One of several Brandon Starks over the centuries, including Brandon the Builder, Brandon the Burner and, most recently, his late uncle Brandon Stark, Bran (a point-of-view character) is the son of Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn Stark, the fourth eldest child but second eldest boy, therefore heir to Winterfell after his brother Robb. Bran dreams of one day becoming a knight.
Early in A Game of Thrones, Bran was pushed out a tower window by Jaime Lannister after catching Jaime and Cersei in flagrante delicto. Bran was in a coma when Lord Eddard traveled to King's Landing, but soon awakened to find himself paralyzed from the waist down and dubbed "Bran the Broken." Maester Luwin devised a "saddle" with which Bran could be transported by Winterfell's half-giant stableboy, Hodor. As well, Tyrion Lannister gave him instructions for a horse saddle and how to train a horse that he could ride without using his legs. Though bitter about the loss of his future, Bran acquitted himself well and bravely as the eldest Stark of Winterfell, welcoming guests in the name of his brother the king and doing his best to ignore the japes of other children his age.



During his coma, Bran had visions of a three-eyed crow; with the help of Jojen Reed, he was later able to interpret these dreams as being prophetic, and to refine his ability to project his consciousness into his direwolf, Summer. When Theon Greyjoy captured Winterfell in A Clash of Kings, Bran, his brother Rickon, Hodor, the wildling Osha, and Jojen and Meera Reed hid in the castle's catacombs until Ser Rodrik Cassell's failed siege. During this time Theon claimed the two dead, substituting the murdered bodies of two local peasants.



After Winterfell's razing, Bran, Hodor and the Reeds traveled north to the Wall. Samwell Tarly aided them in crossing the Wall but, sworn to secrecy, did not tell Jon Snow that his half-brothers were alive. Sam traveled onto Castle Black, while Bran and the others traveled further north in search of the three-eyed crow in the company of "Coldhands", a creature who seems to be a self-aware wight. (In A Song of Ice and Fire wights are zombie-like creatures created by the inhuman Others from corpses; they are normally incapable of thought, emotion, or the sense of touch).



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