Who Is Controlling Mormont's Raven? 

Ser Pounce has been really quiet since this dropped

The Raven is a bird, a bird that mocks people, a mocking bird. He also likes to cause confusion and chaos. Mormont's Bird is Little Finger confirmed.

For some reason, this video only bolsters my suspicion that Varys' monologue in the ADWD prologue was directed at the raven which was in Pycelle's office rather than Ser Kevan. I've always thought Bloodraven was in there, and Varys was taunting him about his inability to stop this Blackfyre Rebellion because of his predicament. Wow. Great video man!!

Someone who REALLY likes corn.

"Corn" sounds like "Qhorin", doesn't it?

An interesting tidbit I learned about obsidian the other day: the Aztecs used to use obsidian daggers to cut out the hearts of their human sacrifices because they believed it caused the sun to continue to rise, which sounds an awful lot like they were trying to prevent the night from lasting forever, lest they fail to carry this out.

What if BR's warging isnt blocked by the wall and other wargs are because he's physically plugged into the weirwood network and....... Yeah you said this now. I like the weirwood antennae idea

it's kinda weird to me. On one hand it's much cooler if the raven is warged by bloodraven or bran than just some random child of the forest On the other hand it makes much more sense if it is indeed an example of a second life. Because when a skinchanger dies the two personalities kinda merge together. It's not a beast anymore but not a human in a beast body either. And the bird does always scream about corn which is kinda silly if it's bloodraven in there demanding corn all the time but makes sense if it is actually part bird and part warg And also it's kinda weird that with the threat of the Others bloodraven or Bran would waste time on that. Again makes more sense if the bird was sent there with a dead singer inside

kinda off topic but is it just me or every raven having a child of the forest inside sounds impossible? Leaf says the children of the forest never had a big population even in the beginning . But crows are fkn everywhere. You could say that when a crow dies the singer inside goes into another bird so with them never completely dying just changing bodies it's kinda possible but it's also stated that the second life of a warg will be his last. You stay in your beast until you both die for the last time so what's up with that? btw both these things about small population and the second life are said in the same chapter so it's not like George "kinda forgot"

I assume BR has been in raven form and hanging out at the Nitghtfort for years. The ravens are just one example of his "(thousand) eyes and one." They're literally used as "messengers" throughout the rest of Westeros, as well, so it makes sense they could'/would do the same for BR. They can simply transmit their info "magically", rather than by carrying physical notes, but the concept is the same; Ravens = Information. Perhaps, "regular" critters can pass under the Wall, like Direwolves, or because they are born/raised in/of the North, they're willing and able to cross the Wall more easily than a "foreign, magical, fire being", like a Dragon or a "Colhands" type of "un-natural" being. Ravens can "speak" naturally IRL, so they wouldn't need to be "magical", per se. Etymologically, "cornus", is from the Latin word cornu, which means "horn." Every time the raven says "corn", substitute "Horn" and they work just as well ("Snow!, King!, Horn!" : Corn King = Horn King = Fisher King, etc...The King is the Land motif). We still use "corn" as "horn" in words like "unicorn"(one-horned), or "Cornucopia" ("Horn-o-Plenty"), etc......In English, "Corn" historically meant any sort of cereal grain, like wheat, not North American maize, like we think of it today, but GRRM may be allowing for "con on the cob" in "Westeros"/New World they same way Tolkien allowed for potatoes and tobacco in LotR, despite them not being native to Europe either. GRRM never limits himself when it comes to food, but I don't think the point of the ravens cawing the word "Corn" so much is because they're literally hungry all the time. Never mind the fact that ravens are carnivores/scavengers/carrion eaters and not a herbivorous species that prefer nuts, seeds, etc....Ravens want blood and Bloodraven wants ravens. There's no doubt that horns and the Wall are intimately related. Not only are they used to announce arrivals at the Wall itself, but they are also used in binding dragons and likely bringing down the Wall in some way. Having the ravens say "Corn-Horn" most often is also a big clue that they will be vital to the end game. Cheers & Tschuss!

I distinguish the Three-Eyed Crow as Bran, and Mormont's raven as Bloodraven warging. The problem of the Wall being a barrier to magical beings is removed when you remember they can cross with the permission of a member of the NW. LC Mormont gives his raven permission to cross the Wall when he ranges. If it has permission to cross the Wall physically, the permission extends to crossing the Wall mentally/psychically.

