I had the same thought, and I think I probably had it at around the same time as you. The wights already killed him and what not. The question becoming exactly why that happened to old Benjy, and if it's just something queer running through the Stark Bloodline.
The conclusion I'm drawing, primarily from this book but there were hints prior, is that all of the Starks are wargs. It'll probably never manifest in Sansa because she lost her wolf, but for the others who are still alive it's a possibility.
I've been thinking about why this book has the prologue that it does. It occurs to me that Martin dumped a HUGE amount of information about wargs or skinchangers in that prologue, and if Coldhands is Benjen, the explanation might lurk somewhere in there. (I'm also currently reading Bujold's Paladin of Souls, wherein a soul's ability to move about and survive not necessarily connected to its body is a major plot device. Apparently I am all about soul-magic and fantasy zombies this week.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-14 01:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-14 06:06 pm (UTC)I've been thinking about why this book has the prologue that it does. It occurs to me that Martin dumped a HUGE amount of information about wargs or skinchangers in that prologue, and if Coldhands is Benjen, the explanation might lurk somewhere in there. (I'm also currently reading Bujold's Paladin of Souls, wherein a soul's ability to move about and survive not necessarily connected to its body is a major plot device. Apparently I am all about soul-magic and fantasy zombies this week.)