Everything we know about ‘The Winds of Winter’ so far 

Everything we know about ‘The Winds of Winter’ so far:

The Winds of Winter is set to be the sixth in the ASOIAF series. Over the past two years we’ve been given 2 full chapters, multiple summaries of every con reading, and snippets of information about what we have in store. So I thought I’d compile everything together to learn about every confirmed chapter we know shall be in the book, and what those 11 chapters contain.

(I have put these chapters in an order that I have came up with. This order is not canon. I have ordered it based on how I predict it may be, but again, it could be 100% wrong.)

Though reportedly isolated and secluded, Stannis is actively (and efficiently) preparing for the looming battle against the Boltons. Stannis received the Braavosi banker Tycho Nestoris and the two signed a contract, Stannis planning on sending the banker back to the Wall so he does not get caught up in the fighting.

Stannis is made aware of Arnolf Karstark’s planned treachery due to the message Jon Snow gave the banker. Stannis has Arnolf, his son Arthor and three grandsons arrested and plans to execute them, though whether their death will be quick beheadings or by fire depended on their willingness to confess. Stannis is preparing his position to battle the coming vanguard of Roose Bolton’s army led by Hosteen Frey. Stannis is sending Ser Justin Massey to escort “Arya Stark” (actually Jeyne Poole, though this is unknown to Stannis) back to the Wall to reunite the girl with her brother Jon Snow in gratitude for Snow warning him to amass the hill tribes rather than march straight into the Karstarks’ plans.

Stannis also orders Massey to go with Tycho Nestoris to Braavos, where Massey will use the money given to him by the Iron Bank of Braavos to hire sellsword companies till he has a force no less than twenty thousand strong and sail back to Westeros. Stannis also gave orders that if he is slain in the coming battle, Massey is still to do as instructed, with the intention of using the army to place Shireen on the Iron Throne.

Stannis also plans to have Theon Greyjoy executed, hoping to gain favor with his northern allies by exacting justice for the murders of Bran and Rickon Stark.

Jon Connington sent a letter to Prince Doran Martell telling him of his return to Westeros with Young Griff. Arianne is assigned to send him Doran’s answer. 

GRRM originally offered to read this at a con instead of Arianne II, saying that it had some “seriously twisted stuff” in there. But it was not read. It was also originally meant to be at the end of ADWD, but he decided to move it to the beginning of TWOW because he felt it read better that way.

Little is yet known about the details of this chapter, other than it was originally supposed to be at the end of ADWD, but George moved it because he felt it was the beginning of a new story arc for Sansa, and therefore deserved to be at the start of the next book instead.

It is also stated that a Sansa chapter in TWOW could be considered “controversial”. It is unknown whether that refers to this chapter, or a later one.

The chapter begins with a gory description of the bodies of plague victims being thrown into the city by the trebuchets. Only the northern districts across the river are far enough away to avoid being hit.

Barristan rides into the large market by the western gate wearing his new Queensguard armor and riding the silver horse that Drogo gave to Dany. He feels that this is presumptuous, but thinks that even while the queen is missing it is important to have some symbol of her around to improve morale. Three of his lads ride with him: Tumco Lho, Larraq, and the Red Lamb.

In the marketplace (featuring landmarks like the statue of the chainmaker and the spire of skulls), at the “hour of the wolf,” the main forces that will participate in the attack gather. There are five thousand unsullied, the Storm Crows, a ragged band of about twenty dothraki and the pitfighters. The Shavepate’s beasts are manning the city walls in place of the unsullied. They will serve as the city’s last line of protection if Barristan’s attack fails and Dany has not returned.

The attack will leave from three gates (north, south, and west), but Barristan will lead the charge against the main Yunkai’i forces directly to the west. Barristan thinks that the attack is against all of his instincts, as the basic numbers are against them and success hinges on trusting sellswords — in particular, trusting the in the Tattered Prince’s greed.

He meets with his commanders (including the Widower, Jokin, Grey Worm, and some of the pitfighters). Their plan is to lead with the horse and flank the defending legions, taking out the trebuchets and burning the pavilions. The pitfighters will advance after the horse and focus on intimidation and slaughter. Finally, the unsullied will line up outside the gate, which should be successful if the Yunkai’i don’t mount an immediate counterattack.

