Did the CotF bring him back? I ask who exactly are the CotF to begin with? (a representation of collective nature askew) But that's another matter.
Nothing is coincidence - everything is tied together tighter than a Meereensese Knot. To understand the small aspects you must understand the larger framework.
But what motives did the CoTF have? Did they know they were going to get ganked in that cave?
Are you implying that Bran is merely re-living a past history events until he get's it right and makes a fix? Time and time again? That is PREPOSTEROUS! You should be shamed!..LOL..What is this? Memento? And Bran is really re-living past lives? How dare you! That is not book canon! This is not some fantasy story like Back to the Future where he tries to change the past yet sometimes screws it up. HA! Get real. These books are true fiction history - how dare you! I may just downvote all you posts! (ok, I won't do that as I am a nice guy) - Next you will claim that all his flashbacks - and the scenes at King's Landing with Jamie and the Mad King were merely acted out by mummers! HA! And that all the books were just red herring misleading false stories - and there are controllers like in Divergent! -- there is absolutely ZERO PROOF of this in the books. So there Mr. Wise Guy - take that! as my return volley casting doubt on even your true existence.
In the show CoolHandBenjen is needed as there is no way Meera is going to drag Bran to the Wall and past all by herself -
There's a lot of sleight of Hand going on in how characters evolve and how their true end-state is brought about through tragety - and then how those now-more-super-powered characters are controlled - or attempts to control them - Dany is a good character arc about how the Warlocks tried to control her magic and dragons - Bran is a few steps behind her but similar -- there is a lot to the story to be told and revealed yet for Bran, the Others, the Night's King, etc .. I try to tread carefully, but it is difficult when you see through character interactions and easily foresee eventual pathways - there are rules of operations - in a Dungeons and Dragons way, that have already define the whole story - but I catch your drift