Winter is coming, and so are some spoilers in the form of fan theories, insights from the actor that plays Brandon Stark, and the folks responsible for making Game of Thrones. So before you read any further, swear to the old gods and the new that you aren’t going to complain about anything you might see across the Narrow Sea of this warning.

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While Tyrion was off with a big bear on an adventure to meet the Mother of Dragons, and Jon was busy making nice with the Wildlings as his brothers in black stewed, one very important person was nowhere to be seen during season five of Game of Thrones: Bran.

When we last saw the disabled son of Ned and Catelyn, he had finally located the Three-Eyed Raven north of The Wall, where his training was to begin. That’s where we left him (along with Hodor, Meera Reed, and the memory of Jojen) at the conclusion of season four, and we are finally going to find out what he’s been learning during all this time in season six.

It looks like his lessons might lead to answering some of the most pressing questions from A Song of Ice and Fire.

It was just this week that we saw the first image of Bran from season six, with an image of Isaac Hempstead-Wright, the actor that plays him, on a donkey, looking much taller, but with a lot less hair. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hempstead-Wright talked about what we might see from the young warg, including what the show’s creators told him about his transformation off-screen.

When they first told him he would not be in season five, they explained to him that his transformation would be equivalent to Luke Skywalker’s between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, where Luke went from more of an amateur to a Jedi Knight. Considering that Bran’s training involves how to use weirwood trees to see through the past, present, and future, that means literally anything from the history or future of the Seven Kingdoms is in play.

Hempstead-Wright said that whereas before Bran was not able to control what he could see, he has since figured out how to control his abilities more. “Now we’re given looks into very important events in the past, present and future of this world and Bran is beginning to piece them together like a detective, almost as if he’s watching the show,” he said, adding, what many of us have long suspected, that Bran may play a significant role in what is to come.

So what might Bran see that would be of great interest to everyone, both viewers and Westorosi alike? There have been rumors that Game of Thrones will visit the Tower of Joy this year, which is where Ned Stark “rescued” his sister Lyanna. It was there that a dying Lyanna asked Ned to keep a promise to her, one that Ned constantly thought about while locked up in the first book and season.

The long held theory is that the promise she asked of Ned was to protect the baby she died giving birth to, the child she had with Rhaegar Targaryen. Of course, it is believed that child is really Jon Snow. With only one person alive that knows what really happened there (Howland Reed), having Bran be able to look back and actually witness the events that took place there could have huge ramifications for everyone on the show (and be freaking awesome to watch).

There have been casting calls that have sounded an awful lot like descriptions of some of the King’s Guard that were at the Tower of Joy to protect Lyanna (which was always suspicious since the Prince was off fighting against the rebellion that threatened his father and the Targaryen dynasty), so there is a lot of smoke around this idea of what Bran might see this season. Of course, there’s no limit to what he might watch, past, present, or future, but this seems like the strongest theory for now. Either way, Bran seems poised to take on a huge role going forward.

Make sure you head over to read all of the story on EW, because there’s also some great stuff from Hempstead Wright about working with Max von Sydow and his reaction to his scenes for this year.

What do you expect from Bran in season six? Tell us in the comments below.

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HT: EW
Images:  HBO, EW