Uncovering the redacted text in GRRM's original treatment.

[PopMelon]

Hi all,

Never posted to these forums though I've been a bit of a lurker in the past.
The last few days I've been working with asoiaf reddit users to decipher the redacted text of GRRM's original treatment that was released this week and I thought I should also try posting it here - currently the thread has been pushed off the front pages by reddit's voting algorithm but me and a few other redditors are still active in slowly trying to uncover the text.

Third-party support in this project has been incredibly helpful so if anyone would like to join in on this project you are more than welcome. I do recommend you try reading through at least some of the thread if you want to submit ideas as a lot of trial and error has already gone into creating what we currently have. I try to give clear justification/probability in my decisions however given the nature of trial and error that goes into the project, a lot of changes/alterations are constantly being made. I will eventually make a new thread in Reddit however I'm still currently fine with the one we have now, perhaps I'll do one every week. Also a warning of potential spoilers below although currently there are no real spoilers!

I hope you enjoy it:
http://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/2usz8v/spoilers_all_uncovering_the_blanked_text_in_grrms/

Current version [uPDATED]:
http://imgur.com/01nrJPf

[AdmiralKyrd]

Some things are best left uncovered.

[PopMelon]

Some things are best left uncovered.

I'd actually like to address this, the project started out quite innocently - only expecting to maybe uncover a word or two and mostly just as a fun way to pass the time rather than theorising. It's only in the last day or two where I have begun to worry about the ethics of this, should we be doing this at all in the first place, is this too far? I honestly don't have an answer for you. The only thing I can say is that so far it doesn't seem as though what has been hidden will have too much of an impact on our understanding of the story or the revelation of spoilers (at least in the form the books have currently taken). It is also impossible to uncover the first couple of lines of text so we are not going to be able to see everything.

That is my current justification, I can understand if others see differently.

[Neumond]

Wow, I am kind of amazed. The one guy saying he was thinking about some line for a whole hour really got me. I kind of understand it, as I love puzzles and riddles and there is nothing more satisfying than solving a problem. But well the dude that released this letter really messed up. He/She probably didn´t expected this in his/her wildest dreams.

I really would like to see the reaction of GRRM to this...

And I am actually torn between wishing you guys the best of luck with it and hoping you´ll never be able to decipher it.

[Ser Duncan The Average]

Firstly, welcome to the forum :cheers:

Secondly, I have literally spent the last two days with your page open in the background waiting for new updates to pop up.

And thirdly, screw ethics I want to know. So please keep going, please, I have to know what it says!

[Ghost's Shadow]

I keep on wondering when they'll put a comma after 'Thrones'. :P

[chrisdaw]

Very few words end in lad.

[PopMelon]

Very few words end in lad.

Agreed, but over 1,300 end in 'led' and the vowel in that part does not appear to be an 'e' unless it's deformed slightly.

EDIT: I should note, I'm not ruling out 'led' at all. Just trying different things, I shouldn't have included that in the latest image. Thanks.

[Ramsay's Penguins]

Good luck with these!

You're like journalist looking for a scoop, or detectives.

Heroes of the fandom if you uncover something.

Obviously it's meant to be important, or have more bearing on the current series then the rest of the letter.

[voodooqueen126]

I wonder why the person covered it, if they did this without GRRM's permission?

[Muggle]

Honestly im surprised there have not been more stuff like this going on. I cant imagine the network security for the publishers is all to secure. Im surprised with how popular this series is. Some self proclaimed hero with half a degree in computer science has not come up with the chapters GRRM has submitted to his publishers. Or some disgruntled worker copied them to a thumb drive.

[chrisdaw]

I wonder why the person covered it, if they did this without GRRM's permission?

Perhaps the person who covered it isn't the same who released it. Someone frames it, puts it up for display in their office or whatever just because it's a cool thing to show off, covers the spoilery part, then someone else photographs it and releases it on the web without them knowing.

[PopMelon]

Perhaps the person who covered it isn't the same who released it. Someone frames it, puts it up for display in their office or whatever just because it's a cool thing to show off, covers the spoilery part, then someone else photographs it and releases it on the web without them knowing.

One thought I've also had is that we have no idea WHEN this paragraph was redacted. It could have been at the beginning of the HBO series or before aDwD was released. We may never know and the redaction may be completely irrelevant now.

[EternET]

Perhaps the person who covered it isn't the same who released it. Someone frames it, puts it up for display in their office or whatever just because it's a cool thing to show off, covers the spoilery part, then someone else photographs it and releases it on the web without them knowing.

Yeah the thing is that the "glow/flare" indicate it's framed and verticaly exposed somwhere. So perhaps it was indeed blanked before it was framed, and it was made to show (maybe as a tool to brag before other publishers/ future writers).

Everybody is speculating that in those line there's the confirmation of Jon's parentage which seems to be an "absolute plot point" (just like Ned's death) that didn't change I guess.

[Wizraban]

I see not harm in uncovering the text, it's unlikely to reveal anything earth-shaking.

By the way, what do you think about the following addition to the line before the last?

... side of the Wall, the others are watching with cold dead eyes ...

[Mad Madam Mim]

Holy moly this is insane...but bloody brilliant! Good luck! (Due to my appalling spelling it is probably fir the best I don't contribute)

[Northernmonkey]

Good work, this is why I love the internet.

Personally I'm not that bothered about the revelation. It's not the vague outline of the ending that interests me, it's all the stuff that happens before then.

[chrisdaw]

on the otherside of the wall

?

[Wizraban]

An earlier version had "on the far side of the Wall", which certainly makes sense, but it's not clear how it would fit the preceding line.

[AdmiralKyrd]

Good luck with these!

You're like journalist looking for a scoop, or detectives.

Heroes of the fandom if you uncover something.

Searching for where your parents hid a few presents before Christmas is one thing, but grabbing your parents' social security cards (or international equivalent) and calling up their credit card companies to ask for complete receipt purchase histories is another. It would make for a rather lame Christmas.

We all search, discuss, and debate theories here because its exciting, but keeping some surprises in the last few books is a very good thing. I'm not saying that letter holds all the keys, I'm sure it doesn't, but if that letter was totally cracked then it would do more harm than good. It wouldn't be something to christen people as heroes of the fandom. Regardless of whether or not only some people wanted to discover things that way, the information would seep out to the rest of the internet savvy portion of the fandom through osmosis.

Personally, I think you guys looking to crack the letter should form a secret society and swear to keep it away from the rest of the fanbase for it's own good, but that's just my opinion. The real "heroes" aren't those that are able to crack something and reveal it, but those who would hold that sort of thing back on their own volition to preserve the grand spectrum of GRRM's writing in the way he intended, or at least. one that didn't involve details of the ending leaking out to his fans through a post on flipping twitter.