Jump to content

GRRM's new Not a Blog post


marwyn

Recommended Posts

It won't 'have' to have it, though given the timeline expansion it seems a reasonable extrapolation.

GRRM has read two different Davos chapters out at conventions.

Yeah I realised how dumb I was being right after posting. I've even read the damn things. Cersei's in jail, so failing some huge twist I think it's fair to say her trial-by-combat is likely to be the next bit of action in her story. Psyched for that!

Could the 'worse for wear' character be the Hound?

He's not a previous POV character, so no. ;) Could he be a contender for the mystery POV?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few things that occur to me:- It's a shame that we won't see Sam, Brienne or Alayne, but I'm not really surprised. Sam and Alayne are both in holding patterns for the moment; and whether Brienne's going to kill Jaime next or capture Sansa, it could plausibly take her a while to get in a position to carry out her mission.

The fact that Jaime as well as Cersei will have a POV chapter or two in ADWD feeds my suspicion that he's headed back to King's Landing to set things straight there. Nothing else has been set up that would require his presence in ADWD.

Brienne not being a POV character doesn't mean that her cliffhanger will go unresolved--GRRM made it clear in ASOS that Theon was still alive and in captivity with a few sentences, so something similar could happen here. Jaime could get reports of a woman meeting Brienne's description riding with the BWB, or something to that effect.

I'm surprised you're one of those enamored with the idea that Brienne will be a continuing storyline going into TWoW. I see no point in having a tertiary character assume such importance going into the later stages of the story. I also think it very curious that the writer has tended to shy from mentioning Brienne at all, both in this latest blog post and in general since the wait for ADwD started.

In my mind, it is far more likely that Brienne will be killed in one of the Jaime POVs, probably as he is making his way to King's Landing, which would resolve the cliffhanger and the character of Brienne in one stroke. What really, is there left to tell? Is this a story (i.e., Jaime/Brienne) that needs to be expanded into the next book, even as far more important things engulf the realm (i.e., Daenerys)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rickon would be the best, most cracked out POV ever.

It's extremely unlikely to be Rickon, unless he is amazingly precocious at four or five years of age.

GRRM has indicated in the past it very hard to write good PoVs from very young characters. The youngest I think we will likely see are therefore Arya and Bran.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm very disapopinted that Theon will have a major role - especially more major than Bran??? Wtf!

I was happy with his PoV in aCoK - it was tense, well-characterized, and we did need to see Winterfell being overthrown.

However what could possibly be gained by watching Theon get tortured and eventually wander around the North is beyond me. Same with Asha. The purpose of the Iron Born in aFfC was clearly to get Euron and Victarion hooked up with Dany. There's honestly nothing else that is important to the actual plot of the books to talk about with these people. Now that Vic is on his way, nuke the stupid islands for all I care. If Theon and Asha are meant to rule the Iron Born together at the end, just have them crawl their way to the Seastone chair at the end of A Dream of Spring. We don't need to see Theon getting flayed and Asha rescuing him. blech.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my mind, it is far more likely that Brienne will be killed in one of the Jaime POVs, probably as he is making his way to King's Landing, which would resolve the cliffhanger and the character of Brienne in one stroke. What really, is there left to tell? Is this a story (i.e., Jaime/Brienne) that needs to be expanded into the next book, even as far more important things engulf the realm (i.e., Daenerys)?

Make her a part of Daenerys story as part of her queensguard. You know this very well, we've had this conversation before, but you seem stuck on the idea that Brienne must forever be a part of Jaime's story. Brienne's story is to be the perfect knight - what better to do that then to serve the true queen? She may very well kill Jaime in the process - we'll see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm very disapopinted that Theon will have a major role - especially more major than Bran??? Wtf!

I was happy with his PoV in aCoK - it was tense, well-characterized, and we did need to see Winterfell being overthrown.

However what could possibly be gained by watching Theon get tortured and eventually wander around the North is beyond me. Same with Asha. The purpose of the Iron Born in aFfC was clearly to get Euron and Victarion hooked up with Dany. There's honestly nothing else that is important to the actual plot of the books to talk about with these people. Now that Vic is on his way, nuke the stupid islands for all I care. If Theon and Asha are meant to rule the Iron Born together at the end, just have them crawl their way to the Seastone chair at the end of A Dream of Spring. We don't need to see Theon getting flayed and Asha rescuing him. blech.

