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The thing that made me ask this question was that most of Stark family are dead and Bran is now the "heir" to Winterfell. So I guess he should have children to succeed him, otherwise the Stark line will end. (I'm assuming Arya will not come back to Westeros and Rickon's fate is sealed, though I could be wrong.) I don't remember reading anything about it.

Paul D. Waite
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Ad-jet
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    Bran is a child, eight or so at the time of the books if I remember correctly. There is no way of knowing at this time. – Adele- Nexus of Potlucks Jun 30 '13 at 16:07
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    not to spoil too much but as far as we know Rickon's fate is still very much up in the air. – KutuluMike Jun 30 '13 at 19:23
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    The phrase Reckon's fate is SEALed is for some reason punny on several levels. – TLP Jun 30 '13 at 19:49
  • @EdwardWilliams: could they accept a descendant of Bran though? – b_jonas Jun 30 '13 at 22:06
  • @b_jonas Yes, or they might accept someone ruling as proxy. But I think with how the north is (lots of bad blood now) that the latter wouldn't last. – Toralen Jun 30 '13 at 22:17
  • Why would Arya not come back? Everything she cares about is there. Her driving force is to kill people over there. She's totally going to travel, but inherit? Get married? That's a different question. – Toralen Jun 30 '13 at 22:35
  • How is Rickon a given? In what,where,how? – Toralen Jun 30 '13 at 22:58
  • @Edward Williams ,there is no proof that Arya won't come back but i'm assuming that her end would come before she comes back to westoros ,the thing that made me think so ;is Nymeria she does a lot of things that Arya couldn't "killing Lannisters and Freys" and frankly Arya's is going into a dark path ,last but not least she is a Stark "family tradition" – Ad-jet Jul 02 '13 at 02:38
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    @Edward Williams about Rickon, there is no specific event made me think so about him it's kind of collective conclusion i made from all the events and TBO i take Starks death for granted ,except for Bran which i think he still have an important role to play ;that's why i asked my original question because i know most of back injuries can lead paraplegia like Bran's case and this lead to infertility – Ad-jet Jul 02 '13 at 02:57
  • @Ad-jet Okay, I gave you an up-vote. It's a much better question with the explanation for your comments on Rickon/Arya (Which are unrelated to the question. If left out the more anal people wouldn't have down voted... :P ) – Toralen Jul 02 '13 at 05:34
  • Only his doctor knows for sure. – Omegacron Aug 18 '15 at 13:39
  • @Skooba wait, why are we closing the old one as a dupe of a new one? – Mithical Jan 17 '17 at 16:56
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    @Mithrandir more completeness of the question and answers – Skooba Jan 17 '17 at 16:57

6 Answers6

22

Probably not

In A Game of Thrones (book 1, chapter 25 "Eddard") Ned talks about Bran's future with Arya when she asks if he will ever be a knight (bold emphasis mine):

"No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit in the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms.

Ned could definitely be mistaken though, since we aren't explicitly told how he has reached that realization. But given the sad nature of this state of affairs it would be hard to accept that Ned wasn't entirely convinced of it.

System Down
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  • People in Westeros think lots of wrong things though. I bet Ned thought Brandon would never ride a horse again until Tyrion came along with the saddle design. – Paul D. Waite Jul 23 '14 at 08:01
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    @PaulD.Waite True, but for now that's all we have. Perhaps Maester Luwin shared that unfortunate bit of news with Ned off page. – System Down Jul 23 '14 at 16:43
  • “for now that's all we have” — well I guess, but your Westerosi appear to be pretty much human (warging and Targaryen asbestos skin excepted), so if humans with similar injuries can have kids, we can assume Bran can. – Paul D. Waite Jul 23 '14 at 18:33
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    I think the excerpt from the book is more to do with the in universe view of cripples rather than any inability to perform. – ediblecode Aug 07 '14 at 10:41
14

Maybe.

There's nothing about Brans injuries that is in any way supernatural, so I think we can safely assume that they resemble those of a real world paraplegic. While many (most?) paraplegic men struggle with impotence, or other dysfunction, the fundamental plumbing does tend to work; after all, blood still circulates to their feet, right?

So, basically, it depends on the specific extent of the injuries he sustained, but there's no reason to think that if someday, he were able to, that it was in any way supernatural or implausible; so long, of course, as he survives that long.

LessPop_MoreFizz
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In addition to LessPop's answer there is another thing to consider. (Dance with Dragons spoilers follow:)

Bran is a powerful seer. The one eyed raven is his teacher and I think it's quite logical to conclude that Bran would end up like him. Bran is sitting in a seat all day listening to the One Eyed Raven who is basically part of the trees which seems to imply that one day Bran will become an immovable long lived being who is part of the forest and weirwood. Who knows what insane magical powers such people have? The other thing is, he will probably be presented with choices (like Arya) and maybe there is more than one path.

