The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Barristan Selmy, a Kingsguard of King Aerys Targaryen, Daenerys's father, had a deep impression of the green prophets. The Targaryen royal family had produced a well-known and famous green prophet, Bloodraven Brynden Rivers, the Hand of the King who could possess any bird or beast.

Born in King's Landing's Red Keep in 175 AC, Brynden Rivers, if still alive, would be 126 years old.

In 209 AC, at the age of 34, Brynden Rivers was appointed Hand of the King by Aerys I for his extraordinary intelligence and precognitive abilities.

He was the first Targaryen bastard to become Hand of the King.

Brynden had milky white skin, bone-white hair, and one red eye, with a port-wine stain on his cheek and chin, resembling a red raven, hence his nickname: Bloodraven.

Bloodraven Brynden was not as tall and mighty as his brothers. He was thin and gaunt, often wearing "blood and smoke" attire—smoke referring to dark gray speckled with black spots and stripes. He wore a hooded cloak when going out, hiding his face in the hood. He lost an eye in the Blackfyre Rebellion, but he never bandaged the empty socket. He kept his hair shoulder-length, letting it fall to cover the missing eye.

Bloodraven possessed rare and unparalleled intelligence and precognitive abilities! He was a skinchanger, the only green prophet in the realm.

Bloodraven could possess any bird or beast and foresee the future in dreams. This allowed him to easily thwart any rebellion in time. His abilities terrified his enemies and earned him the reputation of an evil sorcerer.

In 212 AC, Duke Bloodraven uncovered a plot by some nobles to support Daemon Blackfyre II through the use of dwarf spies and other means, arresting Daemon without bloodshed and easily quelling the Second Blackfyre Rebellion. He spared Daemon's life, preventing "Bittersteel" from crowning Daemon's brother Haegon across the Narrow Sea.

In 219 AC, Haegon Blackfyre finally declared himself king and launched the Third Blackfyre Rebellion with "Bittersteel." During the battle, the two arch-rivals—"Bloodraven" and "Bittersteel"—clashed on the battlefield for the second time in history. The rebellion was quickly crushed by Bloodraven Brynden, who possessed unparalleled intelligence and precognitive abilities. Haegon I was killed after surrendering his sword, and "Bittersteel" himself was captured alive by Bloodraven.

In 221 AC, after the death of Aerys I, Maekar inherited the throne. Bloodraven's precognitive abilities became even more prominent, and his intelligence was so incredible that he could see through any conspiracy, past and future, as if he were a god. He was therefore recognized as a prophet.

King Maekar appointed Bloodraven as Hand of the King once again.

Brynden Rivers, possessing extraordinary special abilities, was utterly loyal to the Targaryen dynasty. To completely eradicate the last Blackfyre, he broke his oath and, guaranteeing the safety of the Seven Gods and the honor of his family, lured Daemon Blackfyre's fifth son, Aenys Blackfyre, who was then across the Narrow Sea, to his death.

Brynden promised peace talks, agreeing to respect Aenys Blackfyre's legitimate right of inheritance and giving him an equal opportunity to openly participate in the Great Council election. This Great Council election was to fairly and openly elect a new king from the Targaryen family—Bloodraven swore to guarantee the safety of the Blackfyre family.

When Aenys Blackfyre entered the Red Keep in King's Landing with his guards, Brynden Rivers ordered the Gold Cloaks, who were already prepared, to immediately attack, beheading Aenys Blackfyre and killing all of his followers.

Aegon V was elected king at the Great Council and immediately arrested Bloodraven for violating his promise to Aenys Blackfyre. Bloodraven did not deny setting a trap to arrest Aenys, willing to sacrifice his honor for the final peace of the country. Aegon V, to avoid being branded as untrustworthy on the Iron Throne, sentenced Bloodraven to death.

But everything Bloodraven did was for the stability of the kingdom, so Aegon V gave Bloodraven a chance to wear black and be spared from the death penalty. If Brynden Rivers wanted to live, he had to go north to the Wall and become a member of the Night's Watch.

At the same time, the king's brother, Maester Aemon Targaryen, was secretly supported by another force in the royal family, along with some great nobles, to become king and compete with Aegon V for the Iron Throne. To avoid fratricide, Maester Aemon voluntarily chose to join the Night's Watch.

