait: it was Bran who confirmed Jon's parentage from Howland Reed's hidden history, Bran who waited in the godswood as the Night King came for the memory of mankind, Bran whose calm unsettled every room he entered. At the Dragonpit council, Tyrion's argument — who has a better story? — crowned him King of the Six Kingdoms, the first elected monarch in Westerosi history. Whether Bran the Broken foresaw it all is the show's last deliberate ambiguity: 'Why do you think I came all this way?'

Attributes & statistics

Editorial scores (0–100) and metadata — our own estimates for comparison, not official canon.

Screen time: 152 min across 50 episodes · Named on-screen kills: 1 · Lore milestones: 12 · Debut: S1E1 (2011)

Timeline

• ⭐ S1E1 — The Fall: Pushed from the Broken Tower by Jaime Lannister.
• S3E5 — Beyond the Wall: Crosses north with Hodor and the Reeds, pursuing the raven.
• ⭐ S6E5 — Hold the Door: Hodor's origin and death in one impossible moment.
• S7E3 — Returns to Winterfell: The Three-Eyed Raven comes home wearing Bran's face.
• ⭐ S8E3 — Bait in the Godswood: Waits for the Night King as the Long Night peaks.
• ⭐ S8E6 — Crowned Bran the Broken: Elected King of the Six Kingdoms at the Dragonpit.

Key relationships

• enemy Jaime Lannister — 'The things we do for love' — and later, absolution at Winterfell
• enemy The Night King — Marked by his touch; hunted across the world for his memory
• family Jon Snow — Revealed Jon's true name and claim
• ally Tyrion Lannister — The Hand who crowned him with a story
• family Eddard Stark — Witnessed his father's past in greensight visions

Trivia

• Isaac Hempstead Wright was absent for all of Season 5 — Bran's training montage happened entirely off-screen.
• The 'Hold the Door' twist was told to the showrunners directly by George R.R. Martin.
• Bran is the first king of Westeros chosen by council rather than conquest or inheritance.
• He warged into Summer, ravens, and Hodor — the only confirmed human-into-human warg in the show.
• His S8 wheelchair was based on a medieval design from a 1595 engraving.