[ADWD Spoilers] Speculation About the Winds of Winter

[Jeejee]

Go back to go forward, east to go west. Dany will have Drogon fire the fuck out of Khal Jhago, killing him. The rest of his clan will swear loyalty to Dany. The Dothraki respect strength. They’ll follow her back to Meereen, where Barristan will have locked shit down. She will spend her time there preparing to set sail for Westeros. Gathering her forces, whatnot.

She'll probably show up with more Dothraki than that. Consider this from the Undying:

Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed.

Sounds like she may get the allegiance of all the Dothraki, not just one khalasar.

[Auska]

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 only had about 3 months with Forel. Even if she's a prodigy, which does seem to be the case, that's nowhere near enough to become good. 3 years for good, 10 to be excellent. She's certainly better than your average peasant and possibly even better than your average untrained man-at-arms, but her strength thus far has been the element of surprise. In short, she'd be at the very most an apprentice level assassin when things start happening, given the time constraints.

[Auska]

Duplicate…

[Podrick + Arya = Win]

I doubt an apprentice and a new member like Arya will be entrusted with the assassination of either Cersei or Aegon or Daenerys.

[wolfbird]

I think Arya will end up leaving the FM before her training is finished, either because she decides to be Arya again or because they find out about her warging and kick her out for lying.

[Puck6275]

Arya cannot assassinate Cersei as the Faceless Men are not allowed to kill those whom they know, and Arya knows Cersei.

[Teabag]

A few predictions:

1. As per Bran's dream from the first book, Jaime and Sandor will fight Ser Robert Strong together. Whether or not this will be Cersei's trial remains to be seen. As a corollary, Jaime will somehow escape or defeat UnCat, and Sandor will turn out to be alive.

2. Jon will be reborn, freed from his vows in the Nights Watch and become AA/TPTWP. This will also allow him to be legitimised and assume the title of Lord of Winterfell, thereby destroying Ramsay's and Littlefinger's plans to claims the seat.

3. Young Griff turns out not to be Aegon (and I think the theory that he is actually the son of Illyrio is most likely correct) but will still have a vital part to the play in the story. The false dragon has been foreshadowed for a long time, and George wouldn't introduce such a game changing element to the story if it wasn't going to turn out to be essential to his long term plot.

[Fat Walda's Paramour]

1. I think I need to modify my prediction a little: "To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back, and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow." Ok, we've gone east, I think the going back refers to go Dany getting a khalassar, and at some point Dany has to go to Asshai. Maybe the north to south refers to Dany arriving up North, or heading up north after she lands on Dragonstone?

I think "go north you must journey south" means that when she goes to Westeroes she must first go south and take out her enemies in Kings Landing and claim the throne, then go North to face the real enemy: The Others.

[Fishay]

Predictions:

1. Prologue is through the eyes of somebody at Hardhome, either Cotter Pyke or the wildling leader woman. It will be an attack by Others and everybody will be slaughtered.

2. Then WoW will begin at the wall at the same time as Jon being stabbed at the end of ADwD. I think that as he is being stabbed, Watch members on the wall will blow the horn 3 times to signify an attack by Others. Before Jon is stabbed enough to actually kill him the horn interrupts them and he is taken away to safety by Mel, who heals him with her crazy magic. He gets exiled from the wall, and goes to Winterfell to serve as Rickon's regent. Jon will eventually come to fully trust Mel, but has to kill her in the end to forge Lightbringer. Her last words are "You know nothing Jon Snow". Epilogue somehow shows the Horn of Jorum knocking down the wall.

3. Young Griff will die towards the end of the novel, and his remaining forces are at a loss, until Dany arrives from Essos and they bow to her and give her a good foothold in the south.

4. And Theon will end up killing Ramsey Bolton somehow.

[Gus]

I got the feeling that Jon isn't clinically dead by the end of the book and just in a coma and that he will be going through something similar that Bran did with the help of Bran a d the three eyed crow. Mel might wake him up or he might die later and then be resurrected by Mel. I just think that the northern magic will be involved somehow.

[dunbarbw]

If Dany is going to bring a bunch of Dothraki she better hurry. If the Yunkai'i are tossing corpses into the city half her army will be dead of the bloody flux before she gets there.

