What would you ask the GRRM??? UPDATED

[King Ned Stark]

1. Did Richard Lonmouth fight for Robert or Rhaegar?

2. Was Lady Barbrey older or younger than Brandon Stark?

3. Did Aerys know where Rhaegar was during the rebellion, and if so was there some kind of agreement for Rhaegar to come back and lead the royalists forces?

[WolfQueenArya]

This is all really interesting. I guess I am one of the Arya fans who can see her experience love in the future. Part of the reason being I always read her as older than what she actually is on page... I only like Arya and Gendry in the TV show to be honest. In the books it's Jon. Kind of off topic but have any of you seen the Tumblr posts comparing Arya and Jon? ViabTV show but might pertain to the books as well. They each join this group that is not what they thought, they do something to set some people off, get stabbed, one dies and is resurrected and the other one heals, and both kill the perpetrator(s) and walk away claiming their identity back. I thought it was really interesting and now when Arya and Jon meet back up they will connect in a way that and be even closer. I don't know. Could be the whole tinfoil thing going on..

Do we know if George will be at Comic Con? Who will be going? 

[Maia]

10 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

Well, that seems to be taking the Riverlands sort of out of the equation again. Which is pretty good. Arya can have Nymeria attack people without being physically there, after all.

On the contrary, it seems to me that Riverlands is in, it is just that whatever Arya does there, it won't be focussed on Gendry. Which is good, because there are better things for her to do. And for his part, he has already moved on to the Heddle girl, as seen through Brienne's PoV .

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They have no longer anything in common and Gendry would most likely be disgusted by the person Arya has become just as Arya would look down on the boy he still is.

Not sure that followers of Lady Stoneheart have room to be disgusted by anything Arya has done to date. They have done worse. But the latter is very true. Even when she was 9-10 and he was 15-16, Arya outmatched him intellectually and was the leader of their little gang, she is far beyond him by now. I disagree that she is incapable of living a normal life, though -  she had no problems fitting in when placed with various people in Braavos for training, did she? She even liked them and the simple lives she lead in their charge. She has understandable fear of putting in roots, of being vulnerable and helpless, though. It is that fear that kept her with FM, so far. Once she finds another way of having agency, of not being a powerless victim, well...

 

3 hours ago, WolfQueenArya said:

 Part of the reason being I always read her as older than what she actually is on page...

But she is written as pretty young - smart and tough, but naive and childish. That's why her less savvy actions are understandable and don't make her come across as a dumbass. 

As to Arya show stuff you reference - it is irrelevant, because it won't happen in the books. It makes zero sense even in the show, frankly. Oh, and actors of Gendry and Robb were way too old and looked their age, so when they called them "boys" and tried to present them as such, it was very incongrous and contrived. You can deduce what I thought about show fans shipping Arya and Gendry from that ;).

Anyway, we shouldn't be mentioning the show in the books threads!

[Lord Varys]

@Maia

But wasn't the Riverlands stuff based on the Gendry stuff? And if that's some time in th future yet they might not even meet each other again there.

Nymeria can be accessed from anywhere, Arya doesn't need to have to be there.

And Arya not fitting in was aimed at her being done hanging out with stupid (commoner) boys and fit in among such company. She would not longer be comfortable with a life in a humble village nor with the life of a normal noblewoman. She is way beyond what Arya Smallwood or Arya Stark could ever hope to accomplish in a mundane life.

Arya might be see her family again in the future, there will be some sort of reunion, but I doubt she'll stay with them. When everything is over and she is still alive she'll follow her own path and not hang out in Winterfell or some other castle.

[Maia]

2 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

@Maia

But wasn't the Riverlands stuff based on the Gendry stuff?

In the mind of the questioner(s), perhaps. But GRRM's answers - both that he'll "visit them again" and the "separate futures" one seem to hint that they'll meet again, but it will be of no consequence. I.e. that Arya will have other important reasons to go where Gendry is - the Riverlands.

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Nymeria can be accessed from anywhere, Arya doesn't need to have to be there.

Arya needs to know what is going on in the Riverlands in order to use Nymeria to her best advantage. Currently, her wolfpack is mostly just terrorising the populace. Also, much more can be achieved when a skinchanger and their animal are working together, on both levels. Nymeria and her pack could be an invaluable asset to a group of fighters, say, but by themselves they can't do all that much against organized war parties, etc. Arya is  getting only a fraction of potential usefulness from her skin-changing. Combined with military and/or poilitical goals, it could give her so much more. Heck, it didn't even occur to her yet that she could use cats to spy on the powerful of Braavos! 

