A Song of Ice and Fire Theory Poll Results: The Conclusion

93 Comments

1. Hodor

2. Interesting results!
   I’m surprised at how many votes were cast to Stannis becoming Lord Commander. Not that I don’t find it a good theory or anything, just surprised at its popularity.
   And those shits and giggles answers you’re breaking my heart! xD

3. Excellent job by BryndenBFish!! What a task?! But really enjoyed reading the results! Very interesting! I did not participate in poll because don’t know enough about the books, but wish I could have! Thanks for your hard work!

4. “ASOIAF Facebook: He will die under suspicious curcomstaces…” +1 for a Crusaders Kings mod reference!

5. the Ashford theory works with the way Sansas storyline is playing out in the books … Which leaves the Targaryen of I remember correctly … The show has messed that up though with her marriage to Ramsey Bolton … Then again D&D cud have done it just to throw us off …

6. How can anyone still believe that the house with the red door is in Braavos after this?

   “Seven hells, this place is damp,” she heard her guard complain. “I’m chilled to the bones. Where are the bloody orange trees? I always heard there were orange trees in the Free Cities. Lemons and limes. Pomegranates. Hot peppers, warm nights, girls with bare bellies. Where are the bare-bellied girls, I ask you?”

   “Down in Lys, and Myr, and Old Volantis,” the other guard replied. He was an older man, big-bellied and grizzled. “I went to Lys with Lord Tywin once, when he was Hand to Aerys. Braavos is north of King’s Landing, fool. Can’t you read a bloody map?”

   BTW, the description of the second guard fits that of a famous writter and professional procrastinator. 😉

7. I agree with Rella, what a wonderful job. Must have taken a lot of work. Thank you for that, I found it very interesting, especially to read about some of the theories I’ve never heard of before. I did participate and would happily do so again, even though many of my answers were “don’t know”.

8. Not a really relevant comment but Jojen paste is probably the one I believe in the most among the quite far-fetched theories.

9. Tywin of the Hill,

   er…. how is that relevant to where doors might have whatever colors?

10. Liam Bowditch: Not that I don’t find it a good theory or anything, just surprised at its popularity.

    I suspect that there is an element of “B&W are deliberately ruining the plot” to this, too. You always get some fans who want to view an adaptation as “getting it wrong.”

    (For myself, between the Pink Letter and the show, Stannis’ fate seems obvious.)

11. Wimsey,

    According to Daenerys, her house in Braavos had a lemon tree

12. The shits and giggles answers are hilarious. I laughed so hard. Amazing.

13. “Wizard Samwell Tarly” FTW!

14. BryndenBFish, thanks for these polls. The results are a fascinating read. Samwell Tarly will probably be the one to outlive everyone – I’m not sure if even Bran is safe.

    Wimsey, I love your avatar picture. 🙂

15. Hot Pie is the answer to everything.

16. That was definitely an interesting poll. I answered in the first part because I felt I had enough knowledge about the show/book. The second part I didn’t participate in due to the fact Im only reading halfway into the third book. I.E. = didn’t know enough feel like I should participate. Thanks for taking the time BBFish to put it together AND post all the results. Thats hard work and dedication!!!

17. I did both polls and was very interested to see the results! Thanks for doing this, and I hope it continues next year! 🙂

18. I’m really surprised so many people think Mance wrote the Pink Letter since he has no reason to. I think fans just want a different answer than Ramsay since that’s the answer given to us in the book.

19. My theory Jon is not dead, that final scene is one thing a vision. Either the red woman or Jon for seen this stabbing a will awake from this vision nightmare. I think it is the red woman visioning this future stabbing like in the books when she had visions and tried warning Jon. Bet this is the shows direction. Jon was never stabbed, at least not yet. See if Jon heads red woman’s warning about he vision of Jon being stabbed.

20. Thanks BBfish for doing this poll. The results are interesting. I’ve always wanted to know what other book readers thought about all the different theories.

21. I haven’t read the dunk and egg novellas yet. Are they good? I was thinking of getting them.

    Those are most of questions I answered with Don’t know.

22. I think CleganeBowl WILL happen… just not as Cersei’s trial by combat.

23. Anyone who thinks Stannis lives until the end of a story is a delusional fanboy,there i said it . Even before the show killed him i knew he would be a goner sooner or later .

24. I was offline for a few days and missed the last leg of questions. I’m sad I didn’t get to participate! Entertaining to say the least

25. The Jon question reminds me that another very plausible answer was not offered: Melissandre will simply revive Jon without Ghost being involved. According to the books, only an experienced warg can do the “second life”: and Jon is not an experienced warg by any stretch, as he seems to actively resist honing this skill. Moreover, a warg in the second life rapidly fades into the host: and GRRM has provided no mechanism for putting a second life warg into any other host. Indeed, the only out on this that GRRM offers involves linking to a weirwood tree: that lets the most powerful of the wargs spend vast amounts of time in other bodies without losing him/herself.

