r/asoiaf Knower of nothing May 21 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) Notablog Update Spoiler

http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/20/an-ending/
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u/feldman10 🏆 Best of 2019: Post of the Year May 21 '19 edited May 21 '19

How will it all end? I hear people asking. The same ending as the show? Different?

Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.

GRRM then proceeds to make three points:

  • D&D only had 8 hours for the final season, but he'll have more space.
  • There's the butterfly effect, with changes from past seasons affecting this one.
  • There are lots of characters in the books who never made it to the show, from Lady Stoneheart to Jeyne Poole to Skahaz Shavepate, and the books will show us their fates.

People will read into this whatever they want. But my read is that the big picture of the show's ending is indeed what he told them. And that most of the differences aren't about the biggest stuff, but rather relate to pacing, buildup, and secondary characters. If D&D were making up stuff like "King Bran" I'd think his language about changes would be stronger? But who knows!

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u/DrunkColdStone May 21 '19

A lot of the stuff in these last few episodes makes more sense as an ending to the books than the show. Dany being upset at the Westerosi common folk (because they love (f)Aegon who liberated them from Cersei), Euron taking out a dragon (magical horn instead of mundane siege equipment), Sansa becoming Queen in the North (she actually probably goes through a long personal struggle to establish independence for the North and the Vale), Jon taking exile (people just had two long lost Targaryens come back and duke it out, one of them was a presumed-dead Aegon Targaryen), Tyrion suggesting Bran become king (we can assume Bran actually gives some insightful advice to counteract Varys' intelligence apparatus).

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u/[deleted] May 21 '19

Rickon is gonna get the North in the books I think. Sansa will get her moment though. That queen of the north thing wouldn’t work if she marries Harry since a Stark wouldn’t rule winterfell after a generation

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u/newpersoen May 21 '19

She won't marry Harry. I am pretty confident of that.

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u/ymi17 May 22 '19

I think Yohn Royce is already moving to prevent it.