I think GRRM is foreshadowing at a massive twist in TWOW, Tormund hasn't been honest about the size of his member. He says its big enough to frighten any woman, but what if he's lying? This would be a massive turning point in Tormund's character arc. I have the evidence:

"Might be all a skin o' lies." Tormund scratched under his beard. "If I had me a nice goose quill and a pot o' maester's ink, I could write down that me member was long and thick as me arm, wouldn't make it so."

I believe this is GRRM foreshadowing this revelation, which will be revealed in TWOW when Melisandre is reviving Jon Snow at the Nightfort. The magic only works with the blood of a "king" AKA dude with a huge one. When Mel demands Tormund leech his dick for Jon, he's forced to admit the shocking truth.

"Wherever whores go"

"Kill the boy"

"Floppy ears"

"Joffrey, Cersei, Raff the Sweetling, Walder Frey, Ilyn Peyne, the Hound"

"...and Moon Boy for all I know"

I'm not talking about the repetition being annoying. I just want to know whose obsessive fixation on certain words do you find the most unwise

edit: What I find most interesting is the spectrum of sources that put these words in POVs' heads and their intentions, ranging from "Kill the boy" all the way to "Reek, Reek it rhymes with Weak"

I just finished ADWD. It took around 4 months for me to finish the entire ASOIAF series.

I really like Feast for what it was. Jaime and Brienne had super fun chapters. My favorite part was everything surrounding the siege of Riverrun. Cersei imploding in King's Landing was also a fun read.

But then ADWD happens, and it feels like a book with a lot of setup without a proper payoff. Of course, it's not all setup; some characters have strong arcs. I like Jon's controversial rule as Lord Commander and Theon's arc, which was actually my favorite of the book. But a lot of filler chapters, and Tyrion and Dany, who I normally really like, became so boring to me. Winterfell was super interesting, but so much of the runtime is spent doing random BS in Essos.

And then it ends without a single one of the big battles. We don't see Stannis meeting Roose in the field or Barristan charging on the Yunkai. TF is Euron even doing? A lot of setup for close to zero payoff, and then the 15-year wait haha. I finally understand you guys.

"Not now," she agreed. "One day. One day you must tell me all. The good and the bad. There is some good to be said of my father, surely?"

"There is, Your Grace. Of him, and those who came before him. Your grandfather Jaehaerys and his brother, their father Aegon, your mother . . . and Rhaegar. Him most of all." - Daenerys VI, A Storm of Swords

Curiously, Barristan only mentions one brother even though Jaehaerys had two, Duncan and Daeron.

Cat does think of Jenny and Duncan when she passes through Oldstones so we know for a fact Duncan was invented already in ASOS.

At first, I was thinking it's most likely Daeron Barristan thinks of since he was a warrior who died quelling a rebellion while Duncan the Small was a useless guy who started another rebellion. But then this whole passage is about the "good and bad" of the family which still includes Duncan and his vices. Or it's possible Barristan just doesn't think Duncan is worth talking about.

The conquerer why didnt give celtigars any position of power
Orys just mere warior get Storms End
Velaryons are almost a branch of Targaryens
Master at arms of Dragonstone get harrenhal
But celtigars are first to support Aegon but didnt get any realm power position or power no royal marriages no land no big prize
I think they at least deserve the Lannisport

Towards the end of AFFC, we learn that Jaime sends Edmure inside Riverrun, and then Edmure takes a whole day to surrender the castle, before which the Blackfish as escaped by swimming across the river floating quietly downstream. Jaime doesn't find out the Blackfish is missing till the next morning after the castle gates are opened. If one man could escape, why not two? That couldn't be too difficult, if an old man was able to manage it. Also, before sending him into Riverrun, Jaime leaves Edmure alone with the singer Tom of Sevenstreams for a while, and there are popular fan theories that Tom is an agent working for the BWB. Maybe he told Edmure about some rescue plans?

And then Edmure went inside Riverrun and told the Blackfish about it, and since they took so long to strike the Direwolf banners and open the gates, they both could have escaped together? Did both of them decide that it was important for their plan for Edmure to assume his captivity for now, but the Blackfish must escape to gather his forces with the BWB, or even ride to the Vale to obtain help from the Vale lords?