26. I’m completely surprised that Bran is almost universally thought to survive the books. To me he seems completely doomed. If any Starks survive it’s going to be Rickon and Sansa.

27. Brandon,

    Mance would not have asked for “Reek,” either, as Jon would not know Theon by that nane: Mance would have asked for Theon. And it staggers credulity that Mance would ask for Melisandre, given that he really should want to get as far away from her as possible. Asking for Shireen also seems implausible, given the Wildlings’ fear of those with Grayscale. And I do not see why he would have asked for his “son.”

    The idea that Mance would do what he thinks Jon would expect Ramsay to do does not really fly because Ramsay was not a known quantity. Given that “Abel” almost certainly would have been seized once his washerwomen were caught abducting fArya, it also seems implausible that Mance would be in any position or condition to send the letter.

28. Queenofthrones,

    Really? Bran seems to be about as safe as anyone can be. Of course, he probably is not going anywhere anytime soon; he might well live another 150 years, but he probably is already in his final resting place.

29. Iam surprised the amount of votes saying Ramsay wrote the pink letter…. I thought that I was in the minority on that one…

    Stannis fate question becomes kind of irrelevant if you have Ramsay wrote PiNk letter ..isn’t it ..

    Tywin of the Hill,

    the sea lord of bravos have some special benefits to his name when compared to a normal bravosi and we get a picture of the palace of the sea lord with lots of trees in it ….

    The ReD door is something of metaphorical one to dany …she yearns for the home with red door …and I believe she will come to know that she will never find this house with red door while dying or seeing the house door when finally dying and thus having a bittersweet ending to her story

30. Pink Letter: Jon Snow

    WHO DID THIS?!

    (I have to hear that story told…)

31. dragonbringer: she yearns for the home with red door …and I believe she will come to know that she will never find this house with red door [while dying or seeing the house door when finally dying] and thus having a bittersweet ending to her story

    That’s so funny. If you take out the part of your post I put in brackets, I said almost the exact same thing on another thread. 🙂

    While we’re on the subject of the red door, though, I had forgotten/never thought to really think about the lemon tree. I couldn’t begin to explain how she ended up in Essos were what I’m about to say the case, but we sure have heard about lemons (and other citrus) from Dorne. Looking back at the poll results, it looks like some people think Dorne is a possibility.

32. Jon’s ghost warged into his direwolf Ghost when he was stabbed; he will be resurrected by Melisandre: 1515 (87.2%)

    Ooo, I bet someone won’t be happy about this, especially if it happens in the show, too, because there was “absolutely no setup for it.” Edit: Yep! I see he’s already on it!

    I’m loving the Hound love! We must love him so much more than the other places, eh?

    Yeah, I really don’t get the Team Sansa stuff. She’s not even part of the Big 5. I totally get Sam: who couldn’t adore Sam beyond all reason? But Sansa? There’s no way her odds are better than the Big 5.

33. This was a lot of fun although I still think that some people have too much time on their hands. (LOL) myself included. Maybe I should just read the books…

34. This just made me think of a theory. I want to change my answer for the clegan bowl question. I think it will be a trial by 7 like in the dunk and egg tales with the last three men standing Jamie, Sandor and Robert Strong just like in Brans vision from book one.

35. The Mountain will be confronted one more time by an implausibly resurrected Beric Dondarrion… who will get killed again.

36. How about an Oregon Trail type death for Stannis?

    “Stannis dies of dysentery.”

37. Thank you for this poll. Really interesting. I voted for Stannis as author of the Pink Letter as he and his (and the queen’s) men are the only ones calling Val a “princess”. As Jon exhaustingly tried to explain in ADwD she is no princess for the wildlings so why would Mance and/or the washerwomen call her that when tortured by Ramsay?

38. So 2 years ago on the 14th of Man we had the trailer for season 4 … And season 5 came on the 30th of jan … Get ready for the season 6 trailer

39. Wimsey,

    In the books Jon definitely warged into Ghost and Ghost was his last word, but show will go another route. Varamyr talked about Ghost and second life worthy of a king. Jon is a powerful warg not on Bran’s level, but he just doesn’t realize his potential. Needles to say Jon was only injured or at looked that way. Ambitious ending. Show gave us more clearer version that poor Jon Snow was killed.

40. @ginerva GRRM has said that the Big Three are Jon, Dany and Tyrion. And that the main characters are the surviving POV’s from the first case – which is (though I haven’t double checked) Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Bran, Sansa & Arya.

