Who is "Bloodraven" Ser Brynden Rivers in House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones? Vision explained

This person is a man with long white hair and a red bird-shaped birthmark on the right side of his face - his name is Ser Brynden Rivers, also known as Lord Bloodraven.

The figure is key to the future of House Targaryen and the whole world crafted by George R. R. Martin and adapted for an appearance in Game of Thrones.

So, who is "Bloodraven" Ser Bryden Rivers in House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones?

Who is "Bloodraven" Ser Brynden Rivers in House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones?

Ser Brynden Rivers AKA Lord Bloodraven is the bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen and his mistress Lady Melissa Blackwood.

Now we love a notorious Targaryen bastard!

The gluttonous King Aegon IV, dubbed "Aegon the Unworthy", sired numerous bastards and subsequently legitimised those with highborn women for mothers, Brynden included, seeing them called the "Great Bastards".

Brynden's coat of arms boasted a white dragon breathing red flame with red eyes and against a black background.

In the works of author George R. R. Martin, Brynden is described as an albino with pale reddish eyes, pale white skin, and long platinum hair, with a birthmark on his right cheek appearing like a raven soaked in blood, earning him the nickname 'Bloodraven' - this marking is shown in his appearance in the vision depicted in House of the Dragon.

Brynden was noted to be tall, and thin and boast sharp features unlike the large and muscular bastard sons of Aegon V such as his rebellious half-brothers Daemon Waters/Daemon I Blackfyre and Ser Aegor "Bittersteel" Rivers.

An adept political player akin to the likes of Lord Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, Brynden was also excellent in combat and adept with using the Valyrian steel blade Dark Sister, previously used by King Consort Daemon Targaryen himself, and with weirwood crossbow.

During his role in the conflict known as the First Blackfyre Rebellion, Brynden lost an eye but was rumoured to carry powers of sorcery and as a spymaster, becoming the subject of riddles and songs: "How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes, and one".

What happened to "Bloodraven" Ser Brynden Rivers?

Ser Brynden Rivers would later be exiled to The Wall and eventually became the Three-Eyed Crow after a lengthy and eventful political career.

It is important to note that Brynden was resented by his half-brother Ser Aegor Rivers over their shared love of half-sister Shiera Seastar before both became legitimised by King Aegon IV upon his death. Brynden remained devoted to his lover Shiera but she turned down his many proposals of marriage. This love triangle helped to build this feud between Brynden and Aegor.

Upon the ascension of his legitimate brother King Daeron II Targaryen, Brynden remained loyal to him when half-brother Daemon I Blackfyre rebelled against the crown in the First Blackfyre Rebellion, claiming the throne for himself as a now-legitimate heir to King Aegon IV.

The civil war resulted in much bloodshed but Brynden successfully slaughtered the rebel Daemon and his two sons, as well as defeating arch-enemy Aegor in battle, but losing an eye in the process. Aegor later fled to the Three Cities with Daemon's remaining family.

The conflict saw Brynden win the reputation of a sorcerer and a kinslayer for his actions in the civil war - was the propaganda wrong?

In the aftermath, a great epidemic broke out in King's Landing and claimed the lives of King Daeron, two of his children and thousands more in the city. Brynden then rose to the position of Hand of the King and Master of Whisperers for the new monarch, King Aerys I Targaryen, and used alchemists to create wildfire (yes, the green chemical seen in Game of Thrones and stored later beneath the city) to burn large portions of the city to end the epidemic. Brynden also battled drought in the kingdom, which some blamed on his kinslaying and sorcery in the war, while also keeping control of various internal conflicts in the kingdom.

During the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, Brynden crushed attempts to put Daemon II Blackfyre on the throne by brutally suppressing any chance of uprising at the tourney of Whitewalls. Afterwards, he kept Daemon alive in captivity to stop anyone else from claiming themselves as the Blackfyre heir.

A further Third Blackfyre Rebellion was later put down with Ser Aegor Rivers taken captive and Brynden arguing for his old enemy's execution, but King Aerys showed mercy and sent Aegor to the Wall to join the Night's Watch. However, Aegor later escaped to Essos and formed the Golden Company sellswords - which appear in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Upon the death of King Aerys, Brynden served as Hand of the King for his successor King Maekar I Targaryen, in a period of relative peace when compared to his predecessors. However, when this monarch died, a new succession crisis developed.

A Great Council - similar to the one which formed after the death of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen - was formed to decide, with Aenys Blackfyre keen to attend as a peaceful participant. Byrnden agreed to the Blackfyre heir's attendance but upon Aenys's arrival, he was seized and beheaded. Brynden believed in doing whatever it took to prevent another Blackfyre conflict with as little bloodshed as possible.