Background

I thoroughly enjoyed (as I am sure most did) Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. In the season finale, Dunk's mentor, Ser Arlyn of Pennytree states that "a true knight always finishes a story" during a flashback regarding the origin of Pennytree where he appears to die then awakens to finish it. This scene is regarded by many as a meta-joke regarding the ASOIAF series and GRRM.

If interested: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Anything/Everything Dunk & Egg

Other Similar Meta Jokes/References

There are plenty of similar potential Meta jokes/references in the series:

• GRRM's Writing Process/Plan for the Series

The plan—”
“Which plan?” said Tristan Rivers. “The fat man’s plan? The one that changes every time the moon turns? First Viserys Targaryen was to join us with fifty thousand Dothraki screamers at his back. Then the Beggar King was dead, and it was to be the sister, a pliable young child queen who was on her way to Pentos with three new-hatched dragons. Instead the girl turns up on Slaver’s Bay and leaves a string of burning cities in her wake, and the fat man decides we should meet her by Volantis. Now that plan is in ruins as well. -ADWD, The Lost Lord

• The Five Year Gap

"You would not believe half of what is happening in King's Landing, sweetling. Cersei stumbles from one idiocy to the next, helped along by her council of the deaf, the dim, and the blind. I always anticipated that she would beggar the realm and destroy herself, but I never expected she would do it quite so fast. It is quite vexing. I had hoped to have four or five quiet years to plant some seeds and allow some fruits to ripen, but now . . . it is a good thing that I thrive on chaos. What little peace and order the five kings left us will not long survive the three queens, I fear." -AFFC, Alayne II

• The Meereenese Knot

While the show had a prostitute who could perform the "Meereenese Knot", there are potential other homages to it as well with Barristan (who is the character GRRM used to solve it):

I actually had a very good day today, writing about a character who wasn't originally supposed to be a POV, but has turned out to be sharpest sword I've got for slicing through the Meereenese knot. -SSM, August: 4 Aug 2010

and:

the knight asked himself … but it was easier to pose that question than to answer it. I have no skill at unraveling such knots. -ADWD, The Discarded Knight

and mentioning what he likely wishes he could have done to it:

Knots and tangles, Jaime thought, wishing he could cut through all of it with one swift stroke of his sword. -ADWD, Jaime I

TLDR: Consider it copium or whatever you want, but the comment "A true knight always finishes a story" by Ser Arlan during the finale of Season I of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, fits in with other meta comments in the series.

So recently, I have been thinking about how there are a lot of unanswered questions about the Targaryen Family and this made me think about doing a post of what mystery about the Targaryens that you want to know about. Here are couple of the questions I have about the Targaryen family.

What made Duncan Targaryen specifically love about Jenny so much that he would give up his rights as heir to the throne so that he can marry her because it’s never told to us why did he loved Jenny.

How and when did Daenaera Velaryon, Mariah Martell, Aelinor Penrose, Shaera Targaryen, and Betha Blackwood die as they are the only queens that we don’t have any explicit information of how they die and when did it happen.

Was Baela already dead when Alyn was sleeping with Eleana or was she still alive during that time.( although Elaena wishing she could marry Alyn implies she was dead but it’s still not confirmed).

Why was Baelor The Blessed was so religious because no reason was ever given.

How did Aelora accidentally killed Aelor and when did they marry each other because it is not confirmed if they marry each before or after 209 AC.

Did Daenora remarried after Aerion died and if so, who did she marry and did she had any more kids in this marriage.

How did Aegon V meet Betha.

Why was Aelora attacked by The Rat, The Hawk, and The Pig as we are never told what was their motive of doing this nor why was she left unguarded as the heir to the throne.

Why was Gaemon called the Glorious.

What happened to Vaella and Maegor (Son of Aerion).

What was the dynamic and relationship that Maekar’s children had with Baelor and Rhaegel’s children as not much information have been revealed about this topic.

