0:03 what happened to benjin Stark it was one
0:05 of the big mysteries of book one and we
0:07 still haven't had an answer he went
0:09 ranging north of the wall and never
0:13 returned is he dead alive or something
0:16 else hi everyone this is Robert welcome
0:18 to indeep geek your home for insight
0:20 into the worlds of A Song of Ice and
0:22 Fire the Lord of the Rings The Witcher
0:25 and more if you're new here
0:27 welcome The Disappearance of benjin
0:29 Stark while ranging north of the wall is
0:31 one of the biggest mysteries of the
0:33 opening chapters of A Song of Ice and
0:35 Fire and it has never been fully
0:37 explained he had set off with half a
0:40 dozen men to search for wear Rey the
0:42 noble knights Watchman we met in the
0:45 prologue benjin set off heading north
0:47 and west we're told and Jor Mormont
0:49 started getting concerned when after a
0:51 few months he hadn't returned or sent a
0:54 message so Mormont sent out three search
0:58 parties we read that sir Jeremy rker had
1:01 led two sweeps and Corin halfhand had
1:03 gone forth from the shadow Tower but
1:05 they'd found nothing aside from a few
1:07 blazes in the trees that his uncle had
1:09 left to mark his way in the Stony
1:12 Highlands to the Northwest the marks
1:14 stopped abruptly and all trace of Ben Stark
1:16 Stark
1:19 vanished so we know something of where
1:22 benjin went Northwest from Castle black
1:23 roughly along the route that the great
1:25 ranging led by Jor Mormont followed
1:28 sometime later when searching for him
1:31 roughly ped White tree craster's keep
1:34 and the Fist of the first men unlike the
1:36 great ranging though benjin didn't stop
1:39 by cr's keep at least that's what crter
1:41 said when Jor asked him we shouldn't
1:43 necessarily believe everything crter
1:45 says but I don't think this is a
1:47 particular mystery neither curin
1:49 halfhand nor Jeremy rker bothered to
1:51 check with crter when searching for
1:53 benjin so it's not as if either of those
1:55 experienced Knights Watchman thought it
1:57 likely he went there if benjin had been
1:59 tracking wear Roy and the other two
2:01 night watch which is what he set off to
2:03 do he would have been able to track them
2:05 up to craster's keep and then see that
2:07 they left it again afterwards he
2:10 actually had no need to stop by and if
2:12 you can avoid stopping by crter you
2:15 probably would in any event the marks
2:17 Benin left carried on until the Stony
2:20 Highlands well past cras and I think we
2:22 can say a bit more with some certainty
2:25 because Benin was an expert Ranger the
2:27 most senior Ranger there was in fact and
2:30 took with him other experienced Rangers
2:32 they were experts at following tracks
2:34 and given that Rangers clearly left
2:36 marks for other rangers to follow I
2:38 think it's a reasonable assumption that
2:40 benjin and his group managed to follow
2:42 wear and his group's trail to where we
2:44 saw them in the prologue to book one and
2:46 then tried to piece together what had
2:49 happened there to remind you wear gared
2:52 and will had headed up to ca's keep and
2:54 from there carried on ranging into the
2:56 haunted forest until eventually finding
2:58 the camp of dead wildlings about 8 or
3:02 nine days ride north of the wall benjin
3:04 would have tracked them that far surely
3:07 and he would have found the abandoned
3:09 wling Village signs of a struggle
3:11 perhaps some shards of wayar Roy's
3:14 shattered sword on the ground but benjin
3:17 will have seen no bodies he will surely
3:19 have been as disconcerted by this as
3:21 will was and he will have known that
3:24 gared that veteran Knights Watchman had
3:26 fled the scene and headed as far south
3:28 as he could not even wanting to stop at
3:30 the wall just to get a away from
3:33 whatever he saw here so scared was he
3:36 that weeks later when captured he was
3:39 incoherent and apparently unable to even
3:40 understand what Ned said to him
3:43 seemingly driven mad by
3:47 fear so what was benjin to do then he
3:48 could have turned back but from
3:50 everything we know of him is that the
3:53 kind of man he was he didn't really have
3:55 any more firm information than before
3:58 abandoned Villages experienced Knights
4:01 Watchmen scared to death of something no
4:04 benjin will have carried on and there
4:05 will have been at least two different
4:08 sets of trails to follow the first would
4:11 be gads heading south but he knew where
4:13 that went and what happened to him the
4:15 second will have been the villagers will
4:19 and wear Royce as ice whites the others
4:21 themselves may or may not have left much
4:23 of a trace we simply don't know enough
4:25 about them yet in the books to be sure
