Ben X

A Song Of Ice And Fire

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Not sure if people have already seen this or not, but the New Yorker did a really great profile with GRR Martin a few months before the fifth book was released: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/11/110411fa_fact_miller

I'm fascinated by the two conflicting responsibilities that he has: his role as a creator and also his role as a purveyor of a product for sale/consumption, and how these two roles have affected his writing process. The profile also gets into a huge issue with book serials; as the sequels increase, so by default, do the number of characters/settings/etc. It's crazy to me that Martin basically employees a fan to act as a fact-checker not only for the HBO show, but for his own writing as well.

Anyway, it's a good article.

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GRRM released a new book six chapter yesterday, replacing the old one on his site. It's obviously spoilerific, but it's kind of glorious. All the released material from book six is here, and some of these are transcripts of readings, but it gives a good idea of how the various arcs come together.

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Hey Ben, did you read any of the explanatory hidden stuff I posted earlier? It's too bad I can't remember most of it.

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Yeah, thanks for linking to it, it's all very interesting and most of it had passed me by completely at time of reading! I wish I hadn't read about Jon Snow's mother, though, as that's still just a (very convincing) theory at the moment as opposed to the other, essentially confirmed stuff. I get the feeling that her identity will get revealed overtly at some point and I will have already had it spoiled for me.

I'd definitely like to read more stuff like

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, though!

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There's more of it, but I seem to have forgotten most of it. Sorry. It's been over a year since I read the series.

On the other hand, this is a pretty screenshot from season 3.

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The best crackpot theory is that Varys is a merling.

Real spoilers on crazy theories here (don't read if you haven't read all the books):

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  On 1/24/2013 at 7:01 PM, Kroms said:

The merling thing is a joke that everyone just does, isn't it?

Yep. But it sums up the crazy conspiracy culture the books have engendered really well.

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There are some pretty crackpot theories, but the level of detail the books go into can be astonishing. For example, from A Feast for Crows:

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Later

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  On 1/24/2013 at 9:39 PM, Kroms said:

There are some pretty crackpot theories, but the level of detail the books go into can be astonishing. For example, from A Feast for Crows:

Oh absolutely. The density and complexity of the plotting is arguably the best part about it.

But there are also theories like this:

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Re. the thing Kroms just pointed out: HOLY SHIIIIIIT COMPLETELY WENT OVER MY HEAD!

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There's a lot, and I do mean a lot, like that. For what it's worth, I did post some stuff before that I think you missed, like

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I need to re-read the books before The Winds of Winter hits. Yallah, George.

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  On 1/25/2013 at 11:32 PM, Ben X said:

Re. the thing Kroms just pointed out: HOLY SHIIIIIIT COMPLETELY WENT OVER MY HEAD!

Good gravy. I can't imagine what stuff I might miss when I get back to reading this series.

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  On 1/25/2013 at 11:40 PM, Kroms said:

There's a lot, and I do mean a lot, like that. For what it's worth, I did post some stuff before that I think you missed, like

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I need to re-read the books before The Winds of Winter hits. Yallah, George.

I thought I'd gone back and read everything in this thread... I don't even understand any of what you're saying, there! I will definitely re-read all of the books before embarking on TWOW.

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Oh...ADWD spoilers ahead.

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Plus

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! Wow, I wonder if any of this stuff is actually going to play into things or never actually get mentioned. I can't even begin to fathom why there are

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I did work out the first one because

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, but the other two seem pretty subtle. I did, at least, realise that it was

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I can't even remember what stuff I did and didn't realise any more! Aaaagh!

I'm hoping that

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I've been watching the first season of the tv show, and it's very well done. The White Walkers look very different to how I imagined, though, and a lot of the pure arsehole characters actually come across as a bit less severe, possibly just by virtue of being played by actual real people.

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The White Walkers in the book are quite different to their TV counterparts.

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It's easy to do it -

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So easy, in fact, that it's strange that Martin would claim otherwise... :knoweverything:

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