“The Door” revealed the true extent of Bran Stark’s powers for the first time, as the boy awakened as the greenseer amid terrible tragedy. Assuming he can escape from his current dire predicament with the help of Meera and Coldhands, he now knows that he can influence the past. He can’t change the present, however—but he can make it so things that have already come to pass actually do so. He lays the seeds that already sprouted. But what could he have changed?

The Effects Of Bran’s Whispering

Bran’s power, so far as we know now, seems to be limited to making himself felt or heard in the past, through time. So we have to look for appearances of whispers and voices in the past to see Bran’s possible influence. And a few possibilities jump out—areas where Bran may have made his power felt. Of course, none of these are yet certain. But we have plenty of ground to speculate.

Did Bran King Make Aerys II Into The Mad King?

The theory that Bran’s whisperings made the Mad King mad have gotten a lot of traction online. The idea goes like this—Bran, possibly in his first experiments with his new power, went back in time to the court of Aerys II and tried to warn the king of the coming danger of the White Walkers… that he would need to “burn them all.” And the whispers drove the Mad King mad. But the truth is, the Mad King probably went bad all by himself. It was his obsession with fire and fear for his safety that drove him mad, not whispers. But it’s a cool idea.

Did Bran Tell Rhaegar To Abduct Lyanna Stark And Beget Jon Snow?

Much more plausibly, Bran Stark the greenseer may have laid the seeds for Robert’s Rebellion and the birth of his own half-brother, Jon Snow. Rhaegar Targaryen was known to have a gift for prophecy. In his youth, he believed that he was The Prince That Was Promised, but later realized it would be a child of his line. He also believed that “the dragon must have three heads,” and as a result he had to abscond with Lyanna Stark and bear Jon Snow with her. But where did Rhaegar get all these notions, these prophecies? It seems entirely plausible that Bran is responsible. Bran is close to finding out the secret of the Tower of Joy, and he’ll realize how important Jon Snow is to defeating the White Walkers. He’ll use his voices to make it happen, to plant the seeds in Rhaegar Targaryen.

Did Bran Cause Benjen’s Disappearance?

Bran is in dire straits: Hodor is dead and Meera can’t save him alone. He needs deliverance, and it’s likely to come in the form of his uncle Benjen Stark, possibly also known as Coldhands (Yea, I’m a Coldhands truther). We have good reason to believe that Benjen will, in fact, come to Bran’s rescue. But why did Benjen disappear in the first place? And why did he happen to be right near the remote cave north of the Wall where Bran happened to be? There are a few barely plausible answers, and one very plausible one—Bran somehow told him he needed to be there. We’ve already seen the power of the closed time loop with Hodor. Bran didn’t have to say “serve me twenty years from now.” All he had to say was “hold the door,” and the rest transpired as it transpired. The same could happen with Benjen. Bran could have called upon him to disappear for a time, to appear again in a certain place. The woods are filled with magic; Benjen believed in the old gods. He would do it. And his disappearance would suddenly make sense. He was doing it for Bran.

Did Bran Deceive Melisandre?

Melisandre is one of the most important players in A Song of Ice and Fire, certainly in large part because she brought Jon Snow back to life. But she could only do that because she was at the Wall. She was only at the Wall because she served Stannis and earnestly believed that he was the Prince That Was Promised, which he wasn’t. Since arriving at the Wall, she’s seen at least a few images of Jon Snow in the flames. But why did Melisandre believe in Stannis in the first place? Her fires clearly have some power to them. But what if Bran created a deception, knowing that she’d need to be at the Wall to bring Jon Snow back, knowing that only Stannis’s army could stop Mance Rayder’s wildling invasion before the White Walkers ever came?

It’s an easy deception. Put the wrong face in the flames and watch how events unfold. Well played, Bran. Well played.