When and how did Daeron the Drunken’s wife Kiera of Tyrosh die and when did they marry because similarly to Aelor and Aelora, we don’t know when exactly did they marry each other.

There are more questions that I have but these are just some of my questions about the Targaryens. What mysteries would you like to know the answer to Regarding the Targaryen Family.

I would like to read a song of ice and fire as a smal book club with my sister. Because I have never organised something like that and it's been a while since I have read the books myself, I would like to know if anyone on this sub has done something like this before and could suggest something in regards to reading segments.

What chapters work well together and what would be good stopping points that leave us enouth to talk about?

While I have read the books before, it would be the first time for my sister who has only ever seen the show and whom I tried to talk into giving the superior written version a shot for years at this point

We are starting from the german version of book one (see picture). The german release has the english books split into two smaler books each, but as far as I know the order of the chapters is the same with only page numbers being different on account of the translations.

Any suggestions and general advice about doing something like this would be appreciated

Unlike many of you, I believe that GRRM is actually writing TWOW. However as he says it's a tough book to write and a lot or the reasons for it lie in AFFC and ADWD. Lemme get some things clear first, when I suggest changes, it would not involve - removing Brienne's chapters, removing the Greyjoy or Martell plotline or deleting all of Essos from ADWD.

THIS IS A HYPOTHETICAL!!!!!!

These are the points to keep in consideration before the 4 battles.

1. Sansa should have 5 more chapters in AFFC. By removing these chapters from AFFC what ultimately happens is that all of her Vale arc and becoming competent at scheming gets shifted to TWOW which in turn just increases the length of that book. I certainly think she would not be as competent as she would if the 5 year gap were executed but she would understand things and Littlefinger better.

2. Arya should be shifted completely to ADWD. Her arc with the Faceless Men has another objective imo apart from making her a cool rogue killer (which was never GRRM's motive btw, he does not celebrate revenge and children becoming assassins) and that is emphasizing the theme of rejection of immortality and importance of death. Her arc in Braavos could be 10-12 chapters long and be split across ADWD and TWOW. Same as Sansa here, reducing the number of Arya chapters in AFFC and ADWD ultimately increases the chapter count of TWOW. If she has 4 more chapters in TWOW she could finally deal with Lady Stoneheart and take Winterfell alongside Jon (I believe that theory, this was by Michael Talks about Stuff on YouTube).

3. Bran... Many of you hate him but I don't so I am quite ambitious about him. Same here. He needs at least 12 chapters to be good at whatever Bloodraven wants him to be good at or to even uncover the schemes of Bloodraven and the COTF. Split them evenly, 6 and 6 across ADWD and TWOW. And I would suggest another idea. Give Meera Reed a bigger role here, she could do some of the uncovering work and be a cool non POV character as well.

4. By the end of ADWD, we need Davos to be back from Skagos with Rickon and Osha. Bro just vanishes before half of the book is over.

5. Cersei, Jaime, Brienne - no changes.

6. Jon - no changes but we need to see the civil war like chaos at Castle Black after his death and hence I suggest 3 more Melissandre chapters. I loved her only POV chapter and she certainly gives us more of a hint into the fire side of magic apart from Daenerys.

7. Daenerys needs more chapters in ADWD. Her main arc is deciding if she could rule. We need a conclusion to that so we can focus completely on her invasion in TWOW. And what to do in these new chapters - her acquisition of the Dosh Khaleen and the Dothraki, returning to Meereen, dealing with the aftermath of the Battle of Fire and setting sail to Volantis. We can also eatablish Daenerys, the Dosh Khaleen and the Dothraki as a type of Paul Atreides - Bene Gesserit - Fremen type thing. The seeds are there. If we have even one influential Dosh Khaleen who acts as a sort of religious propaganda type thing and hold up Daenerys as a religious figure, we can partiallh solve the issue of Daenerys' side characters being less interesting. We honestly could do the same with Daario. Daario is quite an asshole and she just fucks him in hot blood. Make him a more negative influence apart from being a fuckboy. Something similar to the show will happen here, she will leave him at Meereen. But it would be an element that influences her arc more - either she gives into his influence or rejects it.

