Jekse

You didn't think the Dragontamer chapter was awesome? Bro We saw an unrecognizable burnt body die and the action cuts off right before we can actually get a clear idea of Quentyn's fate. Note that the Meereen story in Dance opens with Daenarys thinking ''burnt bones prove nothing'', and that's not the only thing. Gerris acts completely out of character when talking to Barry, the action cuts away from Quentyn right before he dies, and his burns are mild as fuck compared to other instances in the story where dragonfire occurs. With the other instances the bodies combust instantly, whereas Quentyn has time to see the fire go from his whip, then his hands, then himself. That's neither here nor there of course, and I do think GRRM left the possibility open intentionally, if he decides to go back and change it, like he often does.

Rereading my last post it sounds a bit mean, but you pose an interesting question; what is the point of having the Quentyn POV in an already long and convoluted book if he just dies at the end? And I think the answer is he doesn't. I believe Quentyn will return home with severe PTSD, in a parallel to Vietnam, which GRRM is obsessed with. And an addendum, if you believe that dragons are a stand in for nuclear weapons, then Quentyn is responsible for its proliferation.

A POV's purpose is not exclusive to telling a story, the Quentyn quest offers a lot of background on Doran, the Yronwoods, conspiracies in Meereen, along with a strong anti war message, which is basically the point of the series. Quentyn is also basically a stand in for GRRM himself. The two look incredibly alike. Oh, and he also released the fucking dragons.

I believe Elio & Linda all but confirmed Mad Queen was going to happen, but that it would be more gradual, and make more sense.

What makes you think their arcs are pointless? Both Quentyn and Victarion have had a lot of influence on the plot, and the former might not even be dead. Victarion obviously still has a big role to play in the coming battle, there's a reason his holds are filled with pork.

What are you basing this on? It was Tyrion's chain that caused the bridge of ships which allowed Stannis to land. And Cersei came up with the wildfire idea.

Mance's cloak is made from silks from Asshai that were found on a ship wrecked on the Frozen Shore, why would any ship go up that far on the Western side of the North?

I believe he finished Dance in April, and it was published in July. So three months, maybe two.

Asha might, Stannis needs Theon to fix the hostage situation but Asha is pretty much worthless on all accounts. We already know she's the POV for the Battle of Ice. But yeah you're right no way Theon is getting in the thick of it haha

I said nothing about why Barry was added in Meereen, and you're just repeating my point about why he was added as a POV.

I think he will either die off-screen soon after Barristan II or in POV in Barry III. Banners get confused, no clear military hierarchy and him giving 2nd in command to a reckless amateur. Also I don't really see him doing anything much important in the story, keep in mind he was added as an afterthought-POV because GRRM needed someone on the inside of Meereen at the end of Dance

Man the battle of Meereen has so many permutations, moving forces and possibilities it's super difficult to predict anything really. It's also true that all our POV's are on the west side of the battle, anything could happen on the east side, like Lhazareen joining out of nowhere for instance. All I'm really expecting is Dany to lose at least one of her dragons to either Victarion of Quentyn if he's still alive, thus starting a cold-war like standoff. And Barristan dies for sure.

Could you elaborate? I've never heard of this, unless you're referring to the Dance samples that were changed in the final product.

The vague number he gives means nothing when we consider that it has been ten years since the last book came out. He's returned to doing this for almost a year now; which makes me thing he didn't write anything from 2016-2020, when he didn't give any updates. We know virtually nothing about the progress of WINDS except for the 2013 interview where he said he was about a quarter of the way done. I just wish he'd be more clear about things and how far he is.

I posted about this in the first Winds of Winter July thread, most people believed that he came across a majour plot hole that required lots of rewriting.

Is it possible Harys' crew simply hadn't heared the news of Cersei's arrest yet? I know news travels fast to Braavos, but still.

Predictable.

Netherlands.