What is the "Bittersweet" ending that GRRM was alluding to?

[MaybeINeverSawACamel]

I'm banking on a sacrifice, possibly of characters, but I'm thinking the sacrifice of magic. The Others are magic. Dragons are magic. Gods are magic. Maybe the Citedal is right.  The Wall comes down, the  last of the Children die off. The Wargs and Greenseers lose their gifts. Blood magic doesn't work. The FM lose their most memorable ability. But the realm is safe, except for those who play the Game.

[Protagoras]

Westeros will be saved, but between half to 2/3s of the characters we have followed and loved will end up dead, horribly transfigured or mental wrecks. 

[TeamWhiteWalkerz]

Before anyone here writes sometihng along the lines of "World is saved, byt everyone dies", remember that GRRM's bittersweet = Lord of The Rings, so the ending will be more sweet than bitter.

[Ser Greggor the Baked]

Someone we really care about is going to die. I do not think everyone dies... but I can not imagine Jon, Arya, Tyrion, Jamie, Sansa, Davos, Brianne and Dany all making it to the end. 

Maybe the bittersweet part of it is that Jon will end up saving the day, in the way that really matters... but Dany will fly in and be the hero for Westeros. 

[Maxxine]

I think GRRM stays the original draft, in that Jon, Arya, Tyrion, Dany, & Bran make it to the end. I hope that it doesn't mean the end of magic since he spent the basically the whole series hyping up the use of magic (ie Dan hatching dragons, warging,). Plus magic is the thing that has already saved lives and will probably end up saving everyone from the Others. I think it will be something like the main characters all survive and save the day, but none of them are  able to actually rule. Somebody really random like Aegon will sit the Iron Throne or there is no Iron Throne and there's just seven kingdoms ruled by 7 randoms

[Silvershank]

Well LOTR ended with the destruction of the Ring and thus Sauron but the Ring damaged Frodo so much he had to sail to Valinor alongside the Keepers of Middle-Earth (Gandalf, Galadriel, Celebron and Elrond) and the Elvis who wanted to remain immortal. This resulted in the age of Men.  

So my guess is that those who are/will be affected the most by Ice VS Fire have to depart the Westeros as we know it. And then there are those who have to go to make a new Westeros.

[The Mountain That Flies]

The vast majority of the POV characters will be dead by the end, and the survivors won't exactly feel fortunate for now having to live with everything they've suffered. A large chunk of Weateros as a whole will be dead too, with massive devastation whose healing process won't even really have begun by the series' end.

[Nevets]

Westeros is devastated by Winter and the various wars, but most of the main characters survive, and go on to lead the recovery effort.  But it is going to be a long, hard slog.  There could also be marriages and other assignments that characters aren't  necessarily happy about.

[The Three Whores]

Martin's idea of sweet is everyone we love dying, so bittersweet is not something I want to imagine.

[Makk]

After the Others are defeated the civil war will resume over misunderstandings, historical grievances, and characters obstinance. Characters we have been supporting will be called into conflict against each other. Many more will die.

[Orphalesion]

Well LOTR ended with the destruction of the Ring and thus Sauron but the Ring damaged Frodo so much he had to sail to Valinor alongside the Keepers of Middle-Earth (Gandalf, Galadriel, Celebron and Elrond) and the Elvis who wanted to remain immortal. This resulted in the age of Men.  

Elves are always immortal, it's a fate they can no more escape than humans being mortal. It's just that Middle Earth's Satan figure tainting matter itself which causes the Elves to become basically disembodied spirits if they remain outside the Blessed Realm (where that dorruption is much lessened)

Arwen only got to choose because she has human ancestry and uis part of a breeding program engineered by God himself to inject a devine and elfish strain into humanity so that salvation can happen.

