[ADWD Spoilers] Speculation About the Winds of Winter

[Datepalm]

One interesting tidbit that has been mentioned by the writer in a recent interview is that Casterly Rock will be seen but via which POV? Taking the writer at his word that he doesn't want to add a new POV, who can possibly be there sometime in TWoW?

Jaime and/or Brienne don't seem to be particularly tied down. Aeron is in the general vicinity as well, and might be on the run from the Islands.

[Aelinor Keath]

There's no way Arya can finish training in a year; it takes years just to learn how to change your face. She could go under the supervision of another FM, since they don't seem to mind getting the acolytes started on killing early. It would be interesting if Jaqen learned all he needed from the Citadel and returned to Braavos, leaving shortly thereafter with Arya in tow for some hands on training.

Or she could take one of the outs that the KoM keeps offering her and choose to go back to Westeros on her own.

I think she will pull a Luke skywalker and bail after seeing what is happening in the north in warg-o-vision. We know Ghost and Nymeria can still mentally link and I bet she sees what happens to Jon.

[Red Dirt]

My Speculations:

1. Mel is going to raise Jon the way we know the red preist/ess people can. If Jon Snow stays down I'll buy the beer.

2. Arya will not finish her training. Eventually she has to choose between keeping her prayer or giving up revenge.

3. Dany will go back to the place where the dothraki crones are and it is there that she will understand the folly of her previous rule and learn to be a good queen. During that time she'll also learn to "control" the dragon. I think the whole dragon thing is more of a relationship then a person controling a mount.

4. King's Landing will go ape shit, I mean totally ape shit. No Lanister/Tyrell/Martell etc... will be safe. I expect 3 of the characters that survived the epilogue won't see the end of the next book.

5. We will finally see the Others in force (FINALLY!!).

6. UnCat and UnJon will reconcile. <--- :-)

[Mitchacho]

My speculations:

1) Big battle outside Mereen. Barristan sallied forth, second sons and windblown turn their cloaks, the iron fleet takes the volunteer fleet by surprise. The dragons arrive, either with dany or called by victarions horn. Blood and fire, yay!

2) Young Griff takes storms end (although I have a horrible feeling it won't go according to plan). Dorne allies with them.

3) everything falls apart in KL just as Varys intends. Ungrogor wins the trial, Cersei claims power and stuffs it up again.

4) The Vale knights finally come out of hiding. But I'm not sure if Littlefinger will go north, ally with Young Griff, or stick with the Lannister/Tyrell alliance.

5) The wall will fall. Nights Watch fighting Wildlings, dead men climbing the wall, coming out of the ocean at Eastwatch?

6) manderly will unite the north under Rickon and eat Bolten and Frey pies :)

[Whitering]

There's no way Arya can finish training in a year; it takes years just to learn how to change your face. She could go under the supervision of another FM, since they don't seem to mind getting the acolytes started on killing early. It would be interesting if Jaqen learned all he needed from the Citadel and returned to Braavos, leaving shortly thereafter with Arya in tow for some hands on training.

Or she could take one of the outs that the KoM keeps offering her and choose to go back to Westeros on her own.

From the time line Timeline

09/03/300 AFFC Arya 1 Reaches Braavos

04/03/301 AFFC Arya kills Dareon, becomes blind

I don't know how long she has been blind, but it's probably close to a year already and she's been sent on a local mission. I do not believe Arya returns to Westeros until the last book. That could be 2 years by that point. Don't forget, she didn't go in unprepared. She was taught by an expert sword master who also taught her stealth and observation. She has practiced his teachings since leaving King's Landing. She has also killed and not become a sociopath serial killer, so no need to bridge that gap. Finally, she may have some difficulty with languages, but she is quite intelligent and very hard working; there is not a hint of laziness anywhere within her. This is not a young lady that would browse the internet at work.

