The Three-Eyed Raven's Identity Confirmed & Explained, 13-Year-Old Theory Made Game Of Thrones Canon

By James Hunt

Published Aug 5, 2024

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Warning: Contains major SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 2's finale.

Summary

House of the Dragon confirms Brynden Rivers as the Three-Eyed Raven.
Brynden Rivers, or Bloodraven, was one of the Great Bastards of King Aegon IV Targaryen, and was born around 45 years after the Dance of the Dragons.
Bloodraven has been theorized to be the Three-Eyed Raven, or Crow, at least since A Dance with Dragons.

powerful characters in Game of Thrones. While he helps Bran Stark learn to use his greensight and, eventually, is replaced by him, little is ever revealed about his origin.

It's said that he's 1,000 years old, and that there have been many Three-Eyed Ravens, but the show, unfortunately, didn't get into many specifics about his origins, or powers. One of the flaws with House of the Dragon season 2's ending does at least confirm, via clear clues if not outright saying it, the man who became the Three-Eyed Raven before Bran.

House Of The Dragon Revealed The Three-Eyed Raven Is Brynden Rivers

Brynden Was A Targaryen Bastard, Known As Bloodraven

A raven flying from the Three-Eyed Raven's face in House of the Dragon season 2 episode 8

In the House of the Dragon season 2 finale, Daemon Targaryen has a vision that includes Daenerys, a White Walker, his own death, and Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne. Before all of those, however, he first sees a man sitting almost as part of the weirwood tree. His name isn't spoken, but he clearly looks like a Targaryen. The way he's ed with the tree is the first hint that this is the Three-Eyed Raven, and the raven that appears as if from him is effectively confirmation, but it's his face that reveals this is Brynden Rivers.

Key Facts About Brynden Rivers
Born	175 AC
Father	Aegon IV
Mother	Melissa Blackwood
Lover	Shiera Seastar
Notable Titles	Master of whisperers, Hand of the King, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch

The character in House of the Dragon has a red birthmark on his cheek, which is loosely in the shape of a raven. The only character in Game of Thrones history with such a specific birthmark is Brynden Rivers, who was given the nickname Bloodraven because of it. He was one of King Aegon IV Targaryen's Great Bastards - that is, bastards he legitimized on his deathbed, which would ultimately lead to decades of rebellions from a house formed by one of those bastards, Daemon: House Blackfyre.

Brynden is the great-grandson of Daemon and Rhaenyra. His grandfather was their youngest son, Viserys.

Brynden was loyal to House Targaryen, but was eventually sent to the Wall by King Aegon V Targaryen for having Aenys Blackfyre, a would-be claimant to the throne, killed. Brynden actually went to the Wall at the same time as Maester Aemon from Game of Thrones, and rose up to become Lord Commander. However, he disappeared beyond the Wall, and was never seen or heard from again. It's also worth noting he had with him Dark Sister, the Valyrian steel sword that Daemon has in House of the Dragon, which is also missing.

Why It's Long Been Theorized That Bloodraven Became The Three-Eyed Raven

A Song Of Ice & Fire Has Multiple Clues

It is mostly from A Dance with Dragons that the theory of the Three-Eyed Crow/Raven being Brynden Rivers comes from, as it provides various clues as to his true identity. This includes, quite directly, him revealing that his name used to be Brynden, and while it's not an uncommon name, there aren't many who fit the Three-Eyed Crow in quite the same way. He says he was once a crow, and the appendix confirms he was once a man of the Night's Watch named Brynden.

It would be quite a coincidence for the Brynden who was of the Night's Watch and went missing beyond the Wall to not be the Brynden who was of the Night's Watch and became the Three-Eyed Raven, but there is other evidence too.

The Three-Eyed Crow mentions to Bran that he has "a thousand eyes and one," which is also the title of a song about Brynden Rivers.
The song came from his time as Hand of the King, because he was a spymaster with a network of informants, which isn't dissimilar to how the Three-Eyed Crow, or Raven, is able to operate and know all of what's going on in Westeros, albeit through different means.
The song's title also references that Brynden lost one eye, giving it the "one" part of the title. When Bran meets the Crow, he notices he only has one eye.
The Crow is also said to have a blood-colored blotch on his neck and cheek, similar to the distinctive birthmark Bloodraven had.
Many in Westeros believed Bloodraven to be a sorcerer, which could be linked to his developing greenseer abilities and eventually becoming the Three-Eyed Crow.
The Crow tells Bran he had "a brother that I loved, a brother that I hated, a woman I desired." It's noted that he and his half-brother, Aegor Rivers, despised each other; it's also known that he loved a woman: his own sister, Shiera Seastar. The brother he loved is less explicit, but could be either Daeron Targaryen or Daemon Blackfyre.

None of this was in Game of Thrones, but the books do provide a lot of strong evidence that Bloodraven became the Three-Eyed Crow. George R.R. Martin has not explicitly confirmed it, but with House of the Dragon showing someone who could only be Brynden Rivers, it is paying off the theory and making it Game of Thrones canon. Since there aren't many other viable candidates, then this makes sense, especially as Brynden will eventually be a character in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' story, as he appears in the third of the Tales of Dunk & Egg novellas.

Rhaenyra-from-HotD-and-Dexter-Sol-Ansell-

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What A Targaryen Being The Three-Eyed Raven Means

It Further Highlights Their Importance To Defeating The White Walkers

Close-up of Brynden Rivers, with a red birthmark, in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 8

Though the theory of The Three-Eyed Crow or Raven being a Targaryen has existed for over a decade, House of the Dragon doesn't just confirm it, but also brings new layers of meaning to it. That, specifically, is because of Aegon the Conqueror's song of ice and fire dream, which foretold of the coming darkness, i.e. the White Walkers, and that only a Targaryen on the Iron Throne could unite the realm to defeat it.

With the combination of the dream and then Brynden in Daemon's vision, it suggests a Targaryen also needed to become the Three-Eyed Crow/Raven, at least at some point, in order to help defeat the Night King. The Targaryens and the White Walkers are established as great enemies by Aegon's dream, and Game of Thrones has already revealed the Three-Eyed Raven was the Night King's true foe, so they are intertwined already, and Bloodraven provides a stronger connection.

This also makes me wonder if Bloodraven ever knew about Aegon's dream, and whether that, or a dragon dream or green dream of his own, is what led to him venturing so far beyond the Wall and becoming the Three-Eyed Raven. It's unclear what happened to the prophecy after the Dance, but he is the kind of Targaryen, with his large network of information and, perhaps, sorcery, who could have discovered it. If nothing else, he would have learned of it when he became the Three-Eyed Raven, once more bridging House of the Dragon to Game of Thrones.