GRRM ON LAND OF ALWAYS WINTER?

[himalyanjon]

here's George rr martin

"And what lies really north in my books—we haven't explored that yet, but we will in the last two books."

to explore it someone will have to go there, and i was thinking who would be the best candidate.... jon, bran or someone else

i'm sure it will be a major character and how will they go there AND OTHERS ARE SUPPOSED TO TAKE ONLY WIGHTS THERE SO MY QUESTION IS WHO WILL BE THe PERSON AND WILL THEY BE A WHIGHT?????

(my money's on jon as a coldhand sort of a wight.)

[MtnLion]

Bran will do the exploring, but he will need to be careful. I believe that the Others can sense his consciousness exploring in that area.

[dreamcatcher]

Ghost? I don't think Jon would survive up there... (Unless he's already undead. Which I sincerely hope he won't be.)

[Crown]

It would be awesome to have a Ghost POV, in search of Summer in the Lands of Always Winter.

[lobomite]

Uncle Benjen!!!

[memmorio]

Uncle Benjen!!!

That's my hope.

[CrypticWeirwood]

That's my hope.

Careful what you wish for: there are still at least two prologues to go.

[A Time for Wolves]

I'm actually really pumped for this. The North has become my favorite part of the story since ADWD, and I always wondered if Benjen Stark's role was to gather information on the Others. There's no other reason for him to be missing for more than 2 years without being confirmed dead or wightified, and also not be Coldhands or within Bloodraven's cave.

I don't think Benjen will be a prologue though - if he was destined to infodump to the reader and die, he could have done that several prologues ago.

I'm curious to see what the Others' society is like, although apparently GRRM said somewhere that they don't have a real culture or society, and that they're not a real race. Are there settlements in the Lands of Always Winter? Are there animals there, like penguins? Or are penguins too cute and cheerful for that?

[himalyanjon]

I'm actually really pumped for this. The North has become my favorite part of the story since ADWD, and I always wondered if Benjen Stark's role was to gather information on the Others. There's no other reason for him to be missing for more than 2 years without being confirmed dead or wightified, and also not be Coldhands or within Bloodraven's cave.

I don't think Benjen will be a prologue though - if he was destined to infodump to the reader and die, he could have done that several prologues ago.

I'm curious to see what the Others' society is like, although apparently GRRM said somewhere that they don't have a real culture or society, and that they're not a real race. Are there settlements in the Lands of Always Winter? Are there animals there, like penguins? Or are penguins too cute and cheerful for that?

i have started new topic on how i think there might be a hidden unknown city of others

[himalyanjon]

Bran will do the exploring, but he will need to be careful. I believe that the Others can sense his consciousness exploring in that area.

it will not do justice to mysteriousness of lands i hope someone will go there

[himalyanjon]

Ghost? I don't think Jon would survive up there... (Unless he's already undead. Which I sincerely hope he won't be.)

bran????

[alienarea]

IIRC the only povs up North are Bran, Jon, Melisandre and with a vague possibility Davos Seaworth, depending on what he found on Skagos and what happened after.

But I don't think it could be Davos, he would not be able to survive there.

Melisandre would not leave the wall and needs to always have a fire around so she is out as well.

Jon could only go while in Ghost, that is a possibility.

Or Bran explores the North through the weirwoods or warging Summer or a crow.

Crackpot: Bran warging a black crow. Stonesnake is still MIA, if he survived on his own and is now weak enough, could Bran warg him?

[Black Crow]

I'm curious to see what the Others' society is like, although apparently GRRM said somewhere that they don't have a real culture or society, and that they're not a real race.

Tommy Patterson, artist for the comic book version of AGoT in discussing the difficulties of visualising the Others:

I had many talks with George. He told me of the ice swords, and the reflective, camouflaging armor that picks up the images of the things around it like a clear, still pond. He spoke a lot about what they were not, but what they were was harder to put into words. Here is what George said, in one e-mail: 'The Others are not dead. They are strange, beautiful… think, oh… the Sidhe made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous.

[Hardstone]

Alliser Thorne is still MIA too.

[A Time for Wolves]

Tommy Patterson, artist for the comic book version of AGoT in discussing the difficulties of visualising the Others:

I had many talks with George. He told me of the ice swords, and the reflective, camouflaging armor that picks up the images of the things around it like a clear, still pond. He spoke a lot about what they were not, but what they were was harder to put into words. Here is what George said, in one e-mail: 'The Others are not dead. They are strange, beautiful… think, oh… the Sidhe made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous.

Interesting. Comparing them to the sidhe makes you imagine them with human/humanoid faces. I imagined expressionless, mask-like crystal "faces" - the only sign of life being the freaky eyes - all these years.

[girlfrommonday]

I'm curious to see what the Others' society is like, although apparently GRRM said somewhere that they don't have a real culture or society, and that they're not a real race.

this is interesting. if they're not a real race, who they are? twisted version of children of the forest (like orcs were once elves)? Although I don't like this idea. What it means 'real race'? :worried:

[Dornish Bannerman]

I hope Benjen Stark gets a couple of chapters up in the high north. It's not likely there will be anyone to talk too, so he might just be thinking and summing up stuff. Mayhaps he also knows something about Ned, that we don't?

[LadyJSnow]

I'm on team Benjen. I sincerely hope that he is the one who gives us the far North POV. We haven't seen/heard him at all since he left. Jon Snow was commanded to immerse himself into the Wildlings society to learn about them to figure out how to best manage them. How do we know that Benjen wasn't given similar orders? Perhaps he was ordered to stay in this far North until he could figure out how to defeat the Others.

Fingers crossed.

[Nazurane]

I hope Benjen Stark gets a couple of chapters up in the high north. It's not likely there will be anyone to talk too, so he might just be thinking and summing up stuff. Mayhaps he also knows something about Ned, that we don't?

I think GRRM said, that there will be no more new POV characters. Therefore the only way to see Benjen again (I'm hoping he is alive and well) would be through Bran, Jon and what about Rickon?

I also think it would be quite cool to see the Others as a group and before a possible final battle

[girlfrommonday]

hate me, but I would not mind Benjen as POV in prologue/epilogue (true, GRRM could do it several prologues ago, but what if he will give us information, that previously would spoil us to much?)