StarkTullies

I suppose I might have assumed Davos was dead too at the end of ACOK if I had read the books in real-time, and obviously he wasn't. It just seems like the Prologue with Varamyr was pointless if not to spell out how dead skinchangers live on in their animals. (I also know it tells us the "three big sins" of skinchanging, but I think that was a lesser purpose of the prologue. I don't think we needed Varamyr's mentor to inform us that invading another human's mind is wrong.) I don't take the preview chapters as canon until they are actually published... but in Theon's preview chapter, Stannis ordered "Arya" to the Wall to reunite with Jon. Theon may not want her to go because it will obviously blow her cover, but there's nothing Theon can do to stop it. Yeah, I'm not sure if Jon will leave the Wall either, just saying that is a plausible explanation for him doing so. He was previously offered to be named King Jon Stark and he rejected the offer, but there is the whole "he will come back changed" thing (and that's me believing that he is dead and will come back). Plus to know that his actual (apparent) brother already legitimized him as a Stark and heir to the northern throne is very different than Stannis offering it to him to serve his own needs. Sansa's thoughts are intentionally obscured from the reader at the moment (kind of like Cersei's thoughts were vague when thinking of the dead High Septon, as it was meant to be a "surprise"- but not really- when we learn that she ordered his murder). I don't think she has forgotten Lysa's accusations against Petyr at the end of ASOS, and that is reason enough to turn against him. There is just nothing she can do about it at the moment because she's powerless. I think/hope she will hold her thoughts in until she is publicly revealed as Sansa Stark with the backing of the Knights of the Vale, and then she will expose him. Sansa would be extremely upset to learn about Jeyne's treatment, but I don't think she'll ever learn that while in the Vale... and I hope Petyr is taken care of before she leaves. I wouldn't have thought so either, but why else would the Ghost of High Heart reacted the way she did when they met? Unless she just sensed her future involvement with the Faceless Men, and she reacted to the organization rather than Arya's actions herself. I definitely don't think Arya will kill Cersei. I don't consider Raff to have happened yet (even though it's in the preview chapter) so he is still left. Really I don't think she'll get to many people on her list, but I think she'll kill numerous more people. (And no, I'm not an "Arya is a psychopath" person... I think she's trapped in a very unfortunate situation that she'll eventually get out of, but not immediately.) I hope not. I know that Dany was not quite 14 when she started having sex... but that was meant to be horrifying and it wasn't Dany's choice. (Even though Dany claimed to love Drogo and many fans think it was intended as a true love story, I don't think that was George Martin's intention at all. Drogo is a mass-murdering monster, and Dany had Stockholm syndrome.) And Dany was still older then than Arya is now. Regardless, even if it was George Martin's plan to have Arya become interested in sex, the showrunners didn't write the Arya/Gendry scene based on George's input. They realized that the show was almost finished and Arya and Brienne were still virgins, so they had to fix that really quick.

