A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Spoiler-Filled Discussion

[Ayelbourne]

"I'm going to open [The Winds of Winter] with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice and the battle of Slaver's Bay. And then take it from there."

He should've showed at least one of them in ADwD. We had about 12 chapters per location building up to those battles, but no payoff at all. It was kind of frustrating.

I want the GRRM back who put the Battle of Blackwater Rush in ACoK.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

At least it seems like the show has given him a kick in the butt. Is it possible we may actually see A Dream of Spring before the show reaches that point?

 

[Marten]

At least it seems like the show has given him a kick in the butt. Is it possible we may actually see A Dream of Spring before the show reaches that point?

Considering that it has taken over twenty years to write five novels, I don't think he will pull of two in about five. But who knows, he might speed up.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The second and third novels were produced over a four-year span. Hopefully he can get back to that kind of schedule. As I've said before, given how much money is now at stake for various parties, it wouldn't surprise me if he quietly makes use of a ghost co-writer to speed things up.

 

[CaptainCanada]

He cut the battles from the last book partly because he didn't want to exceed his self-imposed limit of no book being longer than A Storm Of Swords is.

He said recently that he's got about 200 manuscript pages of the next book written, and it'll be another 2-3 years to finish it. Assuming that book supplies another two seasons or thereabouts, that gives him a bit more time.

I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up giving the show a detailed outline of the final book and they end up coordinating the release.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

He should have cut some of the fat from earlier chapters in Dance and included at least one of the two climatic battles.

 

[Yoda]

Maybe the show runners will just have to plow forward on their own and create their own their final season. Then they can let GRRM do the novelization.

I think this idea that they're going to start splitting up the novels into multiple seasons a piece is a bit fanciful. So what, is the show is going to run for like 10 seasons? I don't buy it.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I think this idea that they're going to start splitting up the novels into multiple seasons a piece is a bit fanciful.

They've already announced plans to do that for the third book. Books four and five will have to be combined into a two season story, since there's no other realistic way to do them.

That's four years right there. If the sixth book is done in 2-3 years, that's another 2 seasons, thus six before the final novel is needed. I think it's feasible for Martin to keep pace with the series production, so long as he doesn't fall disastrously behind again.

 

[Skywalker]

He should have cut some of the fat from earlier chapters in Dance and included at least one of the two climatic battles.

He also should have cut out those mostly useless Quentyn Martell chapters.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

The producers said in a recent interview that their optimal vision for the show is that it'll end up running for 80 episodes over 8 seasons.

Seasons 3 and 4, which could be shot together this year, will likely adapt Storm, some elements of Clash that have been pushed back and some elements of Feast that will be brought forward. Seasons 5 and 6 will likely merge the rest of Feast, Dance and the climatic battles from the beginning of Winds into a single linear storyline.

 

[JD]

They've also said that they do diverge more from the books as they go on, so there's a chance that they could have gone so far off in their own direction by the time they reach A Feast for Crows, that it won't matter if GRRM has finished The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. I doubt they'll go that far off the books, but I wouldn't say it's completely impossible.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I don't see that as being at all likely. The divergences from the books that we know of seem mostly to be in the interest of simplifying things for time reasons and, this year, creating extra stuff for characters to do in the interest of keeping popular characters onscreen (ie, supposedly they've thrown in more story into Dany's section, because in the book she really didn't have that much to do; or dramatizing Robb's adventures, which in the novel we only heard about).

 

[DarthPipes]

He should have cut some of the fat from earlier chapters in Dance and included at least one of the two climatic battles.

I would have thrown the Meereen battle into Dance. Save the North battle (which seems to be what everyone wants to see, including me) for Winds of Winter.

 

[Ayelbourne]

^Yeah.
I mean, cut out about two of those many pointless Dany chapters in midsection and put in the battle at the end in their stead.

That actually would have made reading through that plotknot rewarding.
As it stands, it's just a pointless and boring mess, stealing the reader's time.

 

[superdeluxe]

Damn

 

[Anwar]

Watching the first few episodes where Jon is still at Winterfell causes similar feelings:

- Ned says he'll tell him about his mom when they meet again.
- Robb and Jon talk about how they'll see each other again sometime when Jon is a true Man of the Night's Watch.

 

[InklingStar]

^^ Is that Robb and Catelyn? I can't tell. If so, it's not too tragic, because they do see each other again. They die in the same room together, in fact...

 

[Skywalker]

^^ Is that Robb and Catelyn? I can't tell. If so, it's not too tragic, because they do see each other again. They die in the same room together, in fact...

It is Robb and Catelyn. The line is at the end of the conversation where he orders her south to treat with Renly. Cat is distraught because she wants Robb to trade Jaime Lannister for Sansa and Arya, which of course he can't do. Robb tries to comfort Cat by saying when the war is over, they'll get the girls back and the family will be together again.

So, yeah, knowing what happens to them later on, that's a pretty sad line.

 

[InklingStar]

I suppose so. It's less sad than Ned and Cat's farewell in King's Landing though, where book readers know they will never see each other again.

Come to think of it, none of the Starks have been together (save Cat and Robb in Storm) since they split up. I wonder what the first reunion will be in Winds or Dream.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Or, knowing Martin, if there will ever be any reunions at all.