So, the king ordered Bloodraven to accompany Prince Aemon, who was wearing black, as an "honor guard," heading north to the Wall by sea. Bloodraven's two hundred Raven's Teeth protected Brynden Rivers and Aemon Targaryen on their journey north.

In 239 AC, Brynden Rivers, possessing green prophet abilities, was elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch at the Wall. Thirteen years later, in 252 AC, Bloodraven led rangers on patrol in the Haunted Forest outside the Wall and disappeared. From then on, the kingdom had no more news of Brynden Rivers.

The famous skinchanger, green prophet, and 'evil sorcerer' with a thousand eyes and one eye, Brynden Rivers, disappeared from the historical records of the Targaryen royal family!

Barristan Selmy knew Bloodraven's deeds very well. Bloodraven was both a warrior and a scholar. Before his disappearance, the Seven Kingdoms had songs specifically sung about Bloodraven's story, "A Thousand Eyes and One."

In the three hundred years of the kingdom's history, the Targaryen family produced only one green prophet: Bloodraven Brynden Rivers. And now, the kingdom has produced another green prophet: Bran Stark of the Stark family of the North.

The green prophet's all-knowing ability is like a god walking among mortals!

Regarding this point, whether it was Barristan Selmy, Jorah Mormont, Ygritte, and others on the continent of Westeros, or Missandei, the Tattered Prince, Aggo, and Rakharo across the Narrow Sea, none of them ever doubted it.

The abilities and reputation of a prophet are far above those of a sorcerer!

What shocked and puzzled Barristan and Jorah Mormont was that Bran Stark seemed to have a natural affinity for Queen Daenerys.

The Stark family's green prophet coming to help Daenerys could only mean one thing: the green prophet saw the future, and Queen Daenerys is the only true queen!

Barristan Selmy looked at Jorah Mormont, and Jorah Mormont was also looking at him, their minds connected. The arrival of the prophet Bran Stark convinced the two generals that Daenerys was the true queen on the Iron Throne! And only the green prophet could send someone to unite the Iron Bank and the Faceless Men of the House of Black and White. With the support of the Iron Bank, Her Majesty would no longer have to worry about any military supplies and the loyalty of mercenaries; and with the support of the Faceless Men, not to mention the Mountain, no enemy would be a threat.

All men must die, all men must serve!

Name spoken, death comes!

But who exactly could Bran Stark send that was so powerful, capable of persuading the Iron Bank, and then having the Iron Bank leverage the Faceless Men of the House of Black and White? The only difficulty for the Faceless Men in accepting a mission is the price, which is too high for kings and governors to accept, but the Iron Bank never lacks money, they only lack lenders. The Iron Bank's favorite thing to support is funding the change of power in a certain country, and then waiting for the new king to ascend the throne and pay a large amount of interest through taxes.

*

Dragonstone. Map Room.

Daenerys sat on the only high seat.

In the entire hall, there was only one chair, a chair overlooking the entire map table. This chair was forged by the first conqueror, Aegon Targaryen, and this map table, a three-dimensional map of the continent of Westeros, was also forged by Aegon Targaryen.

For three hundred years, Dragonstone had been the territory of the Targaryen heir.

This map table represents all the territory of the royal power—the land, mountains, rivers, and lakes of the Seven Kingdoms, noble castles, and commoner towns are all there.

Now, it has once again returned to the hands of the Targaryen family.

The entire hall seemed to have gained popularity because of the arrival of the green prophet—the popularity came from Daenerys's generals. The khals of the Dothraki Sea and the leaders of the Unsullied were all curious about the young man in the wheelchair, their eyes mostly shifting to Bran Stark. The three-eyed raven on Bran's shoulder attracted their attention even more.

A three-eyed raven was something all of Daenerys's generals were seeing for the first time!

Servants and soldiers from foreign lands all had special faith and worship for sorcerers, dark magic, prophets, and gods.

The three-eyed raven represented a mysterious power!

This made them very awed!

*

Bran Stark's wheelchair was placed next to Daenerys's high platform chair. Bran and Daenerys sat together, which showed his noble status. Daenerys also showed the highest respect to Bran.

The green prophet gave her unprecedented confidence and brought a lot of intelligence information that she could not understand at all. Compared with what Bran Stark knew, Varys's intelligence information suddenly seemed insignificant.

