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The Winds of Winter: The latest info (updated 10 July 2022)


Werthead
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The Winds of Winter is the sixth volume of A Song of Ice and Fire. It is currently planned to be the penultimate volume of the series, to be followed by A Dream of Spring. George R.R. Martin has not ruled out expending the series to eight books if it proves necessary. There is no date set for completion or publication at this time.

According to Martin, both Winter and Spring will likely be around 1,500 manuscript (MS) pages in length, similar to A Storm of Swords (1,521 MS pages) and A Dance with Dragons (1,510 MS pages). This works out at roughly 420,000 words. It is possible that the book will be shorter if Martin finds more satisfying, earlier break points in the narrative for each character arc. Based on the previous volumes, the book cannot be much longer, as at that point the book will need to be split in half. However, given the dramatic increase in the popularity of the series since A Dance with Dragons was published, it may be possible to make the book somewhat longer.

In June 2013, GRRM indicated that he had completed approximately one-quarter of the novel. This would be around 375 MS pages of completed material with an unknown further amount in drafts and rough chapters. This is a very rough estimate, however.

In March 2014, Martin reported that The Winds of Winter has so far not required anything like the extensive rewrites and structural changes that A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons had required from very early on, and he was making better progress than he had with them. However, he did not put a figure on his progress.

In April 2015, Martin reported that he hopes to finish the book by the end of 2015 and get it on the shelves before Season 6 of Game of Thrones airs, which is expected to happen in April 2016. In the event, this did not transpire.

In April 2018, Martin confirmed that the book would not be released before the end of the year.

In June 2020, Martin gave his first substantive report on his progress in several years. He confirmed he was taking advantage of the pandemic lockdown in New Mexico to focus on the book and had completed several chapters and was writing more. He indicated a hope that The Winds of Winter would be completed by the summer of 2021.

In July 2022, Martin gave more substantive updates via his blog and a podcast interview with Game of Owns. He stated that the narrative of the novel has moved away from that shown in the final seasons of the television series Game of Thrones and that, although some things will remain similar, other things will be very different. Characters who survived the TV series will die in the books and characters who have died in the TV show will survive the books. He also reported being close to completing the chapters for several characters for the novel, including Tyrion. He also stated that the book will be longer than A Storm of Swords and A Dance with Dragons, "not 30 pages longer but closer to 300 pages longer." There is the possibility of the novel being split for publication, but if so his preference would be for the two halves to be published simultaneously.

Content
Approximately 100-200 MS pages of material was held back from the completion of A Dance with Dragons to kick-start The Winds of Winter. This material is believed to comprise:
 

Spoiler

The Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Meereen. GRRM has since said he is also planning to add a chapter about the Battle of Storm's End, which in his original plan would have happened entirely off-page.


The list of confirmed and known POV characters for the book so far consists of:

  • An unknown Prologue character
  • Arianne Martell
  • Arya Stark
  • Bran Stark
  • Sansa Stark
  • Aeron 'Damphair' Greyjoy
  • Barristan Selmy
  • Theon Greyjoy
  • Victarion Greyjoy
  • Tyrion Lannister
  • Cersei Lannister
  • Daenerys Targaryen
  • Areo Hotah
  • Asha Greyjoy
  • Jaime Lannister
  • Brienne of Tarth

Martin has confirmed that there will be no new POV characters in The Winds of Winter (aside from the traditional one-off prologue character), for the first time in the series.

 

Released Chapters

Theon I

Arianne I

Barristan I

Tyrion II (available in the World of Ice and Fire App)

Mercy (Arya I)

Alayne (Sansa I)

 

Chapters Read at Conventions

Arianne II

Victarion I

Tyrion I

Barristan II

 

Chapters Mentioned/Known to Exist

Aeron I

Daenerys I

Bran I

Prologue

In addition it is assumed that most, if not all, of the POV characters who survived A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons will return. These will consist of Melisandre, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Samwell Tarly and, assuming he survived the events of the prior novel, Jon Snow.

The book will have a prologue (like the other five volumes) but we do not know if it will have an epilogue.

From an interview with EW's Shelf Life website, George indicates what storylines will likely feature in the next book:
 

Spoiler

He indicates that Mago, a minor Dothraki character in A Game of Thrones who joins Khal Jhaqo when Drogo's khalasar splinters apart, will play a notable role, presumably in Daenerys' storyline. Mago is killed off in the HBO TV series. GRRM told the producers that Mago would have a larger role later on but they proceeded with killing him off regardless.

