divica

what about bolt-on? roose is just too strange to be a normal human. He says that he would be happy if ramsay killed his baby son. That can't be normal. And it is very dificult to proof that bloodraven hasn t influenced anyone before. I bet there are hundreds of theories about bloodraven being behind some events. I also have doubts if euron isn't possessed already...

I could be wrong but I think you need to look at what he says chronologicallys so that he is consistent. I don't remember all his comments but he seemed very positive and making promises about releasing winds before the show aired. There were even rumors that he was doing his pre release rituals. Then the show happened and there was some discontentment and afterwards he stoped talking about the book except to say he was writing about x character once in a while. And I think it is impossible for the show not to have a huge impact on him. A lot of what happened until somewhere in season 7 are certainly things he plans to use in his books. And then I think everybody agrees season 8 just doesn t fit into the previous 7 seasons story. It should be clear that if the books somewhat follow the story of GoT until season 8 then he will need 10 books in order to make several elements of season 8 fit into the story. I have no idea if being snippy is good or bad. He was sure he would release the book years ago and was being nice and talkative. Dispite that now he still says he needs to write 500 pages. It makes no sense.

how can one pearson do such a thing?

I think winds will be a mess. grrm thought he would realease it for sure several years ago and even made a promise at some sf convention. However, upon seeing the reaction to the end of the show and how his ending didn't work grrm probably decided to change the book so that people become more receptive of his ending. Or he realized that his ending didn't work and decided to change the book so that it fits his new ending. The point is that whatever grrm spent years writing was certainly changed into something new as a reaction to GoT.

But the prologue can have important information about the future or past of a diferent character. Bloodraven, bran, euron or roose are characters that can have been involved/will be involved in stealing anorther person's body.

I could see the advantage of having fire wights or whatever coldhands is. It is the only realistic way we can have a character go to the heart of winter or be imune to the ww cold. If jon's fate is to be something akin to the last hero it could make sense that grrm wants to use this oportunity to make him something that can survive the extreme cold. My problem with this narrative is that jon hasn't explored his skinchanging abilities or whatever happens when he gets mad that seems to make him stronger and now he would have more magical abilities? And jon's whole arc is about the living vs the dead and now he becomes one of the dead reanimated by a god he doesn't believe? I don't know if it would make sense. And if mel has the power to reanimate the dead why shouldn't she use it on several more people from now on?

I can support the first part of your post about ghost sensing the other and being agressive because of that. But this part I don't agree. Bowen's tears are clearly an emotional response. It doesn't make sense to have him cry while stabing jon if it is just a consequence of the extreme cold. grrm could have him crying in any other situation... the dagger can be stuck due to jon wearing leather or chainmail. I think to conclude something more is going on you have to add all that is happening. Jon's grip problems, despite being ready for an attack he doesn't see bowen, he is unconscious after only 2 stab wounds that might not be that serious but was able to ride a direwolf for hours despite being injured by several arrows, references to smoking wounds but not blood... However I would say that wick's response and bowen's tears are indicators that something weird is also happening to the guys attacking him. It looks like they are being forced to do it against their will...

why do the dragons limit anything? Any valyrian could have the potential to hatch dragons. You don't need to be a targ to do it. And if you are that focused on targs certainly there are several unknown dragonseeds... And her story wouldn't be pointless. It would be about not needing to be part of some great familly to acheive greatness. About achieving greatness because of who you are and not your name. She didn't conquer mereen, release slaves, convinced essosi people to follow her or other things because her name might be targaryen. And it would also be fun to read about her acepting she doesn't have a claim to the IT and that the real targaryen's are jon and faegon and that the throne should belong to one of them.

I don't quite agree. So far it is important for danny to be valyrian. Being a targ only is important when she starts focusing on the IT and westeros. At the moment nothing danny did is because she is a targ nor is she really obecessed with what is happening in westeros. And if she ends up not being a targ she is kind of free to go live her life wherever she wants instead of a place she knows nothing about and probably doesn't want her (westeros).

But if he kills ramsay then if roose is alive he would be coming for him/the nw. And if I remember correctly it is jon that says to stannis if he marches with wildlings to winterfell the north would unite against him. A plan " we will go out and kill ramsay" doesn't solve the problem at all. And it can even make thing worse by making the nw a common enemy to all northern lords.

A much simpler question. why would viserys live a life of misery if he had some secret aliance with dorne? At the very least he would have the funds to live in his own house... The only way lemongate could work for me is if the real danny died and viserys went insane and decided to kidnap a valyrian girl that looked like her and pretend she is his sister.

One thing I think I have never seen debated is what was jon plan after defeating the boltons. who would rule the north? how to convince people he isn't abandoning the nw and marching his personal army of wildlings to rule over the north? how to make peace between the northern people around and the wildlings? How to convince the northern lords the others are real and that the besides all the problems the north has at the moment they need to man the wall.

My problems with this is that either his wounds are small and therefore shouldn't knock him out or they are bad and there should be blood after jon pulls the dagger. And given that jon is looking at the wound if there was blood there should be some description of it.

