Merging Threads

[Winter's Breath]

GRMM stated that he can finally start bringing the many story lines back together, and thus kill off some of the points of views that will become redundant. This is necessary to wrap the books up in two volumes and no doubt more favorites need to die, as in the brilliantly tragic nature of the books. 

So far, we have 5 POV in slavers bay, with Daenerys, Ser Barrrison, Victarion, Tyrion, and Quenton. The Sun's sun is probably dead, but I wouldn't be surprised if two or even three of these others die some point in the next book. Unless Ashai or Valyria is introduced, I don't see why we need any more than 1 POV. 

We have 5 POV in the north: Jon, Davos, Theon, Asha, and Melisandre. Five is not necessary to resolve: White Harbor, crypts of winterfel, Skagos and Rickon, Staniss, Ramsey, the wall. There needed to be lots to introduce so much over a broad area, but after the battle for winterfel I think we only need two, and by the end of the book only Jon, (who may not resurrect until ADoS) and perhaps Melisandre (SHOW SPOILER: she would not be still alive unless she is still very important) will be alive. The other three are dead.

We have Sansa in the Vale, Cersi in KL, Griff and Arianne Martell in the stromlands, Sam in Old Town, Aeron with the Iron Islands, Jamie and Berienne in the river lands, and Areo in Dorne. Big distances separate these character, and we still have many plots to uncover and weave, (Casterly Rock, wolf armies, Citadel politics, Leyton Hightower, the Blackfish, the god's eye, Dawn; to name a few) But no doubt many will be resolved. I could see GRMM shortening the cast, leaving 4 or 5 instead of nine at the end of winds. 

Then there is Arya and Bran who fit in their own categories and will be alive for a while yet. 

That leaves us with: 1 + 2 + 5 + 2 which is 10. Ten is a lot to wrap up in the last book. Some may live at the end of all this. But I think next book will be the one that culls the cast. Thoughts?

 

[Curled Finger]

I like this topic and enjoyed some interesting conversation over in the Winds of Winter subforum.   Yes, I agree our POV pool will be cut quite severely in TWOW.  And you've already lost Aeron who as it turns out, was not on the Iron Islands.    

I think that in order to really establish which POVs may be lost you have to look at which POVs are irreplaceable.   Certainly Jaime or Brienne could tell their tale.  Whereas I'm not so sure Theon and Asha can tell theirs without the unique or in this case, sane POV to counter.   

It's likely that Quentyn is dead and that Victarion is probably not long for Slavers Bay.    Dany, Tyrion and Barristan POVs all serve the Mereen battle to come.    Once the battle is done someone should probably stick around to rule things in Dany's stead.   Maybe, maybe not.  In any case Tyrion and Dany are certainly major characters and I would expect them both to continue telling the story as seen through their eyes. 

There is a lot going on in Dorne and the neighboring Stormlands.   Certainly the majority of both stories can be told from Arienne's POV.  However, Jon Connington is the only character who can give us real insight into greyscale, which may play largely in the future tale.   And there are those mysterious Daynes who need to be explained.   Perhaps once Dawn and the Daynes come to light there may be no need for Areo?  

Sandsnakes in Kings Landing--but how many and for how long?    We will need to get Cersei's extraordinary insight into the battles in the North, Reach and Storm's End as well as her own trial.  Then what?   Could Jon Connington or Arienne Martell become our POV in Kings Landing?   Will either of them last that long?   

Who knows if Euron's campaign will be successful in the Reach?  Given the latest information Euron should rack up some early wins.   Why would Sam stay at the Citadel under those conditions?   Whatever it is that Sam needs to learn should be learned fairly quickly allowing him to go to his next destination.   There is little chance Sam will be allowed to revel in that library for long.   He will have to head somewhere, but he's got access to glass candles which may make him a sort of omniscient POV wherever he heads.   

I didn't mean to go on and on location by location and will mercifully stop here.   There are places where we have no POV, like Winterfell.   I'm personally very interested in the happenings within those walls.  I'm not particularly excited about Mel being the only eyes we have on the Wall.  It's time for characters to intersect and join and all start getting to where they need to be, which in my humble opinion is North.   It's not unreasonable to expect Sam and/or Bran to be able to tell entire chunks of the story where there is no character POV.   At any rate, my own endgame predictions leave 3 characters alive, so I thank you for your generous offering of 10 surviving POVs.   Good luck with this topic as it's fascinating and a lot of fun to speculate upon.