GRRM also confirms that Osha will return in The Winds of Winter. ADWD hints that she and Rickon have taken refuge on the island of Skagos, and Davos Seaworth is going to try to find them.

The Prologue will feature Jeyne Westerling, but not necessary as the POV character.

The Sand Snakes will feature "heavily".

Highgarden will appear and Willas and Garlan Tyrell will play a role. Casterly Rock may also play a role, although that may not be until the final book.

Daenerys returning to Westeros was at one point going to be the dominant storyline of the penultimate volume of the storyline. However, it is unclear if this is still the plan.

Nymeria's wolf pack will become important in one of the last two books.

The mystery of Jon Snow's parentage will be answered in either the last book or the one before it.

Martin would not confirm Jon's fate, although general comments he has made suggest that Jon's story may not entirely be done. He has said that there will be important events happening at the Wall and beyond, with us learning more about the Lands of Always Winter.


List of Updates
29 June 2013:
After two years, it appears that GRRM has completed roughly one-quarter of The Winds of Winter. However, GRRM has said that the relatively slow rate of progress is down to his time being taken up by a large number of other projects he took on in a fit of optimism after completing ADWD. These projects included The Lands of Ice and Fire map collection, The World of Ice and Fire guide book and the anthologies Dangerous Women, Rogues, Down These Strange Streets, Old Mars and Old Venus. This, combined with PR work for the HBO TV series, has left him with less time to work on TWoW than he'd wish, though he has continued to work on it when possible. As of early 2013, these side-projects have mostly been completed, with GRRM's remaining projects comprising solely TWoW, a Wild Cards book and a final polish on The World of Ice and Fire (which is tentatively scheduled to be published in Spring 2014). This will allow him to concentrate almost all of his writing efforts exclusively on TWoW going forwards. GRRM has reiterated his intention to stay ahead of the HBO TV series, which may have to begin filming The Winds of Winter material as early as 2015 (and A Dream of Spring possibly a year later), and has suggested it might be possible for him to finish the book by the end of 2014 with a good head of steam, but this was not a firm estimate.

26 January 2014:

George R.R. Martin's UK editor, Jane Johnson, has confirmed that The Winds of Winter will not be published in 2014, but that late 2015 remains a possibility.

28 March 2014:

GRRM reports that so far The Winds of Winter has not required anything like the rewriting and edits that were required by the previous two novels. Although this raised fans' optimism that the book would be finished relatively quickly, Martin was careful not to put any figures on his progress or expected completion date.

27 July 2014:

GRRM confirms he will not be writing a script for Season 5 of Game of Thrones, nor commit to any further travels or appearances, until TWoW is done. It is unclear if he will still be writing a script for Season 6, which would be required in early 2015.

8 January 2015:

The Wars and Politics of Westeros blog pulls together the extant information on TWoW. Jane Johnson again confirms that The Winds of Winter is not presently on the publication schedule for 2015.

4 April 2015:

GRRM has said that he hopes to finish the book by 2015 and get it on the shelves by the time Season 6 of the TV show airs (in April 2016). He cautions that he might be being over-optimistic, but notes that he is clearing his decks of other commitments to finish the novel ASAP.

26 April 2018:

GRRM has confirmed that Fire and Blood, a book consisting of material he wrote for The World of Ice and Fire in 2012 but had to be cut and summarised for reasons of space, will be released in November 2018. The Winds of Winter will not be coming "this year."

23 June 2020:

GRRM confirms that he has spent time writing material for Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan and Areo Hotah, and is in the middle of writing material for Arya Stark. He indicates that the book is "huge" and that it will not be completed imminently, but he hopes to finish it by the summer of 2021.

10 July 2022:

Updates from GRRM's blog and Game of Owns.

This post will be updated as additional info comes in.

Edited by Werthead
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I think we'll have it in 2-3 years. With the mounting popularity (and, I'm sure, cash) of the HBO series, it makes sense for him to bang them out.

Which may or may not be a good thing. Inspiration is not aided by a schedule and rushing things can lead to things feeling unpolished. On the other hand, it's true that overthinking and reviewing a text too many times can be detrimental to quality as well.

On a completely separate note, while the title 'The Winds of Winter' sounds alright and all, I can't help but think it would have been much cooler if it had been titled 'The Wolves of Winter' instead. Though, it may just be my bias towards the Stark kids. :rolleyes:

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This may be wishful thinking, but I think he will be done all 8 (yes 8) books by 2017.

