ASOIAF, Big Fat ADWD spoileriffic ndews

[Majsju]

GRRM read the prologue at an Indianapolis Con.

 

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=20518&st=20

 

 

 

 

 

GRRM opened by not giving the chapter a "name". It opens with a wolf sniffing. He hunts with his small sly sister and his one eyed brother. They hear a "pup" and begin to chase. They track another pack, the "pup", a male and a female. The male has a "long tooth" and the female a "smaller bone tooth". The wolves attack and kill, going especially for the pup which is the "sweetmeat". The wolves kill the man woman, and baby.

 

We then come back to Varamyr who remembers that a man named Haggen (sp?) told him that men who ate men were "abominations". Haggen was the man who taught him to be a skinchanger. Varamyr is dying in a hut. He lies there and remembers the burning and the heat. The eagle burning. He remembers all the memories of his wargs, he remembers the wolves and birthing a litter.

 

He is sick and his head is swimming. A boy knifed him for taking his dead mother's squirrel cloak. A wildlilng woman named Thistle stitched him up. Varamyr remembered that Hornfoot men knifed the boy's mother, Varamyr stole the cloak afterwards, and the boy knifed HIM. When Thistle helped him, she asked him his name. Varamyr said it was Lump. Because of what had happened at the Wall, Varamyr is afraid to use his real name now. He curses Mance's name.

 

Varamyr remembers his mother. She was a Wood Witch and he was Varamyr Six Skin. He rode a bear and lived in his own Hall. A dozen villages paid him homage. When he wanted a woman, he sent his shadowcat to fetch her. Once in a while some "hero" would come and try to slay him but Varamyr would slay him.

 

When Varamyr was young, Haggen would trade with Eastwatch, so he was fascinated with what lay behind the Wall. That is how Mance was able to tempt him with the greenlands. He reflects on his current situation. He is left waiting for Thistle to return. He could barely walk anymore so she left him and said she would return. She was a spearwife, ugly, one of thousands fleeing the battle.

 

No one knew where to go after the battle. Some talked of finding Gendel's Children. The Weeper talked talked of making for the Shadow Tower. Some even talked of striking out for Thenn, which made no sense since the Thenns had come down to Mance!

 

A wood's witch, though, had spoke of SHIPS.

 

There had been 9 of them once but they had slipped away one by one when he could no longer go one. He thinks of his father who had given him to Haggen the Skinchanger. He had tried to run away from Haggen but he had been beaten. Haggen taught him, tho. He taught him how to skinchange. Dogs were the easiest to warg. Wolves were harder, because you can't really tame a wolf, it's too much like a woman and marriage. Cats are even harder because they are vain and cruel. Elks were bad. Bears worse, Haggen didn't hold with them. Birds however were the worst. A man should never fly because he might forget who he was.

 

Haggen had taKen him north to meet other skinchangers. He had met the Wolf Brothers and Boros, who had tusks. It was there that Varamyr had killed Haggen. He had even taken one of Haggen's wolves until it died. Haggen had had only 3 skins but Varamyr had 6

 

Now only the wolves remained. The shadowcat had run off when the eagle died. The bear had killed everyone in sight before running off. But the wolves had stayed with him. Varamyr knows that he is dying and thinks that the wolves will feast on him when he is dead and he beliEves that is fair.

 

 

In another flashback, Varamyr remembers a boy named "lump" talking of taking another man's skin rather than dying, Haggen had beaten him bloody saying that "All men must die! Even skinchangers!"

 

He finally struggles outside and calls for Thistle. He can hear the wolves. He struggles through the snow and reaches a weirwood. He slips and falls and lies bleeding on the ground. The weirwood stares down at him and he begins to think of his past sins. He thinks to himself that the "animals did it", not he. He thinks again of Lump and then of Bump, lumps baby brother. Lump was small and weak but Bump was going to be a big string boy. As the memory unfolds, Lump uses skinchanging to murder Bump using 3 small dogs and is caught by their father. Lump was given to Haggen afterwards.