8. I would say another thing - make Meereen more interesting throughout the 10 chapters Daenerys has in the original ADWD. Let's see King's Landing for an example, we have many interesting factions there - Cersei's camp, the Tyrells, Varys and Littlefinger's spies, etc. We already have 2 interesting factions in Meereen (although they're interesting, not as much as King's Landing) - the Green Grace and Skahaaz. Barristan is trapped between them. Make them more relevant through extra Barristan and Tyrion chapters. But what about the post-Meereen story?? Do we leave them at Meereen?? Nope. Galazza Galare and Skahaaz and their camps move to Volantis and then Westeros and maybe Pentos with Daenerys. Also give the Ghoiscari some bloody prophecy or magic. All of Essos has prophetic and magical elements from Vaes Dothrak to Asshai. But Ghiscar doesn't. Change that.

9. Victarion - delete that mf. We don't need his POV. Seeing him through Tyrion and Barristan is enough. And what about Moqorro?? Yeahh Moqorro is not there for the great dumb stump, he's there for the dragon queen like all others. Victarion is only his vassal to her.

10. Quentyn - Delete his first three chapters. Uhh I would have kept his Dragontamer chapter (which is a good chapter) as a prologue POV but Varamyr Sixskins is rather a better choice and that would fuck with the structure of the book, seeing him die first and then meet Daenerys and get rejected by her. So I suggest something like the Aerys Oakheart chapter.

11. Tyrion's chapters need hard compression. Tyrion I-VI remain the same. Tyrion VII and Tyrion VIII become a single compressed chapter. Tyrion IX and Tyrion X become another single compressed chapter. Same goes for Tyrion XI and Tyrion XII. On a side note, I would keep Barristan's role the same.

12. WILDCARD - Add Willas Tyrell as a POV in AFFC. Please I need more Olenna. And Willas also suits GRRM's theme of outcasts shaping important events. Then we take him to Oldtown, leaving Olenna at Highgarden. Hence we can see what Euron is doing and also find out what Leyton and Malora are doing in the Hightower. I would kinda want him to survive till the end of the story.

13. Areo Hotah's important chapters are given to Arianne Martell. The stuff with Obara can happen off stage. If it includes important reveals about the Daynes, the Tower of Joy, Dawn or edgelord supreme Darkstar, make Obara the POV. Then she can take another interesting route to Oldtown amidst the Battle of Blood like she wanted to. She has more interesting of a personality than Areo despite npt being a POV. We don't need Areo. Simple.

14. Asha Greyjoy is an interesting character. I'd keep her chapters the same. Maybe establish more of her idea of what the Iron Islands should be or establish more lore about the Iron Islands.

15. Aeron chapters will stay the same and his goated preview chapter in TWOW will be included into ADWD.

16. Arianne Martell's chapters will be the remnants of Areo's chapters + her chapters leading upto meeting fAegon.

17. Jon Connington - no changes.

18. Samwell I, Samwell II get compressed into one chapter. Samwell III is majorly deleted except the important parts and is combined with the untouched Samwell IV. Samwell V stays untouched. Also make his growth from a coward more accelerated. It kinda slows down in AFFC after ASOS. So I'd change that.

Now we get into the 4 battles. Its quite a flaw that the last two books of ASOIAF don't have a climax at all. We need them for ADWD to feel complete. So let's get into them. They'd need a maximum of 25 more chapters.

1. Battle of Fire - 6 chapters through Barristan and Tyrion. Establishes Meereenese factions of Galazza Galare and Skahaaz mo Kandaq. Some focus on Hizdahr. Along with this one extra chapter from Daenerys to deal with the aftermath of Rhaegal and Viseriob escaping, meeting Tyrion, dealing with Victarion and his Dragonbinder shit and finally off to Westeros.

2. Battle of Ice - 4 chapters - more Asha and Theon chapters. We need eyes on Stannis too. We will end off here with Stannis marching towards Winterfell.