I think you should start opening up to the possibility that either Theon or Asha, or possibly both, will be far more important than you imagine to be the case. Speaking in the short term, Theon's role in ADwD seems to be that of documenting Roose and Ramsay Bolton, who the writer has indicated we would see a lot of. Asha might even assume this role with respect to Stannis. I'm also beginning to entertain the idea that they will become allies with Jon -- but that's pure speculation, and my thinking on that has a lot to do with how I think Stannis' story will go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the Dornish situation:

If I remember correctly the Arianne chapter moved to TWoW where supposed to cover a Dornish reaction to something happening in KL. And we are going to see at the end of ADwD what's going to happen in KL. The Hotah chapter(s) are likely going to continue the Dornish story. Meaning that it's very likely going to cover Arianne's and Doran's next moves concerning the Dany's return, and Balon Swann's arrival at Sunspear.

As to whatever is going to happen in KL, both the trials of the queens (maybe containing one or two executions), and the outbreak of a possible civil war between the Lannisters and the Tyrells should be enough to provoke a Dornish reaction. If Doran and Arianne conclude that the revelation of the Myrcella thing to the Lannister is most likely going to mean war, they might very well seize Balon Swann, and decide to invade the Reach and the Stormlands. After all, Mace, Kevan, and Jaime are tied up in KL, and the Hightowers and the Tyrells remaining in the Reach (Willas and Garlan) have to deal with Euron. Dorne might stand no chance against six united kingdoms, but right now the chances of taking them in the rear would be pretty good. It would be very difficult to imagine a situation where the Dornishmen would have a better chance to conquer vast portions of Westeros without having to fear immediate retribution from Highgarden, Storm's End, or King's Landing itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm very disapopinted that Theon will have a major role - especially more major than Bran??? Wtf!

I was happy with his PoV in aCoK - it was tense, well-characterized, and we did need to see Winterfell being overthrown.

However what could possibly be gained by watching Theon get tortured and eventually wander around the North is beyond me. Same with Asha. The purpose of the Iron Born in aFfC was clearly to get Euron and Victarion hooked up with Dany. There's honestly nothing else that is important to the actual plot of the books to talk about with these people. Now that Vic is on his way, nuke the stupid islands for all I care. If Theon and Asha are meant to rule the Iron Born together at the end, just have them crawl their way to the Seastone chair at the end of A Dream of Spring. We don't need to see Theon getting flayed and Asha rescuing him. blech.

Theon and Asha's story arc seems quite critical to me:

Theon gives us a POV on the Boltons and, hopefully, their final defeat at the hands of Stannis. My guess is that Asha allies with Stannis, promising him the ironborn's support in return for his aid in rescuing Theon and backing him as Overlord of the Iron Islands (with her pulling Theon's strings from behind the scenes, of course). This will likely lead to conflict with Jon, since Theon is blamed for Rickon and Bran's 'deaths'. If the truth of the matter is revealed, Stannis may be inclined to agree to the plan. The problem, of course, is that Theon then needs to retake control of the Iron Islands, a plot I imagine would be difficult to fit into ADWD (it sounds more like the story for TWoW) but we'll see.

Well he would be about 7 come ADWD.

It depends how soon he turns 4 after the start of AGoT. If it's quite soon, Rickon should be 6 by the time ADWD ends. If not, he should be about 5.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends how soon he turns 4 after the start of AGoT. If it's quite soon, Rickon should be 6 by the time ADWD ends. If not, he should be about 5.

Considering that GRRM seems to have wished to start him at 6 I think we can safely assume he will cheat the kids ages up as much as he can.

But ok he will be 5-8 in ADWD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My guesses (and I'm not counting the prologue and epilogue as chapters):

Daenerys 12

Tyrion 12

Jon 11

Theon 7

Bran 5

Davos 5

Quentyn 4

Asha 3

Victarion 3

Barristan 2

Melisandre 2

Mystery POV 2

Areo 2

Arya 1

Cersei 1

Jaime 1

I'll also throw in my guess that the "Mystery POV" is Willis Tyrell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Theon gives us a POV on the Boltons and, hopefully, their final defeat at the hands of Stannis. My guess is that Asha allies with Stannis, promising him the ironborn's support in return for his aid in rescuing Theon and backing him as Overlord of the Iron Islands (with her pulling Theon's strings from behind the scenes, of course). This will likely lead to conflict with Jon, since Theon is blamed for Rickon and Bran's 'deaths'. If the truth of the matter is revealed, Stannis may be inclined to agree to the plan. The problem, of course, is that Theon then needs to retake control of the Iron Islands, a plot I imagine would be difficult to fit into ADWD (it sounds more like the story for TWoW) but we'll see.