Daenerys Targaryen: Dany isn’t going to reveal her identity to Khal Jhaqo as a surprise; obviously he will already know who she is. With Drogon at her side, I don’t think Dany is going to waste any time as a temporary Dothraki slave. Dany will get all the Dothraki to bow down to her, and she will be declared the “stallion who mounts the world”. Drogon will certainly be a reason for this declaration. Dany won’t set the khals on fire while remaining unburnt; that was a one-time thing and Dany isn’t fireproof. Dany and her united khalasar will return to Meereen, but I think the battle will already be over when she arrives. Dany and Tyrion will meet, and she'll reluctantly accept him as an unwanted but necessary advisor. Like in the show, I think Dany will leave Meereen relatively soon after she returns. She’s done with peace and she’s done with Meereen. If she stops anywhere in Essos on the way to Westeros, it will only be as a necessity for her journey to Westeros; she has no more investment in Essos. Rhaegal and Viserion won’t be well-behaved dragons eager for their mother’s return. At least one dragon will no longer be hers when she returns to Meereen. I don’t think Victarion will live to return to Westeros, but I think he will do something to stir up trouble with the dragons (I have no idea what). Like Asha/Theon in the show, Victarion’s fleet will be Dany’s ticket back home. Daario may or may not be killed before Dany arrives, but he won’t sadly accept Dany’s decision with a calm, gentle breakup. If Dany sets up a successor in Meereen, she won’t choose Daario. Obviously she will take the Dothraki to Westeros, but I don’t know if she will take the Unsullied and/or the sellsword companies. She purchased the Unsullied for her Westeros invasion, but if she cares about Meereen's survival (a big if), they are the ones she’ll leave behind to keep the peace. Regardless, I think Slaver’s Bay will be a smoldering ruin when Dany leaves, and it will be worse off than before her arrival. Dany’s story in Slaver’s Bay isn’t about her making the world a better place but embracing her family’s words of fire and blood. Dragonstone seems like a likely place for Dany to first land in Westeros, but there won’t be an empty fortress waiting for her peaceful arrival. But it will be no difficulty for her to take it, and it will be such a non-event that it will probably occur between chapters. I doubt Dany will have any allies waiting for her arrival in Westeros. The main point of the Dorne plot, I think, is how Dany loses her “easy allies” to Aegon… but Young Griff didn’t exist in the show so the showrunners transferred Aegon’s Dorne/Reach alliance to Dany. Season 7 was ludicrous filler making excuses for why Dany put off her invasion. Unless Dany is distracted by news of the Others immediately upon her arrival, she’s not going to postpone her invasion: she will go for Kings Landing right away. Drogon isn’t going to burn Kings Landing. Even if Dany wants him to (she won’t), he can’t. George Martin could have made the dragons grow up in five years, but he decided to make it take centuries for dragons to reach full size. So whatever George has in store for Drogon and the other dragons, it isn’t to become massive nukes to take out entire cities at once. That said, I think Kings Landing will be partially burnt down… by either Cersei or Jon Connington, and again that story was transferred to “Mad Queen Dany”. As negative as my predictions for Dany are, she will not become a genocidal maniac. I think Dany will claim the Iron Throne long before the last moments of the series. Her rivalry/jealousy with “Aegon Targaryen” will be with Young Griff, not Jon Snow. Melisandre will speak to Dany of vague comments about the “prince or princess that was promised”, but Dany will hear about Azor Ahai plenty of times before arriving in Westeros from other Red Priests. Dany will meet Jon, but since Jon won’t magically teleport across continents (prior to obtaining a dragon), Dany will meet Jon farther in the North. Under what circumstances I have no idea… but the fact that they eventually meet is the only way the show is predictive of the books. I don’t think there will be a romance between the two of them, but that might just be my bias that I really hope they don’t. Dany will fight the Others/wights with Drogon. Nothing about the Long Night on the show will happen in the books, and nothing that happens in the show is an indication of how effective the dragons will be in the battle. Timelines are altered, and I think Dany will have the Iron Throne before the threat of the Others is over. There might be a “scouring of the Shire” moment with Cersei/Euron briefly retaking the Iron Throne in her absence, but if so, it won’t be difficult for her to retake it. I think Dany’s worst actions in Westeros will be soon after arrival, not at the very end. Dany won’t “go mad”, and she won’t give any unhinged “first Kings Landing and then the world!” speeches. I expect her to become a tyrannical conqueror, but in the same vein as Aegon I (whom I also consider a villain) that people can at least plausibly defend… not the indefensible full-blown monster she became in the show. I think Dany will die one way or another. I think the way Dany became a mad tyrant in the show is so far off from what will happen in the books that there is no way to predict how she will be killed or who will do it, because all that depends on the events leading up to it. Drogon is not going to ambiguously fly Dany’s dead body across the Narrow Sea. The Dothraki aren’t going to decide: “Well, I guess we peacefully go back to Essos now that our goddess has been murdered.”

