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GRRM is/has done a brilliant Job with The others.


Howland Reeds Weed Swamp

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In Fantasy you get shown these unreal,mythical creatures in almost every scene/page but in ASoIaF,every since that prologue 15 long years ago..We pretty much know as much as Jon snow about the Others.

They must accur every now and then in each book and each time,in my opinion,they make you think and fear. The biggest thing to fear is the unknown and George probably has Lore id kill to find out when it comes to The Others. There motivations are unexplained;they don't kill like crazies like George has shown. They are shrouded in mystery and suspense. I'll be suprised if we ever hear from The Others again. In 15 years time one of the greatest mysteries was what actually happened with the Others in ASoIaF. Whether we do see them again,I don't know..but they're probably my most hyped Thing in TWoW and I'm intrigued by political stuff in TV/films but George's mystery with these species makes me want Fantasy over anything in the series. I hope when this series is over The Others get the credit they deserve. George nails them.

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If the Others are going to be the threat they've been built up to be, they have to attack, at the very latest at the end of Winds, however I think the middle is a more realistic timetable. The North alone is thousands of miles long and in Winter all travel slows down, if they don't come soon then they really can't be that big a threat, or at least George can't write it as well as he has been writing everything else.


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GRRM has given us some huge clues in interviews. He said he doesn't like the fact in LoTR there are races that are just pure evil with just reckless destruction of all things men as their goals and races that are just pure good.

The true reveal of the Others/White Walkers is going to be really awesome.

They're just trying to spread Christmas!

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They've been shown to be cold, utterly without mercy (no, not talking about Stannis), have a supernatural strength (if the duel with Waymar Royce is a good measure, the Other was described as almost lazy), capable of raising the dead and they also bring a deadly weapon in winter. but I reckon they aren't the mindless human-annihilating monsters that they so far seem to be, cos George doesn't like that sort of thing. I'm really curious therefore to find out what they're actual motives are, and what they're really trying to achieve. I'm just not sure how we're going to, cos who right now is actual going to want to speak with an Other and find out?



But that's whats so great, he's built up this feeling of total fear whenever the others are mentioned, yet they're still shrouded in mystery


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Not for me, honestly. There are two extremes: showing the creatures/antagonists enough to make them seem dull and unthreatening (ahem, Voldemort) and not showing them at all, which makes one lose interest (ahem, the Chandrian). GRRM is closer to the second one



Basically, I feel he needs to throw us a bone and not just expect us to still care about the Others just because of what happened two books ago.


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Eh. So far they don't really have enough to 'em to justify what appears to be a central place in the plot. They're always right around the corner! Coming soon! Oh, they're gonna be so scary!

I hope they work out, but really, at this point they're primarily a distraction from all the human stories I'm so interested in.

Exactly, they're perpetually on the way to the fireworks factory

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I think we can only judge how great or not great they are when we finally get to understand what is their story.


GRRM has done a good job building tension with them - starting with the very first prologue. The problem is , building up so much tension can make it hard to find a resolution that would match the expectations.



I hope he has something great in store for us with regards to the Others.


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Not for me, honestly. There are two extremes: showing the creatures/antagonists enough to make them seem dull and unthreatening (ahem, Voldemort) and not showing them at all, which makes one lose interest (ahem, the Chandrian). GRRM is closer to the second one

Basically, I feel he needs to throw us a bone and not just expect us to still care about the Others just because of what happened two books ago.

so this!

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Not for me, honestly. There are two extremes: showing the creatures/antagonists enough to make them seem dull and unthreatening (ahem, Voldemort) and not showing them at all, which makes one lose interest (ahem, the Chandrian). GRRM is closer to the second one

Basically, I feel he needs to throw us a bone and not just expect us to still care about the Others just because of what happened two books ago.

This. And with two books left, it just doesn't feel like they'll be that big of a deal.

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This. And with two books left, it just doesn't feel like they'll be that big of a deal.

'A Dream of Spring' Sounds like a terrible winter and no one is certain they'll live to see the sun again. I want a invasion as far as Kingslanding. Humanity should be on it's last legs and it make me think if a Invasion from an Essosi could suddenly Happen (Looking at Dany or some other Essosi opportunist like Ilyrio or Varys)
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I'm reserving my judgement of the Others until their storyline comes to a head. The foreshadowing and dread GRRM has established is impressive, but so far that's all there is to it. If ASOIAF is Alien, and the Others are Xenomorphs, we're still at the facehugger stage. The real festivities have yet to begin.



My concern is that after all of this, GRRM will drop the ball by making the Others an easily manageable threat. The Wall falling and the snowpocalypse coming to Westeros is good. Dragons burning hordes of wights while obsidian knights melt Others by the dozen is bad, bad, bad. I feel like it shouldn't be an issue, but ASOIAF has clearly evolved into a political and military drama. Can the Others really fit into the conflict building in Essos and the South, with only two books to go?


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While the warfare, politics and human drama of the series is important and entertaining and intriguing and central to the series, I personally feel the the odd inclusions of the supernatural makes these books so much more than what they would've been without them. Whenever GRRM gives of glimpses of the magic, the odd unexplainable things of the world, he does so rather subtly as a part of something mysterious, and I always get the feeling that something is waking up, as if the magic is returning in the shape of dragons, shadow children, wights and prophecies. All these supernatural things have clearly been part of the world for a long time but they stlll seem rather alien to me, as if they belong there but are out of place - and I can just imagine of terrifying it is to all the common humans, when wights and the Others stalk through the woods, dragons soar the sky, and shadows live and kill.



So yes, I look forward to more magic and the Others in particular. Martin has made a good job in making them terrifying.


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