(f?)Aegon=Bad Writing

[GreatGatsby]

You don't bring a character that has been frequently mentioned in the past 4 books as having his brains bashed all over the wall back for the 5th book. Not only is the audience bewildered at this sudden turn of events, but they have zero emotional investment in this character. This is truly when the series jumped the shark for me, as long dead characters sprang back to life and recently dead characters stubbornly refused to stay dead. Its pretty much a deus ex machina type event. Now some of you might say this has been "foreshadowed" or whatever, but let me remind you NO ONE thought Aegon was alive until GRRM gave that SSM where he suggested otherwise. Even if it had been foreshadowed, it would still be weak writing. Whether he is fake or not shouldn't factor into the discussion.

[Ser Eric]

I had never read a SSM when I read through all the books and I always thought Aegon might have been alive. I don't see it as bad writing at all.

[The King in Black]

Yes and no.

Practically he serves no purpose. There are plenty of claimants to IT so why this long dead guy now? There is a particularly bold thing GRRM can do however: let this said person take control and show that he can be a good king. Fake, real doesn't matter, if a guy truly fit for the job shows up how will the characters react?

Probably though he's a fake, doomed to die etc ,etc

[In A Coat of Gold]

SO many characters said Baby Aegon was unrecognizable. They said it repeatedly. Speculation fueled long before ADWD that Aegon was alive, which he is. The King of Westeros hasn't really been that important in the grand scheme of the books. No King has had a POV chapter.

[Zoravar Singh]

We didn't get A POV scene of the dead corpses and them being killed, so no, it wasn't like someone who died in plane sight and was recognizable ( say Rhaegar) coming back. It is difficult to distinguish between babies at such a small age.

[Loge]

It is by no means deus ex machina. It is stated early in the books that the body presented had a badly smashed head and nobody could identify it as Aegons for sure. That always left the possibility of a switch, same as Theon did with the Stark boys. Whether it was really done or the uncertainty is just used to set up a fake Aegon remains to be seen, but you had to expect that this particular detail about Aegon's death was there for a reason.

There are more characters who are missing or presumed dead but might still make an appearance: Gerion Lannister, Ashara Dayne, Tyrek Lannister, Benjen Stark.

[Chebyshov]

Even if it had been foreshadowed, it would still be weak writing.

.

[LordStoneheart]

Many others thought Aegon was alive dating back to at least 2001, and IIRC Elio mentioned that he read the chapter in which he Tyrion meets Young Griff in 2004 and assumed that's who he was.

Have you considered that because his smashed brains are mentioned so much that this was planned from the start?

And I take great issue with your assertion that the series has "jumped the shark" with people coming back to life. If you take characters like Beric and Stoneheart at face value, you can reach that assumption but if you bother to look up his interviews dealing with those situations you'll see it's deliberate. Has been since the beginning prologue when Waymar comes back as a wight.

[jon rhaegar stark]

Many others thought Aegon was alive dating back to at least 2001, and IIRC Elio mentioned that he read the chapter in which he Tyrion meets Young Griff in 2004 and assumed that's who he was.

Have you considered that because his smashed brains are mentioned so much that this was planned from the start?

And I take great issue with your assertion that the series has "jumped the shark" with people coming back to life. If you take characters like Beric and Stoneheart at face value, you can reach that assumption but if you bother to look up his interviews dealing with those situations you'll see it's deliberate. Has been since the beginning prologue when Waymar comes back as a wight.

Does that mean a sample chapter of DWD was released even before FFC released and it took another 6 years to get the DwD ...oh my god how long its going to be till we get WoW ...mainly because i cant stand some theories

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Does that mean a sample chapter of DWD was released even before FFC released and it took another 6 years to get the DwD ...oh my god how long its going to be till we get WoW ...mainly because i cant stand some theories

No. Elio was/is proofreading for GRRM as the chapters are written. Maybe he has even read the epilogue of the entire series. Maybe even 2001.

