It was mentioned.
I could see Book 2 in 10.
The Blackwater takes up a ton of chapters, so they could do it an episode (maybe two).
Dany’s barely in Book 2.
The big addition is going to be Pyke and Stannis.
The Night’s Watch spends a lot of time getting to the Fist, and that’s about it.
Tons of misery at Harrenhal can be reduced and condensed to one main episode also. Most of Tyrion’s plot is a slow buildup to his defense on King’s Landing, it can also be condensed to one or two eps. The book is easily doable in 10. My guess is that if they do the first two seasons in ten, an extended third season is all the more likely to be acceptable to HBO’s budget. 14-16 eps(maybe two 6-8 ep half seasons) for SoS is perfect.
I guess it depends on how much “say” Martin has in the series, but I bet they could chop out pretty much all the Book 2 Pyke chapters and lose very little in the way of actual content… especially if the producers decided to shave out the Iron Islands bits from Crows too. Sure, Winterfell has to be destroyed, but they could still get it done without the introduction of Asha, Balon, and that whole crew.
Maybe Dragons will change my mind about how much of a waste of time the Iron Islands stuff is. I understand that their destabilizing influence is needed to further weaken the North and West, but they could have just as easily been faceless boogiemen rather than having their (fairly pointless) motivations laid out to us in excruciating detail.
Likewise, I think they can chop out a lot of Dragonstone from the show without losing much actual content. The whole thing with the Queen’s Men and Patchface and whatnot is cool detail, but need not be introduced. We’ll need an introduction to Stannis, but I could be done entirely through Cat’s eyes rather than through Davos’.
Equis
1924
I rather like Davos. He adds relevancy to Stannis and makes him seem like less of a hardass than he really is. I suspect we won’t cut out much of Stannis simply because of Melisandre and how much of a role she might play in the coming chapters.
Davos is one of my top three characters, so fuck that idea. And…
MINOR SPOILER FOR ADWD
Asha shows up as a pov character again in ADWD.
Hammet
1926
I think you only like Davos cause you’re male.
That said, of course they won’t cut Davos. He’s probably one of the best realized characters in all the books, plus he’s vital to the plot in several ways. And a guy.
By the way, how do you know the Dragon Dance spoilers? Or is that a spoiler in itself?
There’s the Westeros wiki and there’s the regular wiki. They don’t agree 100%, but it looks like Wikipedia has been updated more recently with the latest information including a POV that has been confirmed as moving to TWoW.
Funtime spoilers for Winds of Winter
Sansa, Arya and Arianne Martell are confirmed. It’s an all girl book!
Who? Crap, it’s been too long since I read the books. Can’t remember anything.
Equis
1929
I’ve read all 4 books years ago. I remember Robb Stark, Brienne, Dontos, Lyra Stark, Stannis, Mace Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, Theon Greyjoy, Illyrio Mopatis, Barristan Selmy, Maester Aemon on the wall, Samwell Tarly, Meera and Jojen Reed, Roose Bolton, Walder Frey, Bronn, Ygritte, etc, etc.
For the life of me, I can’t remember who Asha was and why she is important in anyway.
Equis
1931
I guess my point is that she didn’t make much of an impression on me. The story has gotten pretty convoluted by the time she’s introduced and I’m having a hell of a time keeping track of all the other characters while denied resolutions to most of their stories.
I guess I could go read Feast of Crows again to prepare for when Dance with Dragons come out.
Sansa isn’t in ADWD at all is the last I read, GRRM moved her chapters out to help keep Dance’s size down. I was hoping for some Arya, but with no other POV characters around her geographic location that’s pretty unlikely. And even if Dany does set sail and lands on the shores of Dorne, I can see where Arianna wouldn’t be necessary.
She’s in the second and the fourth books.
If your point is ‘this character didn’t make much of an impression on me’, say it. When you say ‘who is Asha’ you are really saying either ‘I am connected to a different internet which does not have Google’ or ‘please to how does make a Google work?’
I said AWoW, not ADWD. And your theory could be right, based on this blog entry.
Yeah, wow, I’d forgotten about that blog update from 10 months ago. Of course the event that precipitates a Dornish reaction could be anything, and it sounds like it’ll be something of a cliffhanger for Dance now.
The worst thing about that blog entry is that in one of the responses he makes to a question GRRM confirms that…
Horrible, terrible, gut-wrenchingly awful spoiler for ADWD
…Cersei will be a POV character in ADWD.
D:
Hammet
1936
Man, just skip the Cersei chapters then. Cause, y’know, she’s a woman.
(I jest! You are clearly no dishonorable nighthawk, good Ser.)
Man, I love the Cersei chapters. I enjoy watching her hubris destroy herself.
Well, Tyrell and Tarly are marching with armies on King’s Landing, so I don’t expect Cersei to remain queen regent if she is released for very long, particulary once Margaery tells daddy and grandma about the “evil, scheming bitch’s” policies that directly led to Loras’ situation.
Rywill
1939
I am not convinced Loras actually has a situation. But I loved the Cersei chapters and never understand the hate for them. It’s a great character study of how someone can plausibly make a bunch of decisions that from the outside seem completely insane. She’s foolish and shortsighted and, worst of all, has no inkling of how foolish and shortsighted she is. Every step of the way, you go “Wow, what a terrible decision” but at the same time you understand what motivated her to make it.
A lot of people seemed annoyed that she didn’t become more sympathetic once you see her thought process, like Jaime did, but I like the fact that some characters are just complete asshats.
I’ve thought that too, but here’s a young, cocky knight who’s seen little actual combat (Blackwater battle) knowing his homeland is under imminent threat, and that no help is forthcoming unless he lifts the Dragonstone siege as quickly as possible. So he’s under huge pressure to act rashly, and during a well-defended siege acting rashly sounds like it ended badly for him. Plus it’s GRRM, so bad things happening to any character is well within the realm of possibility.