The Age of Man had been dawning for some time, the Elves using the Rings of Power actually hastened its start (they got exposed to corruption more by trying to preserve the past via the rings tainted by Sauron's craft)

The reason why the ending is bitter sweet is that a big chunk of magic and wonder fade from Middle Earth (in Lothlorien the whole forest starts straight up dying because its no longer kept timeless by galadriel's ring)

I don't think it will translate that closely to ASoIaF but that perhaps in the similar manner something will be gained/won and something important will be irrevocably lost.

[King Viserys Targaryen IV]

Jon will be King, but it is the last thing he ever wanted.

[purple-eyes]

Oh yeah, Jon Targaryen sat on the Iron throne and married multiple wives and ruled 7 kingdoms plus all the free cities, but felt incredibly miserable and yelled: I never wanted to be king! you forced me to do this!

So bitter sweet. 

 

[Orphalesion]

Oh yeah, Jon Targaryen sat on the Iron throne and married multiple wives and ruled 7 kingdoms plus all the free cities, but felt incredibly miserable and yelled: I never wanted to be king! you forced me to do this!

So bitter sweet. 

 

That's the way you might write it, however I have fauth n GRRM that he would pull it off well.

[purple-eyes]

That's the way you might write it, luckily GRRM is a better author.

I am sarcastic, but remind you, Jon Snow is right on this shinning blessed track. 

Some suffering, some damages? sure, 

but eventually a promised future. 

 

[The Three Whores]

All things considered, I think Jon would disagree with that.

[RobOsevens]

LMAO ya he's fucking dead but he has only had some slight suffering and damage done to him 

[purple-eyes]

LMAO ya he's fucking dead but he has only had some slight suffering and damage done to him 

How many people died in the book?

Did they have chance to reborn as some savior?

They were already making the show for battle between Jon Snow and Ramsey, who would believe he is really dead?

[Lord Wraith]

I am sarcastic, but remind you, Jon Snow is right on this shinning blessed track. 

Some suffering, some damages? sure, 

but eventually a promised future. 

 

Jon won't be king in the end IMO. Neither will Dany for that matter.

[WolfgangII]

A young novice venture into de forbidden section of the Citadel library. There, he found a book, not too old, but clearly mistreated with some pages burn or tore apart. He has been doubting of his masters and teachers. He is certain there is a lot of things Grand Master Joffrey is not telling. He have read the sanctioned books about the old Realm, who extended from the southern coast of Dorne all the way up to North, about the curse city of King's Landing and its famed Iron Throne. He has read about the Mad Targaryen kings, who burned all the Realm with wildfire and considered themselves dragons. It was logical that they didn't last long. He has read about civil warfares, brothers against brothers, sometimes they were dragons, sometimes they were stags; about all the Blackfyre pretenders, from Daemon to Aegon. This and more he has learned in his three years on the Citadel, but lately, he has some doubts. Everything started when he found an old book from Master Marwyn. In it, he learned about lost books and misterious lands, he learned about Ashaii-by-the-Shadow, Old Valyria and how the mighty Iron Bank of Bravos had ended, once and for all, the tyranny of the slavers and their Silver Queen, last of her kind. He knew Essos has a lot of secrets beyond the Maester's grip, but what he heard last night was more frightening and close to home. "Sailor's tales", he thought at first. But when they talked about a dead things, cold and vengefull, of people who rised from the death to kill, then he remembered the bedtime story his old nan use to tell him about Lady Stoneheart, the shadow of the forest. He never thought such tales, rooted deep at the Green Fork, could reach Bravoosi ears. But they did, somehow. Or maybe there was some truth on that. Everyone has hear about the myths of old age. About the giants and direwolves, dragons and ice spiders, weird children running in the forest and people who could change their skin, crows a top of wall and bloodmagic. Everyone thinks those are just stories to scare children, like the Imp or the Young Wolf. But, what if there are no tales? What if there is some truth behind? What if the great battle of the dawn, did actually happen, so many years ago. For the seven hells, what if the maesters know about these? That's why he is searching in the forbidden section, to learn about what the maester hide. That's why he took the book of the shelve, blew the dust of the cover and read its title: A Song of Ice and Fire, by Maester Samwell.