Tyrion Lannister: Obviously during Dany’s absence from Meereen, Tyrion isn’t going to be idling around teaching people how to drink and tell jokes. Nor will he be a hapless fool when the battle starts, waiting for Dany to return to save the day. I think Team Dany will win the Battle of Meereen without Dany, and Tyrion’s manipulations will be the turning point of the battle. It is likely that Tyrion will already be de-facto ruler of Meereen when Dany returns. Dany and Tyrion will make an alliance, but it won’t be friendly. I think they will reluctantly join forces because they need each other, but they will never trust each other, and Tyrion’s motive most certainly is not to help Dany to make the world a better place. Tyrion will not be the peace advocate on Dany’s council. He will be just the opposite. He also will remain clever rather than becoming an idiot. Repeat from earlier, Tyrion certainly won’t come up with the idea of “if we show Cersei a wight, she will call a truce!” Tyrion will have no calm and gentle negotiations with Cersei, and if he reunites with Jaime, it won’t be friendly. I don’t think Cersei will be anywhere near the Iron Throne when Tyrion returns to Westeros. It will be King Aegon and Queen Arianne he needs to deal with, and he already manipulated Aegon into not allying with Dany. I don’t see Tyrion traveling north to Winterfell. When Dany goes north, maybe she’ll leave him behind at Dragonstone or Kings Landing or wherever her southern base is. Tyrion will remain important in his own right for the rest of the story, rather than being downgraded as a declawed idiot standing pointlessly in Dany’s shadow. I think he will do all sorts of villainous things before the books’ end, so "Saint Tyrion" from the show has very little indication on what the real Tyrion is going to do. When/if Tyrion learns Jon’s identity, he won’t care. He wants Dany because she has dragons, not because she is the rightful Targaryen heir. Tyrion will betray Dany, but only because he was never truly loyal to her in the first place. I think the other 5 main POVs will go toward the dark side to varying degrees (except maybe Sansa), but most or all of them will pull back before the end. Tyrion won’t. I think he will end the story as a full-blown villain. I think Tyrion will end up ruling Casterly Rock as the villain who gets away with it. He won’t be King Bran’s Hand unless Bran is also a villain.

Arya Stark: Obviously Arya is going to fully reclaim her identity as Arya Stark, reclaim Needle, and abandon the Faceless Men. Will “the waif” be a homicidal maniac who begs to kill Arya but is killed by Arya instead? Not likely. Will “the kindly man” smile proudly as Arya breaks her alliance with their death cult? Even less likely. I think Arya will be at risk for the rest of her life for abandoning them. Arya will use her faceless man skills repeatedly rather than one time and forgetting, but she is not learning to be the greatest swordsperson in Westeros. Stealth assassins are not battle warriors. I think the Freys will meet their doom (but not full extinction), but not at Arya’s hand. Just like Frey pies were transferred from Manderly to Arya in the show, Frey annihilation was transferred from the Brotherhood to Arya. I do think that Arya will return to Westeros with revenge on her mind, and she will be distracted upon learning that her family is still alive and back at Winterfell. But she might not be distracted immediately. I think the Ghost of High Heart is legit, so I think she kill several more people on her list and maybe add some more before she gives up on revenge. Arya will reunite will Gendry, but not at Winterfell. She certainly won’t demand that he sleeps with her so she will “know what it’s like”. Her reunion with Sandor is less guaranteed. 50% chance that it happens, and not at Winterfell. I don’t think it is Sandor who will make Arya realize that she must give up on revenge, but seeing what revenge as done to Lady Stoneheart. (As a tangent for Sandor, I certainly hope that he and Gregor do not mutually murder each other. Sandor returned to vengeful violence in the very same episode that Jaime went back to Cersei, so it seems the theme of the show is that people are doomed to never redeem themselves. I don’t think that will be the book’s theme.) Arya won’t reunite with Nymeria just to immediately part ways and forget each other. Nymeria and her pack will be important, and that is obvious even without George Martin confirming it. As previously stated, the idiotic conflict with Sansa is not going to happen. All the Winterfell crap in Season 7 was just filler for a season that had no purpose whatsoever except to contrive a reason to give the Night King a dragon. Likewise, I don’t think Arya will kill Petyr. I don’t think she’ll ever see Petyr again. The showrunners said that Arya killing the Night King was their own idea. No one (no pun intended) is going to wipe out the entire race of Others and all their wights by stabbing just one extremely killable Master Other. And the catspaw dagger has no further relevance in the story. As previously stated, I think Arya will learn that revenge is not the answer, but not as a last moment epiphany after traveling all the way to Kings Landing and changing her mind just a few paces away from her final target. In fact, I don’t think Arya will ever return to Kings Landing at all. She certainly won’t be the primary POV of its destruction. Arya is not going to talk about the importance of family being together, and then immediately abandon her family to sail west of Westeros. If she survives the series (I don’t think the Faceless Men will simply forget about her abandonment), she won’t sail away. Also, she isn’t going to tell anyone “I don’t care about anybody who isn’t one of us.” Utter nonsense: Arya was always one of the most compassionate people toward people who weren’t like her.