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 She would not longer be comfortable with a life in a humble village nor with the life of a normal noblewoman.

No longer? It has been well established that she never would have been wholly comfortable with either even before her ordeal. She always wanted to have  agency - more than noblewomen usually have and certainly much more than a common woman could ever dream of having. But she lives in abnormal times, so there is room for her to be abnormal, too.

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 When everything is over and she is still alive she'll follow her own path and not hang out in Winterfell or some other castle.

What would  that "own path" be? Arya isn't an assassin out of passion - it is a means of having power over her own fate, of not being a helpless victim, constantly at the mercy of violent men. Nor is she devoid of empathy, compassion and need for fellowship, despite everything.  "When snows fall and white winds blow, a lone wolf dies, but the pack survives". Nymeria's enormous pack is an unconscious reflection of Arya's desire for companionship, comradeship, for being a part of the greater whole. And, as I have pointed out previously,  her special skills would be very useful both for building and maintaining an alliance against the Others and for upholding cohesion during the re-building afterwards, should she survive until then. So, yes, I expect her to "hang out in some castle" to the same extent that Bloodraven as a spymaster, or Varys did. IMHO, YMMV.

[The Fattest Leech]

On 6/18/2016 at 1:12 AM, WolfQueenArya said:

This is all really interesting. I guess I am one of the Arya fans who can see her experience love in the future. Part of the reason being I always read her as older than what she actually is on page... I only like Arya and Gendry in the TV show to be honest. In the books it's Jon. Kind of off topic but have any of you seen the Tumblr posts comparing Arya and Jon? ViabTV show but might pertain to the books as well. They each join this group that is not what they thought, they do something to set some people off, get stabbed, one dies and is resurrected and the other one heals, and both kill the perpetrator(s) and walk away claiming their identity back. I thought it was really interesting and now when Arya and Jon meet back up they will connect in a way that and be even closer. I don't know. Could be the whole tinfoil thing going on..

Do we know if George will be at Comic Con? Who will be going? 

This is what GRRM has posted for this next outings... http://www.georgerrmartin.com/appearances/

The tumblr post, while I have not read it, sounds like it is based on just the show, but what you mentioned it says does sound accurate. I decided to stop watching the show a few weeks ago because... of reasons

I agree, I also like Arya and Gendry for tv myself.

[The Fattest Leech]

On 6/17/2016 at 0:11 PM, Illyrio Mo'Parties said:

Someone mentioned a Bran/Pinocchio theory? I tried searching but couldn't see it

Sorry about the delayed response. Apparently I am not getting my notifications as they happen the way I have set it up to do so.

I made the connections and wrote it up here. It is me we are talking about, so who knows what is beyond the link... ... ...

 

[Illyrio Mo'Parties]

No worries, cheers, look forward to having a read

[The Fattest Leech]

I am adding the better edited version here under the tab (for length) without all of the personal experience filler because (unbeknownst to me) I recently found people copying and pasting from this thread and needed to clear up the filler. Just the facts and a little more from the coffee talk.

Spoiler

The Donation Dinner on Thursday, May 26, 2016:

*quick note: anything that I “quote” means it was a direct quote from George as he said it. His words, not mine. 
I knew another poster here was going to attend the dinner, so we agreed ahead of time to meet in person. Through the rest of the convention, Con Friend and I attended most panels and readings and such together.