[Sword of the Morning]

I think the battle for Winterfell and the battle for Meereen needs to be settled in the first 100 pages of Winds of Winter.

Jon's death will clear him out as a viewpoint for awhile until he needs to return . . . maybe for the last book. With him gone, hopefully the Others will break through the wall . . . likely with the help of the Horn of Joramung or something.

We need A LOT OF VIEWPOINTS from Arya, Sansa, and Bran to catch the fuck up. Bran will hopefully give the readers some clue about what the hell this story is even about since 5 books in we know exactly just as much about the Others and Rhllor as we did in book 1.

On the Lannister front, we need a situation where somehow Tommen and Myrcella are killed and then Cersei is killed by Jaime. I really don't know at this point whether Jaimie will live or die himself but I'm pretty certain he will be the one to kill Cersei himself. You can take that to the bank. This will hopefully finally clear the Lannisters from the table.

From there don't forget that SOME time and pages need to be addressed to the Citadel and Sam's role there, again to give some more info about the Others' origins and how to defeat them.

And finally we have Dorne whose position with Aegon and Connington's forces need to be clarified and advanced while word of Quentyn's death makes its way back from Meereen.

And on top of all that, we still have to go back to Dany since from a purely plot perspective her arc didn't really advance at all in Dance. She needs to meet Tyrion, Mormont, Victarion, Moquorro, and Marwyn still.

None of these things have to happen in one book but we need significant advancement because we DO want to give the Others and Dany and Jon and Rhllor etc some breathing room in that last book else all this build up for 78 pages of actual climax may feel a bit cheap.

[Faint]

My initial thoughts:

(1) Given the accuracy of the House of the Undying prophecies so far, it seems that Daenerys would necessarily have to be the one to put an end to "Aegon." It makes sense actually, because she is the only one possessing a sure-fire way of identifying Targaryens. I don't know if this happens in the next book, though.

(2) "Aegon" is the son of Illyrio and Sera; there were plenty of hints about this in the first four or five Tyrion chapters (i.e., "Mummer's dragon").

(3) Citing the House of the Undying prophecies again, Stannis can't actually be dead. That said, I do think he retreats to the Nightfort defeated and desperate. Selyse and Shireen will already be there, having abandoned Castle Black after all hell breaks loose following the assassination of Jon. Shireen has a limited time before she is offered to the fire. Stannis is on track to become the Night's King.

(4) Jon is obviously not dead; he's going to slip into Ghost and at some point, slip back into his own body. Much of this was foreshadowed. All this will probably be aided by Melisandre. One would think he will start trusting her, you know, after being completely right about the knives in the dark and saving his life and all. He also seems to be Azor Ahai, but I don't know what to make of that information. I suppose Ghost might be sacrificed in order to forge Lightbringer if only because I can't think of another worthy sacrifice -- unless Jon starts some sort of meaningful relationship with either Melisandre or Val, but in that case the sacrifice will happen much later.

(5) I have to think Theon and Asha will start an arc where they'll depose Euron so that Theon can claim his birthright. It seems implausible at the moment but this storyline has been too setup to simply drop at this point. Why bother with the Asha POVs in ADwD if not for this?

(6) The North seems to be coming together; Davos and Rickon; Manderly and his pies; the mountain clans, etc. All we need is an appearance by Howland Reed and everything is set to go. I think the Boltons are dead by the next book.

(7) Citing the Maggy the Frog prophecy, and my own belief that Jaime is the valonqar, I don't think Jaime will die. Difficult to say where his story will go. I do think Bran's dream in AGoT is suggestive though. Taking a wild stab in the dark, I think Jaime, the Hound, and Robert Strong will all converge in the Vale. Jaime having taken up Brienne's quest while Brienne is held hostage. Robert Strong on a mission for Cersei after the latter finds out where Sansa is. Going one step further, perhaps Illyrio and/or Varys hires the Faceless Men to assassinate Littlefinger and this is how Arya gets back to Westeros. Not too sure about any of these ideas though.

(8) Cersei wins her trial. As for Margaery . . . I can't help but think it would be perfect if Varys managed to get her convincted, thereby blowing up the Lannister and Tyrell alliance. In any case, Tommen has a limited life span. No set idea how this will come about although the Lady Nym angle looks promising. Regardless, I think Myrcella is crowned by the end of the book.

