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A Song of Ice and Fire -- **Unmarked Spoilers For All Books including ADWD**

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It takes so damn long between books that I have pretty much completely forgotten everything but the major plot points. Reading the last couple pages of this thread and I barely remember some of the characters being talked about. Much like with Berserk, I wish I had waited until the story was done before starting. However, If I did that, I wouldn't have started reading the books until like 2070.
Yeah, I'm thinking I'll have to re-read next year.
 

Talon

Member
He's still going to the ones where he was formally invited to speak, since he made a commitment and they presumably sold tickets advertising his appearance. He's cancelled some of the others though.
lol - he's going to be at the Medill awards dinner this week in Chicago.
 
Directly from Not A Blog back in March:
No. Not so. Listen, please. I am skipping San Diego Comicon and World Fantasy Con... but as of this writing, I am still planning on making all of my other scheduled appearances. Okay? Clear? That means, yes, I will be in Seattle for Norwescon next week, and yes, I will be going to Kansas City for Conquest over Memorial Day. And so forth. And so on.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
I think it was no more apart from the ones he agreed to do already, and maybe not including his 'core' cons he always goes to.

Nah. He cancelled a couple in the fall in order to give himself three months of interrupted writing time.

He's still going to the ones where he was formally invited to speak, since he made a commitment and they presumably sold tickets advertising his appearance. He's cancelled some of the others though.

Oh. Okay.

:(
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
With the long wait between the books and the show progressing, I sorta fear I'll start to mix up what happened in the books and how the show deviated from it. Though I love the books I don't really feel like re-reading them once again (I've read every book twice, mostly because I burned through them so eagerly during the first read) because it's quite the investment of time and there's just so much else to read/watch/play. With the show getting ahead of the books I'm thinking about quitting it for the time being (haven't watched anything of the current season yet) since I don't want to watch the shows' versions of the story, then read how it all plays out in the book. It'd probably feel like a weird mishmash of being already spoiled on certain parts and a guessing game of sorts were the show deviates. But man, it's probably gonna be a bitch avoiding general spoilers in upcoming years. /firstworldproblems
 

Jayof9s

Member
With the long wait between the books and the show progressing, I sorta fear I'll start to mix up what happened in the books and how the show deviated from it. Though I love the books I don't really feel like re-reading them once again (I've read every book twice, mostly because I burned through them so eagerly during the first read) because it's quite the investment of time and there's just so much else to read/watch/play. With the show getting ahead of the books I'm thinking about quitting it for the time being (haven't watched anything of the current season yet) since I don't want to watch the shows' versions of the story, then read how it all plays out in the book. It'd probably feel like a weird mishmash of being already spoiled on certain parts and a guessing game of sorts were the show deviates. But man, it's probably gonna be a bitch avoiding general spoilers in upcoming years. /firstworldproblems

It's probably going to be at least 10 years before the series is finished - assuming he doesn't add more books - so I think you may need to reread the series to remember what the hell was going on regardless of if you watch the show.
 

Montresor

Member
One enjoyable part of the books is the cute grammatical/spelling quirks in the series. I know that these aren't necessarily George RR Martin's inventions, and that some of these "quirks" come from past literature and from archaic English, but these are things I never see when speaking/reading English day-to-day, and so I've warmed up to them in the books.

Below are all the examples I can think of off the top of my head.

*Ser, instead of "sir", to refer to the title given to a knight (I believe this is a George RR Martin invention)

*Your Grace as a title when referring to royalty (definitely not a Martin invention, but I usually expect Your Majesty when referring to royalty)

*When referring to a pregnant woman, saying "great with child", or "heavy with child".

*When someone is trying to express that they need to do something, they say something like "I must needs gain this vantage point", instead of saying "I need to gain this vantage point".

*When someone has misgivings or uneasy feelings about something, or simply doesn't like something, they'll use the word "mislike". Example: The character will say "I mislike the look of that person" instead of saying "I don't like the look of that person",

And so on.
 

