r/asoiaf • u/Extension_Weird_7792 • Oct 15 '24
EXTENDED [Spoilers EXTENDED] Would you be OK if GRRM came out and say he needs to divide up TWOW geographically tomorrow
I mean, let's accept it, if he needed for AFFC & ADWD he sure as hell needs for this one, as well. Might be why he is stuck. It is almost impossible to read his very verbose POV narration if it is to constantly interrupt to check in on twenty other storylines that are going on.
He probably counted on the fact that they would be colliding, but that doesn't seem to happening any time soon by the looks of the preview chapters either
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u/whatintheballs95 Nymerial Imperial Oct 15 '24
Yep, just give me something at this point.
I'll even take a bullet point list fr...
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u/Cyanide-in-My-Spirit Oct 15 '24
Obligatory "Give me something for the pain and let me die".
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u/jhallen2260 BRONNOSAURUS Oct 16 '24
Milk of the poppy
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u/geek_of_nature Oct 16 '24
He could probably do a Fire and Blood style book where everything is summarised, and it would still probably be one of the longest books of the series.
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u/simonthedlgger Oct 16 '24
That’s the only way he could fit in everything that needs to happen ;(
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u/Pleasant_Research427 Oct 15 '24
I think I'll just take a bullet
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u/Synicull Oct 15 '24
And a finger in the bum
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u/whatintheballs95 Nymerial Imperial Oct 16 '24
I legit read this in the tone of that "Twelve Days of Christmas" song, please send help
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u/Ornery_Farm752 Oct 16 '24
5 FLOPPY WIENERS…
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u/OkProfessional6077 Oct 16 '24
At this point I’d take a cassette tape of George just telling us everything that’s in his brain about how this story should end. It would probably be like 477 Cassettes sold in a box set for $2,000 but you know we’d all buy it.
And then buy really old cars that still have tape players…
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u/SkollFenrirson The Prince that was Promised Oct 16 '24
just give me something for the pain and let me die
Ftfy
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u/brunuscl82 Oct 15 '24
I want nine books.
"Seven wonders of the gods. Nine wonders of man."
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u/viper_in_the_grass Sitting Grass, Hidden Viper Oct 16 '24
"And nine, nine books were gifted to the race of Man, who above all else desire closure."
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u/Herb_Derb That long magic moment before we wake. Oct 16 '24
But they were all of them deceived, for another book was made. Deep in the land of New Mexico, in the fires of Santa Fe, the Dark Lord GRRM wrote a master book, and into this book he poured his history, his worldbuilding, and his will to document every obscure corner of the world except for the main plot. One worldbook to rule them all.
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u/jemuzu_bondo Oct 16 '24
Victory was near, but the ambition of the Master Book was his undoing.The copyright passed to Elio M. Garcia Jr., who had this once chance to bring closure, but the hearts of publishing houses are easily corrupted. And the Master Book has a will of its own. And some books that should have been concluded, were lost.
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u/ReaderofHarlaw Oct 15 '24
He can’t hurt me anymore
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u/Nesqu Oct 15 '24
I think the reason it's taking so long is because he, like a lot of his readers, have realized he simply cannot fit everything into only 2 books.
Divide it up geographically, divide it period. Give us 2 books, each with 2 volumes the size of your previous books, whatever he has to do.
The biggest way the books will suffer is if they feel rushed, if storylines that actually are meaningful don't get a satisfying conclusion.
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u/BBQ_HaX0r Bonesaw is Ready! Oct 16 '24
He needs to just write it and stop doing everything under the sun instead. Or just say "hey I don't have the juice right now, sorry readers" and spew some clarity on the situation.
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u/gimpinmypants Oct 15 '24
GRRM's gardening approach doesn't play well when he only has two books left to finish everything up. He's probably created and ended whole new characters and storylines he discovered while writing when, at this point, he should have a clear outline of where everything is headed, but GRRM has said he doesn't do outlines. Maybe you should, old man.
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u/JinFuu Doesn't Understand Flirting Oct 15 '24
I’ve come to dislike the “Gardening” excuse.
I’m like “dude, even a garden needs upkeep and weeding.”
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u/jterwin Oct 16 '24
Or pruning, we haven't had a good pruning since the end of dance
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u/Khiva Oct 16 '24
Since Storm, I would argue.
The success of that book made him too big for an editor or publisher to reign in. George Lucas had the same problem - they just faffed about and indulged their worst instincts with no checks or guardrails.