I think because Mormont's Raven is so cognizant that it's likely to be someone who died recently living inside it, they haven't been dead long enough to forget all their human speech. They would also be someone familiar with Bloodraven for obvious reasons. As to who it may be, I honestly don't know, but I do think there's a good chance it's a Blackwood from Raventree Hall.

If it is always being warged, I wonder why the raven can cross the wall, but Varamyr and his bird burst into flames. Because the raven went under instead of over? Or was is really Melisandre burning Varamyr and there is no warg barrier?

I usually think the list of things that 'time travelling bran' could do is vastly overestimated. Like, explaining complex architecture is a far cry from one or two words squawked by a bird. You'd need someone to be able to listen and understand weirdwood or greenseer voices, and have enough sway to be listened to by those around them. But that got me thinking about the Tower of Joy and Howland Reed. Reed visited the Isle of faces, so could potentially be able to hear Bran. It could be that the 'I would have died but for Howland Reed' thing has something to do with Bran talking to Reed there, passing on some information that would change the fight. My personal TOJ headcannon is that Arthur Dayne switched sides (for unknown reasons) and was fatally injured due to that, hence the extreme action of taking the sword home with a newborn in tow. This seems a far more likely place Bran to be injected into the story than him being every person named bran who ever existed.

Grrm was once asked if there any other magical animals in westeros, he paused gave a chuckle and then said every animal in westeros is magical.

Couldn't Bloodraven as a former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch give himself the right to pass the wall with magic like you implied the Lord Commander could in your last video?

You might be my favorite ASOIAF channel

I think ravens in ASOIAF are really cool and this bird, while very ominous, and easily a vessel for magical shenanigans, I also enjoy the idea that all of its ominous stuff is largely just the bird being silly.

Another lovely Saturday started with a great lore video

Woah, what if the Ravens aren't saying Corn? What if they're saying "Khorne?" Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!

Could it be that it is a child of the forest in the Raven and then Bloodraven comes and goes when he feels like it? I think Bloodraven has more important things to be doing than constantly hanging it in a bird at the wall, but he would want to influence events and also have someone who can fill him in on anything he missed. Alternatively, the wall was built to stop the others, which were made with the magic of the children of the forest. In the case it would make sense that the wall is a barrier to that magic. In that case it could be a long dead Child of the forest in the raven. Being a bird, the raven could regularly fly over the wall and provide reports and get instructions from Bloodraven. We are told that humans lose themselves the longer they are in an animal, but it seems possible to me that children of the forest would hold on to their identity much better since this is a natural part of their life cycle.

I'm commenting before I watch..it's Old Nan isn't it? 😉😂

We know that while skinchangers get a second life in their animals their consciousness does fade after sometime, but if that were the case then the ravens would not have held the consciousness of the previous skinchangers as those original ravens are long dead. IMO those inside the ravens are not just any skinchangers but past greenseers, like the ones whose bodies are half dead in the wierwood cave. Maybe greenseers who were hooked to the trees are still able to hop between animals out of habit even though they have lost most of their consciousness with time. BR calls them Singers, I don't remember that title being used for just normal wargs or skinchangers but rather for greenseers. One more point supporting this is that if your theory of Others being ice shadows of people bound to the wierwood is correct then it's being bound to those wierwood that makes the Others immortal (rather than just fading away like Stannis's fire shadow) and similarly, the greenseer "shadows" inside the ravens are immortal as long as their body is hooked to the wierwoods.

I think the weirwoods (deep roots, caves into winterfell, rivers) are the reason bloodraven can communicate across the wall. It would make sense if that's cotf magic that they have a workaround only they know how to use, and this might be their magic that helped the last hero originally to end the first long night. If there are weirwoods in the castles on the wall, and I'm all in on the castle black theory, then that might be how the nights watch could be communicated with, the current vessel being Mormont's raven. The weirwoods are the secret back door in other words. And I could totally see it being whatever is on the Isle of faces that is pulling the strings, some original greenseer that we've only heard about as legend from the age of heroes!

Who is to say that Blood Raven's power has a range limit in the first place? Theoretically, he could just project his power around the world to bypass the wall entirely.