3. Battle of Steel - 4 chapters - 2 from Jon Connington and 2 from Arianne Martell. Establishing fAegon more and maybe Arianne seducing fAegon. Probably Mace dies here and Randall Tarly betrays him.

4. Battle of Blood - 6 chapters from Samwell, Willas, maybe Obara and most importantly Aeron. Aeron dies here maybe. We may get to see Euron ride a dragon. Massive sacrifices to wake krakens. Finally Euron sets off to King's Landing.

My final observations:-

1. A lot of the issues I think that occur in TWOW are because characters such as Sansa, Arya, Bran, etc. do not have a definitely arc in AFFC and ADWD. If we keep pushing them into TWOW, it creates a huge load on George himself.

2. What happens in TWOW?? - the trials of the queens | Cersei fleeing King's Landing to Casterly Rock or maybe Euron's camp | Jaime, Brienne, Lady Stoneheart and the Riverlands | Part 2 of each, Sansa's arc in AFFC and Arya and Bran's arcs in ADWD | Daenerys' invasion | Jon's resurrection | Stannis' arc concludes | Starks regroup at Winterfell | fAegon, Euron, Cersei and Daenerys's camps collide at King's Landing | the fate of House Tyrell is determined | Greyjoys and Martells are hard to predict + anything that may be left.

3. In our real world scenario, TWOW would need to be 2.5 times tge size of ASOS to deliver a satisfactory conclusion. I am shifting 0.75 out of that 2.5 to AFFC and ADWD. That way the books feel more structured and hypothetical GRRM won't have to worry as much about finishing each storyline in one book. Doing too much at once often causes stress.

We all know much of Westeros is inspired by real English History and In Particular the Targaryens take a lot of Inspiration from the Plantagenet Dynasty. But I think many of the Early Targaryens actually have more in common with the Anglo-Saxon Kings of a Unified England than they do the Normans or Plantagenets.

Now note: No Targaryen has A One-to-one real life equivalent however Many share various similarities with Pre-Norman Kings and I want give some examples:

Aegon the Conqueror: Athelstan

I think most People would Equate Aegon I with William the Conqueror, However I believe that’s incorrect and Aegon’s much more similar to Athelstan the first King of a truly united England.

For one Starting out Aegon was in a much better position than William was pre-conquest. Aegon was the uncontested heir of his Father, ruling during a time when there were many independent Kingdoms that all hated each other. Oh and He had Dragons.

Meanwhile William was the Bastard son of the Previous Duke of Normandy and Came into his rule as a child, having to fight off Rebellions, assassination attempts, Scheming Nobles all to keep Normandy. And when he did conquer England He Fought a United Kingdom with one King.

Athelstan in the meantime while not having dragons was still the Eldest Son and mostly uncontested Heir of His father Edward the Elder (There was an attempt to make a younger Brother King but not much came from it) and was in a very strong position that he inherited from his Fathers conquest.

William the Conqueror after his conquest at first tried to present himself as a continuation of the old Anglo-Saxon Kings, but Quickly changed his mind and uprooted most of the Government and Society.

Aegon and Athelstan by contrast ruled based on Previous laws and generally presented themselves as acting in the Native Societal framework.

Both Did their conquest to fulfill a “Dream” of sorts. (Aegon’s Dream, and Alfred the Great’s Vision of England)

Both their conquests are similar: Forcing various Kings’s submission, pushing out the Vikings (or Viking equivalent) From the Mainland. And honestly the Field of Fire makes me think of bananburgh (both cemented their respective Kings as The power in the land).

But Aegon’s not the only Targaryen that is like an Anglo-Saxon.

Aenys: Edmund I

Not as powerful as their predecessor and Lost much of their predecessors conquests only for it come together in the end.

Maegor I: Eadred

Succeeded their Older Brothers instead of said Brothers sons. Manage to end resistance to Family’s rule, succeeded by nephews.

Aegon the uncrowned: Eadwig

Passed over in favor of an uncle, died young, was succeeded by Younger brother.