    But tbh, it’s beside the point. Whether or not she’s liked, GRRM said that her story is meant to be an inversion on the Princess in the tower, to take the trope and eventually turn it on its head, and had spoken of the survivalist themes etc, so her chances are pretty good. (Although I do have to nit-pick with GRRM a true inversion of that trope would end with Sansa locking a Princess in a tower, which I cannot see happening in any shape or form, but I’m guessing he means in the ‘waiting to be saved’ regard. Though I suppose another inversion would be FREEING a Princess from a tower, but that also seems unlikely).

    I’m surprised about people’s opinions on Bran’s survival, though I guess with the theory I’m going with he will TECHNICALLY survive.

    Yeah, Dany said there was a lemon tree outside the Red Door so it’s almost definitely not in Braavos. Question is the Red Door actually somewhere she has been at all. She’s had numerous prophetic dreams so it’s hard to tell.

    GRRM hadn’t really established what the precise difference is between Greenseers and having prophetic dreams, Bran, Arya, Sansa, Jon and Dany (possibly Tyrion? Nothing comes immediately to mind, although now I feel I might have forgotten some Cat and Ned stuff too) have all had thoughts or feelings that proved to be prophetic but Bran is the only one that’s a Greenseer.

    Jon’s dreams of the crypts and the one of Bran as a tree come immediately to mind. Dany and the eggs/dragons etc (the one of herself in place of Rhaegar on the Trident vs what definitely sound like white walkers in place of Robert is possibly prophetic too, at the very least the white walker stuff has proved true). I remember highlighting some of the Arya and Sansa stuff which I may have to find, Kindle comes in particularly useful for ASOIAF, particularly the search feature. For instance Aemon the Dragonknight and Queen Naerys when not mentioned in relation to the KG or KG behaviour (it is mentioned in this regard I recall when Cersei was thinking of KG’s behaviour with Queens, and Arienne uses the dragonknight as an example of why Oakheart should not feel guilty, and Jaime feels disgraced to be considered in the same company and him and Dayne etc), is mentioned almost exclusively in Bran, Sansa and Jon chapters, which I found to be bizarre. Although it does seem to be tied to their love of stories, it is odd that a Targaryen would show up predominantly in Stark kid chaps. Sansa’s seem to be more about the affair between Naerys and Aemon and wanting a dragonknight (though I’m not sure if I get the logic behind this one, she was married to his brother if I recall correctly), whereas it’s symbolic for Bran and an idol for Jon. Obviously it’s not as surprising for Jon but certainly so for Sansa and Bran.

41. Queenofthrones:
    I’m completely surprised that Bran is almost universally thought to survive the books.To me he seems completely doomed.If any Starks survive it’s going to be Rickon and Sansa.

    Pretty sure there is a GRRM quote somewhere in which he indicates that, as Bran was the first (non-prologue) PoV in the books, so will he also be the last. Bran is the griot, the historian of the War for the Dawn.

42. And I feel dubious about Jon, Dany and Tyrion all surviving, seems unlikely. I’m certain they’ll make it to ADOS but I can’t see finishing out the books without any more MAJOR deaths.

    I’m almost certain Mance didn’t write the letter, has to be either Ramsay or Theon (some have suggested in coordance with Stannis and the theory seems to hold up well enough). The letter calls Theon Reek and Val Princess, so the options are pretty limited. I can’t see Melisandre too have gleaned enough of this in her fires to write it, too many specifics.

43. Didn’t realize there was so much support for Mance as the author of the Pink letter. Is the idea that he is drawing Jon into the fight he feels needs to be waged?

    Also, glad to know the world is still undecided on Jojen paste. I’m not convinced.

44. Sister Kisser: Didn’t realize there was so much support for Mance as the author of the Pink letter. Is the idea that he is drawing Jon into the fight he feels needs to be waged?

    Yup.

    The obvious answer is that Ramsay wrote the Pink Letter. When fans have to wait years for a definitive answer, they resort to convoluted alternatives. Personally, the only theory I find credible is the one according to which Theon and Stannis wrote it, exactly for the same reason as Mance would have: to draw Jon to war. However, as convincing as that theory was to me at first, now I’ve pretty much discarded it after we saw in season five that Stannis will eventually lose —it will probably not happen by the frozen lake against the Freys, a battle he is sure to win… but remember: that’s not his last battle. Some people forget that the so-called Battle of Ice and the Battle for Winterfell have to be separate events: the Boltons, who are safely inside Winterfell, won’t just give up when Stannis defeats the Freys in the snow. After “Mother’s Mercy”, I’d say it’s safe to assume that Stannis will lose against the Boltons in Winterfell, though I suspect there may be a drawn-out siege and battle in the books and that Jon will arrive to crush the Boltons only a short while after Stannis’ defeat, while in the show his end was swift and staged as a classical tragedy (something I’m sad to see so few people appreciate), and Jon won’t arrive for a while —almost a whole season in fact.

