The "Bittersweet" Ending

[Volantene Republican Army]

It really depends what GRRM meant by bittersweet. On a small level it could mean that some sympathetic characters don’t have happy endings (i.e. Sansa turning into Littlefinger’s sidekick and becoming a villain, or Jaimie/Brienne being on the wrong side of an invading Danny). On another, larger level it could mean that darker forces were stopped but at a high price. Like the Others are stopped, but Westeros is ravaged, or both dragons and Others killed by Maesters banishing magic from the world.

Or maybe he meant some combination of the two.

Personally I think turning the Others into some sort of apocalyptic event would be a mistake. A lot of the fun of the books is that they’re quasi-historic fiction. Turning them into a post-apocalypse story would ruin a lot of that.

[Angmar]

Characters will die, certain events will happen. Probably many houses will get utterly destroyed (my bet's on King's Landing and Dragonstone)...But then some good things will come out of it.

[Mother of Gatos]

Wasn't the original title of the final book going to "A Time for Wolves"? I thought that I read that somewhere and if that is the case to me it suggests that at least at one time the plan was not to end the Stark line forever. It is possible that plan changed in the writing (maybe that's why the title isn't being used any more) but I wonder if he would have changed the ending that much to go from "A Time for Wolves" to no more Starks at all. Maybe the title was meant to be a head-fake but that would be a pretty big head-fake. My guess is that at least one Stark survives. I don't have any idea which one or in what way.

[The Dornish Direwolf]

"The wolves will come again," said Jojen solemnly.

"And how would you be knowing, boy?"

"I dreamed it."

The Wolves will return.

[Logodnica]

Jon - recognized as Targaryen heir but it won't matter because he goes back to the NW and keeps his vows. He will not be King in the North. He is the watcher on the walls

Arya - will never be "found." Perhaps her family will know that she lives. But no one else. She will wander Westeros distributing her brand of justice.

Sansa - securing the political reach and strength of her family by going back to Tyron and becoming Lady of Casterly Rock, ensuring that all Lannister heirs will have Stark blood.

A half Frey heir to Riverrun.

Bran although powerful and even perhaps skin changing into a dragon, wil never leave his cave

Doran Martell looses all of his children in the war

Rickon is heir to Winterfell and rebuilds it.

Arya gives the Gift to Lady Stoneheart, giving her mother some finally peace.

Yes they would win the war, and yes the Starks would come out of this as a great house, they would survive and the realm would survive, but look at the price. That tastes Bittersweet

[kane120]

On the other hand, I see westerling coming with baby Robb to take up the king in the north again. This time with Rickon as the King Regent until he is old enough to rule.

i thought that child (if there is in one in fact) was disinherited via Robb's will... am I mistaken?

[Logodnica]

i thought that child (if there is in one in fact) was disinherited via Robb's will... am I mistaken?

Robb disinherited all of Sansa's children not his own.

Rickon who is a child cannot be regent for an infant. You need an adult as Regent. So Manderly or Jon.

[WardenOfTheNerds]

What the hell is with all the Stark love anyway? Apart from Jon after he "killed the boy and let the man be born" and Arya they are all sooooo dull. I'll read a Davos/Tyrion/Jaime POV over any Stark on any day.

[kane120]

Robb disinherited all of Sansa's children not his own.

Rickon who is a child cannot be regent for an infant. You need an adult as Regent. So Manderly or Jon.

Yeah, but the will (if the Wiki is to believed) states that *Jon only* is to succeed him.

Besides, I'm not of the opinion that she is even pregnant, the hips were an admitted mistake by GRRM.

[Toshio.Keepiru]

Jon dies in some heroic fashion. Ghost becomes Val's guardian then eventually her (and Jon's) child. This is possible because direwolves live longer than most canine species and the ones that the Stark children found turn out to actually have even longer lives as they were actually sent by the old Gods.

Arya gets her justice against those who wronged the Starks unfortunately it seals her fate as a Faceless person and she is forever unable to go back to her family of surviving siblings.

[Ser Creighton]

I can't believe you all can't see it.

Bitter = Lemon

Sweet = Cakes

The ending is Lemon Cakes and who likes lemon cakes? Sansa. Queen Lemon Cakes, Sansa takes the throne. So the ending is Lemon Cakes. Yes it makes perfect sense.

[revenant6]

I've always felt like we'll lose maybe half of the characters we've grown to love or (love to hate?) . Dragons and Others will cancel each other out in epic battles and there will be little left of the 7 kingdoms. Most will be ruled by local warlords with all the great pageantry and castles gone.

But the world will start anew with Bran watching it all slowly unfolding...

[Ser Ennepe]

[Laughs, pauses.] I think there's happiness. [Pauses.] You know, the completely happy ending where everybody lives happily ever after, I don't know. I think there's always going to be a little element of bittersweet. But that remains to be seen. We haven't gotten to the endings yet.

source

relax guys, he won´t go valar morghulis on everyone.

[Winter's Prince]

Well in regard to the AA/PTWP prophecy I am starting to believe that the whole thing is either wrong or misread.

[Bad Hound!]

Not reading too much about the bittersweet comment by GRRM. It simply means that whoever wins, will not do so without sacrifice/loss

It could be Sansa winning, but losing Rickon

Or Jon having lost Val

Or Dany having lost Daario (aaargh! only kidding!!)

Or Ramsay having lost Reek

...

[Nictarion]

Not reading too much about the bittersweet comment by GRRM. It simply means that whoever wins, will not do so without sacrifice/loss

It could be Sansa winning, but losing Rickon

Or Jon having lost Val

Or Dany having lost Daario (aaargh! only kidding!!)

Or Ramsay having lost Reek

...

How can Jon lose Val? He doesn't have her yet.

[Tquinn BC]

Guys whatever happens we will definitely not see it coming.

[D150]

There must always be a Stark in Winterfell...especially true when Spring will be on the horizon, if not during the Long Night. So no, I do not think that ALL the Starks will die.

[Wanderer]

To be honest I am really happy that GRRM said it was going to be bittersweet. I don't actually like fantasy that much, I find most of it cliché, but these books read more like a historical medieval fiction than fantasy and I love that. In GoT, the Stark family are the typical cliché fantasy family, more at home with King Arthur and his knights than the violence and treachery of the medieval period - and boy are they put through the mill for it - Fantasy honourable good guys would not live in a medieval world. Ned's fantasy like honour kills him, Robb's fantasy like honour kills him. Now you have Sansa trying to learn the game, Arya - a borderline sociopathic assassin, Bran working with Bloodraven - who's intentions could not be as good as people imagine, and gods know what little Rickon could turn out like with a bad temperament and hanging out with cannibals. Great stuff!

There was plenty of violence in the mideival period, but treachery was more rare. In fact, being honest, just, and loyal held far more reward than in today's society. Today I can choose to screw over everyone I know and just move along and start a new life divorced from the consequences of my actions. Not so for the mideival period, when the world was a much smaller place. There was no escaping acts of infamy. Im sure there was plenty of intrigue, but it was a much bigger gamble. In the Middle Ages, social capital was almost more important than monetary capital.

In fact I would say that the Starks better fit the true Middle Ages for a model of survival than do many of the other houses. And I personally think GRRM would ultimately agree.

[Rhaegarsjoy]

Bittersweet for me will be that after all the Lannisters did to keep a throne that didnt belong to them and trying to destroy house Stark to keep it, the Starks had an Ace in the hole in Jon (if R+L=J is true which most likely is).