George R. R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

One popular theory about the identity of Coldhands - a mysterious hooded character who assists Bran Stark to reach the three-eyed raven – is that he is in fact Bran's uncle, Night's Watchman Benjen Stark, who disappeared while ranging beyond the Wall in the show's first season.

There are several reasons for drawing this conclusion; firstly that Coldhands is dressed eerily like a former member of the Night's Watch who has been touched by a White Walker (hence the cold hands); and secondly (and perhaps most importantly) it would explain why someone like Coldhands would be helping Bran, and able to survive so long and fight off Wights (the dead brought to life by White Walkers) beyond the Wall.

As intriguing as the theory may be, a recent Reddit post appears to debunk it. User _honeybird submitted a series of photographs of handwritten editor's notes on the original manuscript of Martin's A Dance with Dragons, housed at Texas A&M University's Cushing Library. .

On page 113 of the manuscript, when R. R. Martin first describes the mysterious Coldhands, his editor Anne Groell asks:"Is this Benjen? I think it's Benjen ... And does Bran never recognise him because he never sees his face fully?"