Jaehaerys I: Edgar the Peaceful

Brought the Kingdom together after a years of chaos and warfare. Reigned during peaceful times in the high point of their dynasties. Made major secular and religious reforms that truly united the Kingdoms forged by their predecessors. Had unclear successions

Now that’s where most of the similarities end (with one exception I’ll mention in a bit). There are others that are close (Athelred the Unready and Viserys I for example) but after Jaehaerys none come close to being direct Parallels except one

Baelor the Blessed: Edward the Confessor

Both were very religious Kings known for their Piety and Faith. Both being revered in their respective faiths (Baelor is remembered well in the Faith and Edward was sainted) Both were married but never had any children or even consummated said Marriage. Both were succeeded by Kings who reigned for One year and their reigns saw the start of a Massive war of Succession that would fundamentally change the landscape of the realm.

Note that this was all for fun and something I just thought of. Also I’m not a professional historian nor do I know everything about Asiof, I’m just a fan of both so if I get anything wrong let me know.

This was just my excuse to talk about two of my favorite subjects. If you have any other examples or anything interesting to share, let me know!

Most people agree that the prologues and epilogues are some of the best chapters, yet if you ask 100 fans which ones are their most and least favorite, you'll get 100 different answers. It's fascinating how little consensus there is. I'm curious how you guys would rank them!

For me:

1. ADWD Epilogue - Kevan Lannister. The plot finally kicking it back into high gear after two fairly meandering books. The Small Council scenes are always great, and it's so cool seeing Kevan doing his thing. Varys reappearing after all this time, and completely shaking shit up. I think ADWD would have a noticeably poorer reception if it didn't have this banger of an epilogue negating a lot of the flaws with the book.
2. ADWD Prologue - Varamyr Sixskins. Incredible horror writing. When I first read ADWD, I remember worrying that the prologue was just gonna be a bunch of exposition about warging. But then it turns into pure horror, with one of the most chilling lines in the series to close it off. Varamyr's perspective is so interesting, like Chett he's just a complete piece of shit. George is so good with these unreliable narrator perspectives. And reminding us of the Free Folk, how vibrant their culture is, and how fucked they are, is really well-placed after AFFC.
3. AGOT Prologue - Will. Started everything. Gave Waymar an entire arc. Established the ultimate foe of the entire story in a way that's super compelling. Part of me feels like maybe every prologue and epilogue should have just caught us up on the latest goings with the Others, they've appeared so few times in the story.
4. ASOS Epilogue - Merrett Frey. Lady Stoneheart is amazing, but the chapter is really long and most of it is just this middle aged guy complaining about woe is him. It goes on a bit too long for my liking, and is kinda repetitive. The super strong ending makes up for a lot, but as a chapter it's still like 75% filler.
5. ASOS Prologue - Chett. Just like Varamyr, I really enjoy these unreliable narrators. Chett is such a piece of shit, and George does a great job capturing those incel vibes. We've all come across weird guys on twitter who talk about women exactly how Chett does. His hilariously harebrained scheme which fails to account for the possibility of snowfall beyond the wall is so funny, and the chapter contains some really endearing Glup Shittos. Small Paul is great. Seeing Sam through the eyes of someone who isn't Jon is cool. And, of course, the ending is terrifying.
6. ACOK Prologue - Maester Cressen. I want to like this chapter so bad, it introduces so many important characters and plot points. But it feels like George write the prologue before he finished developing Stannis's characterization. In the prologue of ACOK, he comes across as a whiny petulant manchild. The Stannis we see in the rest of the books really doesn't seem like the guy who'd humiliate Cressen by making him wear a jester's hat as a joke. The chapter does a lot of work establishing plot, but it really could have done with a re-write before being published. It feels pretty disjointed from later portrayals of these characters.
7. AFFC Prologue - Pate. Seeing the news about Dany's dragon finally reach Westeros is cool, and the introduction of Marwyn and glass candles is interesting (Though it'd hit much harder of these plot points ended up being, y'know, more consequential) but the chapter is so long and Pate is just a really uninteresting POV. Pages upon pages of college frat guys making very surface level banter at each other just isn't super gripping. Aside from Alleras, the rest of the gang is pretty uninteresting. When was the last time you thought about Mollander or Roone or Armen? The exposition about the Citadel is mostly repeated in later Sam chapters, and as of ADWD hasn't ended up actually mattering to the larger plotlines. Just a pretty boring, extremely exposition-heavy, read imo

Let's say during the chaos of Ned's arrest for treason that Tomard aka Fat tom wasn't in the throne room with Ned and somehow during the chaos of Ned's arrest manages to escape kings landing on a ship with Arya and Sansa.