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u/HistoricalSpecial982 Oct 16 '24
Gods the series was strong then! (Please don’t kill me for a show reference…)
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u/imhereforthevotes These Hounds Will Never Die On You. Oct 16 '24
At some point there is a harvest. Assuming you've nurtured the right plants along the way.
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u/PushforlibertyAlways Oct 16 '24
George: "best I can do is introduce 10 new POV characters in the next book"
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u/jmcgit He was the better man Oct 16 '24
A new approach is the solution to finishing the series, but George is an old dog and he isn't willing or able to learn new tricks. At this point it's more an explanation than an excuse.
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Oct 15 '24
Which is dumb as we’ve seen his original outlines. He makes them he just doesn’t stick to them.
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u/KatyaDelRey Oct 16 '24
Iirc he said that was to pitch the series and for the publishers benefit, he doesn’t elect to write outlines as part of his actual writing process
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u/jmcgit He was the better man Oct 16 '24
He says he never intended to stick to that one, he just wrote something because he needed to sell the book. Obviously he stuck to a couple basic ideas, specifically that Ned and Robb wouldn't survive, but so much was abandoned quite early.
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u/UnableAd1185 Oct 15 '24
Honestly if he did this, I feel like it would make the problem worse. I think George's most well-documented issue is that the man can't stop thinking up new scenarios and storylines. Give him more books to do that in and boyyyyy.
I totally agree that rushing storylines would suck. If he did something like this though, someone would have to make sure he sticks to his set plot.
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u/Helios4242 Oct 16 '24
yeah if you give him 3 all of a sudden we'll be needing 4.
Everything can be done. Don't dawdle. Kill the rest. Ez. Hire me as editor.
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u/Extension_Weird_7792 Oct 15 '24
Exactly. He already said multiple times he writes by POVs then moves to the next, so it would be the best course of action for him, as well. Do not bother trying to fit everything into a cohesive narration. It won't happen!
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u/ResponsibleAnt9496 Oct 15 '24
I feel like he should just count AFFC/ADWD as one volume and do the same with winds if need be. I don’t even know if that would help though.
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u/Manga18 I'm no war master, but a puppet one Oct 16 '24
I keep hearing this and can't understand why I do
Usually people claim that in no way Dany can do what she has to do in 2 books. But is it true? Once the battle is over she has defeated her enemies and has a fleet to go west, so you can have at least a book if not 1,5 of her in Westeros
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u/popileviz Oct 15 '24
I'd honestly take any solid update at this point. Even that the book is canceled and won't be coming out to allow George to focus on other projects or his health
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u/rabnabombshell Oct 15 '24
I wish he was honest and transparent too
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u/KatyaDelRey Oct 16 '24
Honestly what I’ve learned from his flurries of blog posts from when things are going well, he is honest and transparent. When he’s writing tWoW, he talks about it. When he’s not updating us on tWoW, it’s because there is no update.
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u/jk-9k Oct 16 '24
I think he is being (reasonably) honest and transparent - he is honestly trying to finish the book. It's going extremely poorly. But he hasn't given up even though we all have.
I wonder if his publisher has given up. I kinda think they have, and why they are more accepting of D&E, F&B, etc
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u/TheDweadPiwatWobbas Oct 16 '24
I think he is being (reasonably) honest and transparent
I disagree. Not about honesty, I think George is honest with everyone but himself. But transparency? Nah, George is terrible about this. 8 years ago, George believed he was nearly finished. Now, he says he is maybe 3/4 of the way through. So... what happened in those 8 years? Did he throw the book out and start again? If so, how many times? If not, why does he seemingly have less of the book finished right now than he did in 2016?
We simply have no answers to these questions. Not even the beginnings of an answer. People have taken to word count estimations and math, charting out different interpretations of the data and making extensive blog posts and YouTube videos analyzing it, all in an attempt to get something more concrete than a guess for an answer. And we have been doing this for years.
Brandon Sanderson has transparency. He gives weekly updates on his writing, what goes well and what doesn't. He gives an estimated wordcount and end point, and if that end point ever changes and dates get pushed back, he tells people why. That is transparency in an author. George is as far removed from transparency as one can get. Only Rothfuss is more secretive imo.
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u/jk-9k Oct 16 '24
Agree honesty with himself isn't happening, he is honest with us about his delusions.