45. Anyway, I’m happy to see most people have accepted Stannis’ fate after season five, especially in this show-focused community, as one would expect.

46. Luka Nieto,

    I gave some thought to the theory that Stannis was the author, after the Theon sample chapter came out. But, yeah- the show seemed to spell out Stannis’s future for us, so I also think it is safe to assume the letter truly came from Ramsay. And I agree, Stannis will take out the Frey host at the lake and fail to take Winterfell. Will be interesting reading his POV from the other end of a siege. (hope we get that)

47. Lysarra,

    There can be plenty major deaths without Jon, Dany, or Tyrion dying. Cersei, Jaime, Arya, Sansa, are all very big deaths too that could happen.

48. Lovin the funny answers at the end

49. Why no show-based questions? These at least have the chance to be answered within a year or two.

50. I love the Clegane Bowl theory (but not for Cersei) and I hate the Jojen Paste one.
    Thank you for these fun polls, BryndenBFish!
    Stannis is as dead as it gets – that is deader than other characters. I like the “Stannis!” gesture Axechucker does, but…

51. This is OT

    https://mobile.twitter.com/HBO_UK/status/686971005911236608

    This was tweeted by HBO UK a couple of days ago. It seems to refer to Jon and Dany ( her wheel speech). Could this mean that Jon will become a spoke in Dany’s wheel in the future?

52. dragonbringer:

    the sea lord of bravos have some special benefits to his name

    Do those benefits include special weather conditions?

53. Alan Rickman…

54. Arkash,

    When I saw your post I hoped you didn’t mean that… but I googled and, sadly, you did…
    RIP, Professor Snape 🙁 You have been loved…
    And now I’m fuckin’ crying…
    If there are any Alan Rickman fans here, please join me in wishing him a good journey… I wish I had a moving photo with him waving to all who admired him!

55. Wimsey:
    Queenofthrones,

    Really?Bran seems to be about as safe as anyone can be.Of course, he probably is not going anywhere anytime soon; he might well live another 150 years, but he probably is already in his final resting place.

    I think that the CotF do not have good intentions for mankind, and they may be working with The Others to finally wipe out the scourge of mankind. They are trying to use Bran to this end.

    Even if that’s not true, while it may be safe IN the cave, death and doom are right outside I don’t think he’s staying in there. If he is going to be fighting for mankind (rather than against) he is at the very front of that war and in the most danger possible.

56. Tywin of the Hill:
    How can anyone still believe that the house with the red door is in Braavos after this?

    I’m not sure if you knew this, but the reason there is a Lemon Tree in Dany’s description is because GRRM changed the location from Tyrosh to Braavos in later drafts of the book. Someone found the early draft where she states the House with the Red Door was in Tyrosh. He forgot to change the kind of Tree – it’s nothing more than an editing problem.

    The thing about this theory is that no one has ever stated how on earth it could possibly be relavent to anything OR explained how on earth Viserys wouldn’t have known that Daenerys wasnt’ his sister. Given he was with her from Birth. And he’s not part of a conspiracy – he’s incapable of that kind of sophisticated thinking.

57. Sister Kisser: I gave some thought to the theory that Stannis was the author, after the Theon sample chapter came out.

    I never got that idea, as it seems so out of character for Stannis. He is (was) far to much of a moral absolutist to do something so dishonorable. Moreover, his moral absolutism made him determined that people should accept his commands as a king: it would have been galling to him to have to get what he wanted by trickery when those things were due to him. Remember, this is a man who is so morally inflexible that he could not make common cause with Robb Stark against the Lannisters: instead, he effectively tried to wage war on both sides of a civil war. And nothing in the books indicates that he learned any sort of lesson from that.

    The other big question is: why would Stannis do this? He could just command that his wife, daughter and Melisandre come to him. He seems quite confident that his forces coupled with his tactical skills are more than enough to beat the Boltons. Moreover, would Stannis have known about Mance being in Winterfell? I do not think that Theon ever learned who Abel was, and there is no indication that Mel brought Stannis in on her plan to use Mance in what was ultimately an attempt to win over Jon herself.

    Far and away the simplest idea is that it was Ramsay who wrote the letter. Yes, he got information from Mance: no doubt by torturing it out of Mance. I had once thought that Ramsay was mistaken about having killed Stannis: he might have thought that the forces besieging Winterfell were Stannis’ troops rather than Northerners allied with Stannis. I now no longer think that! (Which is too bad: it kills my Stark Triangle Conjecture….. 🙁 )

58. Arkash,
    Shy Lady Dragon,

    That is a shame: Rickman was an excellent actor in a wide variety of roles. His villain in the first Die-hard movie was phenomenal. He also has had a wide variety of roles in films with the usual cast of UK culprits, and he always delivered. He even did comedy very well.