•  I was at table 5, which the way it fit in the small room sat me right next to table 1 as well! Of the other five at my table, only 1 has read the books, two are an older couple there to support Balticon, and the other is there and he is the MC of the event and the one to do the official GRRM interview on Saturday.  He name is Mark and he and I are getting along famously! 
• GRRM described himself as a “sex positive feminist”. 
• GRRM just sat with my friend and he is talking about SpiderMan   and Greenwich Village. 
• Three notes from my Con Friend about something that happened at her table next to mine:
  • “Also the guy sitting next to me brought up the Hodor elevator story to him. He said he didn't remember it, but everyone at the table still had a good laugh about it.”
  • GRRM talked about Dorne! He wasn't exactly dissing the show, but he didn't have anything good to say about it. One guy talked asked if season 6 would spoil the books for him. Something like "Don't think what happens in the show will happen in the books, the show is completely different. The books will be nothing like that." You could really feel the dislike he had for it. 
  • My friend asked him about Gendry and Arya meeting back up and when will Arya get her moonblood to which GRRM answered “soon”… and GRRM had an interesting response to Arya and Gendry meeting back up. I will let her tell you the answer. But I do know he said of Arya and Gendry that, “I’ll visit them again.”
•  At MY Table now: George’s assistant Joanna (Jo) sat with us and explained and few things about George and stuff… but then she and I got to talking about lots of other stuff and I grew to love her very quickly. Lenore cam ea round and sat with George during the dinner. Parris was feeling ill. 
  • George just sat right next to me. He was crazy nice and shook my hand … but not before noticing and complimenting me in my silver wolfhead necklace pendant.
  • Just as George was approaching me at my table, he held out his hand and said "valar dohaeris", and handed me a faceless man iron coin. I very nerdily replied "valar morghulis", and touched two fingers to my brow. I got to keep the coin
  • Back to my wolf necklace: The conversation started with his work at the wolf sanctuary that is something he is very passionate about. That was the one time his tone changed and became very serious. He went on about the sanctuary and how sometimes humans can be irresponsible with what they think is "cool" by having wolf-dog hybrids and how that is worse for these poor animals. There was passion there.  
  • GRRM is describing the maesters and how he wanted them to have a lot of flower knowledge and to be very clean. 
  • Then someone at my table told him I like his story Meathouse Man and he turned to me and told me I was a freak!!! And laughed and then told me how he came about writing Meathouse Man and it was cool.  I am also a writer and could appreciate the writing process down to the editor and publisher. 
  • At The dinner, his assistant Joanna told me his other assistant who does the artwork for some of the graphic novels said she was working on something "super secret". And then when George was at my table a little later, he told me that he was working on more stories that included Bloodraven in them. I was first excited for the possibility of She-wolves of Winterfell in the D&E stories, but then I was like duh, it's probably Winds and his art assistant was working on something else. 
  • My first “big” question I asked was, “who has a better chance of getting together, and that there is no right or wrong answer to this (hahahaha), Jon and Val or me and Bloodraven.”
    • That is when he laughed and said I was weird and then said, "Bloodraven is half a tree," to which I replied, "So? I’m a gardener and the wood jokes write themselves."
    • Then he paused, took a minute to think, and told me he is writing more with Bloodraven in it (to which I died ) 
    • Then he paused again and said "Jon and Val, huh? That would make a good fit." 
  •  My other “big” question to him was about my Targ/Non-Targ theory.
    • Curiously enough, when I asked him at the Thursday dinner about my Targ/Non-Targ first born babies, he replied "interesting", then told me, "you know alot". 
    • He did not say "no," as he often does when something is just plain wrong, but instead, he asked more questions. He also took my note card and looked at what I had written (to not forget under pressure).
    •  GRRM then started to diverge the conversation in to the Blood&Fire book, and that he would have to "go back and look at his notes." Regarding my Targ theory. This may be a way he avoids answering questions that could be spoilers.

GRRM/ John Picacio interview Saturday, May 28, 2016:

•  The interview ended a few minutes ago and GRRM did make mention at how when you see actors at other cons, which are considered shows as opposed to fan conventions, that the guests and show actors are there because they are paid (does that equal employee?) There were a few other subtle tidbits in there as well and if this convention gets a video of the interview up, then it will be towards the end.
•  George just answered the Picacio question, “What part of Kong are you working on right now?’,  and GRRM answered that he was working on a Cersei chapter when he left home the other day and he still has a ways to go.  
• He is probably closer than he thinks because when he wrote Game, he thought 1200-1500 pages wasn’t enough and it was his editor that told him to scale it back to the now finished size. However, GRRM did add, “I still have a ways to go. I shouldn’t be here right now…”
• Fan fiction: GRRM and Picacio both made the joke about "you need to pay the artist" and such regarding general fan fiction. And then GRRM said he has issued some sub-licenses to things like art and games, etc. GRRM also mentioned that HBO owns the rights to the exact likenesses of the tv version of the story, meaning, no art can be made where Dany looks like Emilia (his example given). He was very careful in avoiding a real link in feeling between him and HBO even though he was asked about it twice. Then GRRM mentioned, and Picacio joined in, how GRRM knew the show would overtake the books. Not too much new. 
  • GRRM did say how he hates when movies stray too far from the books. 
• An audience member asked GRRM, “As the Game of Thrones TV series moves farther away from the book, has this changed or done anything to your views on fan fiction?
  • GRRM’s Reply: “No. I continue to be opposed to fan fiction because it’s copyright infringement. HBO, of course, gets around this by paying me large dump trucks full of money. So, if you would like to arrive in front of my house with a large dump truck full of money, I may consider allowing you to do some fan fiction. But I won’t consider it fan fiction then. I would consider it a sub-license. I make many sub-licenses to people who do games and card games and coins, etcetera. But Harlan Ellison always had this rule that he has been very vocal about over the years. You can find his diatribe about it on YouTube. And I think John also feels (one must) pay the artist, because this is how we make our living.”

