The quotes are because it’s a sentence within a sentence.
As for what I mean, there’s some solid speculation that Jon is the child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and Ned claimed him as his own to save him from the purge of Targaryens. Thus, he can take up with Dany and revive the old Targaryen family tradition.
I’m a little suspicious of that possibility. It sounds like the ending to the kind of fantasy Martin is defiantly not writing. Though after killing Ned and announcing this was a different kind of fantasy, maybe the only trick left up his sleeve is to double back into the predictable.
Huh? I don’t recall reading that anywhere. IIRC, Jon Snow’s mother is never disclosed.
Aceris
4805
I think the series will be finished much more quickly if he dies before finishing it. I hear Brandon Sanderson is a big Song of Ice and Fire fan.
I predict that in Book 7 Arya will return to the Westeros as the world’s deadliest Faceless Man and proceed to go on a Lannister killing spree. Meanwhile the Others will make it through the Wall, decimating the combined forces of Stannis and whomever is in charge of the Lannisters at that point, until Dany and Jon team up to ride her dragons in defense of the realm and turn back the threat. Alas the dragons are killed, as are Jon and Dany, and at various points throughout Books 6 and 7 almost all the main characters meet their ends. In the final chapter Robert Arryn marries Shireen Baratheon and they rule over the now united Westeros together.
;-)
I would read the hell out of such a book.
Scuzz
4808
So, anyone else see GRRM on Conan last night?
He said that HBO had killed four characters on the show that were not dead in the books. He also said there was no guarantee the show has the same ending as the books.
Teiman
4810
I find the books too long and stooped reading them after a few. But I like many things from them, and are a change from your average heroic fantasy book. I use to think the books where sorta like science-fiction ( Dragons of Pern), but now I have the impression the books are a “game session”: Some people die on the book because a bad dice-rolling or for playing the game poorly. Even the characters reference that. I would not be surprised if GRRM write the books like a dungeon master play with a party of players ( but playing the character in the book, like npc’s in a rpg adventure ).
He may also have a Big Plan, but I have not read enough of his books to know that.
That’s interesting, since his Wild Card series is a novelization of an RPG campaign. But I don’t think Martin is rolling d20s to decide the fates of his characters – though that would be delightful, the strokes of bad luck are very intentionally employed.
I think there are a few things that will come into play in the ending.
The anti-walker weapons. I think someone will go on, at some point, a mission to grab that cache of weapons. Possibly someone who has been resurrected and is thus immune to being zombified(I made that immunity up). I do think those weapons are what win that battle, not merely the dragons.
There’s going to be some kind of wizard battle between the minions of the fire god. One of them is presented as inherently good, while the other one has sketchy morals at best. When push comes to shove, there can only be one. My guess is that somewhere along the way Stannis WILL become king…for a brief shining moment. Then he’ll get wasted and the red witch will not want to accept her time is over. I think the outcome of this battle decides the outcome of the battle for the Iron Throne, in that losing your magic user ruins your party.
That kid can control things, he’s going to own the dragons. I suspect he’ll yank them from Dany right when she’s about to conquer the land, too bad for her. That’s because I think when she loses control of her dragons, the people will take that as a sign she’s not fit to regain her kingdom. There goes her grassroots support.
Arya will be the most badass of badass killers, but ironically once she’s fully trained she’ll be above mere revenge. She won’t kill any Lannisters, especially since all the most killable ones will be long dead already. I think she’ll instead become some kind of balancing force who cleanses the land of people what cause unrest. She’ll roam with whatever is left of the wolves. In that way, the Stark/direwolf partnership lives on and holds sway over everyone- WIN!
Tyrion will survive it all, and return to Casterly Rock, which has been looted and partially destroyed. He will then start the rebuilding effort, having also been given the larger task of begetting a line of Lannisters that aren’t such assholes this time. He returns to Casterly Rock because where do whores go? Where the gold is.
I don’t know that re-establishment of the dynasty that is mostly presented as evil conquerors, complete with icky morals (incest to keep the line pure), is all that standard of a fantasy trope.
Red Wedding via Princess Bride. Gotta admit, my own reaction has been sometimes “why do I keep reading these?”
Hehe, ok, while we’re having fun speculating:-
I think Dany’s (GRRM’s play with the “Elf” archetype) never going anywhere near the Iron Throne. Her destiny is going to keep pushing her East to the source of the “Fire” magic. Her visions in the Tower and the “accident” of her getting the dragon eggs, will all have been shown to have some kind of purpose behind them.
