The Bard of Banefort

The best-case scenario for Daenerys, politically-speaking, would be for something to happen to Selyse so that she could marry Stannis. It would likely be an unhappy marriage, but if would allow her to remove an opponent and absorb his forces. It would also give her a de-facto heir in Shireen, should Dany fail to have any children of her own. After Jon, Stannis/Shireen have the best claim to the Iron Throne.

The two biggest question marks are Eleana and Rhaena (Baela's twin), who each had multiple children whose descendants are presumably still alive. Then there's Egg's sisters' children and Aerion's son, Maegor. Hopefully we'll get a better idea about what happened to them through Fire and Blood pt. 2 and Dunk & Egg.

I had first heard about it in one of the reddit AMAs (it may have been Werthead's, now that I think about it). Due to all the work that George is juggling, it wouldn't surprise me if he's abandoned that idea in favor of just folding it into the next installment of Fire and Blood. I think it could work as a show if they made it similar to The Tudors, with lots of drama and romance. Just the little bit we got in the world book was quite tantalizing.

I think the implication was supposed to be that he was brought back to protect Arya so she could survive and kill the Night King.

One pitch that I think would definitely pick up an audience would be a show about Aegon IV. Just look at all the books, movies, and TV shows that have been produced about Henry VIII's wives -- people love that stuff. Not to mention that this would be post-dragons, which would save HBO a ton of money and allow them to possibly hire more hire-profile actors and actresses. I would be stunned if no one thought of this, which makes me think that it was probably vetoed by GRRM, especially since there were rumors years ago that he wanted to write a book entirely about Aegon IV. I'm guessing that's the reason why there isn't a Dunk & Egg show in development either. After watching the main series overtake the books, he probably wants to make sure that doesn't happen again.

A lot of the stigma around homosexuality derived from a belief that homosexuals were also child predators, and that homosexuality could "spread" from one person to another. I recently watched the documentary Howard, which is about Howard Ashman, who wrote the lyrics for several Disney movies in the 80s and 90s. Howard died of AIDS, and in the doc, they explained that he kept the diagnosis a secret for so long not only because of the stigma surrounding AIDS, but because he was afraid that, since he was working on movies for kids, he would be accused of being a pedophile and lose his job due to his orientation.

I think the most damning thing about Cersei is probably that she feels no remorse. Melara was her only childhood friend aside from Jaime, and she pushed her down a well and watched her drown. If Cersei had felt some remorse for that, then she could have at least begun to redeem herself. The closest we get is during her Walk of Shame, when she starts to hallucinate Melara, Ned, and Sansa and Lady. But as soon as she's back indoors she forgets all about that and immediately begins to focus on revenge. So when all's said and done, Cersei's true character was probably revealed with Melara's murder, when they were both still children.

I'm willing to bet that Qyburn will survive fAegon's invasion, so we might see the two of them scheming in the shadows if she becomes a prisoner. It also could just be that Cersei's character might take a backseat for part of TWOW in order to focus on the other characters, similar to how Sansa or Theon did.

I used to think that Cersei was supposed to parallel Rhaenyra (mainly because of the three bastard children with their suspicious hair), but now I'm more inclined to believe that her fate will be closer to Alicent's. I'm guessing that fAegon will take her prisoner rather than killing her, in order to show the people that he is merciful, and that she will become a POV from inside the Red Keep, along with Arianne and (possibly) Sansa. I'm sure she'll still be scheming in the shadows, so there's probably plenty left for her character to do, even as a captive.

I've seen some people say that the end of the original chapter indicates interference from the Old Gods (aka Bran/Bloodraven), which really interests me, because I have wondered if Jaime will survive his upcoming encounter with Stoneheart through some interference from Bran. Rather than going down a darker path, I personally think Bran has shown a huge capacity for forgiveness, which is why he reached out to Theon through the weirwood trees.

I love Fire and Blood. I definitely think GRRM could write a second book that spans from Aegon III to Aegon IV's death and it would probably be just as long as the first book (especially since he seems to really enjoy Aegon the Unworthy). That would also prevent the material from infringing on the Dunk and Egg tales.

I think Sansa was in survival mode. She has a brief moment in AFFC when she fantasizes about throwing herself at the Lords Declarant's feet and begging for their protection so that she can escape Littlefinger, but then reasons that she can't trust them and goes straight back into Alayne mode. It's a survival mentality.

In the ASOIAF histories, it is said that Mushroom was able to gather so much information because everyone falsely believed him to be a lackwit. How likely is it that this is the same case with Moon Boy? Will we get a scene where Maester Samwell Tarly sits down to write his history of the War of the Five Kings while Moon Boy divulges every secret from his time in the Red Keep?

I love that GRRM is such a mush that he added in a bunch of references to Jaime when he re-wrote this chapter

That would be the greatest troll move from GRRM ever, and for that reason alone, I hope it's true.