Liars Panel Sunday, May 29, 2016:

 

• The Liars panel is hilarious. GRRM just admitted he once received a nipple piercing gift certificate as a gift and that he knows all the words to Petticoat junction and he just sang a bit  

Book signing Sunday, May 29, 2016:

• Since I was at the donation dinner I had a very low number to get my book signed. I was #6.
• When I approached GRRM he remembered me right away from the donation dinner. We talked for a minute and he really liked my Bloodraven “fan” t-shirt I have printed up special for the signing. He once again told me I was, “weird,” and, "nobody likes Bloodraven." 
• I had GRRM sign the one art page in Knight of Seven Kingdoms book that shows Bloodraven (notice the theme of my personal favorite here?). He also signed the inside cover of my book = two signatures in one book !!!!

Martin reads Damphair! Sunday, May 29, 2016:

• Not much to add here that you have not already seen online by now. 
• George gave the option of the Arya/Mercy chapter, a chapter fromthe new Blood & Fire book or Damphair. The crowd overwhelmingly chose Damphair.

Kaffeeklatsch (Coffee Talk) Monday, May 30, 2016:

• My Con Friend and I attended a kaffeeklatsch (coffee talk) with George and about 8 other people. It lasted about an hour and a half in a very small, private room that overlooked Baltimore's inner harbor (interpret that as you will). I do have a recording of the talk, but can't get the file small enough to share easily. I did start to take written notes as he said certain things as to not forget the specific phrasing. 
• The funny stuff: 
  • The two tables were pulled close together and GRRM sat in the middle of the two with me on his right, and Con Friend in front of him. We almost did not make it in because the sign-up was limited and there was zero information to be found on how and where to sign up. We had a leprechaun on our side that morning. 
  • At one point during a book recommendation, George started talking about sword fighting and how Hollywood gets it wrong. At this point he was physically demonstrating how to hold and wield a sword or shield. He then held both of his hands up and pretended he had two swords. This was all during his talking points about how Hollywood is very inaccurate at sword fighting. Well, during his physical demonstration at how clumsy holding two swords would be, he accidentally bumped my foot and and uncrossed my legs for a brief second. He never said "two swords looks awful", but it was odd and curious how he decided to pretend he had two swords to demonstrate his point. (I am never washing my foot again!!! ) 
  • The books or authors he recommended were The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (that may just be the show name based on the books), and the book Aspects of the Novel. 
• The serious stuff: 
  • My con friend asked about the Jon/Arya relationship again and brought her (impressive) Game book that had all of her references marked out with little flags. She brought up the Ygritte connections to Arya that Jon saw in her. George did not directly answer yes or no if there would be anything romantic between the two. 
  • George did say, despite what readers see as clues to a romantic relationship between Jon/Arya in the books themselves, he did not confirm this so easily but inferred that what Jon saw in Ygritte was a comfort level of femininity. <<<  She and I obviously discussed these comments after the meeting and this was the general feeling.
  • My con friend was referring to George explaining Jon's perception: GRRM replied, "You know, I don't think it's a reference for that [for romance]. It's a reference to a certain physical type, and  a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It's like someone who reminds you of, you know... Other people might be put off by this, you know, hair that looks like small rodents have been living in there. It doesn't put him off because he is used to that."
  • The Outline: George said he was "pissed" that the outline was posted in the office building and that someone took photos and shared them. He said it was a letter for him and the publisher only. He was very firm when telling this and it showed on his face. 
    • He then said that he is not good with writing outlines, making book deadlines, and that often in outlines he was "making shit up", and "characters changed along the way". Side note: I know he said other things in past interviews, so interpret this as you will. * “quoted” words are his words exactly. 
    • He went straight from talking about the references in the actual books, to the "differences" in the outline from then to now. He did say that he still knows who sits the iron throne and the end game of the main 5, but also included Sansa, but did not give any details (for obvious reasons).
  • I asked him about my Bran/Wood dancers/Pinocchio theory. I pointed out the seemingly heavy influence Pinocchio has in the Bran storyline and he replied, "Interesting."  He asked if I saw the Disney movie because that is his "favorite" Disney movie and how "dark and disturbing" it is. 
    • He asked if I ever read the book. I answered "yes, as a kid and I love the movie too." He said he never read the original story... but then two or three sentences later he talked about the differences in the book to movie and gave quotes and examples from the book story?!?! 
    • George mentioned how Pinocchio at the time, did not want a conscience and smashed the cricket for trying to give him one.  He started to relate Bran to Pinocchio when someone cut in. 
    • I do believe this was some sort of diversionary tactic because I may have been on to something. And then as he paused and was thinking of the next part of his answer, some other woman cut in to ask about how Shakespeare influenced him. (By the way, this Shakespeare question was asked at least two other times at public discussion panels already ) 