(9) I think Catelyn continues her successful campaign against the Freys. Riverrun will be taken. More hangings. Perhaps we even reach the conclusion to this story and everybody at the Twins are slaughtered. All this is told through Brienne's POV. I think eventually Brienne kills Catelyn, maybe at Catelyn's own request.

(10) Sam Tarly and Sarella Sand . . . no clue. One thing though, I think Sam has the Horn of Winter with him. And I also think the epilogue of the next book will be a random member of the Night's Watch at Castle Black as the Wall comes down. So make of that what you will. Jaqen H'ghar is also in Oldtown, perhaps searching for said horn.

(11) Daenerys, Tyrion, Victarion, Barristan: I'm not sure I care too much about the details. A combination of the four, with Daenerys obviously included, will make their way to Westeros. How that comes about, I've no idea, except I know that Tyrion won't die.

(12) Tyrion's father? Honestly, I'm not sure I care about that either at this point. It would be a little convenient though, if we had three Targaryens to ride three dragons. The mystery should be solved as soon as we see how the dragons react to Tyrion.

[BladeDancer]

Next book we will have some Skagos action. It will be great to see what this mysterious place is like. Also Rickon and Davos will meet up. Shaggydog will be really FIERCE!

Barristan Selmy will win the battle for Mereen. Tyrion and the Dornish will help as will Jorah. Victarion will probably appear in the middle of the battle too and this will increase the confusion.

Crunch will turn up alive! The Harpy will be revealed and the Slavers destroyed. Marwyb will turn up at some point too.

Dany will meet Victarion and get the Dragon Horn off him enabling her to control her dragons. I think she will be the only one able to blow the Horn and live. She will start moving towards Westeros with her allies who might contain some more Dothraki. Volantis will declare for Dany after a slave led rebellion backed by the Red Priests. This rebellion will mean that the Volantis fleet is pro Dany or if it anti Dany (ie left before the rebellion) then Victarion will destroy them or the Dragons will.

Sansa will ally herself with Shadrich and Mya Stone. She will reveal herself to the Vale and Littlefinger will be in deep sh1t. Various Vale lords will remember how much they liked Ned Stark when he was fostered there and help her out. Sansa will end up in a powerful role in the Vale as Robert Arryn really likes her.

Jon Snow will be saved from death. Probably by Melisandre. The Night's Watch will head out to Hardholme and rescue some of the Wildlings. Due to this the Wildlings will fully support the Night's Watch. The Others will appear but will not break through the Wall. Near the end of the book the Wall is breached and Others invade south.

Stannis will be rescued. Theon will let him know that Arya is fake and that Karstarks are working with the Boltons. Bolton's will lose the Northern Lords who will join up with Stannis to crush the Bolton's and the Frey's. The Manderley's will help smash the Frey's. Asha and Theon Greyjoy will plan to overthrow Euron Greyjoy. Jeyne Poole will tell the Northmen how terrible Littlefinger was and his part in Ned's downfall. She will also tell them how the Bolton's and the Lannister's were trying to fool them by thinking she was Arya Stark. The North will be MAD and rise again against them.

Storm's End will be captured by Connington. Cersei 's champion will fight in a trial by combat. Cersei will fall out with all the Tyrell's. Varys and the Martell's will work to destabilise King's Landing.

In Oldtown we will see Sam finding out the Maester's agenda alongside the Sphinx and that Faceless Man. There may be an attack by Euron Greyjoy either in Lannisport, OldTown or HighGarden.

Arya after more training realises her family are not all dead and will leave the Faceless Men. She will travel to Westeros and meet up Nymeria and her massive army of Wolves. She will meet her mother again and help Cat recover her compassion.

Bran will grow in power and will help Jon Snow in some way.

Brynden the Blackfish will turn up somewhere too. Maybe in the Vale!

[Ran]

Not a TWoW speculation, but Linda's speculation on the final chapter/epilogue of A Dream of Spring:

Bran, alone in the dark: the singers gone, Brynden gone, Jojen and Meera and Hodor gone. The last greenser down in the depths beneath the hills, looking out through the eyes of weirwoods and ravens, dreaming of spring and seeing the loved ones that survived the winds of winter and do not know that he's there, or that he's even alive.

