[Spoilers for Game of Thrones season eight, episode five below]
Tired: Bran is the Night King. Wired: Bran is a horse.
In the final seconds of the second-to-last episode of Game of Thrones, “The Bells,” Arya wakes up from a concussion (I assume) among the dusty ruins of King’s Landing to discover a white horse. There were many possible explanations for the magical equine — including the right one, which we’ll explain in our Thrones discussion post later this morning — but the most popular theory involved Bran. As in, Bran warg’s himself to King’s Landing in the guise of a horse to save his sister. Is there any truth to this? In a word: no.
For one thing, the horse, which is not a figment of Arya’s imagination, appeared earlier in the episode (it’s the one ridden by Harry Strickland, the leader of the Golden Company, er, former-leader of the Golden Company). Also, co-showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have been increasingly less interested in the more “magical” elements of the Thrones universe, especially now that the Night King has been defeated; Bran’s warging abilities could have come in handy during the battle against the Army of the Dead, but all he did was briefly turn into a crow. Or as Vanity Fair‘s Joanna Robinson put it, “Bran is not: the Night King, the voice in Aerys’s ear, or THAT WHITE HORSE AT THE END. Get a grip, people.” Sometimes, a horse is just a horse, of course.
But that hasn’t stopped the “Bran = horse” truthers.
That horse was Bran. #GameofThrones
— Michael Tannenbaum (@iamTannenbaum) May 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/Cool_cabin/status/1127788385429405696
So did bran warg into the horse instead of being lazy @IGN
— Cam Heyward (@CamHeyward) May 13, 2019
they only way I care abut this horse is if Bran just warg-ed it to her. #GameofThrones #gameofsnark
— marines (@mynameismarines) May 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/ebdoubleU/status/1127761807622529030
Bran for sure the horse at the end
— Daniel (@Captain_Christ_) May 13, 2019
DID YOU REALIZE THAT THE HORSE IS BRAN? #gameofthrones pic.twitter.com/EQVkolLXJ4
— Lucía calabaza (@alfalfaax) May 13, 2019
Was Bran warging that horse?! #GameofThrones
— NoMadDreams (@MasterPharaoh92) May 13, 2019
What are the odds Bran Stark warged into the horse to get Arya the f**k out of there #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/bJLMPFqXw8
— Jackie (@Jackieannroth) May 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/Ejayarrmani/status/1127796897559785472
https://twitter.com/B_Lubrano9/status/1127764323017920512
i’m calling it, that horse is bran #gameofthrones pic.twitter.com/MFWhhkr7gq
— Joanna Thissen (@JoThis) May 13, 2019
Bran is the horse. The horse is Bran.
You're welcome. #GOT #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/390B2vHJSF
— N (@KanyesBFF) May 13, 2019
I know, somehow, Taylor Swift is to blame (thank?) for all this.
taylor swift really did take inspiration w arya stark from her 2008 song “white horse”
— katherine || when i hit that steel, it sings (@aryagndry) May 13, 2019