Do we get any background on Mormont's Raven in the books? Are we sure it's Mormont's raven? Because we see its loyalty switch from one Lord Commander to the next, and Ravens are both in Bloodravens name and his maternal house sigil. Givimg hom the name Bloodraven would make sense if his warg ability had an affinity to Ravens. So, could it be Bloodraven's Raven? Left behind at the Wall to be his eyes and ears to help him meddle in Night's Watch politics/succession. Might require the Raven to be extremely old, but in a world of astal protjection, shape changing, dragons, blood magic, talking flames, etc a magically long lived raven doesn't sound implausible.

If we consider the possibility (I think you've talked about this in another video) that the Lord Commander of the Wall can grant passage thru the wall, it's feasible that Bloodraven has some sort of emeritus privileges in addition to being hooked into the WW net. The issue of warg blocking seems much more surmountable than coming up with a better candidate who's controlling the raven. Only thing I can think of it could be is some CotF we don't know about south of the wall.

Jacking into the weirwood network has to be how Bloodraven can warg through the wall, that said I don’t believe Bloodraven is the Three Eyed Crow

I always believed that numerous individuals were warging into the crow at different times. I think it was Jojen who told Bran that it was not a good idea to stay too long in an animal because you run the risk of losing yourself and become that animal. That is why I do not think anyone has constant control but it theoretically would be possible for numerous individuals to monitor something without actually warging into it and taking control which blocks others from entering that animal.

the bird is obviously Ser Pounce and the Shrouded Lord

THANKYOU! that's what ive been saying! Also thanks for the vid Michael!

Comments help the algorithm and MTAS helps the community with uploads.

Corn corn corn!

Crows recognize faces in real life

Thanks for answering my question.

cool video Michael, and I agree that the other big possibility is that there could be a child of the forest spirit in the Raven doing some of this stuff. That's a really interesting idea. I'm also glad you touched on the very curious notion that all of the Ravens have dead children of the forest spirits in them, which has always seemed weird to me since children of the Forest live much longer than Ravens! It really makes no sense to be honest, and I've wondered if maybe it was something Martin wrote without thinking about it deep enough. your proposing that all of the birds form a sort of soul network that the children of the forest spirits can inhabit in a collective way, and I think you could be onto something here. people have proposed that the wolves have something like that going on as well that might be separate from the weirwood network. I suspect this is the case, because I think humans had access to skin changing magic long before they started becoming greenseers.

In the Theon sample chapter the two ravens in the cage are very obviously warged (by Bran and Bloodraven most likely) and able to speak so the Wall doesn't seem to be an obstacle “Yet,” both ravens screamed in unison. Then one quorked, and the other muttered, “Tree, tree, tree.”

IRL, these birds repeat the words that are most frequently used around them. And this was Mormont's Raven. Sam theorized that Jon was being groomed for command. What if command wasn't the thing he was being groomed for?

For the algo, you deserve more coverage, your channel is amazing.

THANK YOU for making mention of time traveling Bran. IDK why, if it's just the limited spaces I occupy in this fandom, but with all the popular theories floating around I never ever see anybody talk much about time traveling Bran. Jon's dream-warging in Clash where he both sees and speaks with Bran in the weirwood WELL before Bran even finds the cave absolutely blew my mind when I first read it, and yet I never see anybody mention it. I still think it's Bloodraven in there, but who knows? Time travel is wonky, it could be that BOTH of them have influenced Mormont's raven at various points.

Oh. So the birds sending the messages can know A LOT OF STUFF simultaneously, all across Westeros and maybe in Essos too.

The Weirwood trees are basically wireless routers that are connected to the Weirwood network. Allowing for wired connection between the trees and wireless connection to the animals, people, and possibly even the dragons.

Is it a Crow or is it a Raven??? They are not the same thing. If we look into our worlds ancient and mythology on the Crow and Raven thing we see Crow is mostly and always associated with death and dark magic, while as Raven in many ancient culture including Native American is linked to spirituality. So once again is it a crow or a raven, and once again no, they are not the same thing. King does not mean King on Iron Throne, Wilding's call Mormont "KING CROW." The Raven sitting on CASTLE BLACK im pretty sure is not foreseeing KINGSLANDING. Jon did become KING CROW. Maester Aemon is in the Raven. xD

I think there are two people time travelling.... There is Bloodraven, in the Body of Bran who took him over when he was in Hodor and made that happen.... Then there is "The Lord of Light" and and potentially other voices that do not always align with Bloodraven and the Children/birds... Obviously Bran's flying dream, the Three Eyed Crow is not Bloodraven.... But he was sending Bran dreams... It seems that everything is prologue... The Game of Thrones may be over the Long Night and the war for the world only just began.

