George R.R. Martin attended the Guadalajara International Book Fair and discussed his progress on The Winds of Winter, and Uproxx shared some highlights! Be warned: things are only getting bleaker. He also made an important choice, ranking the three fighters he would choose if he ever needed to engage in trial by combat.
Just in case you thought ASOIAF was already pretty dark, Martin is here to remind you that things can always get worse:
But there are a lot of dark chapters right now in the book that I’m writing. It is called The Winds of Winter, and I’ve been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fills the world, so this is not gonna be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places…In any story, the classic structure is, ‘Things get worse before they get better,’ so things are getting worse for a lot of people.
Martin went on to reject the idea of a conventional “happy ending,” saying, “We very seldom see that in real life or in history, and I don’t find it as emotionally satisfying myself as what I like to call the bittersweet ending.” He also made it clear that while he hopes to write a satisfying ending to ASOIAF’s final installment, A Dream of Spring, he’s not planning to tie all the loose ends up in a bow. “For me, that’s part of the fun of reading and writing is having stories that maybe have a little ambiguity to them, a little subtlety to them, and everything is not crystal clear and laid out.”
But enough of this serious writing talk, let’s get onto the important point! Who would Martin choose to represent him in combat? He chose Ser Arthur Dayne, then Jaime Lannister, and finally Brienne of Tarth, which makes for a solid bench of fighters.
Hungry for more news on The Winds of Winter? You can take a look at our roundup of every piece of the book that Martin has released so far. Plus, here’s footage of the entire interview from the Guadalajara International Book Fair:
I cant wait for this book to come out so my grandchildren can read it to their grandchildren.
As far as I’m concerned, ol’ George can take as long as he needs. I’ve already resigned myself to possibly never seeing the series completed. So I just hope what he can get out is as good as he can make it.
Had to laugh at “this is not gonna be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for.” Uh… was anyone actually hoping for a happy feel-good from this? Seems like a stretch to me.
I surely expected The Winds of Winter to be filled with rainbows, unicorns and sunshine. You mean some characters may die? Who would have thought!
To paraphrase something from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, I am not looking for the ending but an ending to ASOIAF.
Thanks for reading my musings.
AndrewHB
@3 – I had the exact same thought, lol.
Also this post gave me a heart attack at first because I read the title as ‘George R. R. Martin Gives Up On Winds of Winter’.
Hmm really those three?
Some non westerosi options:
Strong Belwas
The Viper
Areo Hotah
Master Silvio
Tormund Giantsbane
Johnny Wireless @@@@@ 7 – I would agree with most of your list, but the Viper lets his emotions get in the way a bit too much. I’d like someone whose focus is actually *winning* the TbC.
Lisamarie @6 – I want a “Like” or “Upvote” button in the worst way!! :D That comment cracked me up.
I’ve noticed that GRRM always uses language like “I just have to finish the damn thing,” when referring to this series. I truly believe that he hates writing it and is only trying to finish it because he’s obligated. I’m willing to bet a large sum of money that the plans on dying first before finishing the series.
@10 – I can’t disagree with you there which is why I misread the title as I did! I guess part of me is just expecting that!
@11 – It would almost be a relief lol. Now, if he and Patrick Rothfuss can both announce the cancellation of their series, I can move on with my literary life!
@12 Austin
I’m disappointed that it’s taking Mr. Martin so long to get the next book out. His is one of the series I have most enjoyed reading and I can’t wait to see how it ends. I hope neither author cancels their series because I’m still interested in knowing how their stories end. But if what Mr. Rothfuss does with his life is help other people instead of finishing his series, I’ll consider it a good trade off.
@13 Halien
Right there with you, but I think he’s just waiting for the show to end.
Also, he picked Jaime? I hope he qualified pre hand being cutting off.
@@.-@: We might get unicorns if Davos goes to Skagos. And sunshine at some point, unless all of Planetos is enveloped in the Long Night from the start. (Or just incessantly overcast, the way it’s been in my hometown for weeks now, argh). Rainbows are less likely but possible.