    And I haven’t recovered from my David Bowie sads yet, too….

59. Queenofthrones: The thing about this theory is that no one has ever stated how on earth it could possibly be relavent to anything OR explained how on earth Viserys wouldn’t have known that Daenerys wasnt’ his sister.

    Ah, whether a conjecture is relevant to story or plot never seems to be considered. However, it should be!

    However, I do not know this conjecture, or I have forgotten it. People think that Daeny is not actually a Targaryen?!? That seems like quite a stretch…..

    As for the lemon trees, yes, I seem to recall reading the same. Moreover, it still is not a big error: human memories are fallible, and what Daeny (or any person) remembers and what was are not the same. In many ways, it’s no different from Jaime describing Jeyne Westerling as having thin hips. That does not contradict what Catelyn describes: a young woman who never has given birth but with good birthing hips is still going to look thin-hipped if your idea of feminine beauty is a middle-aged woman who has given birth three times.

60. Arkash,

    Shy Lady Dragon,

    First bowie and now this …this is really one of saddest weeks for me….
    Snape has been taken away from us

61. Wimsey,

    I remember Alan Rickman in Robin Hood, Sense and Sensibility, Sweeney Todd and as a hylarious Ronald Reagan in The Butler.
    And he played the caterpillar with the most mesmerizing voice in Alice in Wonderland…

62. Tywin of the Hill,

    I think queen of thrones and wimsey as given enough on this …

    Iam thinking about watching deathly hallows right now

63. Shy Lady Dragon,

    He indeed played many diverse roles but he will be forever snape for me

64. dragonbringer,

    It’s the same for me. I referred to him as “Professor Snape”, not “Colonel Brandon”, although I loved him in Sense and Sensibility, too.

65. Derrick,

    That wouldnt explain how he would get out of his Nights Watch vows.

66. Queenofthrones: I think that the CotF do not have good intentions for mankind, and they may be working with The Others to finally wipe out the scourge of mankind. They are trying to use Bran to this end.

    Yes, the CotF may not have humanity’s best interest in mind. It will be interesting to see how the Bran, BR and CotF dynamic plays out. In any case, weirnet central will be a target for several factions, imho, particularly if the WWs and CotF have had a major falling out. I don’t believe Bran will take root there.

67. ghost of winterfell,

    No, judging from what happened before her arrival to Castle Black, I thought it was referring to Stannis!

68. Wimsey: Ah, whether a conjecture is relevant to story or plot never seems to be considered.However, it should be!

    However, I do not know this conjecture, or I have forgotten it.People think that Daeny is not actually a Targaryen?!?That seems like quite a stretch…..

    I think many people who believe this theory think that Dany is Rhaegar’s daughter. Either she is somehow Jon’s sister or twin sister (R + L = J + D) or Rhaegar + Ashara Dayne = Dany.

    The timelines really don’t work for J+D being siblings Dany would have to be older (obviously) and she’s younger. Meanwhile there is absolutely no evidence for Rhaegar + Ashara being a thing, so it would be insanely out of left field. Plus how could it be proven?

    Next you have to explain somehow Viserys. If Dany was in Dorne until she was like five, where was Viserys? Was he with his real sister in Essos, who then died (?), and they brought Dany in to replace her? If so, he’s going to know since he’d be like 12 by then. And if he knew he’s pretty bad at keeping secrets. If he was in Dorne with fake!Dany all of those years, he would have known that as well unless he’s completely unable to understand basic geography (he’s pretty dumb but I think he’d notice if he was in Westeros). Also why would Rhaegar’s daughter even need to be passed off as Rhaella’s? What would be the point? And the knight who was taking care of her – it was well known that they were all in Essos together even the KG and Ned knew it at the ToJ. Did he really lie to her all those years about where they actually were?

    Anyway these ideas are people working backwards from the lemon tree to try to find plot significance for Dany not actually being in Braavos when she was five. Which is not a really good way to work, IMO.

    Out of canon, it seems to me that it was a simple typographical error not to mention GRRM hadn’t fleshed out the exact details of things like Climate for each of the Essos cities when he wrote the early AGOT material.

    In canon there are plenty of reasonable options for what happened she could (like GRRM did) have just gotten Braavos and Tyrosh confused.

    OR the house with the red door was the home of the Sealord of Braavos and he could afford potted Lemon tree and a greenhouse to put it in during the winter (you could probably keep a lemon tree alive in Winterfell under those circumstances).

    If we want there to be a theory about Dany’s identity I think it makes more sense to have her be Rhaella’s daughter by someone else, Ser Bonifer and she supposedly were in love when they were young, maybe he went to D.S. after she fled there. Unlike the Lemon Tree theories it’s at least plausible.