Bran (the “Druid” archetype) is definitely going to do some heavyweight warging at some point, possibly controlling a Dragon for a bit (though I don’t think he’ll be able to do it for long, or easily, it may kill him, so it’ll have to be at some crucial point). Also, the source of the “Ice” magic has to be found further North in Westeros, and Bran will do it, probably with Samwell’s (the “Wizard” archetype) book larnin’ to help him.
I have a dreadful feeling that the fans are onto something wrt Jon (the “Warrior” archetype) being half-Targaryen, but I don’t think it’s going to lead to any particularly spectacular thing for him, although it’s quite possible he may end up on the Iron Throne - but by this stage, the question of who gets to sit on the Iron Throne will have receded to one of the biggest red herrings in the books.
Basically, the big reveal is going to be something about the cyclicality of Winter and the threat of the Others, and it will probably be tied in with the Doom of Old Valyria. There’s some deeper backstory that’s going to be revealed in the last book (probably involving some old rivalry between the Citadel and those in the far East), and there will be several behind-the-scenes string-pullers that we haven’t yet been introduced to (or only peripherally).
Arya’s (the “Thief” archetype) definitely going to be some super-cool assassin dudette on cleanup duty, or the Universe is unjust. Tyrion (the “Dwarf” archetype) will indeed probably end up in charge of Casterly Rock and the remaining Lannisters.
Beyond these fragments, I cannot see in my crystal ball …
Scuzz
4817
I don’t have HBO so I have not watched the show. I did know about 2 of those but not the others. I think the bigger reveal was that the show may not have the same end as the books. Face it, do you really think GRRM will finish the books before the series is that far along. At what point will HBO decide (apparently with GRRM okay) that they will need to wrap the show up without using the final book material.
The TV show will have a different ending from the books. The TV show will end with everyone from Ned Stark and Tywin Lannister, Jaime and Robb, Cersei and Catelyn, to Arya and Tommen meeting in a large white cathedral room with large doors at the far side. They will all greet one another as old friends, past grievances and hatreds forgotten, as they realize that they’ve spent this whole time living in a sort of limbo, waiting until they could all be reunited again and cross over to the other side together.
You see, they all died when Winter came (Ned warned them!), and only now do they realize what has happened and that nothing that has passed since was real. Jon Snow is the last to die. Sad music plays as he stumbles through the forest and then lays down for the final time in the cold snow near what was once Winterfell. Ghost pads silently over and lays by his side. Jon turns his head slightly, smiling at Ghost, taking comfort in the presence of an old and loyal friend. Jon is seen in the catherdral with all the other characters, Ned comes over and touches him gently on the shoulder, finally acknowledging Jon in the way he’s always longed for. Ygritte is there, and she sits next to Jon, and they are happy. Ned moves to the large doors and throws them open. Bright white light floods the room and everyone’s faces light up in joy and wonder. They all begin to move towards the door and into the light. We return to Jon lying outside Winterfell, near death. His gaze returns once more to the clear blue sky where he sees a dragon fly majestically overhead and he smiles. We zoom in on Jon’s eye, which slowly closes, then everything fades to black.
GAME OF THRONES
Gil102
4820
Just for fun (and because I can’t seem to stop reading/thinking/talking about Song of Ice and Fire), I think Dany and Jon will be two of the riders. When the Others attack, Jon is going to be on the front lines and its entirely possible that shortly after Dany realizes her goal of attaining the Iron Throne, she will find out about this other, major threat to her kingdom and head north. Besides, I like to think Dany represents the Fire and Jon the Ice and many times “Song” is just a more dramatic word for ‘Story’. As for the third rider, I’m guessing probably either Tyrion or Jaime. One or both of them will eventually realize the threat the Others pose to the realm and do the right thing, gather the Lannister armies, and head north. Plus, imagine Tyrion with a Dragon’s Eye view of a massive battlefield. I’d like to think of him as a major savior of the realm.
I think Bran’s role in the coming war will be significant, but go relatively unnoticed by everyone…just attributed to help from the Old Gods. Not sure what to make of R’hllor and Melisandre. I feel like there’s going to be some betrayal or evil revelation there to come. shrug
-Gil102
P.S. After reading my own post, it dawned on me that maybe GRRM is banking on people WANTING Dany and Jon to meet or even end up together, which means he sure as hell won’t allow that! I could see him killing off Jon and having a passage where, after the battle, Dany walks right by him and doesn’t have a clue who he was. Or maybe it ends with Jon barely defeating the Others and saving the realm and Dany barely defeating the Lannisters/Tyrells and obtaining the Iron Throne. Dammit…I need to watch some terribly sexist anime to get my mind off this…