1138

Member
I grind my teeth worse than Stannis every time I read the word "Nuncle". I am already dreading the inevitable Asha charpters in Winds of Winter.
 

Montresor

Member
I forgot about "nuncle". That reminds me of Jaime always saying "coz" to his cousins.

Another one I can think of:

*Intentional grammatically incorrect spelling
of the verb "please". Example: In the book someone is always saying something like "I'd like to sit down if it please you". It should be spelled like "I'd like to sit down if it pleases you".

"If it please" is rampant in these books, heh.
 
"Coz" and "nuncle" are weird ones because he doesn't start using them until book 3 or 4, but after that he uses them constantly. I really hope he takes the criticism of Dance's (lack of) editing to heart and lets his editor fix some of his more egregious lingual fixations in TWOW.

One little quirk that I actually enjoy is that he will sometimes use "could of" and "should of" in place of "could have" and "should have" when writing smallfolk dialogue, to indicate their low education.
 

iamblades

Member
I forgot about "nuncle". That reminds me of Jaime always saying "coz" to his cousins.

Another one I can think of:

*Intentional grammatically incorrect spelling
of the verb "please". Example: In the book someone is always saying something like "I'd like to sit down if it please you". It should be spelled like "I'd like to sit down if it pleases you".

"If it please" is rampant in these books, heh.

It's not incorrect though, just archaic.

Not even that archaic really.

Just over a hundred years ago Dickens was using 'Will you please to enter the carriage?' Which is a really odd sounding use of the word to modern English speakers.

Even today when using please as an intransitive verb along with another verb like may or should or will, you would use please and not pleases. ie. 'may it please the court', 'if it should please you'.

To be more linguistically accurate it is the difference between subjunctive and indicative case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive

Also cool graphs:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...=3&share=&direct_url=t1;,if it please you;,c0
https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...3&share=&direct_url=t1;,if it pleases you;,c0
 

CassSept

Member
Since it got lost in the other thread I may try here, it's more relevant here anyways.

I'm looking for TWOW chapter parody. I saw it a while back, I can't say whether it was a year ago, two years, but I definitely saw it.

It was a Daenerys chapter and it concerned Tyrion outing Daario as Euron. I think it was a full page, filled to the brim with GRRM-isms (e.g. Lannister words are as useless as nipples on the breastplate; this mummer has yet another trick up his sleeve; Dany thinking about her sweet sweet Daario and more). It culminated with Tyrion flushing Daario with water, which revealed him as Euron.

While it doesn't sound so from my description above it was pretty hilarious and my attempts to try it again were in vain. In the last few weeks I tried googling it in several different ways and came up with nothing. I'd be incredibly thankful if someone had it, or knew where to find it.

Edit: And obviously as soon as I wrote it I decided to search this thread for "imgur" and found it. Gah.

D7RhP6W.png
 

Paganmoon

Member
Since it got lost in the other thread I may try here, it's more relevant here anyways.

I'm looking for TWOW chapter parody. I saw it a while back, I can't say whether it was a year ago, two years, but I definitely saw it.

It was a Daenerys chapter and it concerned Tyrion outing Daario as Euron. I think it was a full page, filled to the brim with GRRM-isms (e.g. Lannister words are as useless as nipples on the breastplate; this mummer has yet another trick up his sleeve; Dany thinking about her sweet sweet Daario and more). It culminated with Tyrion flushing Daario with water, which revealed him as Euron.

While it doesn't sound so from my description above it was pretty hilarious and my attempts to try it again were in vain. In the last few weeks I tried googling it in several different ways and came up with nothing. I'd be incredibly thankful if someone had it, or knew where to find it.

Edit: And obviously as soon as I wrote it I decided to search this thread for "imgur" and found it. Gah.

D7RhP6W.png

I've always thought GRRM has gotten more praise than he deserves. If he takes this chapter to print, he'll prove me wrong.
 
