Amph A Song of Ice and Fire Discussion Thread

Could the Maester they refer to be Marwyn?

 

I hope we get Meribald next season too. And they can't forget Dog either.

 

Tarly is from the Reach, and they've already mentioned him on the show so they (probably) can't change that. One of the Northern lords sounds like an Umber ("rules in the very far north," "bear of a man") and the other may be the show equivalent of Wyman Manderly. I can't (can) believe they're casting Northern lords after the whole Winterfell fiasco, lol.

 

Latest rumor, apparently from the Martins own mouth at a press screening and that of the actor who plays Jamie, is that he is actually putting the finishing touches to it now and it will be out hopefully by October.

This is atleast news a month old, and Martin hasn't debunked it. Which he usually does...So take it for what it is.

 

Doesn't really matter at this point? The TV series will wrap up well before the book series does, so it will be impossible not to be spoiled for the ending.

 

1/2 books is still better than 0/2. And at this point I'm convinced the show ending will be nothing like the books', given the wild divergences in plot, characterization, and theme. Sure, there will probably be "Jon Snow ends up _____" but the execution will be sorely lacking. Plus we know that the "Night's King" is a show invention-- and I'm reasonably sure that "Others turn human babies into them" is only based upon the showrunners taking the ravings of an inbred, uneducated victim of serial rape/incest at face value. That they portrayed the Children of the Forest as literal human children (despite explicit book descriptions to the contrary) indicates that they either don't know these beings aren't human or they consciously decided to change it. I'm not sure which is dumber.

 

The Children of the Forest...don't bring up that travesty again. I was already pissed because they chose to kill of Jojen (I'm sure he's going to die but he at least saw Bran safe with the Crow) but the Children really got my 'wtf is wrong with this show' ball rolling in the finale. Guillermo del Toro and others have proved that it's possible to create fantasy creatures with prosthetics and makeup, so some pointy ears, some yellow contacts, a bit of brown makeup, a cool, leafy costume, and we could've had a great-looking species. But nooo we had to go the literal 'children' route. They specifically said that humans gave them that name because of their size, not their appearance. Ugh

I heard "come with me Brandon Stark!" and for one second I was like 'omg the Children of the Forest!!!!!" and then I saw Leaf and I was like 'who the firetruck are you'. Joy gone in one second

 

Forgive me if this sounds like rubbish but it is a fun theory
Maybe Coldhands is Bran the Builder.
I mean after building a wall of ice his hands would surely be cold.

 

Yes and no. The show is going in radically different directions in some areas from the books. In the books Stannis is on having a bad trip on mushrooms, but for all intents and purposes is in a better position to beat the Boltons than in the show. His men are having it rough, but he's getting reinforcements from Northern clans and the Iron bank is helping him too. Boltons on the other hand are snowed in completely and have rogue elements among them. So as of the last book it seems that Stannis may actually win in WOW.

The books may all lead to the same idea for an ending, but I think it's safe to say that even if the shows catches up even more, that the books will be very different from what we see on screen.

 

the last episode was a desperate scramble to get to many of the same cliffhangers established at the end of a dance with dragons. considering the show runners have been working with martin for five years, i think it's safe to say that the show will reach a very similar conclusion as that of the books, only with many corners cut and plot beats rushed, combined, or skipped over entirely. And frankly, if it's obvious that Stannis will win the battle at the end of one book, it seems more likely that Martin will pull the rug out from under him at the beginning of the next.

 

That's not really how the books work. "Twists" are often heavily foreshadowed. For example, I knew Robb Stark was going to die because Dany had a vision of a dead wolf-headed king at a feast-- I just didn't know it would turn out quite so literal. It also had a ton of buildup-- Catelyn's repeated warnings about Walder Frey, Roose Bolton's odd behavior at Harrenhall, etc. There's also the theme that runs through the series that "good guys" don't magically get away with making mistakes.

Also, the "twist" is going to be Stannis' victory. Stannis is in a terrible situation, bogged down in an epic snowstorm and with men who are so desperate they resort to cannibalism. There's no "rug" for Martin to pull out from under him. The end of DwD had Ramsay's letter to Jon, which claims that Stannis was defeated and killed; there are plenty of hints that this will not the case in both DwD and the released sample chapters of WoW.

And if you think the showrunners listen to Martin, they don't.

 

We still don't know if Stannis is dead in the show. Brienne could have just as easily chopped the tree above his head, deciding at the last minute to spare his life. It's a similar situation in Brienne's last chapter in AFFC; it's unclear (at least until Jaime's chapter in ADWD) if she was hanged or set free by Stoneheart's men. I suspect that early on in season 6, we'll see Brienne dragging Stannis from the scene and then encountering Theon and Sansa.

 

According to the show's post-mortems (lol), he's dead. It would've been "gratuitous" to show his death.

 

Well, I'm reading them now, so we'll see if I eat my words.

 

The show is certainly taking a different path, but the end point for the major characters will pretty much as Martin planned it. I'll still enjoy taking the path, but it loses something when you know where it ends.

Also, I'd like to be able to read the last book without having the show version in the back of my mind.

 

When ADWD came out, Martin announced the release date on his blog four months in advance, before even turning in the final manuscript. If it was actually October, would think he'd have said something by now.

Amazing.

 

I feel as though this song has never been more relevant:


Please, Martin, save our beloved series!

 

No.

http://grrm.livejournal.com/198122.html

 

It won't be neat, that's for sure. The Sixskins prologue and Mel's visions and Jon's last word point to him warging into Ghost in order to preserve his consciousness, so he'll never be truly "dead" in the way that Beric and Catelyn were. But if Mel resurrects Jon's body when his consciousness is in Ghost, who or what will be in control of Jon's body, if anything?

 

I checked that out - the rumour dates back to March, and IIRC, has been debunked. Unfortunately, a lot of sites (IBT, ChristianToday and so on) keep regurgitating old rumours and quotes as clickbait, so without the more rapid flow of information most franchises have (because, you know, they're actually moving along at more than a drunk snail's pace and have real news now and then), such material keeps coming up and appears new.

The most reliable indication of a TWoW release date that I've heard recently is from GRRM in an Entertainment Weekly interview, in which he says that he wants to have it out before Season 6 of the show, so I don't think it's unrealistic to hope for a March/April 2016 release.
This year, though, forget it. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (aka The Tales of Dunk and Egg collection) is all we'll be getting as far as 'new' Westeros material is concerned, and it's probably happening just to have a print release this year - but it'll be a treat for anyone who hasn't read them, and I'll definitely be grabbing it for the pictures, despite having the three collections the stories were included in.