I'm not saying this is a likely answer here, but one lurking question behind many mysteries in ASOAF is, What happened to Rhaegar / Rhaegar's consciousness on the Trident? Rhaegar was probably a super powerful dragon dreamer and warg like Bloodraven. I wonder at times if his body wasn't throne into the Trident and later pulled up onto the Silent Isle and resuscitated (similar to how Paul Atreides walks into the desert at the end of Dune Messiah only to reappear later as another person in Children of Dune). At others if he didn't switch with his squire and go to the Isle of Faces, so that it was squire who was killed on the Trident in his place, and Rhaegar is off on the Isle of Faces playing to the trees or hooked into the trees there as a southern counterpart to Blood Raven. Certainly there are a number of clues that this switch could have happened using Rhaegar's ruby encrusted armor. I've even wondered if Rhaegar didn't cross the ocean and become the Kindly Man at the House of Black adn White who is mentoring Arya. Another possibility is that his consciousness went into Mormont's raven. I can't call any of these possibilities likely, but Rhaegar is one of the most magical characters in the story, alongside Bran and Bloodraven and Melisandre and Dany, which raises the possibility that he has cheated death or his consciousness is still around influencing events. I should probably add that one of the reasons for suspecting that Rhaegar may still be playing a role in the story is that ASOIAF clearly shows such a strong influence on it from the Odyssey: Arya's entire storyline is a preteen girl going through Odysseus' journey. And if one goes beyond that, the basic setup of the Targaryens losing their home-castle in the backstory and the Starks losing their home-castle in book two, with both families returning to displace the suitors who've stolen them (the Lannister-Baratheon's in the South, and the Boltons in the North) is also the arc of the Odyssey. I am convinced that Rhaegar at least in part planned all of this. Most likely, he did die, but his dragon dreams guided him to protect THREE Targaryen heirs for the Battle of the Dawn, switching babies for his oldest son and sending Aegon VI to the House of Black and White to be raised as the faceless man Jaqen H'ghar, hiding his second son Aemon with Lyanna at the Tower of Joy where Arthur Dayne had instructions to hand over the baby to Ned and Howland to be raised as a Stark, and sending Arthur Dayne on not one but four missions during and after Robert's Rebellion. First, Rhaegar sent Arthur to switch babies and take Aegon VI to the Faceless Men. Then Arthur returned via Dragonstone, according to Rhaegar's instructions, and rendezvoused with the Queen, shortly after the Mad King died, where he fathered Dayne-heiress Dany as a Dayne-Targaryen heir. Then Arthur returned to the Tower of Joy and created a false dream memory with Howland Reed of what happened for Ned handing over Aemon Targaryen to be raised as Jon Snow. Finally, Arthur Dayne went north past the wall with instructions to unify all the wildings and bring them south of the Wall before the Long Night, finding a dying ranger north of the wall (Mance Rayder) and assuming his name as a fake identity. All this was probably masterminded by Rhaegar, although possibly it was dreams from Time Travelling Bran that caused Rhaegar to come up with this elaborate plan.

Two dark horse options that might run concurrent with the possibilities you've laid out. 1. It's Bloodraven, but he can get around the warging barrier at CB because it used to be his domain. Same as the wights coming in under LC Jeor's invitation, LC BR could just invite himself in. (This could easily be non-mutually exclusive with his connection to WWs in the Wall. They *are* his invitation. His backdoor.) 2. I used to really be into the crackpot notion that it was Lyanna. Basically jumping from "Lyanna was half a horse" to the conclusion that she was a skinchanger. She knows she needs to live a second life to guide Jon down the song of ice and fire, so she hops into a talking bird like the singers of old. Rhaegar's maiden fair links up with the old bear, and helps him rise to the rank of King Crow. Where she then puts her thumb on the scale in matters concerning her son, her brother's kids, and the battle for the dawn. ...Also there's a slight hiccup with it being Brynden Rivers. Mormont's Raven and the Three-Eyed Corvid are both in AGOT, but George didn't add the Great Bastards until after ACOK. But we *did* already have a crow leader with magic old ways blood, and a strong connection to Bran, who disappeared leading a great ranging. Also a pale bird-themed, eye-themed, web-themed spymaster pulling the strings from the shadows. Bloodraven is like putting Benjen and Varys in a blender.