69. I was thinking about something recently and this seems like the place to share. In previous seasons, some things from the books were omitted from the show. There are different reasons for this, and one of those reasons was prophesy. While you can get away with some prophesy in literature, doing so in television could cause people to lose interest. But those events would nevertheless play a part in the long story. If one had an idea that a delay like this might be coming, it might be possible to take these events from before and “bring them to the stage” as it were. This way, you could still be consistent TV wise, while not actually telling anything from TWOW that you don’t have to. Some examples: Dany in the HOTU. Lady SH. Sam and GIlly. The Greyjoys.
    From what I’ve read and heard, we may in fact, be looking at some of these events.
    I would love other people’s thought on this. Posted this in a few places. Thanks
    I am totally jazzed that Max Von Sydow is on board! #BryndenLives

    The North Remembers!

70. Derrick: My theory Jon is not dead, that final scene is one thing a vision. Either the red woman or Jon for seen this stabbing a will awake from this vision nightmare. I think it is the red woman visioning this future stabbing like in the books when she had visions and tried warning Jon. Bet this is the shows direction. Jon was never stabbed, at least not yet. See if Jon heads red woman’s warning about he vision of Jon being stabbed.

    Oh, Jon Snow’s dead. There’s no way GoT will go with the cheap “it was only a dream” solution. That would be a major “jumping the shark” moment. No, Jon’s dead. He, however, will be resurrected somehow, most likely by the Red Witch. The show’s already hung that gun, way back in Season 3 in Arya’s storyline. Time to fire it.

    Big Mac: I think CleganeBowl WILL happen… just not as Cersei’s trial by combat.

    I agree. CleangeBowl — GET HYPE — won’t be Cersei’s trail by combat. That’ll be FrankenMountain vs. Lancel, and Westeros will be less one Lannister. Cersei will win her trail by combat. She needs to, in order to set her up into the Mad Queen and have Jamie kill her to prevent the burning of King’s Landing (or in retalation for the burning of King’s Landing).

    CleangeBowl — GET HYPE! — will happen, and the Hound killing the Mountain will probably be what triggers the beginning of Cersei’s final fall.

71. Lysarra:
    @ginerva GRRM has said … that the main characters are the surviving POV’s from the first case – which is (though I haven’t double checked) Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Bran, Sansa & Arya.

    …Whether or not she’s liked, GRRM said that her story is meant to be an inversion on the Princess in the tower, to take the trope and eventually turn it on its head, and had spoken of the survivalist themes etc, so her chances are pretty good.

    I’d love to see sources on all of this. If George did come right out and name a Big 6 to include Sansa, that’s definitely newsworthy, and it is news I’ve never heard. I’ve also never heard GRRM say that Sansa represents a survivalist theme.

72. Firannion: Pretty sure there is a GRRM quote somewhere in which he indicates that, as Bran was the first (non-prologue) PoV in the books, so will he also be the last. Bran is the griot, the historian of the War for the Dawn.

    Bookends! That is pretty cool. You know, I’d sort of pictured Bran like Wimsey mentioned, forever tucked away in his hidey hole for the rest of the tale. But then I was also just thinking that he was the next Bloodraven, destined to live to be as old as Dumbledore. But Bloodraven had to have left his underground throne room after he established himself in the Weirwood Network, right? He wouldn’t have had a thousand eyes and one until he was king of the network, but he wouldn’t have gotten a reputation for this all across the Seven Kingdoms if he had stayed in his hidey hole. So perhaps Bran will pull a Bloodraven and run off to be a warrior for a few years, running on WiFi or LTE, before he gets plugged in permanently.

73. The Jojen paste theory is pretty obscene IMHO and I hope it’s not true. Unfortunately, there’s actually some precedent for it in the books at least (less so in the show thankfully).

    And I’m almost certain that Ramsay wrote the Pink Letter, with Mance Rayder being the only other slim possibility. Either way, I think people have been majorly overthinking the matter.

74. Yaga:
    Why no show-based questions? These at least have the chance to be answered within a year or two.

    I think that the vast majority of theorizing is book-based. The books contain ten to twenty times as much information, and there are many prophecies and hints that are in the books and not in the show. Also, at least for now, the books are canon and the show is adaptation. The best way to guess what will happen in the show, right now and in most cases, is to guess what will happen in the books, although that will likely be flipped on its head over the next two to three seasons, as we’ve already seen with Stannis.

