At first glance, the final season of "Game of Thrones" may seem like an utter failure that doesn't make any sense whatsoever, especially the part when Bran of all people was crowned King in the end. But then you realize that the real Bran Stark "died in that cave," and that it was really the Three-eyed Raven who won the game of thrones. And while that doesn't change the fact that this season was extremely rushed, it does explain some of its most important plotlines, such as Daenerys going mad, and the Night King being defeated so easily. But before delving into how the Three-eyed Raven manipulated events in "Game of Thrones" season 8, we must understand who this guy, or should I say entity, really is.

Who is the Three-eyed Raven?

We first met the Three-eyed Raven in his human form at the end of "Game of Thrones" season 4 when Bran finally reached his cave. When Bran asked him if he's the Three-eyed raven, he replied rather cryptically. "I've been many things, now I am what you see" before adding that he's been watching of all them, all of their lives, with a thousand eyes and one.

But just because the Three-eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest for that matter were giving off friendly vibes and were seemingly helping Bran to fully develop his powers, it doesn't mean that they are the good guys. In fact, it would make more sense if they wanted to destroy mankind. After all, mankind is the reason why the Children of the Forest are now extinct, so revenge seems like a good option.

The only problem was the Night King, their own creation that had gone rogue. He was the reason why they needed to ally themselves with humans once again. Because if the Night King had stayed loyal to his creators, they would just let them kill all the humans like they originally intended to.

So when the Night King finally reached the cave and killed the remaining Children of the Forest, the entity known as the Three-eyed Raven had to transfer his consciousness into Bran in order to escape.

'Game of Thrones' season 8 and the destruction of ice and fire

Over the course of seven seasons, "Game of Thrones" had led us to believe that the Night King was the true villain of the series. But when he was killed rather easily by Arya in "The Long Night," people thought that Cersei was the final big bad. But turns out Cersei was a red herring as well as she did nothing throughout the entire season other than staring through the window and drinking wine until she was eventually killed by the bunch of rocks.

Then "The Bells" happened, and all of a sudden Daenerys was turned into a villain.

In "The Iron Throne," when Tyrion asked Bran if he wants to be King, he replies with a rather curious line "why do you think I came all this way." At best he was aware that all the things that happened had to happen to restore balance to the world. At worst, the Three-eyed Raven, the agent of the Children of the Forest, was the true villain of the series, who manipulated everyone and everything just to make sure he ends up ruling.

In one of my previous posts, I talked about the Three-eyed raven's role as both the Lord of Light and the Great Other whose only goal was to destroy mankind with ice and fire. And while he didn't exactly destroy mankind, he wound up ruling in the end.

"Game of Thrones" might not have given us all the answer we wanted about the Three-eyed Raven, the Children of the Forest, and the White Walkers, but the upcoming prequel with the working title "Bloodmoon" as well as two remaining novels in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series most certainly will.
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