WhatAnArtist!

Possibly, but not necessarily. The books do not unfold in a 100% strictly chronological order. Swords opened with a few chapters that actually occurred during the same time as the end of Clash, according to Martin's "note on chronology" before the first chapter. That's interesting. I think that, if that's still true, the surviving PoVs that will be lost will be Connington's, Brienne's, and possibly Melisandre's (less sure on this one). I don't believe for one second that Sam or Jaime will not have PoV chapters in Winds. Sam has too much important plot-relevant information to uncover (and he's our only PoV in the Reach), and Jaime's psychological journey has not yet been completed.

Martin loves his travelogue storylines - Dany in Thrones, Arya in Clash and Storm, Bran in Storm, Jaime in Storm, Tyrion in Dance. Not much of these storylines are actually relevant to the larger story, but Martin enjoys the slow-paced worldbuilding that he can work into these chapters. That's enough of a reason for him to include them.

You said that there would be "no purpose" to having them as PoVs in Winds. Yes, and that was concluded in Feast. The culmination of her "warrior identity" was the final battle with Rorge and Biter at the Inn of the Crossroads, where she almost dies defending the innocent people at the inn despite being outnumbered. It showed both her bravery and honour as a warrior. And as for Stark loyalty - that was shown at the very end of her final chapter when she shouts out for "sword!" rather than be hanged, therefore seemingly prioritising her loyalty to the Starks over her loyalty to Jaime. We'll see the results of this fateful decision from Jaime's PoV in Winds. Theon is actually heir to the Iron Islands. And the ironborn politics storyline was practically ended when Euron won the kingsmoot. Euron is a far more important character than Asha, despite not being a PoV. The Iron Islands storyline might come up again, but not for a while. The ironborn characters have more important things to do - Theon and Asha in the middle of a war in the north, Euron attacking the Reach, Victarian finding Daenerys. The Iron Islands storyline in Feast was just the necessary foundations for these later branching storylines. I don't think the fate of the Iron Islands themselves will be relevant again until the final book, and probably close to the end of it. A lot of the PoVs introduced in the fourth book were not intended to be major PoVs which long-running storylines like the PoVs in the first three books. They were just created to 1) introduce us to new regions/new political players, and 2) fill in the time while the more important characters' stories were a bit slower (e.g. Tyrion, Dany, Jon, Arya, Sansa). Asha was necessary firstly to give us an insight into ironborn politics since Theon has been gone for a long time, and then to give us a PoV on Stannis after he leaves the other PoV characters like Jon and Melisandre. Brienne was there because Martin needed a way for Jaime to eventually meet Stoneheart. Nothing else in her Feast storyline has any relevance to the larger plot whatsoever. Don't make this a bloody gender thing. It has nothing to do with it.

I agree that Theon's redemption is (mostly) over, but I feel like it's almost essential for him to meet some Starks again, preferably Bran and/or Rickon. Also, Martin has already written a PoV chapter of Theon for Winds, so we know it hasn't been cut yet. And since both he and Asha are in the same place, that suggests that Martin will not be cutting Theon just because he and Asha are in the same place. And Jaime's arc is certainly not over. That's just a ridiculous statement. He has begun his redemption arc, and probably gotten midway through it, but it hasn't concluded yet. There needs to be a confrontation with Cersei, or even Tyrion. Jaime's psychology is heavily based on his relationships with his family. Brienne and Stoneheart are just side elements of his story, they aren't the main issues. It's Brienne whose arc is over - she will not take precedence over Jaime, in terms of who gets the PoV. She was always just a side character, and even her own PoV storyline in Feast was almost completely irrelevant compared to all the others. I think you need to set aside your biases towards female PoVs and look at things more objectively. Theon and Jaime are among the most important and complex post-GoT PoVs; they will not be cut from the next book/s. Brienne and Asha almost certainly will be, because their utility in the story has come to an end - Brienne needed to meet Stoneheart and bring Jaime to her, and Asha needed to be our PoV of Stannis after he left Jon but before he captured Theon. That's really all there is too it.

