# GOT: What's the point of the Three-Eyed Raven? (With current spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497 "2019-05-05T03:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/1 "2019-05-05T03:18:17Z")
Feel free to bring in TV or books as sources. So the Night King wants (wanted) to kill the TER because somehow that will erase mankind’s memory. So what? The TER lived basically by himself for thousands (?) of years and the rest of Westeros got along…well, good enough. It’s not like Westeros would fall into even more chaos without the TER. The NK’s enmity would make sense if the TER was somehow active throughout history or was preventing the dead from crossing the wall or something. But unless I missed it it didn’t appear that the TER did much of anything. Except act creepy. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/2 "2019-05-05T04:39:23Z")
Magical exposition fairy for the showrunners? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/3 "2019-05-05T05:57:33Z")
To counter-balance The One-Eyed Wonder Weasel? ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/4 "2019-05-05T06:17:26Z")
Who cares about humanity’s collective memory of nobody even remembered dragonglass kills whitewalkers and was basically rediscovered by accident? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/5 "2019-05-05T06:31:07Z")
We don’t know yet. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/6 "2019-05-08T17:23:28Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > The NK’s enmity would make sense if the TER was somehow active throughout history How do you know he wasn’t? We’re looking at a particular frame of reference here, in a certain timeline. It’s been established that he has some ability, at least, to influence places and people he visits in the past. From the (presumably) single frame of reference we’re viewing, things that have happened have always happened, and people hear a voice from the flames or from a tree giving them a heads-up. Are we to assume those are natural occurrences that would always happen? Given that it’s established there’s a character who can do things that could deliver information from the future? ---
**Author:** ![gupwalla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@gupwalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gupwalla)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/7 "2019-05-08T18:08:13Z")
“A madman sees what he sees.” — Ned to Bran, at the beginning of all things ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/8 "2019-05-08T19:06:12Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > We don’t know yet. We will never know. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/9 "2019-05-09T05:21:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > We will never know. Because GRRM won’t finish the books, or because the show likes avoiding or dropping plotlines? ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/10 "2019-05-09T08:24:35Z")
He’s the fake Frodo trope, long trek for no real reason, then just an instrument to reveal the Bytor the Snowtarg, and be bait to kill the Night King… Well, its ending that way in the show. In the books, he seemed to be in effect an early warning systems for the Others, but that’s pretty pointless if there’s nobody he can really tell in that big cave up north. Warging also seemed much more importantant in the books too, across the board. It has been barely been touched in the show for about five seasons, Bran and indeed most of the Starks warged into their Direwolves and were a force for scouting, with Bran working the Ravens. Pure show CGI cost seems to have limited that. The old TER was Bloodraven, btw, about of an age with the Nightwatch Maester: Aemon. The old Three Eyed Raven was there at various points in the book. Pretty much every raven which interacted with anyone had TER’s eyes, sometimes squawking input. It is possible Aemon was much more aware of this too, having known Bloodraven, Bloodraven was a Lord Commander of the Nightwatch before disappearing beyond the wall. It also could be a mechanism for bringing back Dark Sister, one of the two original pre Westeros Targaryen family Valeryn swords. Might have been a lot of potential for a story if the books had got written… Of course the show just dropped them. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/11 "2019-05-09T08:33:14Z")
Pretty sure Bran in the show will have an incomplete/unsatisfactory storyline. The showrunners seem to think his arc is complete (???). In the books, there is no Night King/Night’s King (only mentioned in a myth - a previous Lord Commander who liked sleeping with white walkers) and Bran can’t literally see everything; he can only look through animals or the eyes of weirwood trees, so he’s not some repository of all human knowledge unlike the show. I have a feeling he will have some darker purpose and will end up inadvertently working for the Great Other (the ice side of the equation) in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/12 "2019-05-09T12:35:15Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Bran can’t literally see everything; he can only look through animals or the eyes of weirwood trees, so he’s not some repository of all human knowledge unlike the show. He does seem to be able to look into history, perhaps the future, as long as it happens near Weirwood trees, if I recall, that was in the books which I read before I saw it happen on the show. I can’t recall what it was, but I knew he could do that when he saw the Hodor thing and Jon Snow’s birth… He can pretty much do the same in the show, as long as its near a weirwood tree. So can’t see everything. But a lot of Stark history is viewable because the high dramas would take place near those (weddings, funerals). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/13 "2019-05-09T12:46:56Z")
Bran in the show is pretty much an expository tool, nothing more. His contribution to the story as an active participant is essentially nothing, at least after his being pushed from the tower resulting in the events that started the War of the Five Kings. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/14 "2019-05-09T13:47:25Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Because GRRM won’t finish the books, or because the show likes avoiding or dropping plotlines? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/15 "2019-05-09T15:48:34Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > The showrunners seem to think his arc is complete (???) Yup. He had to have Something to make him irresistible bait for the NK. He’s been that, NK is gone, he’s done. Now he’s back to “recorder” plugged into a tree somewhere in The North, and is useless in managing the fluid situation to the south. A branch can fall on his head any time now. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/16 "2019-05-09T15:50:42Z")
The point is that there is no point. Zen, man. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/17 "2019-05-09T16:18:43Z")
He doesn’t do anything. That’s the beauty of it! ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/18 "2019-05-09T17:02:27Z")
He revealed the truth of Jon’s parentage ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/19 "2019-05-09T17:55:51Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > He revealed the truth of Jon’s parentage So did Sam Tarly. With actual proof, not mystic knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497/20 "2019-05-09T22:05:53Z")
“Nothing ends, Tyrion. Nothing ever ends.” -Doctor Branhattan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-whats-the-point-of-the-three-eyed-raven-with-current-spoilers/833497.md?page=2)