4:27 but eight villagers plus two knights
4:30 Watchmen as shambling ice whites yes
4:33 that would leave a trail and where did
4:35 they go well the next time we come
4:37 across a large force of the army of the
4:40 Dead is at the Fist of the first men
4:42 further to the Northwest they seem to
4:44 have been amassing somewhere beyond
4:46 there so perhaps that's where they went
4:48 it's certainly where benjin and his six
4:50 companions went Northwest out of the
4:52 other side of the haunted forest and
4:54 into the Stony
4:56 Highlands at which point the marks
4:59 benjin left stopped abruptly perhaps
5:01 perap he simply ran out of trees to Mark
5:03 in the frosty landscape or perhaps
5:07 something happened what well our next
5:10 clue happens back at the wall 6 months
5:12 after benjin set out two of his
5:14 companions turn up near the Grove of
5:16 weirwood trees that John and Sam kneel
5:19 before to make their Night's Watch vows
5:23 oor and jaer flowers both were dead and
5:25 as we discover in the next chapter ice
5:27 whites Sam had a quick look at the
5:29 bodies and deduced that they hadn't died
5:32 where they lay in fact they had died
5:34 quite some time earlier and had somehow
5:36 made their way to where they were found
5:38 there's a hint also that jaer had been
5:41 killed by oor his wounds matched the
5:43 kind of axe that oor carried so it seems
5:45 that benjin followed the trail of the
5:47 Whit's Northwest up into the Stony
5:50 Highlands and then found them or they
5:53 found him oor was killed first then was
5:56 raised as a white and killed jafer the
5:58 two of them as ice whites then marched
6:00 down to near the war wall where they
6:02 were discovered by ghost they were
6:04 brought back to Castle black oor
6:06 attacked J Mormont and we know what
6:09 happened there why the others wanted
6:11 these two to go back to the wall is a
6:13 very intriguing question with some
6:15 fascinating possible answers but for
6:18 another video the question here is what
6:19 happened to benjin and the other four
6:22 nights Watchmen with him the physical
6:25 Trail does run a bit cold here Jon does
6:27 try asking the wildlings if they know
6:29 anything but he doesn't get an answer
6:31 but I think the evidence in the book
6:34 suggests three broad possibilities the
6:38 first sadly is that benjin may be dead
6:40 and like the other two reanimated as an
6:42 ice white this certainly explains why he
6:44 hasn't returned to the wall or sent a
6:46 message by the end of the time of the
6:48 dance of the dragons two years or so
6:51 have passed which is quite a while with
6:53 no contact even the most diard of
6:55 benjin's friends at the wall now believe
6:58 that he has gone and mormont's Raven
7:00 seems to suggest as much at the Fist of
7:01 the first
7:04 men the old bear smiled through the gray
7:07 of his beard on this hill our fires
7:09 ought to be visible as far off as the
7:11 foothills of the frost fangs if Ben
7:14 Stark is alive and free he will come to
7:16 us I have no
7:22 doubt yes said JN but what if he's dead
7:25 Mormont asked not unkindly John nodded
7:30 reluctantly dad The Raven said Dad
7:32 dead he may come to us anyway the old
7:36 bear said as oor did and Ja for flowers
7:39 I dread that as much as you John but we
7:42 must admit the possibility dead his
7:44 Raven called ruffling its wings its
7:48 voice grew louder and more shrill
7:51 dead mormont's raven is not just any old
7:54 Raven and his repetition of the word
7:56 dead is not just a bird copying human
7:58 speech there's evidence throughout the
8:00 books that blood Raven is probably
8:02 wogging into it spying on the knight's
8:04 watch and trying to give advice so on
8:07 face value This Could Be Blood Raven
8:09 trying to tell them that benjin is
8:12 indeed dead but in the wider context of
8:15 that chapter it may be simply that the
8:17 Raven was just letting them know that
8:19 the army of the Dead was drawing near
8:23 which it was so maybe benjin is dead
8:25 presumably killed in that same attack
8:27 that took out oor and jaer we just
8:30 haven't seen benjin the ice
8:33 yet the second option is that benjin is
8:35 still alive he survived the attack and
8:38 thought that having come so far he might
8:40 as well carry on and try to find out
8:43 exactly what is going on and why he's
8:46 capable competent and experienced so why
8:48 not it also ties in with something
8:50 George R Martin has promised us for the
8:53 Winds of Winter that we will go further
8:56 north Beyond the Wall than ever before
8:58 this presumably won't be directly with
9:00 one of our Northern PV characters
9:02 they're mostly focused on Winterfell and
9:04 the wall at the moment though perhaps