After the Coffee Talk just outside the room:

• My Con Friend asked about Arya and Jon again. This time GRRM gave some very pointed replies:
  • Friend: Ok, if you foreshadowed something in the first book, like, really cleverly hidden, would you then follow through on that hint? For sure?.. GRRM: "Well, this goes with what I said before, the story changes and expands as I write. I wish I was able to go back and make revised drafts, but that's not going to happen."
• GRRM finished (in the hallway now) by saying that he "wished some past things weren't such strong foreshadowing," and that he, "wished some new things had stronger foreshadowing then." 

Here is a transcript of the outline discussion and Jon/Arya portion of the coffee talk:

• [question about Jon/Arya]

  GRRM: "Alright, you've thought about this more than I have. I mean it's simple, Jon is very fond of Arya. They were the two odd birds in the Stark family nest, here. They didn't quite fit in with the others, they look like each other, they both had the brown hair, you know, as opposed to the auburn hair of Sansa and Bran and Rickon and Robb. So there was always that closeness between them. And, you know, Arya didn't mind that Jon was a bastard, and Jon didn't mind that Arya was a tomboy, so there is that closeness there."

  [question about Jon comparing his lover to his sister]

  GRRM: "If he did it, uhm... I began writing these books in 1991, and, uhm, I worked on it in 91 and then I got a tv play, so I put it aside to really work on 'Doorways' tv pilot and did a tv show in 92-93. In 94 I returned to it [the books] and worked on it. You know, up till then, in my career as a writer, I'd always written the entire book before I opted for sale. That's unusual. Most writers do chapters and an outline. They write a few chapters, they outline the rest of the book, give that to the publisher and the publisher says 'oh okay, I'll take that'.

  "As some of you may have noticed, those who have been paying very, very carefully attention, I'm not good with deadlines. And, uh, and I'm not good with outlines, either. I always hated outlines. So with Fevre Dream and with Armageddon Rag and with Dying of the Light and all my novels, I wrote the entire book. I didn't do chapters and outline. I sat down, I wrote a whole book, and I sent it to my agent and said 'Look, here's a whole book, and it's finished'. That way I ran into no deadline, it was finished before it even went on the market. And it worked well for me. And my initial thought was to do this the same way, but what happened, you know, was in 1994, uhm, when I returned to it and I'm working on it and I'm very enthused about it and I say 'I really wanna write these Game of Thrones books as the next part'. But I was still in hollywood and I'd just lost all this groundwork on 'Doorways', I was still in... The studios and networks still wanna work with me, so I'm getting other offers, like 'We want you to write this movie', 'we want you to do another tv pilot'. And, you know, I took a couple of them and was 'Oh god, I gotta have to put the book away again'. Cause I have no deadline [for the book]. You know, when you think Hollywood, they will give you a deadline, you know, they say 'here, son, write this movie, we want it in three months'. 