[Loge]

Does that mean a sample chapter of DWD was released even before FFC released and it took another 6 years to get the DwD ...oh my god how long its going to be till we get WoW ...mainly because i cant stand some theories

GRRM started to write ADWD after ASOS, then noticed that things weren't going to work the way he had planned (5 year gap and so on.) So he scrapped his manuscript and started to write AFFC instead.

[jon rhaegar stark]

No. Elio was/is proofreading for GRRM as the chapters are written. Maybe he has even read the epilogue of the entire series. Maybe even 2001.

thank you ...i didnt know who Elio was ...but still it makes me afraid when we will really get the books and thinking that i have finished all the books this year ...i dont know how those who are reading for a decade would feel

[Alayne's Shadow.]

Aegon was foreshadowed in Clash. He's been pretty much been foreshadowed since then.

[ChillyPolly]

There is no doubt that GRRM is starting to lose a large part of his readership due to lack of focus and lack of plot-progression with respect to those characters whom readers originally thought were to be the main characters. However, I am unable to single out (f)Aegon as a particularly egregious example of this problem. (f)Aegon is just a small part of a bigger problem; one which I am increasingly beginning to doubt the author will ever solve. But yes, I can see (f)Aegon as a legitimate part of a large 15-volume story.

[three-eyed monkey]

Aegon is alive theories have been doing the rounds since ACoK. People have been wondering about Varys' and Illyrio's plans since AGoT. I can't see how it's bad writing or how it qualifies as deus ex machina.

I'm not really invested in fAegon, the character, but I do enjoy his plot line.

[Howlin' Howland]

The original story outline was for a trilogy. The first three books were originally supposed to be one book and the fourth and fifth books were mostly supposed to have been dealt with via a few years off between books and flashbacks. In that structure introducing a major character at the start of the second book of a trilogy makes sense, obviously with the seven book structure introducing him in book five seems off.

Also, we won't know for sure whether it's bad writing until we know the whole story. A lot of GRRM's foreshadowing and plot development is only obvious once you know the whole story. For example, before ADWD was released I was trying to come up with a plausible reason why Eddard went from the TOJ to Starfall, returning Dawn felt like a pretext. I also couldn't figure out why Ashara committed "suicide." The theory I came up with to explain it was that Lyanna gave birth to twins and one had Targ coloring, silver hair and purple eyes and Eddard had Ashara take that child in to hiding. My theory's probably wrong, but if it isn't GRRM gave at least one of his readers enough info to not only anticipate fAegon, but to also figure out the secrets of his back story before he ever appeared on the page. That's good writing.

[Sir Lee knot]

Actually if he's fake it would be interesting. As it reflects on real life of people who pretend they are someone who was previously thought dead to gain said persons status and belongings. But if he's real then it would kind of be like

"How many dead people are going to be revived in this series..." So I really hope he's fake because being real would make it kind of lame.

[willofDorne]

I'd say there are a few too many threads in the book like this, but that's the f'ing point. It wouldn't be a very good Game of Thrones if only two people in all of Westeros were trying to get to the throne. The fake Aegon is actually one of my favorite characters. I read all the books back to back, and when Aegon came along, I was happy because there isn't another character like him. He fits a trope, but it's a good trope and serves the story well. That's life, you think you have everything figured out, but then someone else also thought they had everything figured out, and suddenly you don't feel so smart anymore. I think the griffon being on the cover of ADWD symbolizes this nicely. When did we see or hear of a griffon before? Either Aegon is fake, and it's good writing, or Aegon is real, and it's good writing.

[Skythe1]

I'm assuming you mean bad plotting rather than bad writing?

Anyway, as others have said it was foreshadowed quite a bit, even on my first read I didn't think Aegon was dead. Aside from that, nobody knows what sort of role Aegon will play in the final books. How can it be poorly plotted if we don't know what is going to happen?

ETA: How can you complain about characters being revived in a fantasy series?! It's not like we don't get a reason for it happening.

[kiasyd]

I think it would be very cool if a slight hint of (f)Aegon were given in the scene where Arya witness Varys and Ilyrio plotting back in aGoT.