"Coz" and "nuncle" are weird ones because he doesn't start using them until book 3 or 4, but after that he uses them constantly. I really hope he takes the criticism of Dance's (lack of) editing to heart and lets his editor fix some of his more egregious lingual fixations in TWOW.

One little quirk that I actually enjoy is that he will sometimes use "could of" and "should of" in place of "could have" and "should have" when writing smallfolk dialogue, to indicate their low education.

I recently read speculation that the decrease in writing quality and increase in awful made up words like nuncle are because Linda is the one writing the books now, but I think that might be a conspiracy theory too far removed from reality for even me to believe.

It's not incorrect though, just archaic.

Not even that archaic really.

Just over a hundred years ago Dickens was using 'Will you please to enter the carriage?' Which is a really odd sounding use of the word to modern English speakers.

Even today when using please as an intransitive verb along with another verb like may or should or will, you would use please and not pleases. ie. 'may it please the court', 'if it should please you'.

To be more linguistically accurate it is the difference between subjunctive and indicative case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive

Also cool graphs:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...=3&share=&direct_url=t1;,if it please you;,c0
https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...3&share=&direct_url=t1;,if it pleases you;,c0

What's weird is in books 1-3 he didn't really try the whole "old English" or whatever you want to call it writing style. Then suddenly in book 4 its all "whilst" and other quirks.
 

Montresor

Member
I just got to the "Jaime" chapter in Book 4 where Jaime and Brynden Tully speak to each other face-to-face to discuss terms regarding the siege of Riverrun. Chapters like this are why I love this series. Number one, it warmed my heart so much to see someone so defiantly still fight in the name of Robb Stark. Too few characters in the Song Of Ice And Fire universe openly criticize the Red Wedding. Reading Brynden venomously chastising Jaime for that was beautiful. And on the flipside, because of Book 3, we know Jaime is not a complete piece of shit... We know he was justified in killing Aerys. We know he truly wants to keep his vow to Cat to never take up arms against a Tully. And we know he legitimately wants both Sansa and Arya to be rescued, safe and sound. But his reputation is irreparable. Brynden is throwing slights at Jaime's honour one after the other, and there's nothing Jaime can do about it.

I got chills at these two quotations from Brynden:

On the possibility of single combat between Brynden and Jaime: 'He leaned forward. "Why not you and me, ser?"'

On the prospect of defeating Jaime in single combat: 'Ser Brynden laughed again. "Much as I would welcome the chance to take that golden sword away from you and cut out your black heart, your promises are worthless. I would gain nothing from your death but the pleasure of killing you, and I will not risk my life for that... as small a risk as that may be."'
 

Montresor

Member
It's not incorrect though, just archaic.

Not even that archaic really.

Just over a hundred years ago Dickens was using 'Will you please to enter the carriage?' Which is a really odd sounding use of the word to modern English speakers.

Even today when using please as an intransitive verb along with another verb like may or should or will, you would use please and not pleases. ie. 'may it please the court', 'if it should please you'.

To be more linguistically accurate it is the difference between subjunctive and indicative case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive

Also cool graphs:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...=3&share=&direct_url=t1;,if it please you;,c0
https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...3&share=&direct_url=t1;,if it pleases you;,c0

Just saw this - neat. Incorrect or not I LOVE IT. The phrase "If it please Your Grace" is very satisfying to read, over and over (it's used a ton). :p
 
Some info from ConQuest:

-We will see more of the Mad Mouse in TWOW
-Robb's will will be resolved in TWOW
-Mercy's Identity is "out of the window" now, which I assume means [TWOW sample chapter spoiler]
Arya will no longer be able to use that face and will move on
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.ph...ds-of-winter-resource-v-2/page-6#entry7025384

Also from Adam Whitehead:
Someone asked if "Howland, Eddard and Jon were the only people to leave the Tower of Joy alive," and GRRM amusedly said that, "Howland and Eddard" were the only people to leave the Tower of Joy alive. Which seems to throw a wrench in some versions of R+L=J.