  "So, I said 'look, if I wanna get back to being a novelist, I'm gonna have to sell this even though it's not finished'. So I had my 200 pages of Game of Thrones at that point, but they wanted outline. I said 'I don't do outlines. I don't know what's gonna happen, I figure it out as I go. And that's how I always did it.' No, we had to have an outline. So I wrote two pages, a two-page thing about what I thought would happen. It'll be a trilogy, it'll be three books, Game of Thrones, the Dance with Dragons, and Winds of Winter. Those were the three window titles. And, uh, it'll be three books and this'll happen, and this'll happen, and this'll happen. And I was making up shit.

  "And I had thought that those two pages were long forgotten, because, of course, the books did sell. They sold in the United States and in Great Britain, both. They sold for enough money that I didn't have to take any more Hollywood games. So I was able to say 'no' around. I had a few less [?] to wind up in in 94 and 95. Once I had, I said 'no, I don't want any more movies or tv shows, I'm going to write these books now'. And I started writing the books. And in the process, I pretty much disregarded the outline. The characters took me off in entirely different directions. So, for 20 years I had forgotten that that two-page thing even existed. And then someone in my British publisher, HarperCollins, they got a new office building, uh, brand new offices, and new conference rooms, big conference rooms that they decorated with books and stuff like that. And they named the conference rooms after the writers, so one of the conference rooms [?], and they put up these plastic display cases, including the outline. The two-page outline, yes. [?], they didn't ask my permission, they just put it up. And in that two-page outline, Jon and Arya become a romantic item."

  [question about the hints for Jon/Arya in the second and third book, the comparing Ygritte and Arya, which wouldn't be there if GRRM had made up the romance for the outline]

  "You know, I don't think it's a reference for that [for romance]. It's a reference to a certain physical type, and  a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It's like someone who reminds you of, you know... Other people might be put off by this, you know, hair that looks like small rodents have been living in there. It doesn't put him off because he is used to that.""

  [someone says they have 5 minutes left]
   
  "You know, I was pretty pissed that that outline got out there. It should not have happened. Outlines and letters like that are meant only for the eyes of the editor. They shouldn't go on public display. And, uh, they also [?] my papers on [?], all my papers and correspondence. You know, I've been sending that stuff there for years, and it'd be, you know, available for future scholars or whatever, just like the papers of many other writers. Somehow, in the back of my head I was like 'yeah, 20 years after I'm dead some scholar will go in and find them'. They're going in right now!"   "    

  
  [question if he is still going with the 1991 ending]

  "Yes, I mean, I did partly joke when I said I don't know where I was going. I know the broad strokes, and I've known the broad strokes since 1991. I know who's going to be on the Iron Throne. I know who's gonna win some of the battles, I know the major characters, who's gonna die and how they're gonna die, and who's gonna get married and all that. The major characters. Of course along the way I made up a lot of minor characters, you know, I, uhm...Did I know in 1991 how Bronn, what was gonna happen to Bronn? No, I didn't even know there'd be a guy named Bronn. I was inventing him along the way when I was writing, 'Okay, he gets kidnapped. Let's see, there are a couple sellswords there, their names are Fred and Bronn'. 
  "It was actually Bronn and Chicken, and then one of them dies, I flipped a coin 'okay, who dies? Chicken dies, cause his name is stupid. Bronn is a better name, so I'll keep Bronn'. And then Bronn became quite an interesting character and plenty of these characters take on minds of their own. They push to the front till you [?] speech and you think of a cool line and you give it to Bronn because he's trying to talk, and now Bronn is somebody who says something cool. [?]. That's how characters grow on you. 
  "So a lot of the minor characters I'm still discovering along the way. But the mains-"  

  [question if he knows Arya's and Jon's fates]

  "Tyrion, Arya, Jon, Sansa, you know, all of the Stark kids, and the major Lannisters, yeah."

 

[Vaedys Targaryen]

I would ask a few question about Valyria.

Like how were inheritance laws? What standing did women have in their society? At what age was a person considered an adult? What education did people receive? They were a freehold, how did they agree to do certain things together? What customs or traditions did they have (ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, festivals, entertainment, etc.)? Who were their gods and what did each god and goddess represent? Did their gods have animal forms, human forms, the ability to change into both or maybe a mixture of both?