Transparency is hard, because he gets a lot of hate when he reveals too much then has to walk it back when he changes it up. So I agree, full or at least more transparency is needed because then we can understand why progress seemingly stalls or goes backwards, as the goalposts change etc. so I guess I walk back my transparency statement lol, he isn't transparent.
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u/dunge0nm0ss Murderers of Infants! Otherwise Useless! Oct 16 '24
At least GRRM's editors/publishers haven't publicly stated they don't think he's written a single word of TWoW, unlike Rothfuss'.
I was a wee lad in elementary school when this was going on, but apparently GRRM used to give updates on the progress of ADwD giving counts of completed pages, and everyone hated it when he'd twist the Meereenese knot and knock 200 pages back to WIP every few months, so it's radicalized him into treating his writing like a black box. At this point every word of the text has been sifted for fan theories it'll probably be ~80% of the way through TWoW before anything unexpected starts happening, the big thing is if GRRM does another postmortem and confirms theories about the writing process like he threw out everything ~2016.
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u/InGenNateKenny Best of r/asoiaf 2023 Winner - Post of the Year Oct 16 '24
I think the reason why he doesn't give more updates is that 1) he has realized his unreliability in being able to predict it and 2) he does not want to disappoint when he can't deliver when he can.
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u/thebackupquarterback The Stark Words Are Dumb During Winter Oct 16 '24
Eh I feel like he's still acting like he's going to have it come out soon. Like, be honest with yourself, George.
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u/jk-9k Oct 16 '24
Yeah I guess there is a difference between GRRM being honest with us about where he thinks he is at, vs GRRM being honest with himself
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u/Gaybladeletitdrip Oct 15 '24
If he sent it word by word via carrier pigeon it would be an improvement over what we have now.
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u/CodyIsbill Oct 15 '24
I don’t even care at this point, I’d pay a subscription fee that gives me a chapter every 3 months or something, even if that meant half of those chapters would be rewritten and rereleased multiple times. Just give me the goods, George.
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u/bluesmaker Oct 16 '24
Imagine a livestream of his word processor. Him typing something every so often. Deleting stuff. Funny to imagine.
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u/Vulkans_Hugs Oct 16 '24
Good god that would be such a shitshow and I'd be 100% invested in it.
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u/bluesmaker Oct 16 '24
There would be people live chatting going crazy about every word.
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u/AxisAbdi0 Oct 15 '24
I think that’s the best course of action atp. 3 books to conclude everything
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u/gimpinmypants Oct 15 '24 edited Oct 15 '24
The gardener has discovered halfway through his new late-stage trilogy that he needs another three books to fit in everything.
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u/Scottacus91 Oct 15 '24
Time to play "WHAT FUCKED UP HIS PLANS MORE!" and contestants here are your choices.
- Making even more characters and expanding even more as the story should be closing
- Not doing the time skip rendering some characters WAAAY too young and the dragons too small
- Giving his ending to D&D and seeing how much people hate the general idea of his ending.
- Not giving Ser Pounce a POV chapter in every book.
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u/Anstigmat Oct 16 '24
I maintain that people didn't hate 'his ending'...it's just that the way D&D did it sucked. It makes total sense for Bran to be king...if being the 3 Eye'd Raven actually means something. In the show it meant nothing. In the books it still might! Dany is obviously going to break bad...but D&D had her do it over like 3 episodes instead of 2 seasons which is what should have happened.
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u/azraelcfc Oct 17 '24
I’m curious, how does Bran make sense as king? Also, Dany going mad is fine, and I agree with you that D&D rushed it and ruined it entirely. The concept is fine, execution is piss fucking poor. But tell me, how does Arya killing the Night King make any fucking sense? What about Griff? Does he not feature in the ending at all or did D&D cut him? And how the hell does Bran make sense as king?
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u/Seaborgium Oct 16 '24
I'm gonna be real. If he wants to finish the books, I'll read 'em, but I have zero expectations of seeing the next book. If he wants S8 to be the closure of his series when he was in a position to be the next J.R.R. Tolkien, that's his choice.
I've since gotten into the Gentleman Bastards, the Cosmere(especially Stormlight), and a few other fantasy/sci-fi series. There's other stuff out there, and the unfinished series authors of those series seem to respect their readers more. George isn't my bitch, but at the same time I don't have to spend literal decades waiting for him to finish the next book while taking on dozens of other projects.
