The quest for Daniel Abraham's "particular line of dialog"

[Bringer of Rain]

When Jon meets Tyrion: "One green eye and one black one peered out from under a lank fall of hair so blond it seemed white. Jon watched him with fascination."

His hair is paler than Jaime's and Cersei's, closer to Targ hair, not really regular Lannister blonde.

Blacks and the greens, tPatQ? Plus the various mentions of him "taking the black" could be taken into account here?

[Messos in Essos]

But we know it's about Tyrion, not Arya or Bran.

[Messos in Essos]

Not necessarily. We know he knows Tyrion's arch, and we know GRRM asked him to include that particular line, but who says those two are connected?

[unitron]

It can't be the shadow tall as a king line because that's not dialogue.

But what if something cataclysmic happens and all of a sudden the world does, or seems to, end at the wall, so that it really is the edge of the world?

But I'm more inclined to think Abraham might have had a line that contradicted something in the last scene, and therefore had to be fixed.

[Taenqyrhae]

No. That's not the theory. It would be very silly to suppose Tyrion was the result of Aerys having sex with Joanna on her wedding night.

The wedding liberties thing is one piece of evidence that shows Aerys could have an interest in Joanna. For the theory to work, he would have sex with her years later. Other evidences are Tyrion's hair color, random 'foreshadowing' (like his dragon dreams, the winds of winter chapter etc.), the fact that Joanna died in childbirth (like Lyanna and Rhaella), his recent connection to Essos and dragons etc.

The theory was given a LOT more believability with AWoIaF, which reveals that Joanna was called to Kings Landing, with just the right timing for Tyrion to have been conceived then. Until that was revealed, it was assumed that Joanna was in the Westerlands when Tyrion was conceived and there was no reason to believe otherwise.

[Faint]

For my money, I still think it is Jon's line referencing Arya.

[Mal Malenkirk]

Ok. But Abraham has presumably read the entire series. The question is why would he overlook/ omit this line in his draft of Arya I?

Because it's not that saliant a line until you start obsessing over the text like many people do here. ;)

Seriously, I only got there after two re-read and until I started on this forum I didn't think overmuch of that line. Then I noticed it pop up a lot in the forum and like an echo chamber its importance grew in my mind too.

It's conceivable Abraham would have decided this line could be cut or at least simplified since it's a pretty long line (taken with its setup). You can convey the same emotions in a more economical manners, and a comic book artist might be tempted to do just that until informed of its foreshadowing importance.

I do think it's a good candidate.

[Faint]

Just another point: The line is meaningless until after Arya acquires a sword named "Needle." Before then, it is easy to simply dismiss the line or not take any note of it.

[Poodle Pup From Astapor]

The Arya line would make a fitting and poetic scene for the end.

[Lord Ross]

"The next time we meet, we'll speak of your mother. "-Ned to Jon

My pic; in the last scene of the books, after the plot is essentially over Jon will receive the letter written to him by Ned when he was in the dungeons of The Red Keep. It will explain R+L=J.

[LongRider]

"The next time we meet, we'll speak of your mother. "-Ned to Jon

My pic; in the last scene of the books, after the plot is essentially over Jon will receive the letter written to him by Ned when he was in the dungeons of The Red Keep. It will explain R+L=J.

Love this! It would be great if The Ned got the last word.

[MizasterJ]

I recently read every single comic in the series (up to the November issue)

and the line that really stood out to me the most as foreshadowing was what Maester Aemon said about Tyrion being a giant come to them at the end of the world.

Thats my best bet. I'm willing to place all the gold in the west on it.

What does it foreshadow exactly? Well I'm really not sure. I don't think it means Tyrion will transform into a giant or anything like that it has to be something much more subtle. Maybe something to do with Braavos since the Titan statue resembles a giant?

[Ibbison from Ibben]

The final chapter of aDoS should be a denouement. Dramatic events (like finding Arya's body) should have happened before then, shouldn't they have?

Is the Arya stair-balancing scene from Eddard V in the graphic novel? If it is, the 'No, that's Sansa" line would seem to be a good candidate. It hints at the long-term future of both Arya and Sansa, and it could either be fulfilled or inverted. (Sansa or Arya married to the king. Or not. The last chapter could cover the marriage.)

[Faint]

The final chapter of aDoS should be a denouement. Dramatic events (like finding Arya's body) should have happened before then, shouldn't they have?

The general consensus is that the final chapter of the series will be told from Bran's point-of-view. The finding of Arya's body would be just one of many glimpses he witnesses as he greensees across the realm.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

But the story would have to deal with Arya's death long before then. You would have to get many people's reactions to it. Dramatic reveals don't happen in the last chapter of a well-written 400+ chapter series. It would be cheap.

[Black Crow]

What about this bit of dialogue:

"My uncle is out there," Jon Snow said softly, leaning on his spear as he stared off into the darkness. "The first night they sent me up here, I thought, Uncle Benjen will ride back tonight, and I'll see him first and blow the horn. He never came, though. Not that night and not any night."

"Give him time," Tyrion said.

Far off in the north, a wolf began to howl. Another voice picked up the call, then another. Ghost cocked his head and listened. "If he doesn't come back," Jon Snow promised, "Ghost and I will go find him." He put his hand on the direwolf's head.

"I believe you," Tyrion said, but what he thought was, And who will go find you? He shivered.

AGoT 21 [Tyrion]

[Faint]

But the story would have to deal with Arya's death long before then. You would have to get many people's reactions to it. Dramatic reveals don't happen in the last chapter of a well-written 400+ chapter series. It would be cheap.

No, actually, that is the point. No one would have ever found out what happened to Arya except Bran.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

Of course, if the deleted/reinserted line was from about the halfway point of aGoT, then the answer becomes obvious. A bedraggled, yet triumphant Tyrek Lannister shows up with a breastplate stretcher.

[As_you_command_Khaleesi]

What about this bit of dialogue:

"My uncle is out there," Jon Snow said softly, leaning on his spear as he stared off into the darkness. "The first night they sent me up here, I thought, Uncle Benjen will ride back tonight, and I'll see him first and blow the horn. He never came, though. Not that night and not any night."

"Give him time," Tyrion said.

Far off in the north, a wolf began to howl. Another voice picked up the call, then another. Ghost cocked his head and listened. "If he doesn't come back," Jon Snow promised, "Ghost and I will go find him." He put his hand on the direwolf's head.

"I believe you," Tyrion said, but what he thought was, And who will go find you? He shivered.

AGoT 21 [Tyrion]

I kinda like this one because it really is throwaway - it's so easy to write off the section as Jon mourning his uncle or simply an aspect of his motivation at the wall. I'm drawn the the Arya one too but I personally think she'll be dead and found (or in obscurity) long before the final scene. The Tyrion ones all seem a little too epic to fit the brief - almost all of them are also echoed consistently throughout the series.

[Salafi Stannis]

Daniel Abraham is a poster here.