Lampster65

To those pondering the logic of story arcs, the usefulness of Brienne as a character, if Pod can kick ass, etc., and how all this can neatly be tied up with a bow ... to quote a famous TV personality ... "How's that workin out fer ya?" George is on record saying he writes "organically" meaning he has some idea of where he's going, but just sits down and writes and is sometimes surprised at how things turn out. He didn't kill Ned in the first book because of some calculated plot device, and he found writing the Red Wedding to be so painful he skipped that chapter and came back to it when the rest of the book was done. He lets the story tell itself with all of the gritty truth he can uncover along the way. If anything, George is painfully faithful to the characters and their motivations, so if that means somebody dies, somebody loses a hand, somebody picks a fight they can't win ... they will. Just keep that in mind as you are trying to guess where this is going.