“Brandon was different from his brother, wasn’t he? He had blood in his veins instead of cold water. More like me.” A Clash of Kings Catelyn VII
Brandon Stark was known to have been very different from his brother Eddard.
"....'The wolf blood,' my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave." A Game Of Thrones Arya II
In Meera Reed's Knight of the Laughing Tree story, She calls Ned 'the quiet wolf'' and Brandon 'the wild wolf''.
"The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all. The crannogman was bruised and bloodied, so she took him back to her lair to clean his cuts and bind them up with linen. There he met her pack brothers: the wild wolf who led them, the quiet wolf beside him, and the pup who was youngest of the four. A Storm Of Swords- Bran II
Even though Brandon was never married we know he was no maiden,
"...Brandon was never shy about taking what he wanted. I am old now, a dried-up thing, too long a widow, but I still remember the look of my maiden’s blood on his cock the night he claimed me. I think Brandon liked the sight as well. A bloody sword is a beautiful thing, yes. It hurt, but it was a sweet pain." A Dance With Dragons The Turncloak
But just because Brandon died before he could marry Catelyn Tully doesn't mean he died childless.
So could Brandon have left any bastards?
“Does it matter? If you bed enough women, some will give you presents..." A Game Of Thrones Eddard IX
I think it's more than likely. To me Brandon seems more like Robert than Ned. In fact that may be what made Robert and Ned such good friends. Ned may have seen his brother in Robert.
I don't think any discovery of Brandon's (potential)bastard(s) will be flat out revealed to us as part of the story, but i think if we look hard enough we may find GRRM pointing to some person or persons who could possibly be Brandon's son or daughter. And i'm sure it will be done in a very GRRM way.
The one person we know Brandon slept with is Lady Barbrey Dustin. We find out about this in A Dance With Dragons- The Turncloack, when Theon shows Lady Dustin down to the Winterfell crypts.
“You knew him,” Theon said.
The lantern light in her eyes made them seem as if they were a fire. “Brandon was
fostered at Barrowton with old Lord Dustin, the father of the one I’d later wed, but he
spent most of his time riding the Rills. He loved to ride. His little sister took after him in
that. A pair of centaurs, those two. And my lord father was always pleased to play host to
the heir to Winterfell. My father had great ambitions for House Ryswell. He would have
served up my maidenhead to any Stark who happened by, but there was no need.
Brandon was never shy about taking what he wanted. I am old now, a dried-up thing, too
long a widow, but I still remember the look of my maiden’s blood on his cock the night he
claimed me. I think Brandon liked the sight as well. A bloody sword is a beautiful thing,
yes. It hurt, but it was a sweet pain."
The whole scene when the four of them go down into the crypts is intersesting.
The way was narrow and steep, the steps worn in the center by centuries of feet. They
went single file—the serjeant with the lantern, then Theon and Lady Dustin, her other
man behind them.
The people who go down to the crypts, the memories that Theon recalls and the conversation the he and Lady Dustin have are all very...illuminating.
On the way down to the crypts Theon has forgotten some of the names of the Stark Kings who are buried there.
“So many,” Lady Dustin said. “Do you know their names?”
“Once … but that was a long time ago.” Theon pointed. “The ones on this side were
Kings in the North. Torrhen was the last.”
“The King Who Knelt."
He doesn't know all their names anymore but he remembered Torrhen Stark without really thinking about it.
“Aye, my lady. After him they were only lords.”
“Until the Young Wolf. Where is Ned Stark’s tomb?”
“At the end. This way, my lady.”
Theon starts to remember some of the names that go with the statues,
Their footsteps echoed through the vault as they made their way between the rows of
pillars. The stone eyes of the dead men seemed to follow them, and the eyes of their stone
direwolves as well. The faces stirred faint memories. A few names came back to him,
unbidden, whispered in the ghostly voice of Maester Luwin. King Edrick Snowbeard, who had ruled the north for a hundred years. Brandon the Shipwright, who had sailed beyond the sunset. Theon Stark, the Hungry Wolf. My namesake. Lord Beron Stark, who made common cause with Casterly Rock to war against Dagon Greyjoy, Lord of Pyke, in the days when the Seven Kingdoms were ruled in all but name by the bastard sorcerer men called Bloodraven.
The names that Theon recalls are just random memories coming back to him. recounted in Maester Luwin's voice.
And to Theon, they are just that.
But for the reader if you look closer at the names(in that GRRM way i was talking about) they could be revealing something else.
The Stark kings that Theon remembers are -
King Edrick Snowbeard
Brandon the Shipwright
Theon Stark
Lord Beron Stark
Edric, Brandon, Theon and Beron
or if you allow that Edrick would have been called Ned...
"Who are you?"
"My lady?" Ned looked embarrassed. "I'm Edric Dayne, the . . . the Lord of Starfall." A Storm Of Swords Arya VIII
...then thats Ned, Brandon, Theon and Beron
So what???
In the conversation that Theon and Lady Dustin have in the crypts, Lady Dustin mentions two people with the same names as the kings Theon recalls - Eddard(Ned) and Brandon,
"...Afterward my father nursed some hope of wedding me to Brandon’s brother Eddard, but
Catelyn Tully got that one as well..."
Theon, who is (obviously) right there, thinks of Theon Stark as his 'namesake'
and Beron...?
“It is a long way down, my lady,” Theon cautioned.
Lady Dustin was undeterred. “Beron, the light.”
One of the men that accompanies Theon and Lady Dustin down into the crypts is named Beron.
Beron may just be a common Northern name but of all the names GRRM could have picked for this man, he chose to name him after one of the Stark kings that Theon recalls AND he is the one holding the lantern. The only source of light in the crypt.
So was Lady Dustin just paying her respects to the dead Starks or was she showing a son his fathers final resting place?
Now answer my question. Why do you love the Starks?”
“I …” Theon put a gloved hand against a pillar. “… I wanted to be one of them …”
“And never could. We have more in common than you know, my lord
Valonqar- High Valyrian Or Bastard Valyrian?
Coin Well Spent
Davos's Thumb
Aerys, Tywin and a Bride for Rhaegar
The Trident Has Three Heads.
Who's Looking Through The Black Gate?
Male And Female In The Vale Of Arryn
Swords of Ice and Fire