There's a dispute over what Martin allegedly said. I assume he said or meant that Howland and Eddard were the only men who left the ToJ alive.

You can scroll through this lady's twitter to find more info on his appearance: https://twitter.com/thejazzytea
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Some info from ConQuest:

-We will see the Mad Mouse in TWOW
-Robb's will will be resolved in TWOW
-Mercy's Identity is "out of the window" now, which I assume means [TWOW sample chapter spoiler]
Arya will no longer be able to use that face and will move on
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php...6#entry7025384

Also from Adam Whitehead:
There's a dispute over what Martin allegedly said. I assume he said or meant that Howland and Eddard were the only men who left the ToJ alive.
The bolded is really interesting. Always wondered what became of that.
 
I reread the series last year and I have no clue who this is.

He's the knight who Brienne runs into who is also searching for Sansa Stark. Towards the end of AFFC he shows up in the Vale. And in the TWOW Alayne sample chapter
there's a somewhat blatant hint that he knows Alayne is Sansa.
 

Brakke

Banned
I reread the series last year and I have no clue who this is.

I just read him in Crows/Dragons in the last couple weeks. He's an inconsequential nobody who Brienne meets on the road before she meets Dick Crabb the fooking legend of Crackclaw Point.

What the fuck, Martin, who cares about seeing that guy again...
 

Real Hero

Member
I just read him in Crows/Dragons in the last couple weeks. He's an inconsequential nobody who Brienne meets on the road before she meets Dick Crabb the fooking legend of Crackclaw Point.

What the fuck, Martin, who cares about seeing that guy again...

He shows up in the vale so he's going to at least attempt to rescue Sansa. There's probably a Madmouse fanclub knowing the fans of this series
 
I just read him in Crows/Dragons in the last couple weeks. He's an inconsequential nobody who Brienne meets on the road before she meets Dick Crabb the fooking legend of Crackclaw Point.

What the fuck, Martin, who cares about seeing that guy again...

Have you read Sansa's TWOW chapter?
 

Brakke

Banned
Nah. I haven't read any pre-release chapters yet. I want to believe it's not possible to have pre-release chapters because of course once the whole thing is done he'll make an edit pass and re-adjust stuff from the beginning that's dissonant with the rest of the book. But lol who am I kidding these books don't get edited any more.

I haven't given half a shit about Sansa since Lannister killed Lady and Sansa stopped being Stark. Whatever Big Plays the Mad Mouse has up his sleeve aren't really interesting to me because they'll be in service of the listless Vale story. Book-Sansa only matters insofar as she's our access to Littlefinger.

Between this thread and the show thread I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Sansa lately. But really the thing I keep coming back to is how little Sansa is *worth* thinking about.
 
Nah. I haven't read any pre-release chapters yet. I want to believe it's not possible to have pre-release chapters because of course once the whole thing is done he'll make an edit pass and re-adjust stuff from the beginning that's dissonant with the rest of the book. But lol who am I kidding these books don't get edited any more.

I haven't given half a shit about Sansa since Lannister killed Lady and Sansa stopped being Stark. Whatever Big Plays the Mad Mouse has up his sleeve aren't really interesting to me because they'll be in service of the listless Vale story. Book-Sansa only matters insofar as she's our access to Littlefinger.

Between this thread and the show thread I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Sansa lately. But really the thing I keep coming back to is how little Sansa is *worth* thinking about.

Ah.

Well I'm pretty sure the Mad Mouse will abduct Sansa and attempt to take her back to King's Landing at some point in TWOW.
 

Brakke

Banned
Sansa belongs in KL so sure, why not? I want her to be there when the dragons come across the sea, snatch the Iron Throne out of the Red Keep, and then napalm KL to slag. Dany won't live in the Red Keep, she'll take Dragonstone as her seat after she wakes the stone dragons. Then she'll also take the Wall as her backup seat once she wakes the ice dragons. Then she'll go tear down Dorne's Big Erect Dick Tower as her last stop on Smash The Patriarchy Tour 301 AC.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
Nah. I haven't read any pre-release chapters yet. I want to believe it's not possible to have pre-release chapters because of course once the whole thing is done he'll make an edit pass and re-adjust stuff from the beginning that's dissonant with the rest of the book. But lol who am I kidding these books don't get edited any more.