Ultimately, Maekar's youngest son, known in childhood as 'Egg' (and depicted in the Dunk and Egg novellas) came to the throne as King Aegon V Targaryen but he had Brynden arrested for the murder of Aenys Blackfyre. Brynden was sentenced to death but as a mercy was granted the option to join the order of The Night's Watch at The Wall in the North and he agreed.

Brynden and his band of archers AKA The Raven's Teeth were then sent to the Wall and even joined a youthful Maester Aemon Targaryen (yes, the Maester Aemon from Game of Thrones) on his journey to Castle Black.

Eventually, the ever-resourceful Brynden with his political brilliance rose to the rank of Lord Commander of the Night's Watch at the age of 64.

However, 13 years after reaching this position, Bryden disappeared while ranging in the wintery landscape Beyond the Wall.

During the events of A Song of Ice and Fire, the book A Dance with Dragons reveals that Brynden Rivers later became the fantastical figure known as The Three-Eyed Crow (referred to as The Three-Eyed Raven in the television series Game of Thrones).

Brynden is a 'greenseer' and 'skinchanger' who has become embedded in a cave Beyond the Wall where he resides with the mythical Children of the Forest. Upon Bran Stark's arrival there, he becomes an apprentice to Brynden Rivers.

The books have not yet gone beyond this.

In the television series Game of Thrones, The Three-Eyed Raven continues to mentor Bran Stark and reveal secrets about Westeros, House Stark, and House Targaryen. The Three-Eyed Raven is later murdered by the leader of the White Walkers - The Night King - before Bran escapes to cross the Wall.

Who plays Ser Brynden Rivers AKA Lord Bloodraven AKA The Three-Eyed Crow?

Ser Brynden Rivers is portrayed by Joshua Ben-Tovim in a vision featured in House of the Dragons season 2 episode 8, The Queen Who Ever Was.

However, an adaptation of Brynden's Three-Eyed Crow guise appears in the television series Game of Thrones as the 'Three-Eyed Raven'.

This character appears in the season 4 finale 'The Children' portrayed by Struan Rodger and then portrayed by legendary actor Max von Sydow in the show's sixth season prior to the character's demise.

The character could potentially appear in the upcoming Dunk and Egg series from HBO which tells the story of Ser Duncan the Tall and a young King Aegon V Targaryen, then nicknamed Egg . During this period of the timeline in Martin's works, Brynden was the most powerful politician in Westeros.

Which books does Ser Brynden Rivers AKA Lord Bloodraven appear in?

Ser Brynden Rivers AKA Lord Bloodraven AKA The Three-Eyed Crow appears in the following George R. R. Martin texts.

• The Tales of Dunk and Egg: The Mystery Knight (featured in the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms collection)
• A Dance with Dragons (of the series A Song of Ice and Fire)

The character is also mentioned in the following texts.

• The World of Ice and Fire
• The Tales of Dunk and Egg: The Sworn Sword (featured in the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms collection)
• A Feast for Crows (of the series A Song of Ice and Fire)

The character is expected to appear in the next volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, The Winds of Winter, along with the next volume of Fire and Blood which is expected to tackle the rule of House Targaryen after King Aegon III Targaryen to the fall of the dynasty during the reign of Mad King Aerys II Targaryen.

Will Ser Brynden Rivers AKA Lord Bloodraven appear in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?

It seems possible and verging on likely!

Speaking at a press conference, the House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal said of Bloodraven's television future and potential appearance in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: "Ira [Parker] is running Dunk and Egg - if he chooses to cast Bloodraven, he will cast that role however he sees fit. I think what we were interested in is this point of connectivity between sort of Daemon's timeline and Daenerys’s timeline, even though he doesn't exactly fold over in theory, because we know what we know from the original book and the weirwood network, and how one can see back into time and ahead into the future.

"Bloodraven did feel like a bit of that connective tissue, and also felt like a fun thing to reveal for the for the fans, and it's just, it's another one of those elements of this that I think allows us a little bit of a - I hate the term, and I hate the way these things have been exploited by genre television or genre storytelling - but the Easter egg of Bloodraven felt very fitting here, and earned, in a sense, because he is a Targaryen who we know goes on to do strange and wonderful things. And if there's anybody that Daemon would be able to see that would connect him to Daenerys, it would be him. So it felt like a fitting thing for him to see in that world of [greensight] or magic, or whatever that Alice was sharing with him, particularly with as it's related to the weirwoods."

So, the future is open...

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