Since he is most likely the most naturally powerful seer in existence right now (lacking in training), there is a lot open including being killed off. :-) Martin hasn't let us know too much at this stage. It may be that his creatures and whatever else he can create replace any children he would have otherwise had. Also, Bran thinks he can never have a wife. In the world of Westeros that may be true which would mean no "true born" sons.

Toralen
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    You're making an awfully big assumption about Bran never being able to leave... – LessPop_MoreFizz Jun 30 '13 at 22:14
  • Yes, with Martin everything is a big assumption. Look at the one eyed guy though. If he was even able to seperate himself from the forest, I doubt he could live. – Toralen Jun 30 '13 at 22:16
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    Yes, but assuming that he has never had a choice in the matter is a leap. – LessPop_MoreFizz Jun 30 '13 at 22:16
  • He isn't part of the weirwood yet. He's apparently a super powerful seer so that basically means anything is possible. He may not need to become part of the forest anyway. He probably won't as he's scared of the idea, and Martin isn't going to make a scared child slowly morph into something weird. He'll probably die or something else drastic would happen. – Toralen Jun 30 '13 at 22:20
  • One day Bran will become an immovable long lived being that is part of the forest and weirwood - there's nothing uncertain in your language here. You seem quite convinced of this fact. If you don't think this is the case, I'd advise you to revise your answer to make the nature of your speculation more clear. As it stands, you're making a very large (and not terribly well founded, IMO) assumption, and running with it. – LessPop_MoreFizz Jun 30 '13 at 22:21
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    big leap but quite logical. In the first 5 books most emphasis was on reds. Assuming we really have just twoo books left, I expect right at the start the blues must gain a champion (for what JS is best candidate) and greens finally put in some action. For the latter we hardly have anything but Bran. – Balog Pal Jun 30 '13 at 22:24
  • @LessPop_MoreFizz I've edited my answer. I think it's the most logical thing, but there are other options. Especially given how many choices Arya has faced, Bran may have a similar situation in his training. Although Arya's choices were always, "Do it our way, or leave". – Toralen Jun 30 '13 at 23:12
0

Highly unlikely.

I just came across this question and there are a few out of universe answers on spinal cord injuries and fertility. So this is sort of an out/in of universe mix.

Considering that the Game of Thrones is in a time where there is very limited medical advancement, there is a big possibility (medically speaking) that he will not be able to have kids.

Although many are correct that there is a possibility that he may be able to get an erection (typically though this becomes very difficult without the help of modern day drugs such as sildenafil, intracavernosal prostaglandin or mechanical means such as pumps and Electro stimulation, however a Maester may be able to form a pump of some sort to work and even design something that could provide an Electro stimulation) , the semen quality is reduced, most likely due to altered neurogen control of sperm maturation.

The time window for getting normal semen is considered to be from one to two weeks only after injury, after that the quality is greatly reduced. So in Bran's case he has passed that window. Some people have Necrospermia or spermatogenic which will need to use of in vitro fertilization, obviously not available. And without going into too much more detail there can be issues of retrograde ejaculation.

So in summary, even if the delivery method is overcome , which in itsself is a very big hurdle ,there are a host of other issues that relate specifically to the quality of sperm in spinal injury cases, that a very high percentage of people will have to battle. Typically in modern medicine it requires a team approach from several different specialist to get to the ultimate goal of conception.

So in my opinion I would say it highly unlikely that Bran was to ever conceive children using traditional methods for the time. However, there could be some magical potion or spell that could allow this, but that is speculation.

Obviously this is a very abbreviated answer, as whole papers have been written on the topic, so please do not take as medical advise or reference (On a SciFi forum, I would hope not)

KyloRen
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He is paralysed so the question is does the paralysis extend to his "member" or not. If it is "just" a leg problem, then Bran will be able to conceive children.

Sansa is still alive and kicking, so is Arya, Rickon's tale is still "untold", Jon is alive too ( not trueborn though ) so the Stark line won't die.

Niall C.
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Cherubel
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Well, lets think about it. His testicles a healthy as according to the wiki of ice and fire he becomes "infatuated with meera" so the testosterone is moving. And therefore he can bear a child. Also if the blood is ticking in the crippled part of his body the plumbing that causes the long and hard should work too. But when it comes to sex he can never be on top. Never have an orgasm or anything else presuming his crotch has suffered the same damage as his legs. Not to mention it would be hard to find a wife as its not an attractive match (its a bit like the Tyrion business, he might look slightly better than Tyrion, but never the less).

DerpyDongfight
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    So you've got quite some anatomical and medicinal insights going on here. Kudos! Anyhow: Your answer is based on the assumption that he can get an erection (your 4th sentence). Do you have any canonical evidence to back that up? – Einer Jul 21 '14 at 17:32
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    Being virile does not mean that he is capable. – phantom42 Jul 21 '14 at 18:21
  • Dude Gorge RR martin has not included sentences about his dick k. Ive just been working with what ive got. – DerpyDongfight Jul 21 '14 at 23:30
  • The unsullied have no testicles at all yet they seem to seek company of whores. So? Does that mean they can father children? – Aegon Jul 11 '16 at 08:00