Great idea OP
We should give more publicity to struggling unknown writers like George R R Martin and Tao Lin.

>>1878135

well I just want to discuss the books, really

we discuss the books at length on /tv/ a lot, /lit/ is a shithole of teenager philosophers and pedantic Great Gatsby douchies.

there's any number of things we could talk about in the series, so you'll have to be more specific

>>1878150

let's discuss the addition of the blowjob scene in the HBO series

/v/ is currently buttmad about it

>>1878155

I don't care about that, though. That's a stupid thing to discuss.

>they will never bother to explain what the deal is with Asshai and the Shadow

>>1878158

which character death was the saddest?

>>1878162

>gives birth to a dark creature
>Davos recognizes the thing she gives birth to
>never says what it looked like
Cersei orders him dead ;_;

>>1878163
Arya's

>>1878183

mine by far is the red wedding - shit goes down pretty much

>>1878183
and yea, total troll - just blind last you heard of her......

I hear half the book will be concurrent with AFFC and the second part might span years.........

but lets talk about syrio, jaqen, and the faceless man - they are all the same guy!!!

>>1878301
While that is plausible, how would Syrio escape from the Kingsgaurd after killing 4 men without having to kill him as well? And then it be totally ignored in the books?
Also, I read the books, might have to re-read the last one, but when does Arya become blind?

bump for an answer to
>>1878311

>>1878311
>>1878323
at the end she kills that singer that sam is with and then tells the people are her monastery place and they give her some milk then she wakes up blind the next morning

>>1878311
the last line of her last chapter in AFFC goes something like: "When she woke up the next morning, she was blind."
The day after she killed Dareon for deserting the Night's Watch

If they have more sansa and cersei chapters I am going to be pissed. The the last few cersei chapters weren't terrible, just those two are annoying as fuck

>>1878328
oooooohhhh YEAH.
Cheers for that.
She'll be fine

>>1878311
It's possible that he escaped or knocked Meryn Trant out or something. Trant doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would tell anyone he let a crazy Braavosi with a wooden sword escape from him or get the best of him.
It's a pretty interesting idea, though. That Jaqen/Syrio has just been teaching Arya his trade since the very beginning of the series, guiding her everywhere she goes.

>>1878330
There will be Cersei chapters in the latter half of ADWD, I think Martin said, not sure about Sansa.
And come on, Cersei's chapters were really great. It's amazing to see how her unchecked paranoia and stupidity alienates all of her allies and family members and then literally destroys the kingdom when she allows the new militant order of the Seven bear arms and assume control of King's Landing at the very least.
And Sansa's chapters were interesting to see what Littlefinger was plotting.

>>1878332
I'm guessing that it's part of her training or something.

what I really want to know is brienne really dead? that shocked me just about as much as when ned stark was offed

>>1878334
I actually really love that idea, but I feel like it's just to neat and tidy personally.
Especially seeing as Trant (I forgot his name, cheers) wouldn't tell the Queen Regent that a dangerous man has escaped as is possibly aiding Arya Stark to escape/survive.
But hey, I have been wrong before.

On another note, were you upset that Robb died? I quite liked the whole war, King in the North idea and was a little pissed that we didn't even get a single book with events from his perspective shown.

>>1878341
It's possible, Lady Stoneheart doesn't seem likely to relent.
On the other hand, Brienne apparently shouted one word while being hanged in the hope that they'd stop. That whole thing makes it seem a little unlikely that she's dead just yet.

>>1878349
I agree with you about Syrio, I do think it's really unlikely that he survived, but a man can dream.
And I was extremely upset when Robb died, but I feel like it didn't make that much a difference when you consider the entirety of the war at that point. He had lost the North and the Lannisters had basically doubled or even tripled their strength once the Tyrells and such joined them. It was really a shame, though.

>>1878357
Also, I do understand Martin's decision to not give us Robb's perspective. I actually kind of preferred to just see him from Bran's and then Catelyn's perspective; he didn't really have all that interesting of a personality to sustain a decent POV.

