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Major spoilers for S08E03. Towards the end of the episode, we see that the

Night King has finally caught up with Bran and is about to kill him.

We see that the latter simply sits in his wheelchair, looking the former in the eyes and doesn't even lift a finger, when

Arya attacks and kills the Night King.

It seems pretty obvious that Bran couldn't defend himself against anyone,

let alone the Night King, but did he know that Arya was going to save him and that was why he was so calm?

We do know that he can glimpse into the future since he became the Three Eyed Raven, so is there a possibility that he had seen this outcome?

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    “is about to kill him” — typical anti-White Walker propaganda. Maybe he was reaching for a scroll with a treaty proposal on it, tucked in beside his ice spear to make sure it didn’t get damaged! Thanks to these aggressive, belligerent Northerners, we’ll never know.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Apr 29, 2019 at 11:12
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    @Paul D. Waite When he stood in front of Bran, with the way he looked at him, I half way expected him to poke his arm and say "tag, you're it"
    – user1129682
    Apr 29, 2019 at 14:37
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    @user1129682 then we get 8 seasons of the undead north of the Wall trying to stop their petty squabbles because the armies of the living are coming.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Apr 29, 2019 at 16:31
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    @PaulD.Waite "And what do we say to the god of the living?" "I've no idea, there's like two gazillion prayers."
    – Misha R
    Apr 30, 2019 at 5:21

6 Answers 6

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No

As opposed to @TheLethalCarrot's answer, I would say no. There is no evidence that Bran can see into the future. Bran has been seen to have visions of the future, but not the active ability to look into the future.

During the council of the Battle of Winterfell, Arya asks "Dragon fire will stop him [the Night King]?" and Bran responds, "I don't know. No one's ever tried." We know Bran can actively see into the past and see anything happening in the present, but if he could actively see into the future, he would have seen Daenerys try to kill the Night King with Drogon.

So more likely, he did not know what would happen. He was calm because, as the Three Eyed Raven, his emotions have been dulled, if not completely nullified. In 'Inside the Episode' after the episode, when David Benioff says "Bran knows what is going to happen," I believe he simply meant they both knew that Theon was going to die. Obviously, as he can not hope to kill the Night King alone.

To address the other answers and the possibility that Bran did see and know the outcome, it is entirely possible but in my view, very unlikely. The fact that he gave Arya the Cat's Paw dagger isn't really indicative of knowing she would use it to kill the Night King. It could be just as he said, "It's wasted on a cripple" and he knows Arya is a badass now, which seems more likely. And who else would he give it to? Jon, who already has a valyrian steel sword? Jaime, who pushed him out the window and only has one hand? Brienne, a person he doesn't know? Arya was the only person he knew who he could really even give it to, and the best suited for a valyrian steel dagger.

Also, for the argument that Bran is keeping information from other people so not to prevent said future from happening also seems unlikely. As we learned from Hodor's backstory, he became Hodor because of Bran's meddling in the past. But Hodor was already Hodor before Bran became the Three Eyed Raven. This suggests the world of Game of Thrones follows a fixed timeline and not a multiverse like the MCU. It seems unlikely to me that Bran would think his actions could make a difference to his future visions considering what he has seen.

It seem's more likely to me that if he were to, for example, see Jon die in his vision, he would go up to Jon and say "You're going to die tomorrow. Love you bud." and roll away, although I'm not saying that's definitely true.

All in all, while it is entirely possible that Bran can and did see into the future and knew what would happen, there's no evidence to suggest that that is what happened. While it's completely possible Bran gave Arya the Cat's Paw dagger specifically to kill the Night King, until we have more information from the show or the creators/writers that that is true, we have to assume it is not.

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  • But, as per dr strange,if he tells everyone what is going to happen own the future it changes the future :). He knew exactly what was going to happen even to the point of dragon fire not killing him, it’s why he made sure Arya got the blade after little finger gave it to him.
    – Richard C
    Apr 29, 2019 at 22:31
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Yes

In the Inside the Episode video David says the following:

David: I think what was really important for Theon at the end was hearing that thank you from Bran because Bran knows what is going to happen.

Game of Thrones, Season 8 Episode 3, "The Long Night " - Inside the Episode

He's talking about Theon's end here but if he saw what would happen to Theon he presumably also saw what would happen to the Night King.

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    At the time he thanked Theon, though, even Theon could tell what was probably going to happen. It doesn't necessarily require special sight, green or otherwise, just anybody with working senses who knows what happened so far could tell that.
    – muru
    Apr 29, 2019 at 11:11
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    @muru Both knew what would probably happen but Theon wouldn't have known exactly how until he made the decision to charge. It's also worth noting the way David says the line is as if he knew all along rather than in the moment.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Apr 29, 2019 at 11:14
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    Bran didn't have to know exactly how Theon would die (by charging) to know that Theon was going to die, and to thank him for his service/comfort him in the face of certain death. That "Thank you" would have come whether Theon charged or sat back and shot arrows, but either way Theon was toast based on any interpretation of the situation, no magic required.
    – Jimmy M.
    Apr 29, 2019 at 21:04
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Bran does predict some things with high probability, but he does not see the future.