I agree with @StarksInTheNorth with his/her division of characters in general, although I'd consider Euron to be a secondary character based on his importance to the larger plot, if not screen-time. Winds will definitely see a lot of PoVs culled, probably from having those storylines merged with older, more significant PoVs, e.g. Asha will be gone since she's met up with Theon, Barristan will be gone as soon as Tyrion and/or Dany show up in Meereen, etc. I'm almost certain that Brienne's PoV is over now that she's reunited with Jaime, although I think Jaime will definitely remain a PoV, at least for Winds. His story is not finished yet. Samwell's PoV won't be cut - he's our only PoV in that part of Westeros, and the Citadel/Oldtown is poised to become pretty important, it seems.

Arianne isn't a good example. Her storyline actually is completely distinct and separate from any of the "existing main characters". Her storyline isn't related to characters like Jon, Arya, Bran, Sansa, Tyrion or even Daenerys at this point; the only PoV she'll likely have contact/relevance with for the foreseeable future is Jon Connington, and he is very far from a main character. I know some people only want the series to be about the Starks and Tyrion and Daenerys, but the reality is that Martin wanted to massively expand the scope of the series, not just to add "set dressing" for the stories of the main characters, but because he was interested in the larger world and other characters' stories. An enormous amount of Feast would not have been kept if Martin only viewed his series as being about the Starks; he would have kept the five year gap if that was the case, because by his own admission there wasn't really much substance to the stories of Bran, Sansa and Arya after Storm. But the series has evolved beyond the point of just being about one really unlucky family; Martin has created an entire world of interesting families and factions, many of whom have very little to nothing to do with the Starks. And that's fine. I have no problem with it. I think some people need to accept the fact that this series is no longer just about the Starks, and hasn't been for a long time. Maybe the final book will have a renewed focus on the family, but we won't know until we read it (and it will probably never be released). Martin would not have wasted years upon years of time, and countless hundreds of pages, on non-Stark/non-Tyrion/non-Dany stories if he didn't think they were important in their own right. He's clearly a man that loves detailed, immersive worldbuilding, and part of that is understanding that a world is larger than a small handful of characters, and Martin has proved that time and time again.

Marry Viserys I (apparently very kind and easy-going) Bang Viserys II (apparently attractive in his youth, and otherwise a smart and normal guy) Kill the Beggar King (a psycho) Warrior Women Edition: Brienne of Tarth, Dacey Mormont, Asha Greyjoy

I'm also not worried. Reviewers and redditors can critique the series as much as they want for being "problematic", but the true fans of the series don't care about that. All we want is a great story, and Martin has proved time and time again that he is capable of delivering that, however long it takes. The ASoIaF fanbase is actually one of the least toxic and hostile I've ever seen for such a huge property. Most of that is probably due to it being very far removed from any semblance of modern politics, and that's a good thing.

From a thematic perspective, maybe, but considering that Bran's only had seven chapters across the last three books, it certainly doesn't feel that way. He consistently has fewer chapters than almost every other PoV, and until ADwD his chapters were mostly unremarkable exposition dumps about old stories and legends, or travelling across barren landscapes. Only when he meets Bloodraven has his story started to feel more relevant and significant. If any of the "Stark" children were to be the central protagonist, I'd say it's Jon. He's had both a very large amount of page-time (tied for top place with Tyrion) and his role in the story is arguably more important than any other character at the moment. In comparison Arya is completely irrelevant. Despite Martin giving her an absurd amount of chapters which mostly just contain padding of her wandering around the riverlands and getting captured by everyone, she hasn't actually done anything significant from a larger storytelling perspective. The focus on the Stark family has decreased with each book - the last two books have contained only a dozen Stark PoV chapters between them - barely as many as the Greyjoys, and far fewer than the Lannisters. Even though the entire series started with the Starks, I don't really believe that this means they're the most important thing in the series, and that everything will conclude with them. I think they were a very useful way to introduce the world of the series in a relatively contained way (the king's arrival at Winterfell), and expand the world by sending the family off in different directions. Rather than starting the series with PoVs in every region, Martin decided to expand the scope in a more gradual way.

