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| “ | The world believes the boy is dead ... Let his bones lie undisturbed. We want no seekers coming after us. Swear it, Samwell of the Night's Watch. Swear it for the life you owe me. | „ |
| ~ Coldhands entrusting Samwell Tarly with preventing everyone from learning that Bran Stark is still alive. |
| “ | Once the heart has ceased to beat, a man's blood runs down into his extremities, where it thickens and congeals ... His hands and feet swell up and turn as black as pudding. The rest of him becomes as white as milk. | „ |
| ~ Coldhands to Bran Stark. |
| “ | I don't like him. And I don't trust him. Those hands of his are bad enough. He hides his face, and will not speak a name. Who is he? What is he? Anyone can put on a black cloak. Anyone, or any thing. He does not eat, he never drinks, he does not seem to feel the cold. | „ |
| ~ Meera Reed expressing her distrust of Coldhands. |
Coldhands (real name: Unknown) is a supporting character in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. A mysterious figure of unknown background, he is implied to be a former ranger of the Night's Watch, and is said to have died "long ago" but was somehow revived through unknown means, technically making him an undead. He is an enforcer of the Three-Eyed Crow.
His name, "Coldhands", was given to him by Samwell Tarly, who introduced him by said name to Bran Stark's company as it was on its way beyond the Wall.
In the television series Game of Thrones, while not appearing, his character was merged with Benjen Stark.
Appearance
Coldhands is a thin and gaunt figure wearing mottled black and grey clothing, with a Night's Watch black wool scarf covering most of his face. He also wears boiled leather and ringmail armor over his body. His bare hands are known to be black and cold as ice, hence his nickname. Though Coldhands' undead appearance is described as that of a wight beyond the Wall, his eyes are described as black, in contrast to the light blue eyes of the wights of the Others.
Overview
Coldhands' exact origin and identity are vague but is implied to have once been a member of the Night's Watch, given his black clothing and the wool scarf he wears and also because he called Samwell Tarly "Brother". While he is considered "dead", however, unlike the wights revived by the Others, he has black eyes instead of the wights' light blue eyes. Summer does not like the way Coldhands smells.
According to Leaf, one of the Children of the Forest, Coldhands was killed by Wights "long ago". At an unknown point, he would come to meet the Three-Eyed Crow and became his enforcer. He rode a great elk as his mount and has a flock of ravens under his command, accompanied by six during the day but more during the night. Also, unlike the Others' wights, who are mostly mindless and hostile to everyone, Coldhands is fully sentient, civilized and in control of his own person.
Biography
A Storm of Swords
After escaping from Craster's Keep, Samwell Tarly, Gilly and her infant son, became lost in the Haunted Forest and arriving at the abandoned wildling village of Whitetree, they found themselves beset by wights, but before they could kill the three, Coldhands arrives on his great elk while accompanied by his flock of ravens. He saves the trio and addresses as Sam as "Brother."
With them under his protection, he escorts them back to the Wall and to the Nightfort's black gate, which he cannot pass through, due to the magic woven into the Wall, so he charges Sam and Gilly with the task of sending Bran Stark and his companions to the Black Gate before entrusting them to not reveal to anyone nor Jon Snow that Bran is alive, as all the north believed him and his brother Rickon Stark to be dead, following Theon Greyjoy's taking of Winterfell. Before leaving, Coldhands entrusts Sam with the secret, telling him to let the world continue believing that Bran is dead.
Arriving at the Nightfort, Sam and Gilly encountered Bran and his escorts, consisting of Hodor, Bran's direwolf Summer, and Jojen & Meera Reed. Following Coldhands' instructions, they told the group of the latter and that he has been sent by the Three-Eyed Crow in sending them to the cave of the Last Greenseer.
A Dance with Dragons
Coldhands would meet with Bran and his companions and guides them to the Three-Eyed Crow's cave, but departs to kill five former black brothers of the Night's Watch, who are some of the same men who betrayed and murdered Lord Commander Jeor Mormont during the Mutiny at Craster's Keep, with the one of the slain men being Ollo Lophand, who had murdered Jeor. While Bran skinchanged through his direwolf, he finds the corpses of the slain mutineers, and unaware of their treachery, eats part of their flesh. Coldhands returns with a pig, whom he kills for Jojen to roast for the group to eat just as Bran wakes up from his wolf dream.
Bran asks Coldhands on what happened to the slain 'foes' but the latter ambiguously tells the boy that they'll not trouble him but didn't deny that he had killed them. When asked about his black hands, Coldhands tells Bran that once a man is dead, his blood will run into his extremities before congealing. This caused Bran and his companions to realize that Coldhands is really dead. Meera Reed, distrustful and taking a dislike of the mysterious ranger, demands that he show his face but he refused, and Bran notes that he couldn't go beyond the Wall, due to the old but strong enchantments placed on the structure. Meera then asked on the identity of the Three-Eyed Crow and he only replies that he is a friend and is the last greenseer.
As the group continued on their journey and they eventually reach a steep hill, Coldhand's great elk collapses so he whispers a blessing to the animal in the True Tongue before slitting the elk's throat. He and Meera then butchered its carcass for food, though it didn't help keep their strength or long, as they later became weak from hunger and from the cold. This also prove to be worse for Jojen Reed, who is already ill by now. Moreover, Coldhands' flock of ravens continuously dwindled overtime. Throughout the journey, the group is also followed by three wolves who joined Summer (being One Eye, Stalker and Sly, the first having the consciousness of the late Varamyr Sixskins).
