Anthony Appleyard Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 "The Ice Dragon" (1980 book by GRRM) https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/The_Ice_Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_Dragon ISBN 978-0-00-811885-3 This book (about 120 pages) was published way back in 1980, but it contains features that may be ancestral to features in A World of Ice and Fire / A Game of Thrones. It is set on a remote farm in a nation at war with another nation (in the northern hemisphere), with no firearms, and both sides have a force of armed dragon-riders. The ridden dragons are about 5 times as big as a horse, but there are wild dragons much bigger. The central character is a girl called Adara, who was born with and keeps some Wight-like characteristics including tolerance to icy cold, but she is fully alive (not "undead"), and she remains friendly with her relatives. She becomes friendly with an ice dragon. Later, she and the ice dragon play an important part in events. The book refers to the far north as "the land of always-winter" - a name that reappears. The book describes life forms made of animated ice :: compare the Others of WoIaF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 love this novella. read the version that appeared in dreamsongs a while back. got the vibe that they could live in a northern province of Valeria that was at war with a freehold/region that decided to succeed from the empire and has been lost to time, since the enemy was from the north. this rebel territory was probably defeated shortly afterwards. there have been some theories that Adara becomes the Night Queen who takes the 13th lord commander in her thrall. I kinda want to believe that, but I also really like the idea of Nissa Nissa becoming the Night Queen. Like Azor Ahai saga was a self fullfilling prophecy. He killed his wife to forge a sword to defeat a great enemy. but the woman he killed ended up rising as an aspect of the Great Other. Without the sword being forged, there is no great enemy to defeat. And without the enemy to face, there is no need for Lightbringer. It'd be interesting if Adara and Nissa Nissa were connected somehow, but I think Valeryia would've still been in its infancy when the Long Night happened. Plus if the five forts have anything to do with the Long Night, and the end of Essos and end of Westeros are connected like Alaska and Russia used to be, this Land of Always Winter would probably be north of Yi Ti. this is getting convoluted but maybe Adara travels northeast to become a seperate Night Queen from the original one (Nissa Nissa), or their the same one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Appleyard Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 The Land of Always Winter in WoIaF/GoT canon may be part of a big north polar continent, like Antarctica but the other way up. Adara's wight-like cold-bodiedness let her ride an ice dragon safely, which ordinary warm-blooded humans could not do. To me it seems that, in The Ice Dragon, after the main events, Adara developed a normal warm human blood temperature like her family had. That is shown, because at the end afterwards she could not any more handle ice lizards safely. The Ice Dragon was written way back in 1980, and there need not be any detailed history continuity from it to WoIaF. On page 22 The Ice Dragon says "Dragons cannot stand the cold, so when winter fell Hal and his wing would fly south." Here, "fell" means "started", but note the later WoIaF/GoT placename Winterfell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 The stories are completely separate, but you can see certain ideas begin to take shape, and the George's interest in certain themes, especially the horrors of war visited on noncombatants. I remeber reading that the story was a children's story, so I bought a copy to see if my then 9 year old could read it. I am seriously hoping there is an edited version for kids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fattest Leech Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Lost Melnibonean said: The stories are completely separate, but you can see certain ideas begin to take shape, and the George's interest in certain themes, especially the horrors of war visited on noncombatants. I remeber reading that the story was a children's story, so I bought a copy to see if my then 9 year old could read it. I am seriously hoping there is an edited version for kids! Believe it or not, that is the edited version Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Dacey Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 9 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said: I bought a copy to see if my then 9 year old could read it. Did she read it? Did she enjoy it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Sidious Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 On 8/22/2019 at 9:06 AM, Anthony Appleyard said: "The Ice Dragon" (1980 book by GRRM) https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/The_Ice_Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_Dragon ISBN 978-0-00-811885-3 This book (about 120 pages) was published way back in 1980, but it contains features that may be ancestral to features in A World of Ice and Fire / A Game of Thrones. It is set on a remote farm in a nation at war with another nation (in the northern hemisphere), with no firearms, and both sides have a force of armed dragon-riders. The ridden dragons are about 5 times as big as a horse, but there are wild dragons much bigger. The central character is a girl called Adara, who was born with and keeps some Wight-like characteristics including tolerance to icy cold, but she is fully alive (not "undead"), and she remains friendly with her relatives. She becomes friendly with an ice dragon. Later, she and the ice dragon play an important part in events. The book refers to the far north as "the land of always-winter" - a name that reappears. The book describes life forms made of animated ice :: compare the Others of WoIaF. It is a cute short story. I accept it as an early inspiration for Song but not in the same world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 11 hours ago, The Fattest Leech said: Believe it or not, that is the edited version OMG! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 3 hours ago, Lady Dacey said: Did she read it? Did she enjoy it? No, he did not. I thought nine years old was a bit too tender of an age for child rape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Dacey Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 20 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said: No, he did not. I thought nine years old was a bit too tender of an age for child rape. wtf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Appleyard Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 Also, "Old Laura in the next village, who knew things that happened before anyone else was born" may be part of a thread leading to the Crone in the Religion of the Seven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 4 hours ago, Lady Dacey said: wtf. Wasn't Adara's older sister still a girl? Even if she wasn't those soldiers nailed her father to the wall, and then took turns raping his daughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Dacey Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 10 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said: Wasn't Adara's older sister still a girl? Even if she wasn't those soldiers nailed her father to the wall, and then took turns raping his daughter. Oh, I never read the book! I was asking because I was genuinely curious about a grrm story for kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 1 hour ago, Lady Dacey said: Oh, I never read the book! I was asking because I was genuinely curious about a grrm story for kids. The Ice Dragon is not it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Appleyard Posted September 21, 2019 Author Share Posted September 21, 2019 On 9/13/2019 at 4:07 AM, Lost Melnibonean said: Wasn't Adara's older sister still a girl? Even if she wasn't those soldiers nailed her father to the wall, and then took turns raping his daughter. Thankfully, nobody nailed anyone to a wall or raped anyone in the version of "The Ice Dragon" that I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Melnibonean Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 12 hours ago, Anthony Appleyard said: Thankfully, nobody nailed anyone to a wall or raped anyone in the version of "The Ice Dragon" that I have. IIRC, the action was off screen. The men came out of the home buckling their trousers, and the father was inside, already nailed to the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Appleyard Posted September 22, 2019 Author Share Posted September 22, 2019 Uhh sorry. I only know the book version. I had not heard of a movie version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in Black-Snow Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 Who mentioned a movie version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Appleyard Posted September 22, 2019 Author Share Posted September 22, 2019 Lost Melnibonean wrote "IIRC, the action was off screen. ..."; to me "off screen" suggested some form of media that uses a screen; I am sorry if I guessed wrong. My version of the book (ISBN 978-0-00-811885-3) says nothing about trousers or nailing, and I am thankful that it does not contain that matter. Chapter 7 of my version says "Adara ... found Teri ... they freed Geoff, and they then untied their father." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clegane'sPup Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 I guess someone in order to settle the dispute would need to read the free book and do a quote. https://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/155610-the-ice-dragon-1980-book-by-grrm/&tab=comments&_fromLogin=1 The linky thing does not seem to work, bloody hells, I probably messed up, Google George Martin Ice Dragon pdf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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