Age of Heroes: What stories should HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel tell?

4. The creations of Bran the Builder

What it is: Bran the Builder is the legendary founder of House Stark. According to the legends surrounding Garth Greenhand, he is a descendant of Brandon of the Bloody Blade, one of Garth’s sons. Bran the Builder is best known for building the Wall and Winterfell. He might also have “helped” Durran Godsgrief build Storm’s End as a boy, whatever that means. He or his son, another Brandon, might also have built the Hightower, and he is supposed to have given the Night’s Watch a gift of land known as Brandon’s Gift. Guy kept busy.

Why it could be awesome: Bran the Builder is one of the most iconic characters from the Age of Heroes, and as such should feature in any story from that time. He’s connected to a lot of very important questions raised by Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire: Who built the Wall, and why? What secrets lie in Winterfell’s unplumbed depths? How did Storm’s End manage to withstand the attack of the gods? This series could separate the facts from the legend.

Why it could be terrible: Bran the Builder might not have been as awesome as legend tells us. There is speculation that his great deeds were not done by one Brandon Stark, but by a whole bunch of them over the generations. Or maybe our Bran Stark and Bran the Builder are actually the same person, thanks to time travel. Do we really want to go there? Time travel usually is an illogical mess.

How likely we are to get it: 98% (some of the things Bran the Builder supposedly built); 20% (Bran the Builder as an actual character)