In the spirit of varamy's prologue I remember a time when several people suported the theory that there was skinchanging involved. Either because ghost was agressive against a bull belonging to a wildling skinchanger and therefore jon decided to lock him up in his room or because it was a plot by the others. This could explain the steward's reaction or bowen's tears (they are a bit of an exageration given he didn't seem to care all that much about jon). Another theory is that jon was poisoned and his grip problem was because of that. It is interesting remember that jon just walked out of a feast. Maybe he didn't eat/drink enough of the poison and so he had to be stabed.

I can imagine that if warm blood is exposed to very cold temperatures there can be steam. My problem is more along the lines of pulling the dagger and not seeing heavy bleeding or jon saying his clothes were soaking in blood or something describing blood apearing like you would expect after taking out a weapon used in a stabing. Unless it is so cold that wounds freeze automatically (don't really make sense) or something weird is going on. And jon has problems with his grip before the shoulder injury. And despite being ready for an attack bowen appears out of nowhere and stabs him without jon reacting. And the stweard has a weird reaction after attacking jon... You can try to find justifications for most of these (and there probably are good justifications) but adding all that happened it paints a weird situation.

but the first dagger is the scratch to the neck that barelly grazed his skin. It doesn't really count. The first serious wound is the dagger to the stomach and the second serious one is the dagger between the shoulder blades.

It is interesting to note that the text only mentions blood about the scracth on the neck. And if the wound was serious jon should have seen blood when he pulled the dagger away. Him only seeing smoke is really weird. And contrary to the show jon should be wearing pretty thick clothes that would stop dagger from going too deep. On the other hand, jon being ko with only 2 stabs is pretty weird if they aren't super serious. Adding his dificulty in grabbing his sword and how bowen caught him unware when he was ready for an attack it really seems like something else is going on. On the whole I think jon's last chapter is weird. I still remember reading it for the first time and thinking that something weird was going on. This is something that almost everyone forgets. If people want to use the prologue to predict what will happen to jon then they should remember that in order for him to get back to his body grrm would need to create new magic that would push jon's spirit out of ghost and back into his own body. On the other hand, we have at least euron, bloodraven and roose that are good candidates for people that have skinchanged (or will try) into other people.

your whole post contradicts itself. First, look at the vows: You would be hard pressed to argue that you are dead if you are breathing and kicking. I mean, if a person's heart stops for a few minutes do you think he is released from all his vows? like marriage for example? And the last sentence also makes his commitment to the Nw something that would last forever. However we do know that his vows to the nw aren't that important. Both stannis, robb and whoever was present when he made his will thought there was no problem in him leaving the nw. And given that he swore to the old gods (that are not gods but men) that happen to be represented by bran who could easily release him or the fact that he is a targ (who bow to no man or god) there are several ways for jon to leave the nw. Second and third. You can't defend that jon will warg into ghost and lose memories in his ressurection like beric because jon's soul would go to a completly diferent place than beric's upon death. Also, we don't know if varamyr's prologue was about jon or other character that skinchaged into another person. And if it hasn't already happened there are several possible candidates.

didn't the text say it was a small cut to the neck? I think it very unlike for jon to die due to bloodloss. The cold slows the heart and all the snow surrounding him can be used to burn his wounds. what I would like to know is how he can survive the internal damage.

The problem here is that either directly or indirectly slaves are a fundamental part of essosi economy. If most people of essos have financial problems then a bank that does business with a lot of people in essos (not only bravosi) should have problems. And even bravos certainly imports or exports products to or from people involved in the slave business. The price of everything is about to change in essos. It will be chaos!

Actually I remember an old topic about how essos economy might be pretty bad because of danny's actions. And even if bravos doesn't deal with slaves the IB deals with people that used to deal with slaves. And it seems will even worse in the future with the war in mereen, the red priests gaining power, volantis getting involved, cities being destroyed... If you add all the things that are happening it makes sense for the IB to bankrupt.

danny could also be easily cut. we just need to know whatever policies she has at present to deal with slavery and the dragons could start causing problems after the time jump.

IT could be simpler. ilyrio could have a plot to use the fall of the IB to gain power in several free cities and then use his influence to make them join westeros and make a huge empire for faegon. The interesting part here is having a character planning an economic atack in order to seize power in some way. And that it would be a good story arc for LF. what there is to back it up is pretty forced and exposed shortly before the reveal so that the author can say there was a justification for it. The "joffrey did it" was a lame choice and has several plotholes...

that is kind of a deus ex machina argument. Fuck logic, anything can happen as long as the author wants it. And there is no way to refute that... On other news, do you really think that there could be a rebellion in the riverlands for 5 years!? what would even be the point of that rebellion? For example, there are several small clues that LSH and the brotherhood might be planning to rescue the northern hostages and restart robb's rebellion via jon snow. That would make no sense with the time jump. honestly, the only way to the the time jump would be with novella focused on jon and stannis. And even with how things are in the books the north is too behind what it needs to be. Hell, why didn't jon ask anyone to teach him to warg during the entire adwd?

Robert could whore and drink 24/7, have a small council where half the people were plotting against him (varys, lf) and even then had a stable realm. After some years any competent guy with the resources behind the lannisters and tyrels should have things close to what they were in robert's time. It is basically how to deal with the consequences of the war (this kevan should know how to do) and then politics to keep people happy.