Mwm Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 This may seem an odd post... I was first exposed to A Song of Ice and Fire by binging the first season of the show; already having read the Wheel of Time. One of my first impressions with this breadth of story was: THIS should’ve been the series to go on fourteen books(obviously not a realistic one given Martins writing speed, let’s say he had Jordan’s...) This was before I learned the fates of Ned and Robert. Here’s the, more or less, oddest part of this post: I actually think Martin had more opportunities for the series to go on longer had he kept them both alive. I was literally watching their exchange talking about Daenerys marriage to Drogo, and imagining them being the ones to head the war. Seeing Robert struggle with battle now that he’s so out of shape...This is obviously not Martins way, but it’s always been my opinion that killing good characters early is wasted potential. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisdaw Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 There's no arc for Ned, he is at the finish line for the rest of the characters to fall short of or succeed to. Ned's ethos were well articulated in the space he was given, but he had to die for them for the character to be properly realised. There's no game of thrones without Robert's death, and I don't think he had that many dimensions to fuel further exploration. That said, his impact on other characters keeps him as a presence in the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I think what you're suggesting would be a very good story (I'll always want more Ned), but probably not as shattering as what we're set up to get as it is. When you think about it, nearly all of the primary POVs are now anti-establishment in some way. Jon is a bastard and has no problem bucking tradition. The Stark kids were all displaced and are now living and learning very unlike how they would have lived and learned in traditional high-born Westeros. Sansa has found happiness living as a bastard and has been thoroughly screwed by the powers that be. Arya is living as a commoner, maybe worse than a commoner given the pressure on her to be covert. I strongly suspect LF’s hand in Arya’s connection to the FM given he's made no known inquiries into Arya and his connections to the IB/FM. Bran is being raised by Bloodraven, the Reeds and the CotF. Rickon is being raised by wildlings on Skagos. Jaime, Cersei and Tyrion all have no problem and even take a sort of pride in turning over the system and traditions of Westeros. Dany has never known Westeros and was told who knows by Viserys who was too young to understand things well not that he ever understood much well. Dany knows Essos. Theon is probably not going to be pushing to restore the status quo. Westeros is going to change and the main POVs still alive will be creating that change in some capacity. GRRM’s world spans so much time. The story being told now is massive. It also needs to be more than Westeros falling apart in a second apocalypse only to be put back together just the way it was as if the whole journey was pointless. It's the type of story which needs to take up a massive part of the TWOIAF, not a sidebar with a note that what happened didn't really matter because nothing really changed except they went back to the way it used to be so what's the point of the telling. Apocalypse stories don’t work that way unless they’re fairy tales. For the Stark kids to be “different”, they needed to be separated from their parents and their society. Likewise Dany and Theon. The big influencers remaining with some power are not traditional. You have the likes of Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Dany, Stannis, Euron, LF, Walder, Roose, Varys, and Doran (Dorne has always marched to the beat of its own drummer) still around not caring about how things were always done and it shows. Ned, Cat, Robb, Robert, Renly, the Targs, and anyone else invested in keeping things the same either by choice or simply not knowing any differently had to go for to make room for and set-up others to enable these yet-unknown big changes to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Anna Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 11 hours ago, Mwm said: This may seem an odd post... I was first exposed to A Song of Ice and Fire by binging the first season of the show; already having read the Wheel of Time. One of my first impressions with this breadth of story was: THIS should’ve been the series to go on fourteen books(obviously not a realistic one given Martins writing speed, let’s say he had Jordan’s...) This was before I learned the fates of Ned and Robert. Here’s the, more or less, oddest part of this post: I actually think Martin had more opportunities for the series to go on longer had he kept them both alive. I was literally watching their exchange talking about Daenerys marriage to Drogo, and imagining them being the ones to head the war. Seeing Robert struggle with battle now that he’s so out of shape...This is obviously not Martins way, but it’s always been my opinion that killing good characters early is wasted potential. What do you guys think? Funny you say that cause here where I live each book was divided into 2 so, in fact, this series will be 14 books here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mwm Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 On 2/2/2018 at 10:27 AM, Lady Anna said: Funny you say that cause here where I live each book was divided into 2 so, in fact, this series will be 14 books here Can’t imagine how many volumes Wheel Of Time would be there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Universal Sword Donor Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Love WoT but they could easily have cut 1-2 books from that series, prolly closer to 3-4. Series ground to a halt from books 8-10. ASOIAF could flesh a few more things out but honestly I don't know if I'd want a whole other book out of it. Honestly I just want the next two... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mwm Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 24 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said: Honestly I just want the next two... Amen! Though I would argue I had this thought way before I found out how slow Martin is. And hot damn is it true Wheel of Time could’ve been trimmed down, that’s why I would’ve preferred in a perfect world for A Song of Ice and Fire to have been that many books because the breadth of this story is suited for that. Wheel of Time didn’t start as “epic” as this series did; the first few only followed Rand...it really took a jagged turn after book four if I’m remembering right. Besides the fact A Song of Ice and Fire is about power machinations, betrayals, long conversations. Material to be looked at widely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishb20 Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 I never thought we'd reach a day where someone said "wow, I wish [author's name] was as fast at writing as Robert Jordan" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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