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Announcing The Rise of the Dragon


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1 minute ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

I think it refers to house Targaryen as a whole. 

I guess it might be, but I'm confused by that choice. After all, there is also a singular dragon - Aegon the Dragon - in that book, but his rise is merely the prologue not the actual topic of the book.

I'd find it equally weird if a book about the rise of the Starks or Lannisters were called 'The Rise of the Wolf' or 'The Rise of the Lion'.

That kind of identification makes sense when the heraldic animal stands for a nation or an empire, but with a family the singular isn't the best choice.

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@The Bard of Banefort

Where did you hear that because whenever I look up medieval princes/princesses that were stillborn, whether French, English, Spanish, or something else, they're almost always named? As for Alicent, the reason I asked is because Jaehaerys I mistakes her for one of his daughters and later Saera in particular, which stretches credulity a bit if Alicent is a brunette since Saera, so far as we know, had the typical Valyrian appearance.

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8 minutes ago, Black of Hair and Heart said:

This is insanely pedantic, even by your standards. Bravo.

Hey, the point of interacting with people who make such books is to ask such questions.

If I had Tolkien here I'd also ask him why the hell he chose to celebrate Sauron in the very title of his big work by calling it 'The Lord of the Rings' rather than, you know, focus on the actual protagonists of the story who actually do appear in person in the book.

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8 minutes ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

@The Bard of Banefort

Where did you hear that because whenever I look up medieval princes/princesses that were stillborn, whether French, English, Spanish, or something else, they're almost always named? As for Alicent, the reason I asked is because Jaehaerys I mistakes her for one of his daughters and later Saera in particular, which stretches credulity a bit if Alicent is a brunette since Saera, so far as we know, had the typical Valyrian appearance.

I meant regular people, not royalty. 

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15 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Has George ever said how long it usually takes him to write a DnE novella? I’ve decided to start pinning all my hopes on FnB2 and DnE now. (Don’t worry, I’m not someone who sends George angry emails when it inevitably takes longer to write than expected. I get the impression that he gets quite a few of those).

I don't know that I've ever seen him comment on specific lengths of time. The Hedge Knight was probably the quickest, that came out right before Clash. I always got the impression they were something he worked on when he was stuck on the main books. The timing of The Sworn Sword (2003) and The Mystery Knight (March 2010) kind of bear that out. 

 

I think as Martin starting digging into the histories more broadly (via both the World Book/F&B, plus the expansion of the world in the later books of the main series), they became tougher to tackle. I wouldn't be surprised if the fourth one took so long because Martin was hung up on the apparent shitshow that was the North during the back half of the second century and working out all the various factions among the Starks, etc. 

 

I think also, that as they become less of what we will probably call in the future "classic Dunk & Egg stories", i.e. them Forrest Gumping their way around Westeros, and start to become more directly involved in major events (like the Third Blackfyre Rebellion), the novellas themselves are going to get a lot longer. 

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12 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

“The Rise of the Dragon” just sounds better singular than plural. The second time be can be something like “Trials of the Dragon,” and the third one (because I do believe there will be three) can be “The Fall of the Dragon.”

Yeah, I get it why one might be doing this. I still don't like it, though.

7 minutes ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Wow, I've never actually heard the last part. Has this been confirmed by GRRM himself?

I'm going from memory about something Ran told us. He can confirm it.

11 minutes ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said:

@The Bard of Banefort

Where did you hear that because whenever I look up medieval princes/princesses that were stillborn, whether French, English, Spanish, or something else, they're almost always named? As for Alicent, the reason I asked is because Jaehaerys I mistakes her for one of his daughters and later Saera in particular, which stretches credulity a bit if Alicent is a brunette since Saera, so far as we know, had the typical Valyrian appearance.

For the Targaryens, I think, we should assume that Rhaenyra's elder brother who died in the cradle in the 90s would have had a name. After all, even all the children of Alysanne had names, even those who survived only for a couple of days.

Stillborn royal children also seem to have had names, at least in the minds of their parents (Rhaella's stillborn daughter Shaena, for instance), but since sex would only be determined at birth the name would also only been given then. For instance, Rhaenyra naming her stillborn daughter Visenya seems to be political statement/gesture made after she learns of the coup - it might not necessarily the name she originally intended to give to the child if it were female. It doesn't seem to be common, though, to actually give names to stillborn children.

Gael may have had a name for her stillborn bastard, too, but it would make sense that history record all of those. But the name of Daemon's stillborn son by Laena shouldn't be forgotten - he would have been a royal prince and Daemon's first male child.

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I think I said I expected that it might make the appendix of TWoW, but I've no inside knowledge as to how significant or not they'll be beyond what everyone else knows about it, pretty much.

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28 minutes ago, Ran said:

I think I said I expected that it might make the appendix of TWoW, but I've no inside knowledge as to how significant or not they'll be beyond what everyone else knows about it, pretty much.

IIRC, there was a 2002 summary of AFFC from Amazon that said that "events would culminate at Starfall". I don't know if it was official, though. 

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8 minutes ago, The Dragon Demands said:

Will it include a map? If it's meant for casual audiences, the noobs need a map.

According to Ran the book will contain "several maps, a cross-section of a famous tower from a creator we’ve personally long wanted to work with (and hope to work with again in the future!), and some truly amazing work from a bevy of artists, some that may be familiar (Magali Villeneuve, Marc Simonetti, Chase Stone, René Aigner), and some that may not (such as Ertaç Altınöz  who provided the cover and the image of the dragons over the Red Keep, Sven Sauer of the Unseen Westeros art exhibition)".

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A famous tower? The Hightower? I don’t think The Tower of Joy was around yet, so it can’t be that.

I have a hard time envisioning the interior of the castles. I especially have a hard time picturing Harrenhal, with its massive size. Pitch for the next coffee table book: an illustrated book of architecture featuring several different parts of each important castle. I would love that.

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@Ran

One thing I wonder about, the hardcover on Amazon is listed at 352 pages. The Fire and Blood book itself is around 730 or so.

Considering this book also blends in more than 180 new illustrations, I at first thought this was part 1 of 2 but it is not. So is that page count correct you think? Because then it would be very condensed right?

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8 hours ago, Calibandar said:

 

Considering this book also blends in more than 180 new illustrations, I at first thought this was part 1 of 2 but it is not. So is that page count correct you think? Because then it would be very condensed right?

Page count is accurate-ish, I believe. The text from F&B has been condensed down by just over half, IIRC. But we also have a double-column layout, as with TWoIaF, and oversized pages, so that's made room for all the new art.

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Damn, those maps do make the thing look much more tempting than before.

Are they more detailed maps than we had before?

And if the cross-section were the Hightower that would be great as well.

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