127 replies to this topic

[jon rr stark]

unbowed, on 28 December 2011 - 12:12 PM, said:

Yes, but it's always possible to interpret differently, right? Using the same logic, A Dance with Dragons, for example, would imply one single dance with dragons, but there were many involved in what could be described as trying to dance with the dragons. Or A Storm of Swords
, which I think is in fact quite a few storms of swords.

Anyway, leaving the A and THE aside, the title to me is pointing towards everything that is going on with the struggles in the north. below and beyond the wall, around the Starks, and the changing of the seasons.

Well the song of ice and fire, the ice surely is the north - whether starks, others, the wall - the fire the trags. The Ice doesnt seem to be emerging so far with the north having no decent army, the others doing who knows, jon (ice?) possibly dieing. Fire ( a targ - dragon rider) are in a much stronger position whoever emerges on top. My guess is the fire element will be set up in KL aegon or dany. The winds of winter will balance the odds by bringing winter south.
So The 'the perhaps readdresses the balance with the last five books predominately about the game of thrones in KL this one will sort out the power in the north. In the end I see the straks return but perhaps not till book 7

[Sand Snake No. 9]

alienarea, on 22 November 2011 - 09:27 AM, said:

Winds of winter usually imply lots of snow.

Or, perhaps, lots of Snow?

I also think the title refers to the Starks, whatever they're going to do, successful or not.  All five of them are on the brink of major changes, and those changes have the potential to effect all of Westeros.

[the_black_flame]

in the new stannis chapter grrm previewed

theon talks about the blackfyres and stannis responds by saying something along the lines of winds blowing the exiles over the sea....could this indicate "the winds of winter" is how the exiled peoples of the seven kingdoms returns....( starks..not really banished but defeated at the moment, the targs, the others, also not really sure if they can be catorgized as a people of the world?, the blackfyres under aegon?

[hotweaselsoup]

A Winter Wind, or A Wind of Winter sounds transitory and tame.  The Winds of Winter, on the other hand, sounds like a scourge, and has a nice, apocalyptic ring to it.

I'm sure the title has multiple layers of meaning, much like the other titles.  Besides its more familiar definitions, "wind" can also mean to sound a horn, so you can loosely interpret "The Winds of Winter" as "The Horns of Winter", or even "The Call-to-Arms of Winter".  (But that's mangling the word a bit, I'll admit.)

[coalstrawbean]

I think it signifies the coming of the Others (hopefully). I'm not sure how much longer that can be held off if the series is going to end in 7 books. Then again this is a hard story to predict. I don't think many people thought that by the end of ADWD Tyrion would still not  have met Dany and that she would still be nowhere close to leaving for Westeros.
I think the title also means that things are going to be grim in general with the onset of winter and possibly lots of characters dying.

[Sarge]

unbowed, on 28 December 2011 - 10:23 AM, said:

The title thing might not be a big deal, I'll give you that, but I cannot shake the feeling that GRRM has something special in mind here. Perhaps he's only janking our chains.

A Song...
A Game...
A Clash...
A Storm...
A Feast...
A Dance...
The Winds...
A Dream...

Except there were only 2 books starting with "A..." when he decided the last book (at that time) would be named The Winds of Winter. It was AGOT/ADWD/TWOW, so just 2 "A..." vs 1 "The...". Sometimes a title is just a title.

[D_Richard]

It is no coincidence that The Winds of Winter, and "words are wind" seem so intertwined. I think the sixth installment will bring us major developments in the forms of oaths: broken and new. The brutality of the new Winter will test and destroy some very important oaths, and it'll strengthen some peoples to make new oaths.

[Dreamlife]

The title,"A Dance with Dragons", misled me into believing Dany and her dragons would invade Westeros in this book, so I am hesitant to jump to conclusions about what "The Winds of Winter" is going to be about based on the title.  My gut feeling is that is has less to do with the rise of the Starks and more to do with the promised Winter finally coming.  We've heard various takes on winds and cold (The cold winds are rising) so it could be what those quotes have been alluding to: winter (a cold hell) is here.  Whether this is the season, Winter, or the result of the Wall being breached and the Others rising against the rest of Westeros.

[Lord Godric]

Dreamlife, on 02 January 2012 - 08:54 PM, said:

The title,"A Dance with Dragons", misled me into believing Dany and her dragons would invade Westeros in this book, so I am hesitant to jump to conclusions about what "The Winds of Winter" is going to be about based on the title.

I agree.  I took "A Dance with Dragons" to be a more literal reference to The Dance of the Dragons and I expected the, what seems inevitable, civil war between "Aegon" and Dany.  Instead we just get introduced to Aegon and Dany hasn't done much. The Winds of Winter isn't as similar to something we have heard before, but I do not think it'll mean anything specific.  It probably refers to a lot of things: Winter, the Others, snow, Stark and Snow.  I don't think it'll have any more specific meaning as did any of the previous titles.

[Apple Martini]

Dreamlife, on 02 January 2012 - 08:54 PM, said:

The title,"A Dance with Dragons", misled me into believing Dany and her dragons would invade Westeros in this book, so I am hesitant to jump to conclusions about what "The Winds of Winter" is going to be about based on the title.

Me too. I thought Dany and the dragons would end up doing ... more ... than they did. I thought it would point to another civil war of some sort.