With the success of the first season of GoT HBO will be putting the pressure on to keep the series going (pressure=financial incentives). Which means GRRM will need to have each book out at least a year before that season of the series commences.

GoT Season 2 (CoK) – 2012

GoT Season 3 (ASoS) – 2013

GoT Season 4 (AFfC) – 2014

GoT Season 5 (ADwD) – 2015

GoT Season 6 (WoW) – 2016

GoT Season 7 (ADoS) – 2017

Got Season 8 (8th Book) – 2018

Which means the 8th book would need to be released in 2017. Book 6, 2013, Book 7 2015. That’s 2 years between books, which he was able to do between CoK and ASoS in Nov 1998 and August 2000.

This assumes a few things about HBO:

1. One season per book

2. No Hiatuses (or is it hiati…)

3. The series will actually continue.

So…yes, I am hopeful that GRRM can knock out 3 books in 6 years (while still recognizing it took him 6 years for this last book)

You can do it George- knock em out.

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This may be wishful thinking, but I think he will be done all 8 (yes 8) books by 2017.

With the success of the first season of GoT HBO will be putting the pressure on to keep the series going (pressure=financial incentives). Which means GRRM will need to have each book out at least a year before that season of the series commences.

GoT Season 2 (CoK) – 2012

GoT Season 3 (ASoS) – 2013

GoT Season 4 (AFfC) – 2014

GoT Season 5 (ADwD) – 2015

GoT Season 6 (WoW) – 2016

GoT Season 7 (ADoS) – 2017

Got Season 8 (8th Book) – 2018

Which means the 8th book would need to be released in 2017. Book 6, 2013, Book 7 2015. That’s 2 years between books, which he was able to do between CoK and ASoS in Nov 1998 and August 2000.

This assumes a few things about HBO:

1. One season per book

2. No Hiatuses (or is it hiati…)

3. The series will actually continue.

So…yes, I am hopeful that GRRM can knock out 3 books in 6 years (while still recognizing it took him 6 years for this last book)

You can do it George- knock em out.

While I agree that GRRM will be pressured and more than likely will want to release his story before the HBO version, I don't think SOS and onward will be one book = one season. So GRRM will more than likely have a little more time. I'll say the complete saga will be done by 2017 if it's two more books easy, maybe 2019 if it's three

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I've read somewhere that Storm of Swords will be split into two seasons, or extended by several episodes (16-20).

However, with the mounting expenses of each season, HBO may pull a Rome on us and cancel it after the second season.

Edited by Joni
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The odds are against this show seeing completion, but I promise you HBO won't pull a Rome unless Season 2 craps all over itself. HBO has acknowledged multiple times that cancelling Rome after Season 2 was a mistake. They won't do it to GOT. We'll get through SOS at least.

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I keep hearing 8 books now. Where is this coming from?

It's speculation based on where the series is after 5 books, how much still needs to be written about, and GRRM's ability to move the plot along in his last two books.

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[mod] The discussion here seems to be drifting somewhat. Please keep comments in this thread restricted to the timing of The Winds of Winter, as there are already threads elsewhere (in the TV section) whcih are more appropriate for the discussion of the correlation between previously published volumes and TV series season. Thank you. [/mod]

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all of GRRM's books are more than worth the wait; but read 2 comments on other sites that were worth sharing:

'...came to these books because of the HBO show. I cannot for the life of me imagine how people who have been reading these books from day one have managed to wait so long for each novel without going insane as the Mad King'

well, there's plenty of us that are more than a little insane but not enough to burn people for fun :wacko:

and there was another fan who 'loves the books but is a septuagenarian who hopes to enjoy the finale'

if that was my grandfather I would put any unread book in with him.

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The longest I waited for a book was eight years, and it was a pathetically written poor excuse of a book. Not really worth the paper it was printed on. It was as if the author had forgotten what she was writing about in the first place. (in fact, I'm quite convinced she has, because most of it did not make sense.)

If Winds of Winter is like DwD is turning out to be, he can take as much time as he likes. I will willingly send care packets if needs be, start a fund to support the author. Only I'm sure with this amount of fans and a TV series, he doesn't need any of that kind of help. Though I will defend the length of time to any fool who complains, as I have already. Because it's worth it, for a story like that, time is the least we can give.

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