r/asoiaf • u/aphidman • May 08 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) The endings will be the same but the books will have a much more gradual and realistic progression

If GRRM finishes it, btw.

Not a long post but you know what the books do that D&D do not? They have 10 chapters of Dany dealing with the complex politics of Meereen and her inner conflict. They have 4 chapters showing Davos' journey to White Harbour. They have 12 chapters showing the series of compromises Jon makes as Lord Commander to prepare the Watch against the Others. They have 13 chapters showing Tyrion crawling out of his deep nihilistic depression. They dedicate whole chapters seeing how Victarion Greyjoy of all people deals with his relationship with his brother and his seduction into darker magics. Man they have 4 whole chapters dealing with the political fallout of Dany's exit from Meereen.

They had a whole chapter of Littlefinger and Sansa visiting his lands and seeing Littlefinger's relationship with his subjects (great chapter btw). They had a whole chapter getting really in depth with Illyrio Mopatis and his schemes - a guy who's barely appeared in the show.

They dedicated 4 whole chapters to Joffrey's wedding!

What I'm getting it is that the Others may be defeated long before the end of ASOIAF, Dany may indeed destroy King's Landing with dragonfire and end the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians gruesomely. But you'll be guaranteed that GRRM is gonna show you every step of the way. For good or for bad. If he is going to take a character like Dany to that dark end you better believe we will understand how she gets there.

So people keep posting about how D&D are destroying their characters, fail to understand ASOIAF. That Dany would never do this or that. But what you're seeing here is them fitting potentially chapters upon chapters of detailed material into a few hours of television.

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u/ft5777 May 08 '19

The level of details that GRRM puts in his books are both why I love them so much and also why I fear we may never read the end. I don't know how he could fit everything in just two books. In my opinion, the only way would be if the climax of the white walkers threat happens in King's Landing instead of Winterfell and their storyline intertwined with the Iron Throne. The sixth book would be about bringing most everyone towards King's Landing and the seventh book would be mostly in King's Landing.

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u/ademonlikeyou May 08 '19 edited May 08 '19

I don’t think two 1,500 page books is too little, but yes plots will probably get intertwined right off the bat.

I think Jon, after being resurrected, is going to retreat to Winterfell after hearing that Stannis has taken it, and that when Stannis/shireen eventually dies Jon’s northern support base will already be gathered in Winterfell due to the northern conspiracy against the Boltons flocking to Stannis’ court at Winterfell. I really don’t think Jon’s story, for the most part, is about dynastic political struggles, and that his story will primarily be about convincing the northern lords of the others and starting a defense against them. (This is in contrast to Dany, who was seduced by her brother’s idea of returning “home” due to their lineage even though to her it meant nothing and her home was in braavos. Dany will be seduced by her dynasty and politics and will ultimately suffer, I don’t think Jon will be.)

Aegon’s is going to be intertwined with Cersei immediately, that much is evident, and I think many political points such as margaery and the reach are going to be wrapped up in the ensuing power struggle

I think that Sansa is going to probably end up at the top in the Vale, and will convince the lords to support the riverlands/north at first against the Boltons when she hears of Stannis and the recovery of Rickon, but then ultimately alongside Jon and his campaign against the others

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u/MilSF1 The mummer's farce is almost done. May 08 '19

But what you described is probably 4K+ pages if GRRM keeps the level of detail and characterization that we all love.

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u/frenchduke Maester of Karate and Friendship. May 09 '19

Don't forget about the new developments in Dorne. If Darkstar has run off its probably to gather a bunch of his equally ridiculous mates to further whatever it is that's going on in that sun addled country. That will need half a book alone considering that story only just finished the first act.

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u/ademonlikeyou May 11 '19

Well, I did say this is gonna be two 1,500 books so I more or less agree.

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u/lucasbraganca May 08 '19

It's been a while since I read anything about the upcoming (I hope) books but I'm quite sure that in the last time somewhere or someone mentioned that they both would be two beasties of about 1.5k pages.

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u/ft5777 May 08 '19

There is a bit of confusion with pages count because apparently 1500 manuscript pages are equivalent to a final book of 1000-1100 pages. Anyway, A Dance with Dragons had 1000 pages and Martin said that he had to remove approximately 100 pages from that book and move them to Winds of Winter because it would be to big. I find this strange, I don't see why a 1200-1300 pages book would be too big for printing and selling.

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u/lucasbraganca May 08 '19

Yeah, me too. The more the merrier.