Are you expecting a happy ending to ASoIaF?

[lee1026]

Bittersweet means Littlefinger will humbly agree to sit the Iron Throne for the good of the Seven Kingdoms after a vast majority of the other "players" end up wight bait and the last scene will be him ascending the steps, sitting on the throne, and looking out over the crowd with a well satisfied smile.

And yes, for some strange perverted twisted reason that even I don't understand, this ending would satisfy me.

Well, if it means that it is not the others ruling, then it might be pretty good.

[Blah]

I wouldn't like to see a lot of characters killed off just for the heck of it. However everyone living wouldn't ring true either. So while I enjoy Tyrion, Jaime and Jon I wouldn't have a problem with any one of them dying at the end.

For me Dany or Arya dying would be the toughest to take simply because their plights have probably affected me the most. I admit it, I'm a sap..I want the young girls to triumph

[A Time for Wolves]

I will absolutely not be able to bear it if any more Starks die. I still can't bring myself to open AGOT or ASOS...I've been resolutely reading AFFC for the past few months. But I have this sinking feeling that all but two Starks will die. A boy and a girl. I just feel that there are parallels between Robb, Jon, Sansa and Arya. Robb and Sansa take after the Tullys and Jon and Arya resemble the Starks more closely. Robb's already dead *sob* and I have this weird feeling that Arya's going to die. And out of Bran, Rickon and Jon, two will die. I'm guessing it'll be either Jon and Bran or Bran and Rickon. I'm very sure Sansa won't die though. I don't know why, seeing as how Lady being killed is definitely an ominous sign, but still. I feel Sansa is stronger than we can guess.

I think that House Stark will struggle back to power in the North Kingdom by the end, but depending on which Stark boy survives, it will either have a direct heir or it won't, in which case Sansa will be the last Stark of Winterfell, and will have to marry someone to continue the line. Harrold Hardying/Sansa Stark is not going to ever happen, IMO. Dany will not be Queen of Westeros either. I think her fate will somehow be connected to Valyria.

I'm absolutely 100% certain that Brienne, Jaime, Cersei, Davos, Theon, at least two or three more Starks, Arianne and maybe Damphair Greyjoy will die out of the list of POV characters. Samwell Tarly will survive to return to a sadly depleted Night's Watch as their Maester, but I don't know if Jon Snow (who is to me one of the most depressing POV characters) will be there still as Lord Commander. Arya Stark will bring vengeance on House Frey before she's done with the world, and Sansa will play a role in avenging her family as well - probably by betraying Littlefinger. Arianne will be killed by Quentyn (sp?) in a fight for the Martell throne. Jaime is redeeming himself and he likes Brienne, and she likes him, and they will die, but not before Brienne plays some role. She hasn't done anything yet, so I don't think Stoneheart succeeded in hanging her. She still has a job to do, but when it's done, she'll die. Jaime will die with her, as will Cersei. I found Cersei's thoughts from the Great Sept of Baelor interesting. She thinks to herself that if Jaime champions her cause and fails, then they will both go out of the world together, just as they came in together. I don't know if Jaime will die by Cersei's side instead of Brienne's, but I think it likely that they will die around the same time.

And finally, who will get the Iron Throne at the end of it all? I'm guessing Tyrion Lannister.

[stoneysepton]

I think the series will end as sad as it began

[Nightwatcher]

A happy ending for the series wouldn't make sense because the tone of the books aren't like that at all. How bitter or sweet the end will be is going to be subjective. We all have our favorite characters and POVs, and I'm sure that we thought of endings that we we would like or be satisfied with and which ones we wouldn't like.

Because of this, I expect there will be an equal amount of riots and praise on this board when the final book is released. Realistically, I think I would be able to accept the ending, as long as it makes sense and it is apporpriate with the tone and the mood of the entire saga.

As it is now, with all the waiting, the ending can't come soon enough.

[scorpio2006]

Personally speaking, a happy ending for me here is the Starks back as lords of the North(rebuilding Winterfell begins), and a possible Targaryen-Stark marriage...maybe if Jon is legitamized(sp?). The Others...we're not shown much of them, but the Wall is protected by spells that repell them/hold them off, right? Seeing their Leader would be really interesting.