You can imagine his powers as if life were some kind of difficult game of chess, where Bran is the only one who knows all of the chess board, where are which pieces (characters) and their ability to move (possible decisions) and all of the history of the moves, so he can predict with high probability the next few moves.

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Bran is a green seer and, from the information we have, the most powerful green seer in the world.

We know that greenseers can see the future, jojen saw a number of future events throughout the show including his own death.

We also know that even before he realised he was the 3 eyed raven Bran saw images of future events in visions or dreams but he didn’t realize what they where.

So while it has never been explicitly stated we have seen enough of to suggest that bran did see the future in some form, maybe as visions to decipher rather then a clear view.

This is backed up in addition by the clear act of him giving Arya the valerian steel dagger. Yes it is possible he did this because he knew she was trained to use it. But it is also very likely that bran knew she would need it to kill the night king.

Now Bran may not tell people what is going to happen because doing to will stop it from happening an often used plot line in sci-fi or fantasy most recently used in avengers endgame. This would make sense if he told Arya she wouldn’t deal with and overcome her fear before facing the night king.

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  • But this piece of speculation contradicts Bran when he says he cannot tell if dragon fire will kill the Night King because "no-one has tried it before". So by Bran's own words, he cannot see the future, otherwise he would have seen when Dany tried it. He might be lying for the reasons you mentioned in other comments, but that requires two assumptions (1- he can see the future, and 2- he's lying) vs just one (he cannot see the future).
    – Andres F.
    May 7, 2019 at 18:27
  • I am basing my evidence off of things we know about Greenseers (which is not very much) not on what Bran did or didn't tell other people about specific upcoming events.
    – Richard C
    May 9, 2019 at 14:08
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    @AndresF. "No one has tried it before" only speaks to the past. It does not preclude somebody doing it in the future, and doesn't exclude Bran having knowledge of whether or not it will be done in the future.
    – T.J.L.
    Jan 13, 2021 at 14:34
  • @T.J.L. I don't follow your reasoning. Bran says he cannot tell because "no-one has tried it before" (this is important! He claims he doesn't know because it hasn't been tried before!). If Bran could see the future, and see if it worked in the future, he would have said so: "I've seen the future and this works/doesn't work". Instead, he says "I dunno, it hasn't been tried before". Therefore, only one of the following can be true: 1- Bran is lying (i.e. he does know if it'll work, but chooses to claim he doesn't), or 2- he cannot see the future, only the past.
    – Andres F.
    Jan 15, 2021 at 16:35
  • You could go a step further here and say that bran knew it wouldn’t work, but he also knew exactly what had to happen, when and how in order for Arya and the night king to be in the right place at the right time and this included attempting to kill the night king with dragon fire. If you watch the scene with bran and the night king he looks completely unafraid as if he knows exactly what is going to happen now all the pieces are in the right place.
    – Richard C
    Jan 16, 2021 at 3:39
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Reasonably yes.

We have two possible leads, here:

  • The guy sees everything that is happening. So he has seen Arya ninjia-ing all her way in, he knows she has the dagger, and so on. He may not be certain if she's going to succeed, but for sure he knows that one of the best assassins ever is hiding behing NK with the perfect weapon to kill him.

  • He can have vision of the future. And backtraking him a little, we can see that he has somehow prepared this moment. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe not...still, it's there.

In the end his plan was "I'll lure him (the Night King) out, and you'll kill him". It's not that surprising that they ended up face to face, plus he already knew about it because he know that the second part of the plan failed, then as Three Eyed Raven he's mostly emotionless, and anyway he perfectly knew that Arya was there...

And anyway, considering he knows everything, maybe he had simply read LOTR...

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If you re-watch the episode it appears Bran is looking past the Night King. After a couple of moments the Night King cocks his head slightly, with an almost confused look.

I believe Bran knows that Arya is coming from behind and almost gives it away which is why the Night King is able to stop Arya. He has an inkling that something is amiss.

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  • I see this a different way, bran knows exactly what needs to happen for the night king to die. The night king has to be in this place, at this one. Arya needs to be in this place at this time, the night king has to grab her to open himself up to her stabbing with the other hand. Everything had to be just so for that exact moment to beat him. Dr strange’s 4 million different outcomes and only 1 where they beat him.
    – Richard C
    Jan 16, 2021 at 3:42

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