Now Ned doesn't know this as since they went by ship they will be harder to track down. Ned still confesses to treason for the sake of his kids, Cersai still pretends to have them and sends a letter to Robb demanding he swear fealty to Joffery.

Given that they are on a boat it takes some time for them to travel to dragonstone (To deliver Ned's Letter to Stannis) and then white habour.

So for a while no one knows that they are alive for now, so Robb still marches out to kings landing and Catlyn meets with him.

Let's say by the time they are in White habour and under the protection of house Manderly and word finally gets to Robb and Catlyn either by Raven or Lord Manderly sending Tomard to tell Robb of Ned's Letter to Stannis. Jamie has already been captured after the (Battle in the Whispering Wood).

Joffery still executes Ned cause i don't see how/why he won't do that, but at least by now Catlyn knows her kids are safe.

So what happens from here?

• Imo Catlyn doesn't have any reason to stay with Robb's host as the only reason she stays was to advocate for her kids and try to get them back. But at what point does she leave, maybe immediately after she gets the letter or after meeting with Stannis and Renly
• The Lannisters are in a worse position as they don't have any hostages since the idiot Joffery Just executed Ned (I don't see a scenerio where he isn't this stupid).
• Does Robb still get declared king, given that Ned voices support for Stannis with the letter (does Robb hide it from his men and lets them declare him King). If not then they Join forces
• What about him sending Theon to Pyke and the shitstorm that caused does he make the same mistake i don't see any reason since Stannis will have a reasonable fleet but Catlyn might not be there to try to advice him against it.
• With the North and Riverlanders supporting Stannis i assume the rest of the storm lords will switch sides without Renly having to die, and if he does by Stannis shadow baby Brianne might get blamed if Catlyn isn't meeting with him to vouch for her

There are a whole more things that will happen i can't fit here, so what other cascading things will happen

The winter has to last a long time, given how long the summer was, and as the abomination's eighth season proved, defeating the Others with one climactic battle would be a huge letdown. It should very much be a bitter campaign of survival across years, with humans still being divided and thus resisting the Others' advances in fractured factions. Plus most of the protagonists in the story are still too young to take genuine leadership roles in the story.

It might be possible to slip the five-year gap between The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. Obviously there are certain storylines which have to be put on ice (pun intended), but I believe in GRRM to find a way to make it work. We could have the characters reflecting on the journeys they've taken, hinting at the horrors they've endured, like Beren in The Silmarillion. Plus it would allow GRRM to establish just how devastating those five years have been since the Others began the second Long Night.

What is the best, most informative and easy to read map of the known world? I’m nearing the end of The World of Ice and Fire, and it’s so cool and interesting but there is so much information and im having an overloading error trying to remember everything.

Okay, so there's a post titled What is G.R.R.M stuck on? so I thought let's have fun and do one better: What plotlines that Martin is not stuck on that y'all believe are the easiest for him to write?

Based on Martin's updates that he has about 1000 manuscript pages, I imagine that he has successfully written the following:

1. The battle of Mereen and its Aftermath

2. Whatever happens to Dany in the Dothraki Sea

3. The battle of Winterfell

4. The Aftermath of the Mutiny at Castle Black + Jon Snow's fate

5. The Trial of Cersei and Margaery

6. The taking of Storm's End by Young Griff's forces

So I was wondering what is he stuck on? My gut feeling is that the plot line in the east is too complex and getting the characters to Westeros with the proper dynamics and character growth. Has GRRM mentioned something to hint in any direction?

Sorry for typos (Writing on my phone) and sorry if this is a repeat post, I haven't seen anything exactly like this.