A few weeks out, and it’s more clear that #GameOfThrones effectively concludes w/ The Long Night aka Battle of Winterfell. @Djawadi_Ramin’s haunting music is the perfect accompaniment to the seeming end of all things, when even the memory of the living world will be erased. Rest is epilogue. Also, I think it would be helpful to have a semi-official retcon on the nature of precog warfare. It seemed clear to me what was going on between Bran, Melisandre, and the Night King, but only perhaps because I write about precog warfare in my own work.

The problem prior to the battle similar to that presented in Dune Messiah when precogs are trying to out-scheme other precogs and the people in their immediate orbit, and the Night King either has some ability in the precog line or such good supernatural intel that it amounts to the same thing. It was as much as Bran could do to tell everyone that he’d be the bait for the Night King, and arrange the pieces (and knife) accordingly. To say (or even probably think too loudly) the rest would be to give the game away. He allows everyone else to assume that Jon or others will be the ones to take out the Night King. So, like a perfect Taoist, Bran sits calmly with seeming passivity as things play out. Dispersing his consciousness into the ravens probably both engages the Night King’s attention and makes Bran harder to read as the Night King approaches.

Bran relies on Melisandre, the other precog on the scene to complete his plan. She has to wait to speak with Arya until the Night King is fully engaged with the business of the battle, and even then she uses soft language (like someone in our world concerned about surveillance). It’s just enough for Arya to get it.

When the Night King finally reaches Bran, his focus is totally on his goal. The NK pauses and tilts his head. He senses Bran isn’t afraid, but can’t get a handle on the reason. The solution seems to be the same in any case–kill Bran. But Arya gets there first.

A note on Arya–it’s unlikely that the Faceless Men have ever let
someone else with their training retire. They must have wanted Arya to be a free piece in the Westeros game, which they themselves couldn’t play under their guild’s rules. Like their use of faces, the stealth of those assassins must have a supernatural aspect.

Also, Bran’s calm is probably in itself an intense effort. Given the nature of precog against precog conflict, he can’t know for certain his plan will work–in fact, it’s probably a helluva long shot that relies on everyone (even Theon) exceeding expectations. But it’s the best shot they have, so he stays calm, because his very doubts might betray his scheme.

The whole first time I was watching Bran in that episode, I was projecting a hidden activity beneath the seeming passivity and seeing the deliberate calm of someone who had already made all their moves. But that was my reading based on how I wanted it to be. Objectively, it’s not there on the screen, and the writers had an obligation to put it there somehow. So, let’s get a semi-official retcon.

To put it fully onscreen may have required some allusion in the aftermath episode. Too much beforehand wouldn’t have worked, though maybe a simple statement by Bran during planning that he couldn’t say anything more would have helped set things up.

Or maybe all of the above + retcon is still not enough to save Bran’s role, so let me know your thoughts and we can try to hammer it out some more or give up the whole business as a lost cause.