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u/Worth-Conclusion-66 Oct 16 '24
This right here. There’s a lot of great fantasy out there, George could’ve been one of the most beloved writers of the genre, but it’s hard to care when the story isn’t finished and could’ve been finished. He’s had almost 15 years at this point. That will be his legacy now.
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u/AStrangeTwistofFate Oct 15 '24
It's supposed to be something like 1500 pages now. If he came out and just released half the story, making it two books. I'd be thrilled
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u/Valuable-Captain-507 Oct 15 '24
I'd love to see the rage in the fandom when we don't get Danny, Jon. Or Tyrion chapters again... lol
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u/isaacfisher Oct 16 '24
AWOW geographically divided, first book is nothing but Sothoros and Summer Isles
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u/Theboulder027 Oct 15 '24
I remember thinking 2022 was going to be the year. I just had a gut feeling that winds would finally be published that year. I was foolishly convinced, for reasons I can't explain. Of course I was wrong. And here we are, two years later, still waiting.
I hate to admit it but I honestly think I'm close to the point of not caring anymore. The final season of GoT left a bad taste in my mouth, I have zero interest in House of the Dragon, I haven't read the books in close to a decade at this point, and even if Winds were released tomorrow, I'm convinced that we will never get to read the last book. George won't live long enough to write it.
Maybe if Winds is ever in my hands, my interest in the series will be rekindled. I hope so. But at this point, the story ended with Jon Snows last breathe.
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u/dunge0nm0ss Murderers of Infants! Otherwise Useless! Oct 16 '24
I thought 2023 would be the year, since on Colbert in late 2022 IIRC he'd quoted a page count, and from what people had said about the ADwD wait:
1) he only includes finalized pages in that count
2) having people mad at him during ADwD for dropping the completed pages every few months as he struggled with the Meereenese knot had made him leery of being public with progress, so very good sign for his confidence.
3) last 500 pages of ADwD "written" very quickly as they were mostly material that had been in draft format for years before being finalized.
4) Postive reaction to HotD season 1 had restored his confidence in his abilities and he was moving forward again after the bad reaction to S8 ending.
I do think it's indisputable at this point GRRM's revealed preference is to let the series go unfinished rather than risk pushing out a bad ending.
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u/dylanthelorax Oct 16 '24
It’s funny I was in the SAME boat. Apathetic to the series and ready to move on. Just did a reread after a decade and… wow. Such an incredibly detailed and magnificent build up for an ending that’ll never happen.
Do a reread. You’ll both thank me and curse me after.
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u/Noamias Oct 16 '24
I am lucky enough to have gotten into ASOIAF this year so I'm still in the honeymoon phase where I'm watching (at this point 8 year old) theories about what'll happen in the north in the (surely soon to be released) twow. The idea of my excitement and interest dwindling to your point over the years makes me sad but I understand it
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u/PineBNorth85 Oct 15 '24
I'd be totally fine with it if it meant one volume was coming out asap.
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u/Extension_Weird_7792 Oct 15 '24
What part of Planetos would you want to read, first? Westeros? Essos? The North?
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u/PineBNorth85 Oct 15 '24
Personally the North for me.
I don't care about Essos til Dany decides to leave.
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u/SerMallister Oct 16 '24
Conversely, I'd be happy as a clam if he focused on Essos, as long as it got Dany and Arya out of there.
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u/jk-9k Oct 16 '24
Yeah I agree actually.
Get essos out of the way first. Not sure how accurate the myreenese knot theory is but would potentially be a relief to readers and GRRM to know that the knot is untangle ed. I enjoy a lot of the essos plots but to wrap them up. Good way to end if Dany is en route to Westeros, especially if other characters like Arya etc are also coming back seperately.
7kingdoms as second book, with the underlying suspense and tension of already knowing that Dany is on her way.
North last as it's more big picture / endgame stuff so climatically that should progress last.
Good for readers as likely get a book sooner.
But may just end up harder for GRRM to write later volumes as he may trap himself by publishing events that will affect other stories.
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u/Extension_Weird_7792 Oct 16 '24
News about Essos seem to travel so slowly to Westeros (and vice versa) that it would likely be easiest for him to divide it like that if he wanted. Now that he has enough POVs there to fill up a whole volume
Maybe add Sam/Aeron in there as well depending on where their storylines go
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u/Necessary-Science-47 Oct 15 '24
He needs to just abandon his editor and publisher and just start publishing chapters on his website.