So, I kind of see her returning to Westeros in the last book, after the Others have been defeated and the realm is at peace and killing Dany or Aegon or anyone but Jon to disrupt that peace. The Faceless Men don't really care what happens in Westeros and surely someone (ahem, Littlefinger), doesn't want a realm that is super stable for some reason. He's like an old school weapon seller.

[estrellas]

I think Arya will be tempted the way Jon Snow was tempted...something will happen that will cause her to be conflicted between staying and being a Faceless Man or leaving and helping her family. Perhaps Jon's death was that very thing. To hear that your only remaining brother was murdered on the Wall, whether he ends up coming back or not (would she know if he did?) would be a lot to stomach.

I think the book has been foreshadowing Arya's return to Westeros for quite awhile. Nymeria's pack is growing larger and larger and people talk about them all the time, at least they did in AFFC. Either this means Arya will be powerful in the future or that the Starks themselves will take control in the end.

[feardeathbywater]

Can institutions send faceless men? Wasn't the whole point of them that you can't hire them without making personal sacrifices?

Someone will have to march along the demon road. Maybe Dany with her new Dothraki? Along the way we get something on the Doom. Seems to have been the most important event in history. Is it a coincidence that Valyria never conquered Westeros although they had a fortress near its coast? And that the dragons died out after a few generations on the continent?

The Demon Road is really the Lost Highway, ruled over by the evil wizard David Lynch. It is also the Great Divide.

But back on topic, I wonder if a dragon has limited range. As in, where it was hatched determined how far you could take it. Perhaps they were bound to Valyria until it was destroyed, only then becoming free to move on Westeros. It would raise a lot of questions about Dany's dragons, of course.

The FM were deeply involved in the Braavosi exodus, right? That would make THEM a Braavosi institution of sorts, perhaps with mutual arrangements with the others...after all, it is sort of odd the Sealords just letting an assassins' shop operate in their city, unless there's some sort of relationship, right?

[KyleLitke]

So here's a question...do you guys think there will be new PoVs in Winds of Winter? And if so, who?

I think Nymeria could be a possible one. After the events of Dance, the only PoV in the Kings Landing area is Cersei, and she is supposed to go on trial very shortly (as in, 5 days I believe Kevan says...even if it's slightly delayed, I doubt that would last us the entire book). Plus she's going to have a hard time being in any important position. She's essentially been removed from power, and now the only "loyalist" left on the Council is Harys Swift, who is easily the weakest member of the council currently. I sincerely doubt Mace Tyrell, Randyll Tarly, and Paxter Redwyne are going to let Cersei have any power, and Swift certainly isn't going to get a say. Which could leave us needing a new PoV to see what's going on with the Council and any important events there.

Might not be the case but just throwing it out as a guess. I'm not sure if we'd need any other new ones, everywhere else seems to be fairly well covered, if we assume Jon doesn't die. Even if he does, Melisandre could remain a PoV character.

[Zezibesh]

Arya being sent on a mission seems likely, but I wonder if the target will be Cersei. I think Aegon VI or Daenerys will also be prime targets, if the Faceless Men really are as anti-Valyrian as they make out. The Citadel hiring a Faceless Man to kill Dany and dispose of her dragons also seems possible.

I've been saying this for a while, but Tycho Nestoris is a walking plot device ready to be killed off. And whoever kills him will get the Faceless Men after him, which gives a convenient excuse for Arya to get to Westeros.

[Davos' Middle Finger]

Any thoughts on the prologue? The prologues and epilogues always feature a previously non-POV or non-introduced character, sheds some light on a subject that was not well known before, and then have a big reveal at the end before they are killed.

So, who will be the prologue POV for TWOW? What will they shed light on, and what will be the big reveal?

Here's my personal theory on who it will be:

- Alliser Thorne, who is stranded in the wild with the other rangers the Weeper didn't catch. We'll get more expansion on his backstory, maybe more of the history of the watch and why he is such a miserable person to everyone. He and the other Rangers will try to track the Weeper's men, only to find that the Others have killed the Weeper and his people and turned them into wights, and more importantly, have the Horn of Joramun.

