It’s a special edition of the Obsessive Screencap Breakdown! Usually we do our Screencap Recaps on Tuesdays, and that’s still on the docket. But with the extremely quickly cut visions (three in all) that Bran experienced during the first two minutes of Sunday’s episode, it seemed for the best to separate out these sequences from the rest of the recap, lest they dominate the proceedings.
So let’s take a deep dive into what exactly Bran saw during his greenseer moment after he and Meera escaped from the cave, and he saw Hodor both die and be born in the courtyard at Winterfell years before.
Here’s our first clip.
The clip is only 6 seconds long, all told, but it’s packed with images.
Next: Bran's vision, broken down
This pair of images, of pyromancers down in the wildfire containment area, appears over and over throughout Bran’s vision. The most obvious conclusion is that these are images from when Aerys wanted to burn down King’s Landing, but it’s always possible that we’re seeing something from the future.
Drogon, flying over the water. We’re pretty sure this is taken from when Tyrion and Jorah seeing him last season.
This is an image we’ve been seeing since Season 4: Drogon’s shadow over King’s Landing.
Though hardcore Game of Thrones fans know this, many don’t: the original failed pilot actually had the Mad King in it, burning Ned Stark’s father and brother. This is not that actor, though. Just so you know.
Images from the Massacre at Hardhome appear frequently in Bran’s visions. Poor Karsi.
Bran falls…
…and the sun rises.
Next: A repeating sequence
The second half of this sequence begins with Catelyn’s throat being cut at the Red Wedding. We divide off this section because it repeats twice in the vision, from the Catelyn shot through to the Baby White Walker. The second time, it’s shown at double speed.
Another shot of Drogon against the stormy skies
And his shadow over King’s Landing.
From the Season 1 finale, Daenerys and her baby Drogon.
This shot is from Season 4, when we see Craster’s baby riding with the Night’s King.
Craster’s baby is placed on an alter in the center of a circle of ice shards.
Our first clear look at the Night’s King’s face, from Season 4.
Baby White Walker. We then repeat the pyromancer images, Drogon’s shadow, the Hardhome images, and then this sequence from Catelyn to Baby, in order.
We end, perhaps appropriately, with Bran seeing the death of his father, first looking out at the crowd at Arya…
…and then down, as he loses his head.
Next: Ravens and crazy kings
The second vision opens with another shot of the sun rising over a snowy landscape, followed by a second repeat of the second half of Vision 1, from Drogon’s shadow through to the White Walker baby. Then comes the new stuff:
This shot is very dark. A lightened version shows that the dark creatures flying through the air are ravens.
These are shots from the end of “Second Sons,” when Sam kills a White Walker.
These look like the roots in the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave.
Back to the pyromancers and their wildfire.
And the Mad King, this time shot from slightly father back. I have to say that, before these visions, I didn’t put much stock into the theories that Bran would go back to the past and accidentally drive the Mad King insane, but after this? I wonder.
As Aerys screams “Burn Them All” we see a wildfire explosion tear through the storage area, which is interesting. Aerys wasn’t able to put his plan to burn King’s Landing into action. Could this be a shot of the future, or a past that was avoided?
And then once more, this pair of shots, but far clearer than before. In this sequence, we can see that the pyromancers putting the pot of wildfire back on the shelf, not taking it down.
And then Jaime approached the Mad King, ready to save the world from his reign.
Next: Tower of Joy Tease
“Where’s my sister?” asks Young Ned. Good question.
Is this her body, bleeding out?
Note the female hand in the background, under what we’re pretty sure is Young Ned’s bloody hand.
Lyanna isn’t the only one bleeding. Jaime just stabbed the mad King in the back as he tried to flee.
The Mad King falls.
At least Roose stabbed his King in the front.
Juxtapose that with the shot of Jaime stabbing the fallen Mad King to make sure he’s really dead.
An image of the Three Eyed Raven, in raven form.
Robb falls.
In another time, Leaf raises up another king.
And Jon finds himself fighting that King’s men at Hardhome.
Next: Jaime takes the throne
Jaime takes a seat on the Iron Throne, his face helpfully shrouded in darkness. We then enter a repeat loop of images we’ve seen already: the wildfire explosion, followed by Jaime walking up to the Mad King, through Robb Stark being stabbed.
We see Jaime kill the Mad King in a shadow play, and then repeat Leaf making the first Night’s King, the pyromancers at work, and Jaime entering the throne room.
KABOOM.
Vision 2 ends with Bran seeing what’s coming right now: the wights, to kill himself and Meera.
Next: Wights, White Walkers, and other horrible things
We open with Bran falling once again (Season 1 pilot.) We then get a repeat of the pyromancer shots for the fourth time, and the two close-up shots of the Mad King for the third time. It’s the fact that those shots repeat together the way they do that makes me suspect that the wildfire explosion is in the past, though some argue that it’s actually still ahead, what with Cersei’s having been the one to initially stockpile wildfire back in Season 2.
This segment ends with something we hadn’t seen before: a pyromancer (I think) making sure everything is stable and then leaving. Clearly, they do not mean for there to be an explosion today.
Whereas the first two visions are made up of images from what we’re pretty sure is the past through what we think might be the future, this one takes a left turn and starts to consist almost exclusively of shots of wights, White Walkers, and the Night’s King from earlier seasons, mixed with the present.
Many of these shots are from the Massacre at Hardhome, in Season 5.
And the show interweaves them with Bran’s vision of the wights and the Night’s King from last week.
See what I mean?
At Hardhome, the wights tumble off a cliff, while elsewhere, they chase Bran and Meera through the forest.
Next: White Walkers through the seasons
The next few shots are interspersed with repeating images of the fall of Hardhome’s gates, the wights overrunning the town, and Bran staring out over the wight masses.
You didn’t think they wouldn’t find an excuse to use these shots again, did you?
At this point, the Hardhome images repeat again on a loop, plus these last four shots of the child wights, Jon and Edd looking up, the wight hordes in the snow, and the Night’s King’s undead horse.
AHOY! THE SEASON 2 FINALE!
The dead rise at Hardhome.
The wights are coming! The wights are coming!
The Night’s King looks down over Hardhome.
Back to the season 2 finale, where Sam saw the White Walker division marching steadily over the ice.
Next: The Night's King takes us home
The vision closes with a repeat of the scene from last week, as the Night’s King approaches Bran…
…and marks him. I think that’s going to be very important for future events. Bran being marked means the magic that held back the Night’s King from the cave was broken. What happens to the magic holding him north of the Wall when Bran crosses it to go back south?
And the wights are here. They’ve found them. Bran wakes.
Here are all three visions, slowed down and in sequence, so you can put this all together now in your mind. This is from YouTuber Mayes T.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXZt5wJfKs