Bloodraven is tied to the Weirwood network and the Weirwood network stretches south of the wall (maybe is the wall). So I think you are correct, that Bloodraven can get his warging beyond the wall as he is connected to a wired network through it, but Jon Snow is using Wi-Fi, which the wall blocks.

Its probably Bloodraven (or at least someone send by him), he was Lord Commander of the NW and magical creatures can cross and probably warg across the wall by invitation of the Lord Commander. He never abdicated or was depoused, so the effect of the spell can work as long as he's still alive wich can also explain his tready with the CotF as the would need him to accept or deny passage (wargin or phisical) to the south.

Dany didn’t do it herself, it’s something to do with the magic system of the world, probably. But yeah. Supposedly dragons are made by sacrificing a life so the three heads of the dragon are the sacrificial ghost, the dragon & its rider. That’s the theory anyway

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think Mormont's raven ever crosses the ice of the Wall. For example, when Jon crosses the wall as LC, what the crow does is fly over it and then join him again. If so, it is a clue that someone controls the crow and does not want to lose the connection.

Uncle Benjen is warged into Mormonts raven. The reason why he went to the nights watch is to keep an eye on things. Maybe he also got a dream in which he could fly? (Also, no proof or anything, just ramblings)

I think it's time traveling bran, but the idea that it could be the equivalent of Blood Ravens own version of Todd Packard makes me smile..

I love the idea of it being a child of the forest-if Nettles isn’t still alive and she was a child of the forest, maybe it’s her

Bloodraven is a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. That might be why he can warg through the wall.

So, if the question is, is there a COTF living in the bird or is it a normal bird, and all birds have COTFs living in them, then the answer is yes to both. It is normal for birds to have a COTF living in them so the birst is a normal bird.

Eddard was attuned to listening for the gods. Of course he would have heard a whisper of Bran calling out. But bran doesn’t know he’s speaking tree.

I was thinking about what you said earlier about the powers of the Lord Commander allowing the wights across, having the power to let things pass the wall, could be the same with the Jeor's bird becaus it was his and all

If the wall blocks messages because of the weirwood wards, bloodraven shouldn’t be able to send anything at all because he has it around his cave. My guess is that he can either send it from any weirwood since they’re all connected

What if the fact that the lord commander is with the bird allows the magic to pass through the wall? Like how the weights are brought in on Mormont’s commands

What about Mormont himself, he is from the north and is completely in John's side?

If the weirwood roots go under the wall and form a mycelium network connecting all weirwood trees, I see no issue with Bloodraven warging via projecting from a southern tree, as you say

Maybe Benjin ended up in Mormonts raven or others and jumped around when possible maybe not as trained as Bran or Jon and or competing with another skin changer still in there😅

Maybe the Raven is one of a kind .. kinda like BloodRaven’s personal Raven ..

Sansa is a little bird who is asked to sing by Sandor Clegane.... Hope she can warg birds in the future

🎉

This is connected to the Pink Letter's author, imo.

I think regular warging and maybe greenseeing is like wifi where as what BR has is like being hard wired in.

How can long dead singers and lords be in the Ravens when Ravens only live a few decades at most?

Mormont’s raven eats corn and knows things.

Glad you have finally abandoned the whole everyone in Westeros is a Warg plot, and are back to quality theories👍👍

lol didn’t expect to see a deep dive on Mormont’s bird. Love it

I just had a thought... Ill explain further if necessary but a light bulb just went off. Bloodraven is trying to warg Jon Snow and others. He is a body snatcher.

raven just wants some corn and no one is feeding him

Good vid. Get a better mic bro rooting 4 u

Nah its just a crazy bird

I think that time traveling Bran makes the most sense here. However, I didn't think the raven is ever being warged into. I think what could have happened is maybe a 'reverse Hodor.' (making something smarter through time travel, as opposed to brain damage) Bran went back in time to bestow knowledge to either that raven and/or the soul that resides within it

He's just a good boy!

Good stuff. This rhymes with the theory that the three heads of the dragon are the dragon, its rider, and some ghost or something

6:00 i also wonder if you can use tree warging to move into a convenient tree first, then use it as a node

Excellent video 👌

Great theory👍

is jon really a targeryan tho?

👍