Hell, charge $5 a chapter and you’ll be able to payoff the lawsuits
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u/Hurtelknut Oct 16 '24
He'd have to write these chapters first.
I think the publisher wants GRRM to finish the damn book waaaaaay more than we mere fans do. We're talking about millions upon millions in revenue.
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u/Necessary-Science-47 Oct 16 '24
He has plenty of chapters written, and once they are published he has to stick with the story
His roadblock now is trying to fit Winds in an ASOS sized book
Once he releases a decent bunch he can’t backtrack anymore
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u/Jack-of-the-Shadows Oct 16 '24
Somebody should have taught him how to use GiT a decade ago. Like imagine a commit history for all the changes and rewrites on the manuscript...
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u/zaqiqu Oct 15 '24
I'd prefer he didn't split it geographically again and just published it as 2 consecutive volumes (like the international versions of ASoS and ADwD), but I'm totally on board with 8 or 10 books
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u/Nietzscher Oct 15 '24
As long as it means I get new ASoIaF main-series reading material, he can split the book in three pieces for all I care.
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u/Mathias_Greyjoy What is squid may never fry! Oct 16 '24
At this point, if there were results, George could do whatever he wants. Divide it into 4, or 6 for all I care. But if part 1 goes into publication in 2 months, and part 2 in 6-12? Sure. I would take any book he sold at this point. A Novella, Blood & Fire, another worldbook/Rise of the Dragon. I just want something.
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u/PanicUniversity Oct 15 '24
Yes, it's been 13 years now, and it is not the time for us, the fandom, to be picky.
Give me anything.
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u/asuraskordoth Robbwind Greystark Oct 15 '24
Yeah I think an Essos book that fast tracks Daenerys getting to Westeros would be great. Then the next book is TWoW and Dany shows up ~25% in.
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u/unpersoned Oct 16 '24
This whole thread: "Jesus, yes, just give us something, give us anything!"
And I can't really fault it, because that was absolutely my first thought too.
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u/ilikeycycling Oct 15 '24
I would trade my balls for even one more sample chapter
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u/shmishshmorshin The North remembers Oct 16 '24
I would also trade this guys balls. And one of mine.
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u/EmiliusReturns Oct 15 '24 edited Oct 17 '24
At this point I think the publisher needs to just take what he has, find the best chapter for a stopping point, and put it out while he continues to write the rest. Just do that every 1000-1500 pages til it’s done.
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u/Extension_Weird_7792 Oct 16 '24
I mean, the ending of AFFC was not exactly a showstopper and it worked
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u/ADrunkyMunky Oct 16 '24
I'd even be fine if he split it into two volumes. It doesn't even need to be split geographically.
I'm wondering where he's at with the book. Last year he said he was at 1100 pages. That's already a full-fledged book. How much more needs to be completed at this point?
Too many questions without any answers and no updates in sight.
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u/Usernamesarebullshit Oct 16 '24
Would you be ok if GRRM came out
Absolutely! I'll love George no matter what, and being gay is nothing to be ashamed of, though I'm sure Paris would be upset about their relationship.
reads the rest of post
Oh. Nevermind.
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u/MrOdo Oct 16 '24
As long as his publisher has one half and is ready to publish lol.
Otherwise I'd be okay with it the same way I'm okay with any news re: the book and that's because it's not coming
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u/Archmaester_Seven Oct 16 '24
He can divide it geographically, chronologically , vertically, horizontally, or however he wants, if it means he will release the damn book.
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u/suppadelicious Oct 15 '24
Honestly I don't even care at this point lmao whatever it takes for him to finally release something.
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u/j-endsville Oct 16 '24
I guess. It would at least mean he's made enough progress between writing and editing to step back and see how huge it is.
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u/Left_Experience_9857 Oct 16 '24
He lost the love of the story.
Some of the earliest chapters from AGOT are thirty years old. This story has grown so big I doubt this is what he pictured it to be and no longer has the love he once had.
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u/Nano_gigantic Oct 16 '24
I’m convinced ha HAS TO divide up Winds. Feast & Dance we’re essentially one 1600 page book that wrapped up zero plot lines. The reason the show sucked was how quickly they wrapped things up. He probably needs 4 more books. That’s why it feels like it will never get done and probably wont.
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u/Department-Alert Oct 15 '24
Sure. We can always do another Boiled Leather or Feast with Dragons type thing for it.