 

But here are a few questions I have about Westeros:

1. What really happened to Rhaenys, when Meraxes was shot down?

2. What was in the letter given to Aegon by Deria?

3. Why do some Daynes have certain Valyrian features?

4. Are the Targaryens mad because of circumstances in their lives or by birth?

[chrisdaw]

Quote

 

[question about Jon/Arya]

GRRM: "Alright, you've thought about this more than I have.

 

Says a hell of a lot right there.

[Lord Varys]

5 hours ago, Vaedys Targaryen said:

I would ask a few question about Valyria.

Like how were inheritance laws? What standing did women have in their society? At what age was a person considered an adult? What education did people receive? They were a freehold, how did they agree to do certain things together? What customs or traditions did they have (ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, festivals, entertainment, etc.)? Who were their gods and what did each god and goddess represent? Did their gods have animal forms, human forms, the ability to change into both or maybe a mixture of both?

We actually do know the answer to the last question. Pretty much all gods were worshiped in Valyria but the dragonlords were atheists/non-religious like all the smarter/more educated people in Martinworld are.

In general we also do know that land can be bought and sold and holdings can be inherited.

 

[Illyrio Mo'Parties]

13 minutes ago, chrisdaw said:

Says a hell of a lot right there.

Lerl... but to defend GRRM for a change, I believe the question was whether or not Jon and Arya would bone. Being, in this respect at least, a normal person, and consequently not wishing to construct a happy ending where the star-crossed lovers are brother and sister, he has therefore not spent a lot of time thinking about that possibility.

Edit: although I do recall that's what was in the outline, so I guess he ain't that normal.

[chrisdaw]

55 minutes ago, Illyrio Mo'Parties said:

Lerl... but to defend GRRM for a change, I believe the question was whether or not Jon and Arya would bone.

It's telling because Jon and Arya shippers have concocted all this evidence for the pairing that they believe is interwoven in the text rather than misguidedly derived from their hopes and dreams.

[Lady Blizzardborn]

What was Jaehaerys I and Alyssane's First Quarrel about?

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

1 . Have you changed your mind about fan fiction ?

2. What was the Stark sword Ice made of ? Bronze ? Iron ? Steel ? or star metal?

3.What happen to Brandon Snow ?

4. IF  the true Stark male line ended with Brandon the daughterless , what was the name of the Stark lord branch member that ties back to the original line ?

5 .Did the Stark heir ever marry a Bolton daughter ?

6.The Manderleys knew that both Bran and Rickon was alive , since Bran is older , Bran is his liege lord , so why didn't they ask for Bran?

 

[crowcrow]

On February 29, 2016 at 2:09 AM, The Fattest Leech said:

"You know, I don't think it's a reference for that [for romance]. It's a reference to a certain physical type, and  a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It's like someone who reminds you of, you know... Other people might be put off by this, you know,

On February 29, 2016 at 2:09 AM, The Fattest Leech said:

After the Coffee Talk just outside the room:
1.    My friend asked about Arya and Jon again. This time GRRM gave some very pointed replies:
a.    Friend: Ok, if you foreshadowed something in the first book, like, really cleverly hidden, would you then follow through on that hint? For sure?.. GRRM: Well, this goes with what I said before, the story changes and expands as I write. I wish I was able to go back and make revised drafts, but that's not giong to happen. (He said way more than this, but this summarizes it. ) 
2.    She asks about the hints for Jon/Arya in the second and third book, the comparing Ygritte and Arya, which wouldn't be there if GRRM had made up the romance for the outline.
a.    "You know, I don't think it's a reference for that [for romance]. It's a reference to a certain physical type, and  a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It's like someone who reminds you of, you know... Other people might be put off by this, you know, hair that looks like small rodents have been living in there. It doesn't put him off because he is used to that."" 
b.    GRRM finished (in the hallway now) by saying that he "wished some past things weren't such strong foreshadowing," and that he "wished some new things had stronger foreshadowing then." 

 

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN ?????? is he denying it or???

[Ralphis Baratheon]

3 hours ago, RevaM said:

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN ?????? is he denying it or???

Is it really that important to you that Jon ends up with Arya? There is a chance that neither of them will end up with anyone or in Jon's case anyone else. Jon might have to marry for political reasons if it's revealed that it wouldn't be inappropriate for him to end up with Arya in the first place. Meaning that if R+L=J is real and becomes known to everyone then lots of Ladies of the realm will be out for his dragon sperm.