Jon had mixed feelings. He was excited to recognize his relatives, but Bran's words and actions put a lot of pressure on him. He felt that things were developing in a completely different direction, a direction completely opposite to what he had hoped for.

After landing on Dragonstone, Bran Stark finally gave Jon a complete sense of unfamiliarity and a distance that he could no longer trust.

Daenerys saw the generals' awe of Bran, and this awe came from the widespread belief that Bran was a green prophet.

Daenerys understood that this was the best opportunity to boost the low morale.

In the naval battle of the Blackwater, Daenerys's vanguard fleet was almost completely annihilated, while the enemy did not lose a single ship; the direct consequence of the naval battle was that the navies of the Nine Free Cities decided to withdraw completely, and perhaps to establish authority, the Mountain rode a dragon to relentlessly pursue the fleeing fleets of the Free Cities; in Duskendale, the Mountain riding a dragon killed thousands of elite Dothraki cavalry; in King's Landing, Varys and the brave Dario were captured alive by Bronn Clegane; in the Dragonstone sea area, the Mountain snatched her Hand Tyrion Lannister in front of Daenerys and asked Daenerys to withdraw her troops immediately before negotiating...

A series of defeats caused Daenerys's army to waver and morale to decline! But in fact, her strength should not be underestimated: the Unsullied were unharmed; and there were still nearly 100,000 Dothraki cavalry.

"Prophet," Daenerys no longer called Bran by his name. She knew that in such an occasion, calling Bran a prophet would be more powerful in boosting the morale of her soldiers. "Who did you send to Braavos?"

"Your enemy, Daenerys," Bran's expression was as frozen as frost. He called Daenerys by her name. Only when he first landed at the Dragonstone pier, out of courtesy for the first meeting and to show his respect, did he call Daenerys Her Majesty the Queen.

The change in the way they addressed each other represented their more harmonious acceptance of each other from strangers to acquaintances. The more polite and official the address, the more it showed their unfamiliarity and distance.

"Who?"

"Lannister!"

"Lannister?" Daenerys was very surprised.

Jon, Barristan, and Jorah Mormont were also very surprised.

Everyone's eyes fell on Bran.

"There are two Lannisters who hate the Mountain to the bone, Jaime Lannister and Cersei Lannister. And Jaime, he killed your father."

Daenerys grabbed the armrests of the chair with both hands!

"Cersei? Isn't she still in King's Landing?" Jorah Mormont couldn't help but ask. His voice was full of surprise.

"The Cersei in King's Landing is no longer the real Cersei," Bran said lightly.

His words shocked the people present, and suppressed whispers rang out in the hall.

Bran Stark's gaze looked at somewhere on the ceiling. He never made eye contact with Jon, as if Jon didn't exist: "Jaime and Cersei were forcibly forced to leave King's Landing by the fake Cersei and Jeyne Westerling. They took a boat to the Isle of Lys, but my three-eyed raven sent a message to them, persuading Jaime and Cersei to change their route. They ordered the captain to quietly sail to Braavos. Cersei is very familiar with the people of the Iron Bank. They have had business dealings for more than ten years, and Cersei knows every manager of the Iron Bank. She also knows how to deal with the people of the Iron Bank."

"Cersei will persuade the Iron Bank to help us?" Barristan Selmy was very skeptical.

"Cersei is not going to persuade, she just needs to send a message."

"Send a message?" Barristan asked the strong question in everyone's mind.

"The Mountain has opened a bank in the Westerlands and issued paper money linked to gold. He has already opened branches in three places in Westeros: the Westerlands, King's Landing, and Gulltown in the Vale, and has achieved success. Next, he will soon open branches in Winterfell in the North, Sunspear in Dorne, and Oldtown in the Reach, and strongly promote this paper money to replace metal coins through the monopoly of iron ore, salt, and wine. And his goal is certainly not in Westeros, his goal also includes the continent of Essos."

"If the Iron Bank sits idly by, the affordable lending promoted by the Mountain Bank will seriously threaten the existence of the Iron Bank's high-interest loans. Cersei only needs to tell this information to the managers of the Iron Bank, and these managers will naturally immediately understand the Mountain's ambition. They will not allow the Mountain's bank to threaten the existence of the Iron Bank! And once the Iron Bank reaches a secret alliance with us, then, if we cannot win on the battlefield, we can use the Iron Bank's money to hire the Faceless Men of the House of Black and White to eliminate any of our enemies."