No, you didn't specify that, you just said "Westeros" without any elaboration.

I also think the story is much more interesting if he's real. It's a fun little twist on the Daenerys storyline; that she's spent so long delaying getting back to Westeros and messing around playing the khaleesi and breaker of chains on the other side of the world, that another Targaryen that was actually more focused on Westeros just... got there first and did what she was supposed to do, despite having no buildup in the other books. It's one of the few genuinely surprising "wow, I didn't expect that" moments in the larger narrative of the series.

Well, the main reason would be that only two PoVs are currently in Meereen as of the end of ADwD, compared with sixteen in Westeros....

Yep. The idea that Stoneheart would repeat the exact same mistake she made in Clash by releasing Jaime again is hilarious. The entire point of Stoneheart is that she has none of the mercy or empathy of Catelyn, and does not forgive or forget. If Stoneheart captures Jaime and then trusts him again to fulfil some promise in King's Landing, it will be the dumbest thing Martin has ever written. I have more faith in him than that.

No evidence of this whatsoever

Storm had plenty of twists and turns as well, and is the longest book in the series. That came out two years after Clash. I don't think it's taken him a decade to work out the "Meereenese knot", and if it has, that means the rest of the series is doomed. Martin can write excellent chapters and passages that don't require a decade to write; see the rest of the series. I just don't feel like jumping through hoops and grasping at straws to justify this monumental delay. It is what it is. The book hasn't come out in a decade, and there's the very real possibility that it never will come out. I'm at peace with that.

In that case: Martin stopped working on the show in 2014/15. The last episode he wrote was for season 4, which aired in 2014 and was thus probably made in 2013. That means he hasn't had any actual writing work for the show in 8 years. His "involvement" with the show was relatively minimal (especially since D&D ignored most of his suggestions), and it ended a long time ago in any real capacity. Him being "busy" with the show is not a valid justification for the monumental delay with Winds.

I don't know if this was intended as sarcasm or not, so I'm not sure how to respond to it.

I predict that we'll still be arguing about our Winds of Winter predictions in another five years.

My head-canon says that this musician had secret Stark sympathies, and was doing this as a tiny bit of personal retribution for the Red Wedding.

I stopped watching in season 5 so I don't know about any new cast members are that, but from the first five seasons, the worst one, in my opinion, would possibly be Lena Heady. I know this is probably a controversial take, but I just never really saw her as being Cersei. Not only is she not even close to being "the most beautiful woman in the world" as the books describe her, and even the show at one point, but I also think the actress didn't have the right type of energy and attitude - a lot of that might be down to the writing and directing, granted, but I always thought that Heady kept delivering lines with far too little energy or charisma. Most of her dialogue comes across as excessively subdued and monotonous, whereas in the books Cersei is a very emotionally unstable and expressive character. I just don't think Heady's performance imbued enough of that charisma and expressiveness as befitting Cersei. She seemed to mostly just be bored, in her expressions and her line delivery.

What happened to the bodies of the dead Targaryens after the Rebellion? Were they given a proper burial? Cremated? I'm sure it's been mentioned in the books, but if so I've forgotten what was said.

Why would Ned go to Dragonstone? Stannis was the one charged with capturing it, and he did so successfully.

A lot of people are still - understandably - in the "denial" stage. It'll take a long time before everyone gets to "acceptance".

But how do you explain his reminiscing with Ned about their childhood in the Eyrie? There's no way Rhaegar could have known about those specific anecdotes.

That would make "Robert's" devotion to Lyanna, and his hatred of Cersei and the Lannisters, far more reasonable.