[crowcrow]

Just now, Ralphis Baratheon said:

Is it really that important to you that Jon ends up with Arya? There is a chance that neither of them will end up with anyone or in Jon's case anyone else. Jon might have to marry for political reasons if it's revealed that it wouldn't be inappropriate for him to end up with Arya in the first place. Meaning that if R+L=J is real and becomes known to everyone then lots of Ladies of the realm will be out for his dragon sperm.

this is going to be long so please bear with me.

First of all yes, it is important to me since there's been so many foreshadowings regarding the two that are just very hard to ignore and it would very very very anticlimactic if nothing absolutely happened between them. they think of each other all the time and its obvious how much they love each other. and there so many posts about it with all the proves and and quotes  and I'm not planning to recite everything all over again. One thing that pisses me about George's reply is how he nonchalantly answered about the way jon compared yggrite's body to arya's...like...he expects us to believe that its out of pure admiration or whatever. i love my brother a lot,i really do, but not like that. if i compared my love interest's body (with whom i about who have sex with) to my brother's then i might as well put back my clothes on and visit a psychiatrist because that is not how people should view a sibling. 

second of all their romance was a big thing in the original outline and George has said it himself many times that he's sticking to his 1991s original ending. but then he says that he forgot that the outline even existed which contradicts to what he previously said. 

Besides, Jon is Rhaegar's son after all and Rhaegar himself chose love over duty.and jon got killed for the same reason. he died for Arya and there is nothing you can do to disprove this fact. so i believe if jon/arya did happen then they would marry for love rather than for duty/politics. And we don't know if he even becomes a king or not. maybe he abdicates his right to the iron throne, maybe he returns to the wall to reconstruct the wall and the night's watch, or maybe he'll die(though i find it hard to believe that since he is one of the big 5 characters. big 6 if you include sansa)

plus, R+L=J just makes it easy for jon and arya because then they are considered as cousins rather than siblings. and don't get me started with the whole Westermarck effect. not everyone is affected by it. Look at Jaimie and Cercei, they still did the do despite them being siblings. and grrm doesn't shy away from such things. so yeah. that's my point

 

[Ralphis Baratheon]

1 hour ago, RevaM said:

this is going to be long so please bear with me.

First of all yes, it is important to me since there's been so many foreshadowings regarding the two that are just very hard to ignore and it would very very very anticlimactic if nothing absolutely happened between them. they think of each other all the time and its obvious how much they love each other. and there so many posts about it with all the proves and and quotes  and I'm not planning to recite everything all over again. One thing that pisses me about George's reply is how he nonchalantly answered about the way jon compared yggrite's body to arya's...like...he expects us to believe that its out of pure admiration or whatever. i love my brother a lot,i really do, but not like that. if i compared my love interest's body (with whom i about who have sex with) to my brother's then i might as well put back my clothes on and visit a psychiatrist because that is not how people should view a sibling. 

second of all their romance was a big thing in the original outline and George has said it himself many times that he's sticking to his 1991s original ending. but then he says that he forgot that the outline even existed which contradicts to what he previously said. 

Besides, Jon is Rhaegar's son after all and Rhaegar himself chose love over duty.and jon got killed for the same reason. he died for Arya and there is nothing you can do to disprove this fact. so i believe if jon/arya did happen then they would marry for love rather than for duty/politics. And we don't know if he even becomes a king or not. maybe he abdicates his right to the iron throne, maybe he returns to the wall to reconstruct the wall and the night's watch, or maybe he'll die(though i find it hard to believe that since he is one of the big 5 characters. big 6 if you include sansa)

plus, R+L=J just makes it easy for jon and arya because then they are considered as cousins rather than siblings. and don't get me started with the whole Westermarck effect. not everyone is affected by it. Look at Jaimie and Cercei, they still did the do despite them being siblings. and grrm doesn't shy away from such things. so yeah. that's my point

 

I was just curious is all. There is no denying they are both each other's favorite people in the world. You'll get no disagreement from me there, though whether this is because they have romantic feelings for each other or not I don't know. Wasn't Arya only 9 when they last saw each other and Jon was almost 15? Now that doesn't mean anything other then it would be weird if Jon had an attraction to her then.