>>1878357
Yeah, I guess the death was going to come at some point, but I somehow wanted him to battle it out and at least try and break Moat Cailin, because he had the Reed's at the Moat to help take the stronghold.
OH WELL

>>1878366
Something tells me that the crannogmen aren't too skilled at siegecraft.

>>1878366
Oh, and have you heard the theory that Sandor Clegane is still alive? It actually has some pretty convincing evidence behind it.

>>1878370
no, but they're skilled at archery/blowdarts or whatever they use with poisoned tips to kill and then melt away without ever being seen and they're referenced by one of the Greyjoys as being so frequent and deadly he had to wear thick armour constantly so he wouldn't get killed just by having a stroll form one side of the fort to the other.
So it would have been possible to keep the Iron Born under cover/suffering casualties while being attacked by Robb's forces.

Also, what do you think's happening to or is going to happen to Theon?
I liked that bastard

>>1878376
No I haven't actually, but I thought it was possible, up until the point where the old priest guy told Brienne he had seen him die and then had his horse to prove he had at least met the poor chap.
I liked him too, I thought he was a very nice man considering.
And I'm a bit annoyed that Gregor has been reborn in some way to serve as some sort of ultimate tool.

>>1878376
what's the evidence to support it?

>>1878380
There's a chapter from ADWD on Amazon as a preview. It deals with Theon.

Theon's imprisoned in the Dreadfort. The guy known as Reek has had his bastardy absolved by Cersei when Roose betrays Robb along with Walder. He (Theon) is in the dungeons living off of rats when he's summoned to the main chamber by Ramsay (formerly known as Reek) and they tell him they they have a job for him

>>1878391
>>1878381
Well if you look closely, the monk tells Brienne that The Hound is dead, not Clegane specifically. The idea that the Hound is more than Clegane is echoed in Brienne's last chapter when Rorge is referred to as the Hound. Then, in the monastery, there's a very tall, silent, hooded monk who walks with a limp, like one of his legs was false. Sandor's largest wound was on his leg, so it's possible the monks had to cut it off to save him.

>>1878391
Brienne, Podd, Hunt, and Merribald reach the Quiet Isle and they see a giant man digging a grave. Merribald's dog Dog runs up to the gravedigger and plays with him a bit. They then notice a big black horse with a bad attitude (Stranger, Sandor's horse) in the stables. They then see the tall hooded guy limping away. Sandor was wounded in the leg.

Later when the Elder Brother is talking to Brienne after she tells him she's on a quest to kill Sandor and get Sansa back the brother tells her that Clegane died of his wounds and that he was traveling with Arya and not Sansa.

It's kind of implied that after Sandor's wounded and abandoned by Arya that he was saved by the Elder Brother and left his old life. When they leave his helm on his "grave" that was the death of The Hound and that he picked up a righteous life after.

>>1878408
>>1878405
The Elder Brother actually just says, "The man you hunt is dead." Which might imply that he has "changed" into a different person after being saved or something

>>1878334
Why would Syrio leave Trant alive? So that he could go off and kill more innocent people? Starks included?

>>1878446
To make his presence less known? He didn't want to take Trant's weapon off of him? He doesn't know how to use a Westerosi sword? I don't know. Maybe he just fucking ran for it. Or maybe he died.

>>1878357

The scene where Arya runs when Syrio and she are surrounded kind of ends abruptly, I think. Syrio's fate is left suspiciously open, considering his skill and the fact that GRRM loves describing deaths. I always had an inkling that he might have survived, but I never thought about him being Jagen/The Faceless Man (who I do believe are the same guy). I do think that it would be awesome, however.

>>1878351

I hope she isn't dead. She got a LOT of time in AFFC, and it just seems moot if she died like that, without actually accomplishing or changing anything. Also, that "screamed a word" line.

>>1878330

dude sansa had literally 2 or 3 chapters in AFFC, and Littlefinger is pretty interesting. He's a fun chaotic neutral. Also I read some article that Cersei would have 2 chapters in ADWD.

>>1878449
>Or maybe he died.

There ya go.