Sansa Stark: Much of Sansa’s show storyline can’t possibly happen in the books because she is still in the Vale and never married Ramsay. No escape to Castle Black to reunite with Jon, etc. Therefore there is very little indication of Sansa's story from the show. Sansa might have authority to call on the Knights of the Vale to take the North but the timing won’t work, because I think Ramsay will be defeated long before she is revealed to the Vale as Sansa Stark. Petyr will obviously continue to try to manipulate Sansa. I hope that Petyr gets what is coming to him before Sansa leaves the Vale and that TWOW is Petyr’s final book. I think Sansa will likely reveal his misdeeds publicly… but not by first pretending to execute Arya in a mock trial. The Sansa/Arya nonsense is not going to happen. The showrunners love catfights and don’t seem to understand that young sisters bickering years earlier doesn’t mean they hate each other. Sansa and Arya will be thrilled to reunite, and no one cares about a letter that Cersei forced Sansa to write years earlier. If there is a Stark family conflict, it will be between Jon and Sansa over conflicting claims for the northern crown. But I think the Stark theme is about the lone wolf dying but the pack surviving, so I don’t think there will be any significant Stark feud. Sansa won’t become “the smartest person Arya ever met” by simply becoming less stupid than everyone else around her. Sansa will not be “grateful” for all the lessons the villains in her life have taught her. She won’t grow as a character by becoming nihilistic and cold, nor will she ever “admire” Cersei. While I think the book and show both intend for Sansa to be “the most improved character”, I don’t think the showrunners were the least bit aligned with George Martin in what “improvement” means. Petyr and the Lannisters are not Sansa's role models. I doubt that Dany and Sansa will have any significant interactions with each other. Sansa “being mean to Dany” certainly won’t be stated as a reason for Dany to “go mad”. I think it is quite likely that Sansa will end up as the ruler of the North, but as an independent kingdom? The North will only be an independent kingdom if it never reunites under the Iron Throne to begin with. Sansa is not going to ask for the North’s independence immediately after her brother is named the King of Westeros, because why would she?