9:06 bran will see further north through his
9:09 new tree magic powers and when bran does
9:11 see through the weirwood network he
9:13 seems to first see people he has
9:15 connected with his father benjin and
9:19 leaner children probably a young old man
9:21 might he now see benjin ranging to the
9:24 lands of always winter or might benjin
9:27 finally return to the wall don't rule it
9:30 out and on a very practical plot driven
9:32 Point George Aram Martin wouldn't have
9:34 wanted to bring benjin back until now
9:36 anyway he's very probably one of the few
9:39 people who knows Jon's true parentage
9:41 and that reveal is surely waiting until
9:44 a dream of spring but the third option
9:48 is that benan is not dead or alive but
9:51 something in between Saved By The Magic
9:53 of the children of the forest it sounds
9:56 like a bit of a long shot but this is
9:58 what happened on the show he was
10:00 attacked by the others left for dead but
10:02 the children found him and saved him by
10:04 shoving a piece of dragon glass into him
10:07 leaving him in a kind of half Undead
10:10 State this isn't a complete invention
10:12 from the show they effectively merged
10:14 benjin's character with that of cold
10:16 hands a mysterious book only character
10:19 who roams north of the wall on an elk is
10:20 apparently a former member of the
10:22 knight's watch working with blood Raven
10:24 and the children of the forest and seems
10:27 to be dead or Undead or something he
10:30 doesn't breathe anyway in the books it's
10:32 pretty clear that cold hands isn't
10:34 benjam not least because bran would have
10:37 recognized him if he were and well we've
10:38 actually seen a rare note from George
10:40 Aram Martin to his editor where he
10:43 confirmed it to be the case but if the
10:45 children of the forest or blood Raven or
10:47 someone like that could use magic to
10:50 preserve cold hands Beyond Death might
10:53 they not also do it to Benin for those
10:55 who like foreshadowing there's also a
10:57 line in book one where bran says
10:59 confidently to Old Nan that wherever
11:02 benjin is the children of the forest
11:05 will help him of course this would
11:07 explain why he hasn't headed back to the
11:10 wall like cold hands he wouldn't be able
11:12 to pass its magical defenses but it
11:14 doesn't explain why he didn't even send
11:18 a message so this is possible but we
11:19 have to accept that it's an argument
11:22 largely from Silence we haven't seen any
11:25 evidence yet to show that it is the case
11:28 whatever possibility is right I do think
11:30 we will get some kind of closure on what
11:32 happened to benjin his disappearance was
11:34 one of the big Mysteries driving the
11:36 plot in books one and two and JN and
11:38 bran both still think about it
11:40 frequently so surely they will get some
11:41 kind of
11:44 resolution and for what it's worth this
11:47 is my current best guess as to what
11:49 happened to start with benjin headed
11:51 Northwest with his companions tracking
11:54 wayar Roy gared and will to where they
11:56 encountered the others benjin could have
11:58 turned back then but didn't instead
12:00 following the the tracks of the whites
12:02 further Northwest towards where they
12:03 joined up with the rest of the army of
12:06 the dead but when benjin reached the
12:08 Stony Highlands his party was attacked
12:11 othor was killed then raised by the
12:12 others and then he attacked ja for
12:15 flowers killing him perhaps it's just my
12:18 sentimental heart but I hope benjin
12:20 wasn't killed and turned into a white
12:22 then perhaps the children of the forest
12:24 saved him or perhaps he just made a
12:26 Quick Escape either way he will now have
12:28 seen the dead walking and need to make a
12:31 CH Choice head south and warn his
12:34 brothers or keep going north and get to
12:36 the heart of what's going on see whether
12:39 old man stories were really true he was
12:42 also raised on Old Man stories remember
12:45 but if he did head south from there he
12:48 didn't make it it's been 2 years so if
12:50 he isn't dead he very probably went
12:53 North leaving no markings because he
12:55 didn't want anyone following him further
12:57 north than we have yet been in this
12:59 story perhaps even into the heart of
13:03 Winter and when he returns if he returns
13:05 he will bring knowledge with him that
13:06 might just help turn the tide against
13:10 the army of the dead but what do you
13:13 think is benjin still alive or did
13:15 something happen to him let me know in
13:17 the comments below I'd love to hear what
13:20 you think if you'd like to see more of
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