I haven't given half a shit about Sansa since Lannister killed Lady and Sansa stopped being Stark. Whatever Big Plays the Mad Mouse has up his sleeve aren't really interesting to me because they'll be in service of the listless Vale story. Book-Sansa only matters insofar as she's our access to Littlefinger.

Between this thread and the show thread I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Sansa lately. But really the thing I keep coming back to is how little Sansa is *worth* thinking about.

It's called an arc. She has slowly been moving from passive observer/victim of the Game to a player.
 

Massa

Member
It's called an arc. She has slowly been moving from passive observer/victim of the Game to a player.

She went from being completely dumb to realizing that Littlefinger manipulates people, and she's willingly one of those people. Not much of an arc there besides what people have on their wishlist for TWOW.
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
She went from being completely dumb to realizing that Littlefinger manipulates people, and she's willingly one of those people. Not much of an arc there besides what people have on their wishlist for TWOW.

Yup.

Show Sansa might actually be an accurate portrayal of TWoW Sansa for all we know at this point. She hasn't done anything that proves she's evolved as a character.
 
Ser Shadrich playing a role in Winds was always an obvious thing, but at least we know for sure. I wonder just how big of a role it will be, since he almost certainly knows who Sansa is.

Robb's will finally being resolved is a good thing. I wonder how that will play out.
 
I saw a post on reddit about the will that brought up a scenario I had never considered: what if Robb named Catelyn his heir? In the first book she notes that she is still young enough to have children, and as Queen Of The North she would no doubt marry one of Robb's bannermen (and thus propel the house to the rulers of the north). Obviously none of that will happen now lol, but...would the North fight for her as Lady Stoneheart?
 

Massa

Member
I saw a post on reddit about the will that brought up a scenario I had never considered: what if Robb named Catelyn his heir? In the first book she notes that she is still young enough to have children, and as Queen Of The North she would no doubt marry one of Robb's bannermen (and thus propel the house to the rulers of the north). Obviously none of that will happen now lol, but...would the North fight for her as Lady Stoneheart?

Wouldn't that make Robin Arryn the King in the North? That would be hilarious.
 
I saw a post on reddit about the will that brought up a scenario I had never considered: what if Robb named Catelyn his heir? In the first book she notes that she is still young enough to have children, and as Queen Of The North she would no doubt marry one of Robb's bannermen (and thus propel the house to the rulers of the north). Obviously none of that will happen now lol, but...would the North fight for her as Lady Stoneheart?

Cat has no blood relation to the Starks or any claim to Wintferfell, it makes no sense. And she'd have to marry another lord, essentially giving the Kingdom to someone the other lords would regard as a rival? It'd be a really bad idea, probably cause a civil war.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
Yup.

Show Sansa might actually be an accurate portrayal of TWoW Sansa for all we know at this point. She hasn't done anything that proves she's evolved as a character.

If you've read her preview chapter you would see she is learning. Again, it's called an arc. Do people really think she'll stay a naive dumb pre-teen for the whole story? Why don't people complain about Arya being the "same?" She's an angry, impulsive brat that kills for the base pleasure of revenge without thinking of the consequences.
 

Joni

Member
I saw a post on reddit about the will that brought up a scenario I had never considered: what if Robb named Catelyn his heir? In the first book she notes that she is still young enough to have children, and as Queen Of The North she would no doubt marry one of Robb's bannermen (and thus propel the house to the rulers of the north). Obviously none of that will happen now lol, but...would the North fight for her as Lady Stoneheart?

Wouldn't it be weird for him to name Cat, who is close to his side during the war? He has to name someone who is relatively safe.
 
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