[TheHalfman]

I hope the ending is good and bad. I don't want it overly drearly and sad, but I don't want it all Princess Bride like with a big happy ending.

I'd be happy as long as Tyrion and Littlefinger survived. Although I don't think Littlefinger will make it to the end.

Someone said a "bad" ending would be Littlefinger on the throne. That'd be great.

[All-for-Joffrey]

I hope the ending is good and bad. I don't want it overly drearly and sad, but I don't want it all Princess Bride like with a big happy ending.

I'd be happy as long as Tyrion and Littlefinger survived. Although I don't think Littlefinger will make it to the end.

Someone said a "bad" ending would be Littlefinger on the throne. That'd be great.

Actually, when you think about it having a sugar-sweet Princess Bride ending would be almost brilliant on Martin's part because it would be completely unexpected. And we all know that Martin has tried to avoid the obvious and do the unexpected since book 1...

[TheHalfman]

Actually, when you think about it having a sugar-sweet Princess Bride ending would be almost brilliant on Martin's part because it would be completely unexpected. And we all know that Martin has tried to avoid the obvious and do the unexpected since book 1...

Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father, prepare to die!

Considering all the POV's that are involved in the series I'm sure it'll be a mix of everything. Some people will have sugar-sweet, some will have bittersweet. Some won't even make it to the end.

[Missing Dwarf]

I think Dany and Jon will die fighting Others together. Bran will lead children of the forest against Others as well - probably together with uncle Bejen.

Rickon will be lord of Winterfell in the end. Gendry will sit Iron Throne with the help of a bunch of Outlaws (Cat, Brienne, Hound, Blackfish, TomOSeven etc). Outlaw will follow Gendry once they know who he is ("we are King Robert's men"). Eric Storm wil die somewhere in Free Cities. he is not even important character in the story.

Targaren will never regin Westeros again. 3 dragons will also die - probably Dany herself has to kill one of them.

I just hope Tyrion hasn't die in the end. As long as Tyrion live, any other characters can die and I would still call it happy ending

[TheHalfman]

I just hope Tyrion hasn't die in the end. As long as Tyrion live, any other characters can die and I would still call it happy ending

Yeah, I agree with you there. I have read the series a while back (never reread, which I NEED to because I don't remember a lot of things) but I had never really discussed it with people. I didn't know so many liked Tyrion.

My favorite is actually Littlefinger, but that handle was already taken. A close favorite behind them is The Hound.

What end do you expect for Tarly?

[A Time for Wolves]

Although Tyrion is definitely one of my favorites, I think that the deaths of any more Starks would be even more unbearable, and Brienne's death, while unavoidable, will be awful.

I keep thinking of this moment in AGOT - even writing about it makes me teary - when Ned and his kids are leaving to court. Robb and Jon say good-bye, promising that they will see each other again and getting slightly emotional. Then Robb tries to say lightly, "the next time I see you, you'll be all in black!" (or something like that - I haven't read AGOT in ages because I just can't). And that scene is so upsetting because, of course, they never see each other again. I want all the Stark kids to be together with Stoneheart, if she can bring herself to treat Jon with respect. Her kids need her now, and she wasn't always there for them (although she tried).

[Missing Dwarf]

What end do you expect for Tarly?

Sam Tarly will become old and fat and lose himself in books and quills. And finally, he begin to write a very good and very long story about Westeros and his adventures and, in the end, he turned out to be... oh, spooooky, spooooky... George RR Martin!

[The Squisher Queen]

I'm hoping for a *plausible* ending. I'm not hoping for any one scenario in particular as an outcome on the grand scale - I don't have a favorite for the Iron Throne or anything - but I hope for things for individual characters.

I hope one of the Starks makes it home, and I hope Sansa realizes she had a true knight in Sandor, and Jon reunites with some of his kin, and Dany and Jorah make up, and Cat gets to rest, and umm, umm, umm . . .

I once had a crackpot notion of the series ending with another Doom of Valyria for Westeros, with all the dragons and magic coming back, and everyone fleeing this world they'd screwed up, but in all seriousness I find it hard to predict the ending plotwise, so I have almost no expectations.

[EHK for Darwin]

The sooner Dany dies the better. Her death is of course inevitable, but the current prominance of her PoV in the books coupled with her lack of any impact directly on Westeros argues dramatic and important send off that she hardly deserves.