[undertow]

Arya feels the death of Ghost, freaks out, and the Faceless Men kick her out for still being Arya Stark. Then she goes on what the movie advertisements refer to as a "roaring rampage of revenge." And that's how GRRM gets Arya headed to Westeros before the end of the series.

[Werthead]

I don't know how long she has been blind

Six months:

I killed Cat when I killed that singer. The kindly man had told her that they would have taken her eyes from her anyway, to help her to learn to use her other senses, but not for half a year.

[Marcus of the South]

:closedeyes: I read that as 'they were going to give me the blindess drink in 6 months', not 'I've been blind for 6 months', like killing Daeron put her in the accelerated program. :P

[Werthead]

:closedeyes: I read that as 'they were going to give me the blindess drink in 6 months', not 'I've been blind for 6 months', like killing Daeron put her in the accelerated program. :P

I suppose you could read it like that. The timeline is saved! :)

[brook]

:closedeyes: I read that as 'they were going to give me the blindess drink in 6 months', not 'I've been blind for 6 months', like killing Daeron put her in the accelerated program. :P

I read it the same way.

[Arthanis]

If Aegon is fake... (90%)

If Jon's Parents are Lyanna and Rhaegar (99%)

If Tyrion's Parents are Joanna and Aerys (75%)

We probably have best candidates for two remaining Dragon Riders :)

Jon is going to be returned to life via sacrificing Ghost IMO. He MUST die, and he MUST return to fight the others.

[Alexia]

Here are my thoughts, FWIW. The action is supposed to start narrowing again at the end of the story as I understand it. So...

Arya Stark returns to the North as a Faceless apprentice alongside someone who has a contract to kill someone in the North. My money is on Stannis/Mel.

Sansa Stark is unveiled by LF, marrys Harrold Arryn, and begins to march North with an army to claim Winterfell. She is now a bigamist, if unwittingly. She stops on the way to pay the Twins a visit.

Rickon Stark is unveiled by Manderly and claims Winterfell, with Manderly's enormous army as backup.

The Others break through the Wall and Bran Stark somehow fights them using the weirwood intranet? Maybe he serves as communications equipment for the fighting armies?

Roose Bolton is killed by Ramsey whom the Northern lords all despise and claims the title of Warden of the North.

Daenerys Targaryen, if she decides to do anything at all, will start her invasion of Westeros in Stark territory as vengeance for the Stark rebellion against the Targaryens.

Sam Tarly will return North with a maester's chain forged. He's both bookworm and prodigy, and they need him back at the Wall.

Jon Snow is more difficult -- maybe he'll become an independent wight like Benjen/Coldhands and work with him against the Others?

POV Deaths: Jaime Lannister. Brienne of Tarth. Ser Barristan. (Cersei is probably safe until the last book.)

[Skadhi]

Jon is going to be returned to life via sacrificing Ghost IMO. He MUST die, and he MUST return to fight the others.

Not to get all religious or anything (I'm definitely not religious), but does anyone else see a parallel between that and Christ's death and resurrection? Jon is killed but then brought back to life to become the savior of the world. You don't get any more Christ-like than that.

[Davos' Middle Finger]

I doubt we will have new povs introduced at this point, but if they are here is who I think we could get:

Mance( the battle for winterfell willl happen, and Mance gives us a view on the Bolton side)

Margaery ( if the Tyrells need a pov)

Obara( she's hunting darkstar, so if he turns out to be Important we'll find out about him from her.

[Ygritte]

Not to get all religious or anything (I'm definitely not religious), but does anyone else see a parallel between that and Christ's death and resurrection? Jon is killed but then brought back to life to become the savior of the world. You don't get any more Christ-like than that.

Oh, absolutely, and I'm not religious either. It's such a big archetype in myth and in fantasy fiction. Common enough to be a cliche, but it can work anyway if done well.