Here's my theory: Martin was finishing AGoT and he completely forgot about Syrio being dead. Then afterward, all the fanboys flipped a shit about Syrio maybe being alive so he threw them a bone in ACoK ("the dancing instructor interfered but we won't say what happened to him" hur dur) because martin likes to fuck with your shit.

>>1878465
Syrio isn't Jaqen. The two existed simultaneously: Syrio was teaching Arya while Jaqen was in the black cells.

>>1878472
I don't recall it saying how long Jaqen was in the black cells.

>>1878472

Still, Jaqen and the Faceless Man being the same guy would be cool.

>>1878476
Jaqen is a faceless man.

After Jaqen, Rorge, and Arya break out the northmen in Harrenhal, he changes his face and gives Arya a token for training in the House of Black and White, where the Faceless Men train.

He comes back later in AFfC in the prologue and in the end. In the prologue an acolyte is poisoned by a man with Jaqens description and at the end when Samwell is at the House of Crows the guy that was killed in the prologue is "alive." It's Jaqen disguised as Pate.

>>1878475
It's stated somewhere. Don't recall where. Currently rereading series, though.
>>1878476
It would be cool, sure.

I think: Varys hired a Faceless Man to take Ned's place on the way to the Wall, because Ned was going to admit to treason and get sent there. So Varys had Jaqen put into the black cells to make the switch. (One of Varys' identities was Rugen the undergaoler in charge of the black cells). Varys would have just sneaked Ned away to someplace safe (he seemed VERY interested in seeing ned live) and Jaqen would have worn Ned's face until he got to a likely place and then escaped.

But then Joffrey fucked up the deal by having Ned lopped, and Jaqen was stuck going to the Wall, until he was saved by Arya.

>>1878476

>>1878488 here

I misread your post: I thought you said "jaqen and Syrio being the same guy would be cool".

I should have said: jaqen is a Faceless Man.

>>1878488

Oh god it makes so much sense

>>1878497
Sheeeit, I think she's gonna change her first face by ADwD...so, in about 17 days. :P

>>1878182
if i remember correctly it was heavily implied that the shadow looked like stannis

>>1878503

If she does I would shit a brick, she's probably my favorite character with all this Faceless stuff going on. I wonder if ADWD will spend that much time on her, though, considering she got some time in AFFC.

Also quite interested in wtf is going on with Bran, that skinchanger shit is interesting.

>>1878516
It does look like Stannis. When you see it happen from Catelyn's chapter, she thinks "hey, Renly's shadow looks like his brother Stannis" or something.

>>1878519
He's stated that Arya is getting time in ADwD. Tyrion and Jon too.

http://grrm.livejournal.com/217066.html

>>1878519
Arya is one of my favorites too. She's always been a fun read. I'm wondering what her name will be once she becomes a Faceless...errr...Women...

Okay, theory time. I think that magic in SoIaF is not something that left with the dragons and is now coming back, I think that it is always there. The problem is that it works on the level of sincere faith that you have in it. In other words Bran could fly if he believed he could fly, but he doesn't so he can't. This is why stories of something become just as true as actual events and can effect the real world (Hanneral and the tower along the wall that Bran and co stay at). This also explains why people embody their house. The story alters the world as much as the world alters the story.
This also explains why dragons are so important, they bring actual evidence of the wonderous capabilities of the world they live in. They didn't die because magic went away. They died, then the belief left, then the magic went. The question then becomes how did the dragons die, and I would blame the maesters. It becomes apparent in the fourth book the the maesters know alot about how magic actually works and that they don't like it. In fact it seems as though they are actively working to suppress it. The easiest way to do this would be to tell people it doesn't exist but in the case of the dragons they would want to kill them (and probably did). This explains the weird actions of the maester sam meets at the end of the book, who runs off to find Dany before the other maesters do.
Also belief works on people too, I don't think Dany and Jon could fail because they have the faith of so many people backing them. You can also believe in youself, aka Littlefinger and I would of said Davos until he lost his fingerbones.

There's alot more stuff this explains but this is probably tl;dr as it is.

