Ninguém sabe a resposta para esta questão ainda. Mas como GRRM diz, tudo deve ser explicado no devido tempo. Então, isso será mera especulação baseada em evidências canônicas.
Quem é o Corvo de Três Olhos?
O Corvo de Três Olhos é, sem dúvida, Brynden Rivers, filho do Rei Aegon IV e conhecido como Bloodraven.
The last greenseer, the singers called him, but in Bran's dreams he was still a three-eyed crow. When Meera Reed had asked him his true name, he made a ghastly sound that might have been a chuckle. "I wore many names when I was quick, but even I once had a mother, and the name she gave me at her breast was Brynden."
ADWD-Bran III
Além disso:
"But," said Bran, "he heard me."
"He heard a whisper on the wind, a rustling amongst the leaves. You cannot speak to him, try as you might. I know. I have my own ghosts, Bran. A brother that I loved, a brother that I hated, a woman I desired. Through the trees, I see them still, but no word of mine has ever reached them. The past remains the past. We can learn from it, but we cannot change it."
ADWD-Bran III
Isso se encaixa porque:
- Bloodraven amava Daemon ou Daeron II, ambos seus meio-irmãos.
- Blooraven odiava Aegor Rivers, seu meio-irmão.
- Bloodraven estava apaixonado por sua meia-irmã, Shiera Seastar. Ela foi uma das principais razões da rivalidade entre Bloodraven e Bittersteel.
Também temos a sua aparência física, onde Bran observa que ele carrega a marca de nascença de Bloodraven:
What skin the corpse lord showed was white, save for a bloody blotch that crept up his neck onto his cheek. His white hair was fine and thin as root hair and long enough to brush against the earthen floor. Roots coiled around his legs like wooden serpents
ADWD-Bran II
Ele também confessou que era irmão da Patrulha da Noite no mesmo capítulo:
"Are you the three-eyed crow?" Bran heard himself say. A three-eyed crow should have three eyes. He has only one, and that one red. Bran could feel the eye staring at him, shining like a pool of blood in the torchlight. Where his other eye should have been, a thin white root grew from an empty socket, down his cheek, and into his neck.
"A … crow?" The pale lord's voice was dry. His lips moved slowly, as if they had forgotten how to form words. "Once, aye. Black of garb and black of blood."
O próprio Bloodraven teve alguma experiência quase fatal?
Sabemos que Bloodraven deve ter enfrentado dois eventos de quase morte:
-
Ele sofreu um ferimento grave em sua cabeça / face em duelo contra seu meio-irmão Aegor Rivers aka Bittersteel. Ele perdeu o olho como resultado, mas sobreviveu.
He stared so hard that Bloodraven felt it. The king's sorcerer had turned to study him as he went by. He had one eye, and that one red. The other was an empty socket, the gift Bittersteel had given him upon the Redgrass Field.
Dunk & Egg: The Sworn Sword -
Ele estava perdido além da parede, então é possível que ele tenha enfrentado uma experiência de quase morte por causa da exposição, se nada mais.
Bloodraven would rise to become Lord Commander of the Night's Watch in 239 AC, serving until his disappearance during a ranging beyond the Wall in 252 AC.
TWOIAF: Aegon V
Jojen e Bran enfrentaram qualquer experiência de quase morte antes de serem escolhidos?
Temos exemplos de Jojen também. Corvo de três olhos veio a ele quando ele estava quase fatalmente doente. Ele veio para Bran quando ele também estava próximo da morte.
Summer raised his head from Bran's lap, and gazed at the mudman with his dark golden eyes.
"When I was little I almost died of greywater fever. That was when the crow came to me."
"He came to me after I fell," Bran blurted. "I was asleep for a long time. He said I had to fly or die, and I woke up, only I was broken and I couldn't fly after all."
ACOK-Bran IV
Conclusão
Se observarmos o padrão aqui, duas coisas são comuns:
- Todos os três eram seguidores dos antigos Deuses.
- Todos os três estavam em uma situação de risco de vida.
Então, por essa lógica, podemos inferir que sim, o acidente de Bran foi necessário para seu recrutamento.