Jon Snow: I am certain Jon is dead (I never knew some people thought he wasn’t until joining this forum), but he will return as a living breathing human. I think Melisandre will likely raise him from the dead, but not by giving him a magic haircut and sponge bath. Burning Shireen will be reserved for Stannis (another of George Martin’s three confirmed spoilers)… but Gilly’s son might be in danger, or possibly Ghost. Jon will be changed when he returns from the dead and his death/resurrection will have consequences. His death/return to life had no purpose whatsoever in the show. Jon won’t need to enact justice on his assassins, because Bowen Marsh and company will be taken care of minutes after Jon is murdered, and Jon’s resurrection will not be immediate. Davos will not randomly become Jon’s loyal advisor because of inexplicable reasons, but I think Melisandre will switch to become Jon’s biggest champion, perhaps even while Stannis is still alive. I don’t think Melisandre will ever become depressed and subdued but will be just as fanatical as ever. I don’t think Jon will banish Melisandre from his presence (that was because the actress was pregnant), but I don’t think Jon will warm up to Melisandre any more than he already has. Sansa replaced Jeyne Poole in Theon’s chapters, and Sansa replaced what will be Jeyne’s arrival at Castle Black too. Obviously Jon’s reunion with an unwilling Arya imposter will be far different from his show reunion with his actual sister. How Jon reacts to their reunion will be the first hint of Jon’s post-resurrection personality. Jon will not gather allies against Ramsay nor will the “Battle of the Bastards” ever happen, because Stannis will defeat Ramsay long before there is time for Jon to rise and journey south. I think there is a very good chance that Jon will be named King in the North, but from the resurfacing of Robb’s will… not from a “King in the North!” chant, Part 2. I think dying is a legitimate reason to free him of his Night’s Watch vows… but I don’t think Jon will completely forget about the Night’s Watch like he did in the show. Jon and Dany will meet, but whether as King in the North or Lord Commander, I don’t know. Regardless, he won’t travel south to meet her because he’s not going to gain the magic teleportation powers that the Season 7 characters had. Dany will fly north. I think and hope that Jon and Dany will never “fall in love”, for too many reasons to list. If he is named king and if he submits to Dany’s rule, it will be out of necessity for thinking she can help… not because “he’s in love”. The boneheaded mission north of the Wall won’t happen because there isn’t a single character in the books who is as stupid as everyone involved in that plan was in the show. Therefore, Jon won’t hand the non-existent Night King a dragon by being a show-off idiot. However the Others breach the wall, it won’t be from an “ice dragon”. I think it is extremely likely Jon will claim and ride a dragon. I don’t know how he will claim it, but not because he’s trying to impress his crush, and he will do something with his dragon other than going on cutesy snow rides with his aunt/girlfriend. What will Jon do when the Others breach the Wall? Something! Not pointlessly scream at an ice dragon. The showrunners said it was always meant to be Jon to kill the Night King but “that just didn’t seem right”. Did that come from George Martin? There is no Night King in the books and the Others won’t be fully destroyed in battle (especially not from killing a single Master Other), but I do think that the importance of Jon’s heritage is that he is “the prince that was promised”… whatever that will entail. Jon is the son of the Rhaegar and Lyanna, but the importance of that is prophecy… not being the rightful heir to the throne. Young Griff is the “rightful Targaryen heir” over either Dany or Jon. There will be no question of whether Jon “wants it” because I don’t think it will even be addressed. The whole drama of Dany wanting Jon to keep his parentage a secret will not happen. Will Jon kill Dany? That really depends on Dany’s story more than Jon’s, but if Dany becomes a vile maniac who murders a million people for no reason and threatens to murder millions more, Jon sure isn’t going to wiffle-waffle that “it was an impossible choice”, nor will he covertly kill Dany mid-kiss and then sob afterwards. Jon is not going to be banished to an organization that has no reason to exist if the Free Folk are allowed south, the Wall is partially collapsed, and the Others are extinct. That said, I don’t think the Others will go extinct. Jon may end up north of the Wall, but if so, that will be self-banishment as a sad and broken man. He won’t become the “King Beyond the Wall”, because the idea that Tormund re-migrated the entire Free Folk population north of the Wall because he is sad that the “big woman” doesn’t like him is idiotic to epic proportions.

I intended to write my rambling show-based book predictions for all living POV characters, but I got carried away with the first one, so I just stuck with the “big six”. Bran Stark: Bran’s visions will be more meaningful than in the show, but I don’t think they will occur outside the presence of the weirwoods. Jon is Rhaegar and Lyanna’s son, but I don’t think we will learn that through Bran’s visions. I think we will learn a lot about the Others through Bran’s visions, but the Others in the books will be nothing like the White Walkers on the show. They are a complex race with complex motives, not mindless zombies. As George confirmed, “Hodor” will happen, but I can’t predict how he will “hold the door”. I don’t think Bran will be “marked” by an Other in a vision to allow them into the cave. The chapter when Hodor dies will be devastating, and Hodor’s death will permanently alter Bran’s character, not forgotten the very next moment. The Children will be very important and won’t anticlimactically go extinct to never be mentioned again. Summer may or may not die with Hodor… but Summer didn’t die on the show because of George’s input. The showrunners killed Summer because they didn’t want to deal with direwolves. The “three-eyed crow” is very important in the books, even if he might not end up getting a lot of ink on the page. Everything about Bran’s story up to this point has been leading to meeting each other, and everything about his future will be impacted by Bloodraven’s secret motives. Coldhands returning Bran south to the Wall seems likely. I think Bran will leave the cave before the end of TWOW. Bran might have a subtle personality change, but he is not going to “download” the “three-eyed crow” and become a robot. The complete character change of the three-eyed raven/crow in the show versus book drastically changes everything about Bran’s story, so the show really is no indication of Bran's story. I think it is likely that all the Starks will converge at Winterfell by the end of TWOW. What will Bran do there? I don’t know, but something. And what will Bran do when the Others inevitably pass south of the Wall? Again: something. He certainly won’t sit in the godswood to be used as “bait” for the Master Other… who does not exist in the books. I would never have predicted King Bran, but George Martin confirmed it, so I believe it. But since the show cut out magic and Bran is the book’s most magical character, he will become king by doing something… not randomly named by a prisoner of war because he has “the best story”. Again, the show is no guide whatsoever for how Bran’s coronation will happen. King Bran also won’t pack the small council with fan favorites. Tyrion will only become Hand of the King if Bran turns out to be a villain, but Brienne and Sam’s appointments are pure fan service, and naming Bronn as master of coin is probably the stupidest aspect of an incredibly stupid final season. Naming Davos as master of ship is at least semi-logical, but I don’t think that will happen either.