>>1878525
>>1878516

There are certain points throughout the book that say that Stannis doesn't have sex with even his own wife, but that he seems to spend a lot of alone time with Melisandre.

After Stannis' defeat at the Blackwater, he returns to Dragonstone and sees noone but Melisandre, and various characters say that he's weakened or something to that effect.

When Melisandre talks to Davos at the Dragonstone dungeons she says that he needs to "visit her in the night" or something to that effect because she needs his "life fire" and that she can no longer use Stannis'.

I think she's been using Stannis' "seed" or "life fire" w/e you want to call it to produce these murderous shadow people. After Renly was murdered Stannis said he dreamt he say Renly's murder and I think this suggests that he killed Renly/Storms End fag with his shadow babies from Melisandre.

>>1878546

And there's also the fact that Aemon says Stannis has the dragon blood or w.e it is in him, so that makes some sense.

bump for more discussion

Any love for Bran? I get the feeling that he's never going to come back from Beyond the Wall.

>>1878694
I like Bran and I love the Reeds and Hodor is cool as well. I think he will be back and that he will learn to control his ESP or whatever you want to call it.

Sixskin's going to be the prologue character and I'm hoping that somehow he learns how to control skin changing from him.

sup guys. I was having a discussion with a bro the other day about the possible conclusion of the series...here goes

The political strife and turmoil in westeros, along with the drama amongst the houses is but a trifle when compared to the real threat in the north. Daenarys comes back to westeros, she does lay claim that she is the rightful heir to the throne. After some fighting and claiming land, winter eventually comes and then the Others mount an attack on the wall. Jon snow as the current lord commander fights them off, but the Others overrun the wall. Daenary's, with her 3 dragons grown up go to the wall to fight off the others (since dragons are powerful with their flames). She rides one, Jon snow another, and possibly Tyrion rides another dragon.

tl:dr, we also believe Jon Snow is Rhaegar targaryan's true son, and his mom is Eddard stark's sister. Eddard saved Jon from being slaughtered during the sack of king's landing, so he adopted him to be his own son.
thanks brahs. Input?

>>1878717
That's too nice of an ending.

Also, I can't even imagine Jon, Tyrion, and Dany becoming dragon riders.... it's... just too corny.

The Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon theory is one of the most popular ones out there.

>>1878733
>>1878733
hmmmm. well, is was just one of our nerd discussion while we drove back home. Have there been any other possible endings to the series around?

>>1878717
I think you have it right if you replace Tyrion as a rider with, call me crazy, Quentyn Martell. He's a POV character in Dragons and in my opinion will be the catalyst for finally bringing Dany back to Westeros (I'm expecting a love triangle between them and another character). I don't think Jon will survive to the end of the series, Dany will eventually jointly rule Westeros with Tyrion while Sansa rules an independent Kingdom of the North, Vale, and Riverlands alongside Harrold.

>>1878736
Well I'm sure there are tons made by fans everywhere but nothing supported by GRRM.

As you probably know, he has a knack for flipping everything on its ear to prevent people from really predicting anything so I don't think anyone will really be able to predict how it ends.

On a personal level I think Melisandre and her worshiping will help the Others in the long run. There's a reason why the Maesters want to suppress magic.

>>1878744
>>1878744
I think if only Daenary's was a man (or if Drogo were still alive), she would have tens of thousands of Dothraki at her command. Not to mention the 'best' infantry in their world (the unsullied) at her disposal, she would be a force to reckon with. Dragons for air superiority, Dothraki as cavalry, and then unsullied for infantry would be a potent force.

>>1878750
And she also has sellswords in her army that'll turn on her at any moment provided they pay her enough.

One of her captains is a selllsword himself.

>>1878753
>>1878753
iirc, one of those captains is bewitched by her, or rather enamored? So I doubt that would happen. Possible though.

Also, about the show, now that it's a hit I would not be surprised if HBO drags on one book into two seasons for more profit.

>>1878759
One of them was bewitched by her during the parleys as well. He then dragged her off her horse and tried to kill her later on.

the dragonriders: tyrion, dany, bran.

what would be a shocker. If tyrion dies. sniff. I loved that little bastard, even the guy who portrays him in the series.