But I'd be as happy as an evangelical at the rapture if the next book isn't stuck with half a plot-arc dealing with only half the characters, most doing little or nothing. (Of course the next will only have half the characters, but I am hoping for a full arc without 300+ pages of useless filler)

Hmmm...no wonder this thread is here, just realized I wasn't in general chatter. Which also may be why none of you look familiar.

[Maester Joergensen]

The sooner Dany dies the better. Her death is of course inevitable, but the current prominance of her PoV in the books coupled with her lack of any impact directly on Westeros argues dramatic and important send off that she hardly deserves.

But I'd be as happy as an evangelical at the rapture if the next book isn't stuck with half a plot-arc dealing with only half the characters, most doing little or nothing. (Of course the next will only have half the characters, but I am hoping for a full arc without 300+ pages of useless filler)

Hmmm...no wonder this thread is here, just realized I wasn't in general chatter. Which also may be why none of you look familiar.

I agree that AFfC was disappointing. It didn´t have anything from Jon on the wall or from Dany with her dragons. The two most important plot lines, as Jon is going to led and to win the war on the Others, and Dany is going to sit the Iron throne. GRRM had to split the book in two so that he had westeros stuff in AFfC, and Dany and Jon stuff in A Dance with Dragons.

Its just a whole book threding water, before the important events in a Dance with Dragons. And a lot of f****** Brienne chapters where she does nothing and then dies. I didn´t like AFfC very much as you can propably hear.

(but there was some good Arya chapters. Arya, Tyrion and littlefinger make for the most enjoyable reading, seen in the series as a whole. I´m not sure i want them to survive the series, but just to have worthy endings.)

[Antacid]

Large numbers of characters don't have to die for the ending to qualify as 'bittersweet'. The obvious comparision is Lord Of The Rings, which has the definition of a bittersweet ending with no major characters dying at all. Or both of the Dunk and Egg stories, which end bittersweetly even though both main characters survive unscathed.

Something no one's said anything about that we can definitely expect is IRONY. There's no way some of the characters aren't going to end up in positions which are unexpected in an ironic way, which is why I think theories like "Arya/Sansa and Jon get married, after all he is a Targ", "Sansa and Tyrion wind up together after all", and "Brienne winds up in the Kingsguard" are more possible than they might seem at first glance.

[TheHalfman]

Sam Tarly will become old and fat and lose himself in books and quills. And finally, he begin to write a very good and very long story about Westeros and his adventures and, in the end, he turned out to be... oh, spooooky, spooooky... George RR Martin!

Well put! I honestly can't see Sam being killed off (doesn't mean it won't happen). If he were to die, the only rightful death IMO is at the hands of The Others. Can't really explain why though, Sam The Slayer!

[jscottnelson]

Sam Tarly will become old and fat and lose himself in books and quills. And finally, he begin to write a very good and very long story about Westeros and his adventures and, in the end, he turned out to be... oh, spooooky, spooooky... George RR Martin!

I love that!!

You folks do some wonderful speculating -- hope that GRRM peruses these boards for some plotlines that might make more sense/fun than the original plan.

I'm surprised at those that feel that Dany is going to die. To me, it's been telegraphed since the very beginning that she will return and clean up the mess that is the kingdom after everyone has killed everyone else off -- bringing her dragons with her, and in essence starting over again (history repeating itself) with her line -- except she will have learned through her travels how to be a real ruler.

I've also been assuming a Stark=Targaryen wedding. I was imagining that Bran would be the one -- as he is delving into the philosophical and magical and Dany has the Dragons to really start a new age that harkens back to the old ages. But I've really struggled with the Bran chapters overall -- they have rarely caught my interest.

Agree with those who feel that Dance of Dragons should bring the REAL meat to the table again -- AFFC just felt like an appetizer.

[oba]

I think at series' end we'll discover that all seven books were just a dream by Ned Stark. He'll wake up in bed with his wife, Lady Ashara Dayne. He tells her that, in this dream, his brother was dead, he was Lord of Winterfell, and married to Catelyn Tully. Ashara tells him to go back to sleep.

Hey, it worked for "Newhart".