A theory that I used to subscribe to and no longer do, but I still like is: Septa Lemore is Ashara Dayne, and Young Griff is the son Ashara Dayne and Brandon Stark. I now fully believe that Young Griff is a Blackfyre, and while that doesn't mean that Lemore couldn't be Ashara... the most important thing we know about Ashara's appearance is her purple eyes, and Tyrion did not note that. Granted Tyrion was looking elsewhere other than her eyes... but I think even Tyrion wouldn't have failed to miss her eye color when Lemore was actually wearing clothes.

1. Faith of the Seven- Definitely my favorite religion in Westeros. I have the most philosophical alignment with it, and it seems to generally be a religion of love and peace. People criticize it as false in a world where the other religions appear to be "real", but magic in this world seems to be dark magic born out of murder and blood sacrifice... and the Faith doesn't do that. Davos had his vision of the Mother, which of course could have been a trauma-induced hallucination, but it could have been real. While the Starks are my favorite family and they don't worship the Seven (except sometimes Sansa), my favorite minor character in the story (Septon Meribald) seems to be entirely influenced in a positive way by his faith. Baelor Blacktyde is one of the best Ironborn, changed by his conversion, and living a peaceful life in a violent culture and being murdered because of it. People have said that the Faith is intolerant... and I'm not seeing that. Are people confusing the "High Sparrow" of the wretched abomination who raided brothels and murdered prostitutes with the real "High Sparrow" who instead ministered to them? I don't remember the septons screaming in protest when King Robert named a pagan northerner as his Hand. No, they don't want Stannis as their king... but Stannis idiotically burned septs: he is the intolerant one. The Faith's only "intolerance" I can think of is resisting genocidal invaders who rode fire demons and named themselves as godlike to justify their racial supremacy and polygamous incest, to which I say: good! The Targaryens should have been resisted. In the war between the Blacks and the Greens when the Targaryens brought endless suffering to the people over their greed for the throne, the Shepherd was the true hero of the war, and he spoke the truth: the Targaryens and their dragons brought their suffering upon them. My only criticism of the Faith in that they added the heretical "doctrine of exceptionalism" into their religion, but that is because King Jaehaerys forced them under the threat of annihilation. 2. Old Gods- The "old gods" aren't really gods, according to their own beliefs, just the ghosts of former mortals, living eternally through the trees. They didn't create anything, and their value system can't be any more consistent than the mortals they once were during life. Were the intestines dangled in the trees after the slavers rose against their masters a demand of the old gods... or just the angry retribution by people mistreated their entire lives? I think the latter is more likely. There is no "Book of the Old Gods" so no coherent belief system to judge them by, but since the best characters in the story follow this faith, the old gods can't be that bad. 3. R'hllor- I agree with some of Melisandre's theological explanations, but in general I am not a fan of this religion. Two of the three most prominent priests that we've seen (Melisandre and Moqorro) adhere to human sacrifice. They are overly obsessed with prophecy, and the great "hero" of their religion (Azor Ahai) seems to be a villain. 4. God of Death- I don't agree with the claim that the Faceless Men are tolerant of all religions. Anyone who claims that all other gods with completely different attributes are actually the same god is actually claiming that all other religions are wrong and their religion is right, but they are just more hypocritical about it. Of course death is the one constant in all religions because no religion can deny death. Ultimately this is an assassination cult, twisting religion to justify that they are all murderers. And they are hypocritical murderers too, claiming that mortals don't get to choose who lives or dies... and then they choose who lives or dies based on how much their client pays them. 5. Drowned God- The Ironborn culture isn't terrible because their religion tells them to be; the Ironborn religion is terrible because they created the Drowned God to justify their murdering and raping and raiding lifestyles. Aeron Damphair seems like he might have been a nice guy if not so "devout" in his religion, but Victarion seems like a more typical adherent to this faith: murdering people just because he enjoys doing it, and then saying it is for his god.