>>1878772
Nah, Tyrion's a safefag.

At risk: Bran, Dany, Stannis, Tommen, Myrcella, Jorah

these folks have a 34% chance of living to the end.

>>1878779
I don't see Bran, Stannis, or Jorah making it. The others have a chance.

>>1878788
Maggy the Frog's prophecy for Cersei = dead kids e'rywur

Qyrburn is creating Nemesis.

I don't quite buy Varys hiring a faceless man. They cost more than a fortune, and what would be the point of having one go toward the Wall as Ned, only to disappear soon after? If he can get away so easily, why not just have Ned escape and go back to Winterfell or whatever anyway? It's not like he would need Ned for anything in the meantime, he couldn't very well go around doing Ned Stark, Hand of the King stuff when he's supposed to be going to the Wall anyway.

A much better use of a faceless man would be giving Joffrey and/or Cersei some 'accidental' deaths. I'm sure Varys knew Joffrey was a volatile psycho and Tommen would be much more pliable to the cooler heads of the Small Council were he king, which would be better for the realm.

Though a faceless man just kinda being in the prisons on his own doesn't make much sense either. He's a damn faceless man. We've seen Jaquen is able to murder with impunity inside a castle with a lot of watchful people, so how did he get caught and sent to the black cells? Why would he dick around inside a prison when he's got some faceless man shit to do? It seems his only real purpose in his detour to the wall/Harrenhall is to be bros with Arya. Then again, he loses sight of Arya for a while, doens't he? So I'm not sure. But him being Syrio is a reasonable explanation, I think. Syrio escaped Meryn Trant, figured out after Ned died that Yoren was taking her to the Wall, found one of the guys who was also going, killed him and took his face. I think there's some stuff hinting that Biter and Rorge are scared shitless of Jaqen, so that could be why.

>>1878717
>Daenary's, with her 3 dragons grown up go to the wall to fight off the others (since dragons are powerful with their flames). She rides one, Jon snow another, and possibly Tyrion rides another dragon.
picture related

>>1878767

more like Bran WILL BE the dragon

>>1879012
Why would Dany ride alongside the alleged sons of her fathers usurpers.

>>1879023

mutual hatred of cersei lannister?

>>1879029
She's not very forgiving. She sent the last two men who betrayed her on a suicide mission.

Here's what happens: it turns out that Syrio has been every single male character who is not a POV

>>1878311
they are all the same faceless man - think about it
syrio doesnt get killed, but thrown in the dungeon he changes into jaqen and is one of the three dudes arya saves - after he gives arya three deaths he kills the king of the iron islands (I see a faceless man with a crow on his shoulder) he also is the alchemist who kills pate for the key in that one prologue.........all the same dude

>>1878332
it is - when she first enters the monastary, she notices "a blind boy lighting candles"
remember shes also the most powerful warg out of all the starks - I cant wait to see where her EPIC journey takes her..........

and, the prologue of adwd talks about the wildling warg (the one with six skins, cant remember his name....) and how skincahnging works......

So if Jon Snow is Rhaegar's son, maybe that means Stannis means to sacrifice him instead of Mance's son...

>>1879273
I actually think itll be theon that gets sacrificed - but you could be right - grrm doesnt mind killing ppl off

>>1878311
because Ser Meryn is gonna admit getting his ass handed to him by some fag. He woke up from his beat down and was like--let's pretend I killed the dude.

>>1879282

>implying Jon Snow is not the Mary Sue and must live

Did Lady Merriweather betray Cersei?

>>1879288
yes
she was tyrell the whole time

>>1879287
>implying when it comes to GRRM, even our best guesses will be totally wrong.....
the're just hypothesis, I just cant wait for adwd to come out

from grrm blog

"old POV character who has been missing for a couple of books, but now returns to us... rather the worse for wear."

who dis?

>>1879305
its Theon - here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000194603

“Him? Can it be? Stark’s ward. Smiling, always smiling.”