75. Wimsey,

    All good points here. You have a great read on Stannis. I never really considered this theory until the Theon chapter came out- thinking that Stannis had learned through Theon that there were conspirators dispatched by Jon inside Winterfell, and that Stannis knew he would need to draw Jon into the fight somehow (and knowing an underhanded approach may be the only thing to persuade him given Jons refusal to accept Stannis prior offer at legitimacy and lordship).
    Again, it was not a serious consideration, but something I lent some thought to.
    I’ve always thought the Pink Letter was real, authored by Ramsay, but that he was bluffing about Stannis- until last season, that is.
    Rest in peace, Alan Rickman- what a talented and accomplished actor we have lost.
    Also, I keep crossing my wires now and entertaining the idea that Bowie fathered the little monster and then released an album about it. I have you to thank for these disturbing thoughts!

76. Ginevra,

    He never said that about them being the main three and rest that they’ll survive. It was in original version but nothing else.

77. Flora Linden,

    Apparently, Samuel Tarly has just enough testosterone to fuel his libido, and not one single drop more!

    I’ve never seen a more self-serving character than Sam. He spent the Mance attack running back and forth in front of the area where Gilly was hidden, ensuring that no Wildling got through to her. This is while his ‘brothers’ died left and right. Then instructed the child, Ollie, to get a weapon and fight…while he went up the wall to ask Jon to send down more men..to protect Gilly, of course.

    Gilly mentioned that she saw Wildlings camped outside Castle Black as she escaped Mole’s Town. Sam did not relay this message. I really dislike Sam.

    I’m convinced the only reason he nominated Jon for Commander is to secure Gilly’s stay at Castle Black; then he used Jon once more to get himself(and Gilly”) transferred out of there. One time he even sent a letter to Bolton requesting recruits, not caring that Bolton could send over an assassin to kill Jon. This is the Jon who saved Sam’s bacon more than once.

    Sam is capable of applying himself to learning; however, refuses to learn other simple things, like making a fire, for example, in what is the coldest place on his planet.

    I hope he pays a price in the end. Nobody can feed off of others’ sacrifice that much and get away with it.

78. Anon:
    Flora Linden,

    Apparently, Samuel Tarly has just enough testosterone to fuel his libido, and not one single drop more!

    I’ve never seen a more self-serving character than Sam.He spent the Mance attack running back and forth in front of the area where Gilly was hidden, ensuring that no Wildling got through to her.This is while his ‘brothers’ died left and right.Then instructed the child, Ollie, to get a weapon and fight…while he went up the wall to ask Jon to send down more men..to protect Gilly, of course.

    Gilly mentioned that she saw Wildlings camped outside Castle Black as she escaped Mole’s Town.Sam did not relay this message.I really dislike Sam.

    I’m convinced the only reason he nominated Jon for Commander is to secure Gilly’s stay at Castle Black; then he used Jon once more to get himself(and Gilly”) transferred out of there. One time he even sent a letter to Bolton requesting recruits, not caring that Bolton could send over an assassin to kill Jon.This is the Jon who saved Sam’s bacon more than once.

    Sam is capable of applying himself to learning; however, refuses to learn other simple things, like making a fire, for example, in what is the coldest place on his planet.

    I hope he pays a price in the end.Nobody can feed off of others’ sacrifice that much and get away with it.

    You are so far off-base in your assessment of Sam that I don’t even know where to begin. But at the very least you should realize that no one at Castle Black had any reason to suspect that the Boltons were interested in assassinating the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.

79. ghost of winterfell,

    ..but doesn’t she intend to break the wheel? Break the wheel, break the spokes, no?

80. Firannion,

    Are you Flora Linden?

    Re the Bolton’s:
    When Sam gave that particular letter to Jon for his signature, Jon strongly resisted signing it, whereas he signed letters to other Northern Lords.

    Why do you think Jon resisted?

81. Geralt of Rivia,

    And even the original outline that was pitched only gave a Big 5, right? Sans Sansa. So I don’t know how she’s always added in.

82. I’d forgotten where I read the theory originally but more and more I’ve been looking at Theon as the author of the pink letter either under Stannis’ order, Ramsey or by himself. Who knows? But somebody pointed out the words used in PL as consistent with how Theon speaks or at least mirrors his thought processes.

    I’m not yet entirely convinced but it’s definitely a fun possibility to consider.

83. Ginevra,

    Yes. Sansa was a part of the original outline, but not a part of surviving characters a big 5 and not that big of a character. The key players were Daeny, Tyrion, Jon, Bran and Arya. Since then her role is a much bigger and thus being considered as part of big 6. Maybe that’s why.

84. Anon,

    Jon resisted because of the Bolton’s part in his family’s demise. It was not because he feared assassins. Besides, the Boltons could send assassins any time that they wanted to do so.

85. Geralt of Rivia,

    Sansa wad much bigger in Thrones-Swords than GRRM originally pitched. However, he essentially left Sansa out of Crows/Dragons: she got three desulatory chapters that contributed nothing to the story. (And before someone writes: “Arya only got six chapters”, 1) that is twice as many; and 2) we got a full kill the girl, let the woman be born arc that hugely advanced Arya’s character in those six chapters, whereas Sansa only started to budge at all at the end of her third chapter.)