That's an interesting idea, but I see the Prologues as alternating between Others/wights and not-Others/Wights. I don't think Pate's prologue chapter in AFFC really has anything to do with fire unless you're really seeking to make everything in the story about either ice or fire. This is what I'm thinking and hoping. I hope Sybell Spicer Westerling is the POV character in the Prologue, and even though George Martin said he isn't committed to the POV character always dying in the Prologues, I would not be sad to see her go. She sacrificed her son for a power-grab, and I don't believe for a moment that she didn't have a good idea that Raynald was walking into a massacre. I generally don't like the claim of "If you didn't see them die, they aren't dead", but I hope Raynald is alive and has joined the Brotherhood, and Sybell sees her son that she betrayed watching as Lady Stoneheart hangs her. Sybell Spicer Westerling is definitely one of the most despicable minor characters in the story.

1. Melisandre/Jon- whoever has the first POV chapter at the Wall (probably Melisandre). Obviously Jon will come back, but the question is how and in what state... and I want to see the resolution to Bowen Marsh and his fellow traitors versus the Free Folk. And Melisandre's one published chapter was one of my favorites, so I'd like to see more. 2. Cersei- she's an unhinged lunatic, but her chapters are so interesting. I want to see Cersei's viewpoint "pretending to be nice" while being more vengeful and hateful than ever. And I want to see the state of Kings Landing post-Kevan's murder, her paranoid reaction of Tyrion supposedly killing him, the continued fallout between the Lannisters and the Tyrells/Faith, and the arrival of the undercover Sand Snakes. 3. Jaime/Brienne- whoever has the first POV between them. I want to see Lady Stoneheart again, and I want to see Brienne's likely "plan" to save Podrick while probably trying to maintain her honor and not completely deceiving Jaime either. 4. Bran- for the reasons already stated in previous postings. A lot has happened with him since we last saw him (as indicated by Theon's chapters), and I want to see what state he is in now. 5. Daenerys- her final written chapter in ADWD was pivotal in her character shift as she fully embraced "fire and blood", and now she is surrounded by a man she swore vengeance against with Drogon at her side. I want to see how different she behaves from this point forward. I would have included Theon, as his ADWD chapters were my favorite in the entire series, but he already has a preview chapter. With the exception of Theon, I am slightly less interested in the character POVs of the chapters that were already released than the ones that weren't... but I'm interested in all of them. What I'm not interested in seeing: any new POV characters (with the exception of Prologue/Epilogue). I enjoy every single POV perspective (whether I "like" the character or not), but there are too many of them, and if we ever want the series to be completed, we don't need more.

The Starks weren't doing anything with the Others, nor was anybody south of the Wall. Remember Tyrion's second chapter in AGOT, with the slow, difficult, endless journey from Winterfell to the Wall? That was during the summer, and that was after the kingsroad was built. It would have been much more difficult pre-Conquest before the road, or any other season than summer. And the Others weren't just hanging out immediately opposite of the Wall, they were far north. In the grand scheme of Westeros history, the Conquest wasn't that long ago, and the Night's Watch wouldn't have "forgotten" that they were performing sacrifices all this time. No one south of the Wall was passing the Wall to perform human sacrifices without the NW's knowledge and support. If sacrifices were happening, it was from people north of the Wall. Craster is doing it but he is an outlier, and he is not carrying on a long family tradition. The Others seemed to have only just recently reappeared. What happened to make the Others return? Who knows, but not something that happened 300 years earlier, or else they would have returned 300 years earlier. You talk about dragons, but they've been gone for over 100 years. The only new thing that we know recently happened north of the Wall is Bloodraven. I'm not a "the Three-Eyed Crow is the master puppeteer of all events in Westeros" type of reader, but Bloodraven's disappearance into the cave and the Others' reappearance fits better with timing than any other theory I've heard offered. Which is not to say I believe that theory, either.

