KingStoneheart

Although I’m not sure if edmure will live or not, I would like to think that Roslin and their baby survive and in the years to come he becomes the lord of Riverrun and lord paramount of the Trident. As I would love the series to end with Westeros returning to 7 Kingdoms (King’s Landing is destroyed and pretty much just a new Summerhall) I would like The North, The Riverlands, and the Vale as one kingdom behind Queen Sansa Stark.

To be honest, the idea that Mance is a Kingsguard is quite cool. His constant reminder that he’s not a king (i.e hasn’t broken any of his vows or anything) is very easily hidden by the fact that wildlings are stubborn and don’t see kings really

Although the Jeyne swapping would be cool and like you say would kind of throw us off the scent for predicting the prologue, am I not right in saying that GRRM specifically debunked this? Or has he not spoken about it Also on the topic of debunking stuff, if I was a writer I’d probably throw in a few lies here and there during interviews. Like I’m not just going to tell you the answers as you’ll need to read the books and after all this is what’s cannon, not what I say out loud in the real world

Can I ask if this is a theory you like but don’t believe in? Because in my opinion, it’s very very likely that this is true

I'm really interested to fully understand just why some new POVs get named chapters in place of their name, especially now that I've just completed my third or fourth re-read. My honest and original thinking was just that the named Chapters were kind of side-characters who were pretty much destined to die (but had an in-between story to tell until a more main POV came along). The reason I think they are destined to die is that there's too much overlap once the main characters get together (Mereen is a perfect example) and POV characters never just cease to be a POV character unless they are killed. I know that Victarion changed half-way through ADWD to his name so it could be just because during the writing of the book, GRRM was like "you know what, I like this guy, I've decided he's going to have a bigger part to play and will last a bit longer than Meereen". When it comes to Arya and Sansa, it is slightly more interesting. Arya is just purely because she's undergoing her training as an assassin and really is trying to pretend to not be Arya, but Sansa changing from Sansa to Alayne is very interesting and not like "The Lord Protector's Bastard" or something. This could also be down to just how young she is and easier to fully accept this new character that she is portraying. I really don't know though, but would like to know the full reasoning behind it.

I quite like the theory that Meera is Jon's twin sister and to be honest it falls in very nicely close to when Star Wars done their whole hidden twins (before it became a trope). I do not subscribe to this however as I don't really see a point in this even being a thing? There's just too much going on and too much claimants to the throne for it to even make sense. If Dany and (F)Aegon did not exist then I'd be more likely to believe it. Another one on this is Tyrion Targaryen. A very common but frowned upon theory and although I don't fully subscribe to it, I really do appreciate the effort put into the theory and honestly a small part of me deep down does believe that it is a very slim possibility. Having Tyrion (the 3rd main character in my opinion) be the 3rd head of the dragon and kind of the secret Targ that's slipped under the radar because all the focus is on Jon Targ would be interesting.

I never knew that he’d specifically debunked anything about Ilyn Payne, which is a shame. If not him, then I suspect Sybil Spicer doing some magic stuff then I do also agree with one of the comments that just because Arya doesn’t see anything in her sample chapter genuinely doesn’t mean anything. It’s a teaser sample chapter and things will be added in once it’s fully released.

To go back to my statement earlier in the week about Ilyn Payne and as I think more about it, I am much more of the opinion that it will be him. If the Wolf Pack does attack the band (after the initial bloodshed or something) then it would be glorious to have Nymeria kill him. I can see it going something like the wolves gather around him snarling and then the big one comes forward, the eyes meet and he can tell that the eyes somehow knew him, and hated him.

I agree fully with you! When it comes to how real each one is, I’d genuinely be inclined to say that none are real (although I’m an Athiest and not sure how GRRM falls in real life so unsure if he would also do that). My thoughts behind that are that yeah like you say, the Red Priests use literal magic, it’s not them calling to god for guidance or support (in my opinion). With the Old Gods, yeah lots of nature surrounding it but also as we know from Bran and Theon’s ADWD chapters, there is not really much truth to them as Bran is now the one speaking through the trees whilst I’m pretty sure the Child of the Forest mentions something about their people pretty much being “the Gods”? Then with the others there’s no proof at all I’d say, just belief

I like what you’ve said Mithras! Very in depth and thought out and most likely to be the just of it all. I like the idea of Sybel being the POV as this seems to be the only way to bring a magical sort of feeling to it, however like you say GRRM doesn’t like being predictable and his “southern” POVs so far do seem to give off a less similar vibe to those counterparts’ similarities north of the wall. I really enjoy the idea of Ilyn Payne being the POV tbh because throughout AFFC I really feel that he’s an interesting character with significantly more about him and we will never get to know more about him as he can’t read nor write. Having him as a POV might also foreshadow Tyrion losing his tongue and remaining a POV also I guess. I’ve also always thought that out of Arya’s kill list, I really can’t see her killing Payne so was always wondering how he would die. He’s also got that trusting experience to be responsible for killing innocents instead of letting them be captured (I’m 90% sure this was the storyline with Cersei/Sansa at the Blackwater in the books as well, not just the show?)

So off the top of my head, there’s 4/5 main religions that are prominent in the main storyline so what’s your ranking of these and why? For me, it’s below - 1. Death / Faceless Men Belief - so they just have such a nice, easy and understanding view on life and religion as a whole. This is that every god every created by different culture is one and the same, just telling a different story and that all comes down to the one thing that is certain in life and that’s death. 2. Old Gods - if I had to be religious in Westeros, I’d 100% believe in the Old Gods. The modern day Old Gods just seem so accepting, like yeah you can believe other gods and they may be real but I believe this and that’s okay 3. Drowned God - the reason it’s not higher is because of the whole sacrificing and the Old Way of doing things which is just very backwards and barbaric. Although the reason it’s fifth is because rereading Victarion’s chapter in ADWD this week made me understand that he also has a similar view to the Old Gods in that yeah your god can be real, but on the Iron Islands and in the surrounding seas, our god rules. 4. Faith of the Seven - I just really don’t like the Faith or their views, they seem very similar to die hard Christianity in that they are against everyone else and that only their 7 exist and that sinners must be punished, all that stuff. So yeah I really hate them 5. R’holler - for very similar reasons to the Faith but they’re just that bit more crazy and unforgiving / accepting of other religions.

I’d say a few things would be against this. Absolutely no way is GRRM going to kill Jon and then bring him back 4 chapters later, and also he’s said before Jayne Westerling will be in it so will be set Riverlands/Westerlands

I like the whole fire and ice shuffle each book as I’ve never thought of it like that. I always just thought it was North of the Wall and then something important south. I like someone saying above that Sybel Spicer could be doing something magicy tbh. As long as it’s not the Blackfish as the POV I will be happy as I’d like him to live until the end

I hope he has, but that’s mainly just because I’ve not read them and don’t think it’s fair that others get to read them before me and before the book is officially out haha

It’s funny because all of the theories in these threads are about foreshadowing and stuff, but I never see any predictions about random stuff that could happen without foreshadowing or prophecies and Walder Frey could genuinely die of old age in the prologue and House Frey would tear itself apart with the BWB’s help throughout the rest of the book