As the Three-Eyed Crow's cave is up the hill, the group has to climb to reach it but has to hurry as Coldhands and his ravens had sense the Others are close by. During the climb, they were attacked by wights, and as Coldhands couldn't enter the cave, due to the magic of the children of the forest, he fights off several wights while Bran and his escorts continued to climb up to the cave entrance before one of the children of the forest came out and set the wights on fire, saving the group.
Gallery
Trivia
- He is one of the two only heroic undead characters in A Song of Ice and Fire, the other one being Beric Dondarrion.
- Coldhands, Beric, and Catelyn Stark are the only known undead in the story who are fully sentient and aware of their identities. The others (the wights of the Others and Ser Robert Strong) don't appear to be fully aware and seem to lack free will.
- In the TV series Game of Thrones, the undead Ser Gregor Clegane is fully sentient and aware like Stoneheart and Beric. The revived Jon Snow in the show is not portrayed as an undead, but as a normal human, fully restored to life.
- As Coldhands is heavily implied to be a brother of the Night's Watch, readers speculate about his possible identities, the candidates being mostly rangers who vanished or died beyond the Wall. Candidates include:
- Benjen Stark, who disappeared beyond the Wall during a ranging.
- One of Brynden Rivers's Raven's Teeth that had followed Bloodraven to the Wall.
- Any other black brother of the Night's Watch who had been Brynden's subordinate, who wasn't necessarily one of the Raven's Teeth, as Brynden had been Lord Commander for years before disappearing.
- Ser Waymar Royce, who was killed by Others in the Haunted Forest.
- Will, the very first POV character of the series, who was killed by the wight of Waymar Royce in the Haunted Forest.
- The ancient and legendary figure known as Night's King, who was said to have been the 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, was a traitor and a consort of one of the Others.
- However, legends claim the Night's King was deposed, his name "wiped from the memory of man," making it more likely that he was thoroughly destroyed and burned, since he was a known consort and servant of the Others.
- Furthermore, Leaf told Bran, about Coldhands, "They killed him long ago." Will, Waymar Royce and Benjen Stark died/went missing only two years prior 300 AC, a small amount of time for Leaf, who is over 200 years old.
- In an original manuscript of the series, Martin declared that Coldhands was not Benjen Stark, although that was an older and outdated version of the story.
- It's highly possible that Coldhands is an entirely different character that was never met by the readers before his first appearance in A Storm of Swords.
- In the TV series, Benjen Stark has Coldhands' role as a sentient undead. In this version, Benjen was killed by White Walkers and was revived by the magic of the children of the forest, who supposedly credited all their powers and nature to the Old Gods like in the novels' lore. In the novels, the fate of Benjen currently remains a mystery.
- The undead Benjen and his brief role in the TV show were based on Coldhands. So far, how and by who/what Coldhands was revived haven't yet been revealed, making it unclear if they were Old Gods-related powers, like the ones of the children of the forest.
- Although readers speculate Coldhands' true identity might be Benjen, this hasn't been confirmed, as Coldhands refuses to reveal his face to Bran. In the novels, Coldhands rode a great elk (who now died to the cold, much to Bran's grief), while in the TV show the undead Benjen rode a horse.
- Although Coldhands, and by extension Brynden Rivers, preferred for the world not to know that Bran Stark is still alive, three other living characters were already aware of this fact: Theon Greyjoy, his former squire Wex Pyke, and Ramsay Snow (now Ramsay Bolton). Wex personally witnessed Bran and Rickon Stark's last moments with Maester Luwin at Winterfell. Later, Wex was captured and taken to White Harbor, where he revealed to Lord Wyman Manderly and Robett Glover that Bran had survived the events at Winterfell. Wyman and Robett later revealed this to Lord Davos Seaworth, who has been dispatched to search for Rickon at Skagos.
- With Theon, Ramsay, Wex, Samwell Tarly, Gilly, Wyman, Robett and Davos knowing the truth, this currently makes at least 8 living characters in the Seven Kingdoms (not counting the whole faction of the Last Greenseer beyond the Wall) who know that Bran survived the Greyjoys' invasion of Winterfell, although no one knows where he is and whether he is currently still alive.
- In Season 3 of the TV series Game of Thrones, when Sam and Gilly are attacked by a White Walker in the Haunted Forest, they are stalked and followed by a large flock of ravens. This scene was a merge between Sam and Gilly's confrontation against a group of wights in an abandoned wildling village and an earlier confrontation between Sam, Grenn and Small Paul against the aforementioned White Walker. In the novels, the ravens were present during Sam and Gilly's struggle.
- Back when the episode was released, viewers who had read the books were confident that the ravens were added to show that Coldhands was nearby and watching over Sam and Gilly, even if he did not appear in the end of the episode. Despite readers' expectations, Coldhands never appeared in the rest of the season, confirming he was cut but leading readers to believe he was going to be introduced in Season 4. This never happened, however, and in Season 6 he was merged with Benjen Stark.
- The flock of ravens chasing Sam and Gilly remained unexplained in the TV show. In the novels, the ravens were sent by Coldhands to distract the wights chasing Sam and Gilly, who were then immediately saved by Coldhands himself.
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