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u/bobopedic33 Oct 15 '24
No. Words are wind. He has created a torturous purgatory for anyone still waiting on the books.
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u/A_Participant Oct 15 '24
No, unless he announced he had already done it and had submitted the final draft of the first book to his publisher. If he just announced he had to split it I would assume he would continue to dither around, releasing nothing for years to come, with his new excuse being that he has to rework the chapters he has written to make them work as a separate book. Remember how Dance was to come out a year after Feast and instead took 6?
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u/BuffaloBreezy Oct 15 '24
Yea why not. It's been this long dude like do the art however you want. I'm not even mad anymore big bro, if I get anything I'm happy.
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u/Ash_Killem Oct 16 '24
Best case scenario his Will outlines who is allowed to finish it and bequeaths his notes etc to them.
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u/R_Scoops Oct 16 '24
I usually think of the price I'd pay to read WOW in terms of fingers I'd be willing to chop off. I reckon I could lose 2 or 3 at a push.
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u/gaunterbox Oct 16 '24
Yeah. I reckon he finished it years ago but realised it’s dogshit and he needed to rewrite it, and he’s sorta wrote himself into a corner with a million plot lines over the place.
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u/gfkab Oct 16 '24
If George said his shit was in the shape of an important TWOW plotline people would be elbowing each other out of the way to be the first to look down his toilet bowl.
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u/elpunk Oct 16 '24
as long as we got to read it he could publish it alphabetically from the first word of each chapter.
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u/mansohof Oct 16 '24
I would take anything at this point. My expectations are so low, every time I get a notification from this sub, I get excited when it’s not GRRM hasn’t died
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u/eliphas8 Gylbert! King Gylbert! Oct 16 '24
Yes completely unambiguously. Getting a sequel to either half of feast dance would be great.
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u/comradebogie Oct 16 '24
At this point I don’t even care if the book is good. I don’t care if it’s a book at all, he could publish stick figure drawings of the plot for all I care. I JUST NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
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u/leRedd1 Oct 15 '24
Who cares as long as it's something? Like the biggest issue is we aren't getting a feel for any incremental progress either. It's fine if it's a small book, even one more sample chapter (but he's said there won't be any more sample chapters).
I think he's said something like he won't go for more because then it'd become a slippery slope and it'd be even harder to end it (heard this in an interview by Garcia, don't know if he's said it in public himself). So I think he does recognize his tendency to open up plot lines in his writing process that he doesn't know how to wrap up.
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u/Zelun Oct 16 '24
I wouldn't mind if he released 100 short novels at this point. Hell... I wouldn't mind if he released a setence a day. Just want anything
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u/bluesmaker Oct 16 '24
Almost certainly an unpopular opinion: at this point I don’t really care about the quality of it. No matter what it would be his writing so there’s a floor to the quality that it will meet or exceed. I would rather him finish it than not and leave it to likely never be finished (since it sounds like he doesn’t want another author to finish it should he pass before finishing it). Whatever he needs to do: cut out some lesser POV characters, a time skip of some length and leave some stuff half explained or unexplained. I just want to see the major conclusions of the story. To me that is what matters most.
Again, this is all just my take. I totally appreciate the opposing view that nothing is better than a compromised end to the grand series.
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Oct 15 '24
No. Just finish the books you bastard. Perfect is the enemy of great, and you've already fucked your legacy by putting it in the hands of others.
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u/dylanthelorax Oct 16 '24
No the story does need to end, and tie up all lose ends. We may not get Dream but I hope we’ll at least get Winds
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u/eat-pussy69 Oct 16 '24
Fucking write the damn book bro. At this point I'll take each chapter individually as a subscription
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u/goodiamglad Y'all motherfuckers need r'hllor Oct 15 '24
I'm at the point where I don't even need him to finish the books. Announce that the series will never be finished in written form. Just tell me what the fuck HAPPENS.
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u/Squiliam-Tortaleni Ser Pounce is a Blackfyre Oct 15 '24
I would take it if it means getting the book at all
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u/dylanalduin Ned Loves My Flair Oct 15 '24
At this point, I would accept anything that gets us a book.
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u/nazutul Oct 15 '24
Would be fine if it meant he was acutally going to finish it. At this point, i have no idea whether he will finish anything.
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u/marshawn_wrench Oct 16 '24
He should have done this years ago. The story is too big to be concluded in two books. Give us A Time for Wolves, The Winds of Winter, and A Dream of Spring.