There's a symmetry to beginning and ending beyond the Wall... and that'd be bittersweet as hell. I get misty-eyed just imagining George writing it. And, you know, he would to totally do something like that. Ugh. Those'll be some tear-streaked final pages...

[Wouter]

Not a TWoW speculation, but Linda's speculation on the final chapter/epilogue of A Dream of Spring:

Bran, alone in the dark: the singers gone, Brynden gone, Jojen and Meera and Hodor gone. The last greenser down in the depths beneath the hills, looking out through the eyes of weirwoods and ravens, dreaming of spring and seeing the loved ones that survived the winds of winter and do not know that he's there, or that he's even alive.

There's a symmetry to beginning and ending beyond the Wall... and that'd be bittersweet as hell. I get misty-eyed just imagining George writing it. And, you know, he would to totally do something like that. Ugh. Those'll be some tear-streaked final pages...

That's a very vivid image, and I can totally see GRRM doing that. Bittersweet indeed.

[Raksha the Demon]

Not a TWoW speculation, but Linda's speculation on the final chapter/epilogue of A Dream of Spring:

Bran, alone in the dark: the singers gone, Brynden gone, Jojen and Meera and Hodor gone. The last greenser down in the depths beneath the hills, looking out through the eyes of weirwoods and ravens, dreaming of spring and seeing the loved ones that survived the winds of winter and do not know that he's there, or that he's even alive.

There's a symmetry to beginning and ending beyond the Wall... and that'd be bittersweet as hell. I get misty-eyed just imagining George writing it. And, you know, he would to totally do something like that. Ugh. Those'll be some tear-streaked final pages...

I could see GRRM writing something like that; and I'd be furious. Bran deserves better than to spend the rest of his life alone and part tree. We will have walked this journey with the poor kid, seeing him deprived of father, mother, brothers, home and to end up friendless and alone, without even Hodor or Summer, just the tree and his visions? That's too hard.

[Nipples]

I believe Linda is right, Bran is never leaving that cave again.

As for Dany meeting Khal Jhaqo at the end od ADWD, people want her to do the badass thing and burn Jhaqo, Mago and a bunch of other Dothraki, then taking control of the khalasar. GRRM rarely gives us what we want. Dothraki by now know she has the dragons and they were still willing to go to war with her, no way will they dismount and bow down to "mother of dragons". Maybe they attack Drogon and he flies away, leaving Dany helpless. She's captured, enduring a few chapters of crap in the hands of Jhaqo, before somehow getting away.

Arya will not finish her training with FM. Something, most likely news of her siblings, will pull her back to Westeros.

Ramsay dies before the end of the book. I said GRRM usually doesn't give readers what they want, but he needs to grant us this small mercy. Either he gets eaten by his dogs, flayed and the eaten by his dogs, stabbed, burned, beaten and then eaten by his dogs, he has to die.

[Saracen]

Not a TWoW speculation, but Linda's speculation on the final chapter/epilogue of A Dream of Spring:

Bran, alone in the dark: the singers gone, Brynden gone, Jojen and Meera and Hodor gone. The last greenser down in the depths beneath the hills, looking out through the eyes of weirwoods and ravens, dreaming of spring and seeing the loved ones that survived the winds of winter and do not know that he's there, or that he's even alive.

There's a symmetry to beginning and ending beyond the Wall... and that'd be bittersweet as hell. I get misty-eyed just imagining George writing it. And, you know, he would to totally do something like that. Ugh. Those'll be some tear-streaked final pages...

Ran is there any way we can possibly get an interview with George. Maybe ask him if Jon is 100% dead, AND SEE IF HE SAYS YES OR NO COMMENT? :rolleyes:

[Nipples]

I could see GRRM writing something like that; and I'd be furious. Bran deserves better than to spend the rest of his life alone and part tree. We will have walked this journey with the poor kid, seeing him deprived of father, mother, brothers, home and to end up friendless and alone, without even Hodor or Summer, just the tree and his visions? That's too hard.

GRRM has said that the ending of the series is going to be bittersweet. All those happy endings we may wish for aren't happening, at least not for all the characters. Many will die, their good deeds unrecognized or forgotten. Of those who survive, most will not be getting a parade and deserved rewards. A lot of assholes will die, but not all, nor will they all get punished. I believe the final fates of our favorite characters will be mostly satisfying, but other readers won't be happy with how things turn out for Bran and co. :bawl: