House of the Dragon‘s season 2 finale gave a glimpse of Brynden Rivers, the man who, by the time of Game of Thrones, has become the Three-Eyed Raven. Brynden, aka Bloodraven, appears as part of Daemon Targaryen’s vision that includes Daenerys Targaryen and a White Walker. Unfortunately, it makes Bran Stark’s story worse by doing so, highlighting some major flaws in how his character arc was handled in the back-half of the show.

The reveal of the Three-Eyed Raven’s identity is important in and of itself, as Game of Thrones never confirmed who the person was. Even in George R.R. Martin’s books, it isn’t 100% that it’s Bloodraven, but House of the Dragon leaves no doubt about it, right down to the raven-shaped red birthmark on his cheek. However, House of the Dragon season 2’s ending can’t fix all the problems with the character in just a single vision, especially when it comes to Bran’s connection to Brynden.

HOTD Revealing The Three-Eyed Raven Is A Reminder That Game Of Thrones Didn’t Explain It

What Bran Being The Three-Eyed Raven Meant Was Never Fully Explored

The Three-Eyed Raven – or at least, the person who will become him – appearing in House of the Dragon is a reminder of just how little Game of Thrones explained about the character. We only ever got surface level, and often very vague, reveals about who the Three-Eyed Raven was or what purpose he served in Westeros. We know that he could see the past, and that he was the enemy of the Night King, but beyond that little was truly elaborated on.

How did Bloodraven become the Three-Eyed Raven, and what’s the history behind his relationship with the Children of the Forest? How many people have been the Three-Eyed Raven, and what happened to them? How many times have they encountered the Night King? Exactly how do their visions and powers work, and what are the limitations of them? These are all interesting questions that could have not only made the character more fascinating, but fed into Bran’s ending in exciting ways. Alas, Game of Thrones decided to ignore them.

Bran’s Three-Eyed Raven Story Was A Bigger Failure Than Making Him King

This Could Have Actually Helped Make That Story Better

Ultimately, I think the failure of Game of Thrones to explain those core aspects of the Three-Eyed Raven was the real mistake in Bran’s ending. Yes, him becoming king was extremely controversial, but there’s logic in there with him being the keeper of all Westeros’ stories; of being able to see the past and thus learn from its mistakes. But that logic would be a lot stronger if we could properly understand exactly how his abilities worked, and what he was doing most of the time.

We should really understand how [Bran] feels about being the Three-Eyed Raven, what he’s doing, and how he functions.

It would also have allowed viewers to better understand his change as a character. After becoming the Three-Eyed Raven, Bran became less human, even saying he wasn’t really Bran Stark anymore. We can assume this is because he’s spending so much time in the past, but again, it’s very vague, and if you’re going to make a character king, then it’s the sort of thing that ought to be fully fleshed out. We should really understand how he feels about being the Three-Eyed Raven, what he’s doing, and how he functions.

This goes hand-in-hand with Game of Thrones‘ other major Bran mistake – which, again, I think is not only worse than him becoming king (viewed in isolation), but also had a very negative impact on that story choice – and that’s him missing season 5 entirely. This was done because he would’ve “just” been in the tree/cave with the Three-Eyed Raven, but seeing that experience, and learning more of his training and how it changes his character so completely, actually would’ve been great for where his story ended up.

Can Game Of Thrones Still Fix Its Three-Eyed Raven Mistake?

Bloodraven May Appear In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

House of the Dragon introducing Bloodraven is a small step towards expanding upon the Three-Eyed Raven’s story, but is it one that the wider franchise could continue? I’ll admit it’s probably a stretch to think we’ll get too much, but Bloodraven is a part of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ story. He appears in the third novella, The Mystery Knight, at which point he is the Hand of the King. It’s decades before he becomes the Three-Eyed Raven, but it could at least explain more about who he was before that point.

Depending on how long the show runs, then it’s possible – if not necessarily likely – that we’ll see more of Bloodraven’s story, which takes him to the Wall (where he becomes Lord Commander), and then eventually the Three-Eyed Raven. Getting too in-depth into that would inevitably distract a lot from the Dunk and Egg tales at hand, however. That means there’s not much more room for Game of Thrones to fix its Three-Eyed Raven problems, unless another spinoff dives into it properly. At the very least, we know who he was, but I’d like to learn a lot more for better context to understand Bran.