We got through 3 entire, action packed books where Roose and Ramsey played extremely important roles, but we barely actually saw any of it. Yet, we knew what was going on to the extent we needed to - the information was conveyed. There is absolutely no reason why this could not continue the way it has in the past - through short chance meetings, and rumors. GRRM used to be very skilled at this. Now he's just throwing random PoV's at us, seemingly out of laziness.

The only thing I could see is that Theon is one of only 4 or 5 people that know Bran is alive, which is important to the Stark Children/Stark Restoration subplot (one of the three major subplots, IMO). But we don't need 10 Theon chapters to reveal that information. We don't even need one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My vote for the new mystery POV... wait for it... wait for it... Bronn! Why not perhaps he gets called to kings landing to answer questions about tyrion. As for the returning POV I got no clue. Another idea for the mystery POV is the kindly old man, not likely but he could answer a ton of question regarding the FM, R'hollor, and even possibly the great other seeing as how i feel they're are all connected in some way. Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What if Theon is being included for another reason that does not match your assumptions?

Neither of those ever occured to me. I thought he was beginning his journey to take the Ironborn crown from Euron and atone for his sins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My vote for the new mystery POV... wait for it... wait for it... Bronn! Why not perhaps he gets called to kings landing to answer questions about tyrion. As for the returning POV I got no clue. Another idea for the mystery POV is the kindly old man, not likely but he could answer a ton of question regarding the FM, R'hollor, and even possibly the great other seeing as how i feel they're are all connected in some way. Thoughts?

We know Bronn very well. I got the impression the mystery POV was somebody we have never heard of before.

Usually big authority figures like the kindly old man are not POVs. Well I guess Cersei and Eddard are exceptions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's extremely unlikely to be Rickon, unless he is amazingly precocious at four or five years of age.

GRRM has indicated in the past it very hard to write good PoVs from very young characters. The youngest I think we will likely see are therefore Arya and Bran.

I was being tongue in cheek. I just think a chapter from Rickon, where he does nothing beyond cry constantly for nonsensical reasons, would be hilarious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The mystery POV could be from the East. Everyone is coming to Dany in Mereen from the west. a big part of the book will be them making that journey.

It would thematically fit if we had someone from the East traveling West to meet Dany in Mereen. They are just as interested in her dragons and army of unsullied to the east as they are to the west. I'm inclined to think the new character is from somewhere not yet seen and the East makes sense. Especially if there is a need to introduce something from the East because it will be important to Dany's plotline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GRRM used to be very skilled at this. Now he's just throwing random PoV's at us, seemingly out of laziness.

Considering ADWD is still more than a month from being released I find it pretty silly to imply Martin has lost his talent at writing about off screen events. A lot of people say the Ironborn chapters in AFFC weren't needed.... my question to them is are you the author? Have you read Dance and Winds and Dream?

No... None of us know where the next story arc is headed or who is important or not for sure. Wait till the damn book comes out to bad mouth the chapters you don't like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm very disapopinted that Theon will have a major role - especially more major than Bran??? Wtf!

I was happy with his PoV in aCoK - it was tense, well-characterized, and we did need to see Winterfell being overthrown.

However what could possibly be gained by watching Theon get tortured and eventually wander around the North is beyond me. Same with Asha. The purpose of the Ironborn in aFfC was clearly to get Euron and Victarion hooked up with Dany. There's honestly nothing else that is important to the actual plot of the books to talk about with these people. Now that Vic is on his way, nuke the stupid islands for all I care. If Theon and Asha are meant to rule the Ironborn together at the end, just have them crawl their way to the Seastone chair at the end of A Dream of Spring. We don't need to see Theon getting flayed and Asha rescuing him. blech.

Bran's role being reduced should not come as a shock to anyone. Bran's storyline is heavy with magic and GRRM isn't going to have Bran playing around with serious magic until the end. That tells me he won't have a lot to do except learn a bit until the final book.

Very interesting that you know the overall purpose of the Ironborn in the series when GRRM hasn't told anyone else. For all we know they will play a very critical supporting role, either providing Daenerys or those who oppose her a valuable fleet.

I'd be totally shocked if Euron or Victarion are the key players for the Iron Fleet in the end. Asha and Theon seem MUCH more likely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...