I've never thought that the Others are an entity of pure evil, despite a crappy alternate telling which says otherwise. It was clear from the very first chapter that they were more than complex than mindless killing machines, and yes- Waymar attacked first. It seemed that the Others had just annihilated the Wilding village, so they are not misunderstood good guys either... but in this story the Others have done much less damage north of the Wall so far than the Lannister armies have done in the Riverlands. Tywin indiscriminately burned and massacred everything in his path, while the Others seem to be selective... or are just really bad at massacring because they sure are taking their time. They attacked the Fist, but Rangers were there on a war mission, while Mance Rayder's "kingdom" didn't seem to be on the verge of imminent annihilation. Hardhome is now under attack, but from the limited information we have, that seems to be by the wights. And I am not convinced that the wights are controlled by the Others. And who says the Others are unified in ideology. Maybe there are "peace activists" amongst the Others. I've thought about the Wall possibility before too (being built by the Others). Whatever ended the first Long Night seemed to be about diplomacy. They retreated willingly, and they seemed to mind their own business for thousands of years. They weren't interested in going south of the Wall, and they didn't even seem interested going south toward the Wall. Bottom line, George Martin is not telling a story about an "evil race" where the happy ending is to bring genocide upon them.

I specifically want to not see any new places in Essos or the rest of the world outside Westeros. I like the chapters in Essos, but the main story is in Westeros. Six books in for a seven-book planned series, I want to get all the relevant characters out of Essos and into Westeros as soon as possible if we ever want the books completed. Within Westeros, I don't care about the geographies specifically... just wherever it makes sense for the story to take place. I don't think there is time for any POV character to travel to these places, but we have two vision-inclined characters (Bran and Melisandre) invested in the happenings north of the Wall. It would be nice to see a glimpse of Hardhome and the Land of Always Winter through their visions. Likewise, since we haven't seen Davos since the first half of ADWD, I want him to appear in TWOW already near Winterfell, but I'd like a few pages of flashbacks of his time in Skagos. Depending on how important the Children play into the story and/or how the first Long Night really ended, I'd like to see the God's Eye. Casterly Rock. Cersei and/or Tyrion have some future damage to bring against Westeros, and some of that will take place there. Maybe Storm's End. We saw a glimpse of it in ACOK from the outside the walls, but not within. Depending on where Aeron's travels take him during the rest of his short remaining life, maybe the Arbor.

Yes, the dragons are being used as weapons, and that's my point. A "good guy with nukes" may cause "bad guys" to submit or surrender, but saying that a weapon of mass destruction "gives hope", makes "beautiful music", cause the land to "bloom again" is just silly, and those were the claims used in the original post. I agree the dragons in themselves are neutral... but I don't think they will be used neutrally. Dragons can be used for evil, or they can be neutral, but they have never been used for good. How do we know the freedmen spit at his name? Barristan Selmy is hardly an unbiased viewpoint character. He militantly denied that Daenerys publicly laughed at Quentyn, which she did do, so I take none of his worshipful perceptions of Dany as truth. This is the man who had blind loyalty to Mad King Aerys and would have continued his blind loyalty to King Joffrey had Joffrey not fired him. Drogon killed 214 people flying out of the fighting pit after eating Barsena in front of everyone, to the horror of all. Drogon didn't discriminate between elite or freedmen, and he burned or maimed 3x as many people as he killed. Now Rhaegal is setting fire to Meereen as well. Of course the people who hate Dany also hate her dragons, but I find it extremely likely that a huge portion of the freedmen don't hate the dragons as well. The father of Hazzea, at the very least, considers Harghaz a hero. Comparing wild wolves to wild dragons is a fair comparison. Comparing wild wolves to a weaponized dragon who will burn down entire castles or villages if their rider commands them to is not a fair comparison. If Nymeria is actively warged by Arya and Nymeria leads an army of wolves into battle, which I think is a likely possibility, that is a better comparison. So far that hasn't happened. Regardless, my response about the dragon's fires (not dragons themselves) leading to nothing but death and destruction is a response to the repeated claim that "ice is death but fire is life". No, both are death: try walking into a burning house while making a claim that "fire gives life". I don't hate dragons as living creatures. I liked Grey Ghost who minded his own business and ate fish, and so far I like Viserion who rather hang out with his "mother" than fly around eating small children like Dany's favorite child. But in this story dragons are weapons, and so far the wolves are not. Ghost has done many good deeds: the dragons do nothing but kill or induce submission from their ability to kill.