On some level though, I think the title still fit. If you read "dragon" to be Targaryen, then the title could point to Jon, Dany and Aegon (who, as a Blackfyre, could still be considered a dragon if he's not a proper Targ).

[Bastard of Boston]

Maybe Winds of Winter is another way to describe the converging characters as well...the "winds" blowing everyone together again...a singularity of purpose with the Other threat...? Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, heh.

[Dreamlife]

Bastard of Boston, on 03 January 2012 - 02:45 AM, said:

Maybe Winds of Winter is another way to describe the converging characters as well...the "winds" blowing everyone together again...a singularity of purpose with the Other threat...? Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, heh.

This is a nice thought, but somehow I think this book is going to be really dark.  I think the title is ominous.  I'm not expecting the remaining Starks to come together until the final book.

[littleone]

TWoW = "The Woes of Waiting" .....

[CrypticWeirwood]

littleone, on 06 January 2012 - 12:33 PM, said:

TWoW = “The Woes of Waiting”

The letter W could stand for so many things: Winterfell, Westeros, Wun-Wun, Wyman, White Walkers, Wendigo,  wildlings, warriors, warlocks, wings, whores, wombs, worries, wights, wraiths, winds, weather, wanderer, widows, woofs, wolves, wolverines, weasels, warmth, worms, wyrms, wreck, wakening, weaning, wool, whispering, whispers, wrongs, wounds, wastrels, works, woes, words, wrinkle, whining, wilderness, worship, whacking, wyverns, wrap, winter, wretch, wanking, whoops, women, whistle, wailing, worst, wandering, wasps, wonders, world, wealth, warning, walkers, wreck, whips, whales, wrath, wedding, wreath, waste, writs, weirdling, woods — and of course, wascally wabbits.

Mix and match however you please.  Some are hilarious combinations.

[Heracles]

Its a given that The Winds of Winter will mean that winter is in westeros so thats no surprise. Out of all the house, winter is only referenced to the Starks so the book will focus on them as well. Most of the Starks have been in their own journey. Arya with her training of killing, Sansa with her training in scheming, Bran with his training as a seer, Jon with being commander and Rickon wondering around. It will be the book where they become confident with their potential but not necessarily gain power. Not sure if they get reunited though. We would also get more infos about the Others since they are also attached to Winter. We'd probably get infos on them as we did with dragons in the previous book.

[nategatorc]

I always read Winter = bad = Others.  As in Winter is Coming means Bad shit is coming, not the Starks are coming.

While Winter could signify a resurgence of House Stark (the individual Starks never went away -- see Bran, Jon, Sansa, and Arya POVs), I've always read the title as more of a Empire Srikes Back sort of foreshadowing.  Like the Others start blowing through Westeros's defenses like freezing-cold wind.

[Falrinn]

Honestly I'm going to say it's only direct meaning is that winter has finally begun.

Now winter implies other things, most notably the coming of the Others, but there probably isn't some sort of additional hidden meaning in the title itself.  I could maybe see it signifying House Stark rising in power once again, as it's frequently associated with winter, but that's about it.

[GoodGuyA]

The most interesting thing I found about the title... It's not A Wind of Winter (or something better sounding). I feel like the difference between 'A' and 'The' is really significant because it doesn't just coincide up with these titles. Of course every title really has multiple meanings.

[Jaehaerys I]

Like some have said it seems pretty simple. It means that it is officially winter and everything north of the wall will officially be back in force. I can see a big focus on the north and the Starks since everything else doesn't seem to far from being resolved. Aegon is already in Westeros, once Dany meets up with Victarion she should be able to tame her dragons and return to Westeros, and KL is a mess like always (leading to an easy power shift). But when you look at the Starks and the North there is a lot going on with Bran, Rickon, Sansa, Jon, how Arya will eventually return and how her training with the FM will go, and Stannis vs Bolton.

[Lady Octarina]

Literally, it certainly has something to do with the fact that Winter has arrived and, as many said before, with winter we have the Others and the threat they pose.

In general, though, I think about it this way: the wind changes. We'll basically have five fronts next book: Dany, Young Griff (I'll include Varys's plotting in King's Landing here), Euron, Littlefinger, and the North (initially the Stannis x Bolton war, but I believe it will soon be solved, and then we'll have the Others, the Night's Watch, and the wildlings). So, I think it refers to the fact that the winds will probably change more than once during the wars for the Iron Throne. No one's position is safe during winter. Not to mention that Jon's death (or something like that) was all we needed for the Wall to fall and Westeros to face its greatest threat. Maybe the Others are the winds of winter that will unballance whatever happens in this war.

Sofokles, on 05 December 2011 - 10:23 PM, said:

I agree the title may have something to do with the saying "words are wind", but i have translated the meaning differently. In my opinion "words are wind" means more that you cant trust only words, and only actions count rather than "words can never hurt you".

Oh dear, I fear I must wait many winters for this book...

I agree that the saying "words are wind" may be of some importance. When I read ADWD, I didn't know the title of book 6, but I did notice how often we saw those words (more often than before), and couldn't help but make the connection later. I have no idea what this connection could mean, but since you can't trust words, words can change the tide of events, and "words are wind", I'd say this gives some credit to the idea that the winds in the title are simply the power oscilation we'll see in book 6...