Bloodraven update (Patreon)

One of the biggest lessons from Bloodraven’s backstory is that he’s consistently willing to do bad things for the greater good. At the Redgrass Field, he killed his own half-brother and nephews, becoming an “accursed” “kinslayer” to save the realm from rebellion. During the Great Spring Sickness, he burned piles of human corpses along with “A quarter of the city” to prevent the spread of disease. At the Great Council of 233, he offered Aenys Blackfyre safe conduct, then dishonourably executed him, to prevent further Blackfyre rebellion – Bloodraven “contended that he had sacrificed his own personal honor for the good of the realm”. And indeed, he probably mashes Jojen into a paste and feeds him to Bran to wake Bran’s magic power. Over and over again, Bloodraven is willing to do terrible things for the sake of the greater good. So in the face of the Others and the Long Night, there’s probably nothing he wouldn’t do – nothing too evil or monstrous – if it helped save the living from the dead.

Another undercurrent to Bloodraven’s backstory is magic. Did he and Shiera use sorcery to augment their spying? Did Bloodraven use magic to assassinate Quentyn Ball? Did Bloodraven and King Aerys I study prophecy and magic together? Is Maynard Plumm in The Mystery Knight actually a glamoured/skinchanged Bloodraven? Does Bloodraven’s Blackwood and Targaryen blood give him the magic powers of both the first men and Valyria, ice and fire? Does his raven-shaped birthmark and weirwood longbow indicate an early connection to the old gods? The answer to all these questions, I think, is “probably”.

I’ve got Bloodraven’s Targaryen backstory pretty much figured out. So now we’re moving on to his role as the three-eyed crow, which is where things get more… speculative. There are very few hard facts to go on here, so it’ll be fun to try to shape some sense out of all the darkness and magic and mystery.

Cheers!

ASX