Also blood and blizzards and people eating killing each other and good deeds getting punished and so forth.
I do get the sense that he’s in over his head with this and is having problems structuring things to his liking to bring everything to a close with the next book after The Winds of Winter. His quote that he’s not particularly interested in closing up loose ends somewhat confirms this. And we’ve known for years that while he talks about it a lot, he doesn’t much like talking about it (if you grok what I’m saying there).
First comment @@@@@ 1 is pretty dead on. At this point I hope he brings this one to a close, manages to stay off the trampoline and draw a direct line to the end and get it down on paper or whatever he uses these days.
@15 people eating each other is *precisely* as likely as unicorns as skaagos is rumoured to have cannibals as well as unicorns…
I might pick Syrio Forel in my top 3, actually.
I think cannibalism is more likely since the series has portrayed it numerous times in places that are not Skagos.
What’s that you say? ASOIAF will not have a happy ending? I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked!
Ned Stark was actually only knocked unconscious, lost his memory, and has spent the past few years running a Honeyed Chicken restaurant in Pentos.
It’s almost certainly wishful thinking, but I’ve suspected (hoped) that he’s working on Winds of Winter and Dream of Spring simultaneously, adjusting both when an idea comes to him, to keep things consistent. The end result: Takes forever to get Winds of Winter out, but by then Dream of Spring will be pretty much ready to go, and we get two books in a short period of time.
@20 But he’s been writing the same book for 16 years. In 1999 he said it was almost complete. Then that spanned into 2000 where he released what was supposed to be the final book, but instead was cut into two books. Then stated in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 that the final book was just chapters from completion. Then that book became TWO more. Of which the Companion book (A Feast for Crows) was supposed to be quickly followed by A Dance with Dragons to finish the series. That took another 6 years. Winds of Winter will not quickly be followed by A Dream of Sporing unless Spring is a short story.
@20– While I agree it would be nice to know he is working on both books, that is what he did with Feast and Dance. That didn’t work out extremely well. I would postulate that while G RR Martin had the entire story quite well mapped out in advance of beginning the series (as his incredibly detailed rendering of the world, its past and present would indicate), he left himself a lot of wiggle room in relating of the story. The long delays are partly due to the fact he likely doesn’t know exactly what he wants to happen himself! Look at how badly the story has digressed in the HBO series, parts of it are almost unrecognizable, and I won’t delve far into that aspect except to say, he has a lot of work ahead of him, and it must seem daunting. Another part of the huge writing process is all the distractions come from having a very successful tv show on the series going on. He isn’t in a place where he can write as often now. And no doubt he is fatigued with the story, just look how he has found time for other series to see that is true.
That said, i wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to change several things that would otherwise be spoilers for the books from what transpired in the series as it passed where we are in the books. He does love his shock moments after all. Some I can’t see it possible to change, as in Hodor and his fate, but other aspects can easily be altered. Bottom line, I could see the next season on HBO being aired before Winds arrives in store, and also that it could easily take a book or two more than GRRM wishes, even to wrap up loose ends, as he calls it. There is much to be said for not wrapping up the series with every loose end tied up. Still, there is such thing as too few being tied up.
Too few being tied up is the inevitable result of just 2 more books to wrap up the series. That, and an entirely unsatisfying ending. We can’t have the dragons just swoop in and kill all the dead and the Others in a ten page conflagration can we? The end. That would kinda suck, given the entire series builds up towards a terrible winter. Can GRRM really justify spending so many books on summer and fall, and only 2 on the winter called the long night? I suspect in order to resolve this in just two books will leave many of us feeling even more cheated than we would be of a “happy ending” to the series.
My 3 warrior picks: Euron Greyjoy, the Mountain and Arthur Dayne
Stopped being nterested in the outcome of this series 5 years ago; wont be reading the following books
as I will most likely have died before oublication.
Oh and GRRM is 70 years old. He doesn’t have many 6-7 year gaps left to do his work…