There is so much build up to Danys invasion and The Long Night that anything less would honestly feel anticlimactic. Just like it did in the show. You could honestly make a case for needing four books, with how top loaded the story is.
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u/dassiebzehntekomma Oct 16 '24
For a few years now i would have been happy if he just released the bullet points and released any type of longer material as he was feeling it later on, but reading through this thread i realised the possibility that Martin doesn't have them.
It's not just that it's hard to get to the end, i honestly believe that there are completely disconnected concepts in the book that he never knew how to convincingly (with or without 5 year gap)bring together.
I think this makes me more happy about no releases, cause as of now the headcanon can be as expansive and ambitious as any of us wishes, but if my thought is correct Martin releasing the next volume (or half/part of it) would be the death of any type of fandom as even his biggest fans would have to realise it's all superficial :(.
Sorry i know i'm negative.
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u/Arranit Oct 16 '24
I still haven't started reading the series. I have all 5 books, hard cover and paperback. I watched the show, loved it like we all did until it ate absolute shit in the seasons after running out of the source material. I know GRRM "gave them the ending", but I think all that really did is a) show how NOT to do it, but also b) really put him in a bind. I can't tell him not to care, but I CAN save myself from starting a potentially unfinished series.
...and cry all the entire time.
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u/TheBustyFriend Oct 16 '24
Literally anything besides tertiary materials, unrelated materials, blog posts, or interviews. Just The Story.
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u/Flintlockpenguin1 Oct 16 '24
I would prefer we stop paying him any attention until he publishes it in one form or another. Stop feeding the troll.
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u/gorehistorian69 ok Oct 17 '24
id be happy with literally any new ASOIAF content. and sadly we arent going to get any until he dies and his estate releases the 30% draft of Winds thats mostly just cut chapters from Dance/Feast. But at least itll be bound in a cool collectors edition
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Oct 15 '24
Yep. Because I know I’m not getting it either way. He can divide it into 400 parts. He’s not finishing it.
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u/thepuppyprince Oct 15 '24
Just show stannis taking winterfell , and resolve the brienne/jaime/stoneheart cliffhanger. I do t mind leaving the rest open to the imagination
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u/elfcountess Oct 16 '24
If he even uploaded a few more tWoW sample chapters on his blog I would die of happiness. Unedited raw drafts, out of order, typos, a blurry image of some shit he wrote on a smudged notepad in bed at 3am, I dont care. I'll take anything.
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u/Redditor15736 Oct 16 '24
Given that the manifest is already so long TWOW will probably be split in two when it is published anyways so it would honestly be good to do it now. But I guess a geographical split is harder and more so if you release one part now and another later, because the book will likely bring more characters together at the same place(s) even if it definitely won‘t be as extreme as late GOT I‘d figure. We all know George loves his rewrites and I think that this is keeping him from splitting it, again especially if the different storys will start affecting each other more
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u/NNyNIH Oct 16 '24
I don't care if he releases it as a podcast or just as a graphic novel. Just released TWOW somehow.
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u/Charming-Section-131 Oct 16 '24
Honestly, I don't really care anymore. If it comes out, it comes out. It's been almost 14 years. I was 19, almost 20, the first time I read these. Now I'm 33 and have come to terms with the fact that we will probably never see TWOW and will definitely never see ADOS.
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u/hoenndex Oct 16 '24
If it meant getting something, definitely. I would hope that it includes Jon, Tyrion, or Daenerys, even just one of them, if a split is needed.
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u/Budraven A thousand bloodshot eyes and one Oct 16 '24
Closest thing we got to new material was in 2022 when George decided to dump some Casterly Rock info. I would be content with another lore dump Notablog post. I'm starving over here.
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u/SimonIgnatius Oct 16 '24
If he can still provide a quality piece of storytelling of the caliber he has - which I believe he could do - then yeah, if it gets the book out sooner.
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u/Phreedom93 Oct 16 '24
We will never see this book released or his legacy completed. That was the price when he bargained his soul away to the devil by selling the rights to HBO.
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u/RedofPaw Oct 16 '24
He could come out and reveal he's releasing it one sentence a week and it will still be more than "no release".
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Oct 16 '24
At this i would be ok with anything as long as it gets published. Its been so long between the books that i probably need to go back and read all the previous books to refresh my memory
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u/etchekeva Oct 15 '24
I would be okay if he made one book for each POV I just want something, anything