86. Scott4567,

    I feel like my reading comprehension is off today, because I’m not quite sure to what potential events you are referring, even with the examples you provided. In terms of prophesies, we did get Cersei’s last season, and we are seeing it play out. We know we’re getting one key flashback which will give away what I’m guessing will be in TWOW regarding Jon’s parentage. We have Mel’s version of AA being reborn, and may see that play out this season (if Jon is, in fact AA). I suppose we could get some mention of the dragons

    having 3 heads. If that means 3 riders, which is up for debate, characters are starting to come together, or at least head in the direction where they’ll come together, so it would work for them to introduce that at this point.

87. Nymeria Warrior Queen,
    Thank You for the reply.
    As far as the Tower of Joy is concerned, we have Ned’s memories from AGOT and Dany’s visions from The House of the Undying in ACOKs. None of this material from the previous books is in the show……..until now-or so it looks.
    I was thinking about Dan & Dave. Would they really take all the plot points from The Winds of Winter and throw them up on the screen? I don’t think so. That would be “biting the hand the feeds you”. Now, since they have material-especially concerning prophesy-that they have not used, why not “pad the season”? That way, they could still be consistent without giving the whole book away. I think this is a courteous and wise way to proceed.

    The North Remembers…

88. Scott4567,

    While I certainly don’t think they’d take all the plot points from TWOW and try and throw them all onscreen (they’ve been pretty judicious, I think, about what the plot points they’ve chosen to show, and those they’ve chosen to eliminate), I also don’t think they’d intentionally pad the season. I say this in part because they didn’t know, at least not with complete certainty, TWOW wouldn’t be released until season 6. I think they need to focus on what best serves the show, and not try to guess, well, if the book is released in time, we can show this, but if it isn’t, then we can’t.

    I think D&D’s main objective is to tell their story (based on GRRM’s, yes, but also with an eye to what works best, in their opinion, for the adaptation) as cohesively as possible.

89. Wimsey:
    Geralt of Rivia,

    Sansa wad much bigger in Thrones-Swords than GRRM originally pitched.However, he essentially left Sansa out of Crows/Dragons: she got three desulatory chapters that contributed nothing to the story.(And before someone writes: “Arya only got six chapters”, 1) that is twice as many; and 2) we got a full kill the girl, let the woman be born arc that hugely advanced Arya’s character in those six chapters, whereas Sansa only started to budge at all at the end of her third chapter.)

    Actually, Arya only had 5 chapters.

90. Lord Parramandas,

    Was it? Well, they were 5 very fruitful chapters!

91. Scott4567,

    B&W’s first obligation is to the show-viewers, not to the book-readers. Every season in a series like this has to tell a coherent story on its own. So far, every GoT season has told a story matching that told by the original novel. To that end, they really are obligated to tell the Winter story this year.

    Moreover, remember that they wrote and filmed the seadon while GRRM was still promising people that Winter would be done in time to release before the season started. Now, B&W are not foolish: they had to know that this promise was carved in jelly rather than in stone.

    At any rate, “padding” would damage the quality of the show. Only some book fans complain that the seasons are “rushed”: the more common complaint is that the seasons drag in the middle. (Joe and Jane Public are impatient, to say the least!)

    Now, we might still get more prophecies that the show has so far omitted. However, Chekhovs Rule will be applied: a prophecy introduced early in a season will have some major consequence by the end of the seadon. Three-headed dragons, little brothers, etc., are unfired guns still: so it would have been bad TV to introduce them already.

92. Guys I think I remember one question regarding Sarella Sand too which I was looking forward to..
    Did he miss out on that ques or what?

93. Nerd Stark:
    Guys I think I remember one question regarding Sarella Sand too which I was looking forward to..
    Did he miss out on that ques or what?

    There were a lot more questions in the survey than he reported on above. I’m really eager to find out more about Sarella/Alleras as well! I think she’s far and away the coolest Sand Snake, and she has gotten herself right into the middle of the mysterious goings-on at Oldtown.

    Any character of a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to do things forbidden to women in medieval society is intrinsically interesting to me. And it’s not just anachronistic feminist revisionism for GRRM to write such characters: In the British Isles there’s a whole subgenre of traditional ballads, centuries old, about girls who dress as boys so they can run away to sea or join the army and see the world, with titles like “The Female Drummer” and “The Female Rambling Sailor.” There’s even one with a female highwayman (“Sovay”). Throughout history, there have always been at least a few women who rebelled against the strictures governing their behavior, and reading about them always makes me want to stand up and cheer!

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