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When Is 'The World of Ice and Fire' Coming Out, Vol.3


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I'm not sure Westerosi accounts of the number of dragons used in a Rhoynish/Valyrian war, hundreds of years before the Doom or Conquest, tell us anything about exactly where the Targs were among the forty families. I think it's been said they were not among the most significant, but they could have fallen almost anywhere else.

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Yeah, the total number of the dragons could have risen or dropped - and we don't know the total number of the dragons during the Rohynish Wars, either, just that 300 were involved in the battle against Garin -, but we know the number the Targaryens had when Aenar left, and we know indeed that the Targaryens were not one of the more powerful dragonlord families.



That, in turn, could indicate that the Targaryens were 'new men' who only became dragonlords recently (i.e. that they are not a founding family of the Freehold), or that they were once more powerful but had declined and lost much prestige, wealth, and dragons in the last decades/centuries.



I'd favor the former, but there is no evidence for that as of yet, although there is a slight chance that GRRM would have indicated it if the Targaryens had once been among the most powerful families of Old Valyria...


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Yeah, the total number of the dragons could have risen or dropped - and we don't know the total number of the dragons during the Rohynish Wars, either, just that 300 were involved in the battle against Garin -, but we know the number the Targaryens had when Aenar left, and we know indeed that the Targaryens were not one of the more powerful dragonlord families.

That, in turn, could indicate that the Targaryens were 'new men' who only became dragonlords recently (i.e. that they are not a founding family of the Freehold), or that they were once more powerful but had declined and lost much prestige, wealth, and dragons in the last decades/centuries.

I'd favor the former, but there is no evidence for that as of yet, although there is a slight chance that GRRM would have indicated it if the Targaryens had once been among the most powerful families of Old Valyria...

One of their dragon skulls is supposed to be three thousand years old so I'd say they've had dragons at least that long.

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One of their dragon skulls is supposed to be three thousand years old so I'd say they've had dragons at least that long.

This is something I've been wondering about, actually. In AGOT, Tyrion mentions that (at least one of) the skulls the Targs had on the throne room walls was 3,000 years old. But then we have this: http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Dragons_in_Westeros

December 11, 1999

Dragons in Westeros

In 'The Hedge Knight' ancient dragons are mentioned, thousands of years olds. Were there Dragons in Westeros before the Targaryens brought them, or did the Targaryens bring the skeletons of the old Dragons with them?

There were dragons all over, once.

But I don't recall any mention of "ancient dragons", let alone any "thousands of years old", in The Hedge Knight. There is a mention in AGOT---the Tyrion scene where he mentions the 3,000-year-old dragon skull beneath the Red Keep---and I'm wondering if the "THK" part of this SSM question was a typo that should have read "AGOT"? (Unless there's some other edition of THK that mentions ancient dragons?)

I bring this up because if this SSM was actually referring to the dragon skull scene in AGOT, then GRRM's answer here heavily implies that that ancient skull was not brought by the Targs to Westeros, but was found by them on Dragonstone.

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Some people over on Tumblr are saying that GRRM read a section on the Westerlands at the Con.

He did indeed. I didn't take notes, but I'm sure someone who did will be along to post them.

What I also found interesting is his perceived publishing timeline. In prefacing the reading, he mentioned that he wrote so much for World of Ice and Fire that they decided to cut out some of the Targ history for a later book that will be published in 4-5 years - after Winds and Dream. As we all know, George's estimates aren't always right and this may be a case where he said something he had not given much though to before speaking Still, I thought it was worth mentioning.

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He did indeed. I didn't take notes, but I'm sure someone who did will be along to post them.

What I also found interesting is his perceived publishing timeline. In prefacing the reading, he mentioned that he wrote so much for World of Ice and Fire that they decided to cut out some of the Targ history for a later book that will be published in 4-5 years - after Winds and Dream. As we all know, George's estimates aren't always right and this may be a case where he said something he had not given much though to before speaking Still, I thought it was worth mentioning.

Lol, pretty much just gives major weight to my personal belief that GRRM is on top of this, and we don't need to worry. Between this, and Anne Groell's 'reasonably soon', I am feeling very relaxed right now.

I'm curious, did you notice anything in the reading that fits with Ran and Linda saying that GRRM dismisses a major theory in the WOIAF?

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Lol, pretty much just gives major weight to my personal belief that GRRM is on top of this, and we don't need to worry. Between this, and Anne Groell's 'reasonably soon', I am feeling very relaxed right now.

I'm curious, did you notice anything in the reading that fits with Ran and Linda saying that GRRM dismisses a major theory in the WOIAF?

I'm pretty sure I'm aware of all the major theories and I didn't catch anything in the reading that would dismiss any of them. Maybe someone caught something I didn't though.

The Wolves - someone in the BWB subforum said they have 7 pages of notes, so you should get something tonight or tomorrow. As a teaser, I can tell you that we get a much greater telling of the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion.

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I'm pretty sure I'm aware of all the major theories and I didn't catch anything in the reading that would dismiss any of them. Maybe someone caught something I didn't though.

The Wolves - someone in the BWB subforum said they have 7 pages of notes, so you should get something tonight or tomorrow. As a teaser, I can tell you that we get a much greater telling of the Reyne-Tarbeck Rebellion.

Thank You!!!

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Do we get any more info on the Wonders of the World? I seem to remember reading that originally George had a description.of each of them after Tyrion mentions his reading of Lomas Longstrider's book, and I was womdering whether it would get recycled for the World book. :)

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The three thousand year old dragon skull may indeed be the skull of the first dragon of House Targaryen. If that was the case, then they are probably not exactly a young noble house, but this would also confirm that they were by no means among the founding houses of the Freehold. The Ghiscari Wars go back five thousands years, and the Freehold was probably founded quite some time before the First Ghiscari War began.


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Ran

A question if you can answer it. I know the book will have some info on Valyria but I was wondering would the info be accurate in the sense that someone visited Valyria like a Maester and wrote the info down or would the Targaryens have some written info about Valyria that a Maester got ahold of? Or are the maester going off rumors of Valyria?

Thanks

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The Wolves,

The maesters have various records and histories to draw from. I imagine actual maesters must have visited there at some point in the past, too.

DrunkenGiant,

There will be stuff about a number of families. The Crakehalls get a bit of new info, for example.

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