"What HBO's Games of Thrones Tell us about the next book" Topic

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Amicalement
Armand

What book? I don't believe he will ever write another book.

John?… (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Do the books even matter anymore?
I'm sick of waiting for Book 6. So I have handed over the whole canon to HBO.
Martin had his chance.

I'm pretty sure that we will see a book 6, probably around next spring or summer. I am less sure that we will ever see a book 7. Once the series is done the pressure, such as it is, will be off. Most people will know who wins in the end and to a large degree that is all that will matter to them. That character will follow a different path on HBO to get there than in the books but it will still be the same character in the end. So the incentive to finish will be less as book sales will undoubtedly be smaller that if the books finished first but let's face it, GRRM makes much more from HBO than he does from book sales. He was never on the late Night shows before the series, he's a bigger draw at stuff like Comic-con because of the series, most of the merchandising is tied to the series. Once the series is over the GoT panels at Comic-con will become ASOIAF panels and while they will have GRRM sitting there they won't have Natalie Dormer and Sophie Tucker and Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke and Nicolaj Coster Waldau. and even if GRRM plows ahead with Book 7 I don't think that it will be out before 2021 at the earliest.

SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW

Now what does the TV series tell us about the books? Well it tells us that rather a sizeable chunk of the LittleFinger/Alayne/Sansa story, about internal inheritance policy in the Vale really doesn't matter to the end story. It tells us that most of the Dorne stuff doesn't matter either. We know that Little Griff/Aegon/False Aegon isn't all that important either. so where do we sit at the end of Season 6? We have the contenders to the throne;

Euron (but we know he isn't going to seduce Dany)
Dany
Jon Snow/Stark/Targaryen
Petyr Baelish
Sansa Stark
Cersei
and possibly Jaime

Stannis is still alive in the books but since he's dead in the series we know he's done. We know that except for people that she might kill, Lady Stoneheart/Catelyn doesn't matter. We know that Tommen and Myrcella don't matter which means that Trystane doesn't matter which means pretty much that all the Dorne stuff doesn't matter. We also know that, since Cersei offed them, Margaery and Loras don't matter, neither does Lancel or the current High Sparrow. And whatever Victarion does doesn't matter. Now just because these people, with a few exceptions, have died in the series doesn't mean that they'll die in the books just that they are strawmen to the series. Barristan Selmy, dead in the series, could live in the books but since he isn't going to sit on the throne anyway it doesn't matter. We also know that Dany's "marriage" and her affair don't really impact the end.

So that's where we sit. Now personally I also have gotten tired of waiting for the books and although I am an avid reader I have come to enjoy the series much more than the books because to me the series is a cleaner narrative. I usually enjoy the travelling as much as getting to my destination but the books have gotten to be like a flight with cancellations and weather delays and weird layovers. I just want to get home.

In the books (and in secret excerpts from the alleged Book 6 read only at conventions and on his blog) we have Sansa weeping in the Vale because Harry the Heir is rude to her at a ball because she is allegedly a bastard, while Jeyne Poole is posing as her sister married to Ramsay.
While on the show, Sansa is a breathtakingly beautiful warrior Princess.
Which story line do you prefer?

For me that settles what is canon.

HBO Sansa>GRRM Sansa no two ways about it. Last season I was one of those who didn't care for what they did to Sansa in making her marry Ramsay but now I can understand. It gave them the impetus to toughen up her character. In the books she's still a weeping little girl in the series she is quickly becoming a player. The Sansa in the series could be Queen of the North or even Queen of Westeros. The Sansa of the books is still largely a victim.

What about Gendry? He is certainly eligible for the throne.

I think that we will ultimately see Jamie kill Cersie and himself in some dramatic murder suicide scene.

Sansa has been one of the most evolved characters on the show. She has also developed a good sense of military strategy, something her mother did not have. But she doesn't seem to want to be queen.

I dunno, I think Snow, with Sansa, Davos (and Brianne), Brand, Sam, Lady Mormon, and the Wildings is a very strong candidate. But it would be seriously tough to beat Dany and her Dragons.

What about Gendry? He is certainly eligible for the throne

Gendry isn't legitimate therefore he isn't eligible for the Crown unless something happens ala Jon Snow being declared "King in the North" by acclamation.

IMO, Dany has some problems, sure she had tens of thousands of Dothraki but how will they handle the Westerosi winter? After all I think that of Dany's people maybe Varys is the only one who has seen a winter. Will they be decimated by disease? And will we even see a war between Jon and Dany? They are related after all and Jon hasn't shown interest in the Iron Throne.

Jon hasn't shown any interest in the Iron Throne because he has no idea who he really is. As far as he is aware, Ned is Dad.