 

He finally is able to drag himself back to the hut and readies himself to die. He prepares to go into the wolves "skin" and then die so he can lose himself there. He briefly remembers Jon Snow and remembers his hate for Jon. He wishes Mance had let him kill Jon and let him take Ghost because the direwolf would have been a royal skin.

 

As he is about to skinchange, the room grows colder, his hand freezes to the ground. Thistle returns. She is covered with frost and her eyes glow blue. Varamyr's tears, eyes, and lips all freeze but he is able to slip his skin. He feels animals everywhere. Birds and beasts everywhere. In particular...an elk with two children on it and a direwolf wakes and lifts it's head.

 

Varamyr slips into One Eye, dies and loses himself. The wolf sees men. Many men. Too many men to count. But something is wrong. They are not living. They have blue glowing eyes. And the eyes look at the wolves.

 

_____

 

 

GRRM indicated that he has struggled with the flashbacks and the realtime POV. He had written it with many ppl passing by.

 

Oh...and...I asked GRRM IF a certain HOWLAND REED might make an appearance in ADwD. He said "possibly".

 

 

[Cadsuane]

I am so excited for this book. I wish we had a date for release!

[Werthead]

We don't. But apparently GRRM told some people at the con that he's closing in on the end. He wouldn't say when, but I'd say that before the end of 2008 was fairly likely now.

[Rainman]

Good to hear that he's getting close. Can't wait for it to come out.

[Werthead]

Oddly enough this news came through today from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist:

 

I couldn't leave Anne's office without inquiring about the progress of GRRM's A Dance with Dragons. Sadly, what I have to report will not please anyone, so be forewarned. What it comes down to is this: Unless a miracle occurs, there is no way the next ASOIAF volume will be released this year. The folks at Bantam are hoping to get the finished manuscript at some point this fall. But if Anne's facial expression is any indication, they're not holding their breath. Which means that, at the earliest, we are looking at a spring 2008 pub date.

 

Many fans have been wondering why it should take this long for the author to write this new book, what with 50% of it having been completed already. Rumors have been circulating that GRRM did scrap some portions of what he had when they decided to publish AFfC in its current format. Well, unfortunately that's not hearsay. It appears that GRRM did cut some chunks out of the original manuscript and has been tinkering with a few things. Hence, he didn't truly have 50% of it done with and ready to go. Which explains the slower than expected progress for A Dance with Dragons.

 

The good thing is that Bantam are pretty flexible and there's no rigid timetable as to when the book should be published. According to Anne, the editorial process will begin as soon as the manuscript reaches her office. As was the case with Robert Jordan with the WoT volumes between A Crown of Swords and Crossroads of Twilight, I believe that A Dance with Dragons will be released as soon as possible after the manuscript is turned in. I figure that no one at Bantam wishes to repeat the mistake which came back to haunt them with A Feast for Crows. I'm persuaded that they will make only one announcement pertaining to the publication of ADwD, and that only when they'll know for sure that the production process has begun.

 

GRRM detractors should be happy to know that the author is writing. Personally, as long as I don't see a pic of a naked Martin swinging at Hedonism III in Jamaica, I'm satisfied!;-) ASOIAF is a series they'll still be talking about in 25 years, so it's only natural that it takes a while to write. I don't think GRRM ever envisioned that it would become this big. Anne told me that it was sold to Bantam as a trilogy! So GRRM fans rejoice because your favorite author is working hard to make this new installment as good as humanly possible. He's not late because he goes to cons, or because he has lost the will to finish this saga.

 

Actually, nothing too revelatory there. Given the 5-6 month editorial cycle needed for ASoS and AFFC, it was physically impossible to get ADWD out in 2007 anyway. However, it appears to be hopeful that the book will be out in early 2008.

[Ealdur Tinuviel]

Light, I sure can't wait. But then, I haven't read a Feast for Crows yet. I want too, but my Barnes and Noble doesnt have it, so I am going to have to go elsewhere...