Barristan reminds the commanders that they must retreat or advance when they hear the Red Lamb blow the horn. The Windower asks what to do if there is no horn blast — that is, if Barristan and his lads are all dead. Barristan knows that this is likely, as he intends to be first through the lines of the Yunkai’i, so he just says that in that case, the Widower will be second in command. Barristan then remembers that Lord Commander Hightower had once told him to never speak of defeat before a battle, since the gods might be listening.

It will be dawn soon. Someone says “A red dawn,” and Barristan thinks “A dragon dawn.” Previously, he had prayed to each of the seven for various things, ending with a plea to the stranger for mercy. Though he knows all men must die eventually, Barristan would like to live through the day.

More bodies fall from the sky. Barristan notices Tumco Lho’s reaction and sees that the lad fears the pale more more than the foes outside the gates. Barristan then gives a stirring pep talk about how every man fears every battle. At first, the Red Lamb is defiant, saying that doesn’t fear death because at that point he’ll get to meet the Great Shepherd — when he plans to break his shepherd’s crook in two and castigate the shepherd for creating such a peaceful people in such a violent world.

Barristan continues his lecture, saying that there is “nothing more terrible, nothing more glorious, nothing more absurd” than war. Even Barristan admits that he shat his pants in his first battle. He is interrupted by a murmur among the soldiers — a fire is lit at the harpy on top of one of the pyramids, presumably to signal the men at each gate to begin the attack. The gate opens and Barristan sounds the call to attack.

Tyrion is playing cyvasse with Brown Ben, while they wait for ‘Ser Grandfather’s’ army to sally forth and try to break the siege of Meereen. These two share banter with other of Brown Ben’s staff about what’s the worst thing about waiting for the battle to start, punctuated by the sound of the trebuchets as they fling more plague corpses into Meereen. 

Brown Ben muses that the two dragons are wild cards which could attack anything on either side during the battle.  They assume Dany will return on the third dragon and speculate about rescuing the three hostages - Daario, the eunuch and the horse boy - and delivering them to Meereen thereby changing sides a second time but claiming that they only pretended to change sides before so as to learn the Yunkish plans. 

Tyrion thinks any skepticism about this will be outweighed by gratitude that he killed Dany’s most dangerous enemy - Tywin. Just as Tyrion is about to win the cyvasse game Jorah bursts in with news of black sails in the bay (ironborn ships) flying dragon banners.

The three thralls - the boy, the bastard’s bastard and the brute, are charged with blowing the hellhorn.  Victarion plans to fool the Yunkish navy with a fleet made up mostly of merchant ships but filled with warriors.  He articulates his desire to take Dany as his bride and to win the Seastone Chair and the Iron Throne and generally get back at Euron Crow’s Eye for past wrongs.  We learn that Moqorro can read the inscriptions on the hellhorn and that Victarion feeds it by rubbing his own blood into it.

His gut feels twisted from nervousness as he rides through the gates. He knows that the feeling will go away when time slows down in the chaos of battle. Dany’s horse is easily outpacing the lads and the rest of the cavalry; Barristan is pleased because he intends to outrun the Widower and strike the first blow. The Yunkai’i are totally unprepared and Barristan closes in on the Harridan, the largest of the trebuchets. The stormcrows take up the cry, “Daario!” and “Stormcrows, fly!” Barristan thinks that he will never again doubt the valor of sellswords.

There are only thirty yards between the horse and the Yunkai’i legions by the time any defense is mounted. The air fills with arrows. A squire for the stormcrows is killed, and a bolt pierces Barristan’s shield. There are three horn blasts and the pitfighters emerge from the gate behind them.

Barristan glances back to see the pitfighters. There are about two hundred of them, but they make enough noise for two thousand. One woman stands out, wearing nothing but greaves, sandals, a chainmail skirt, and a python. Barristan is a bit shocked and, watching her breasts bouncing around, thinks that this day is sure to be her last. The pitfighters are mostly shouting “Loraq!” and “Hizdar!” but some do call out “Danaerys!” Larraq is hit in the chest with an arrow, bringing Barristan’s attention forward, but the squire keeps the banners held high and shakes it off.

Barristan has reached the Harridan, but a Ghiscari legion six thousand strong has lined up to protect the huge trebuchet. They are six ranks deep — the first rank kneels and holds their spears pointing out and up, the second rank stands and holds their spears out at waist height, and and the third rank holds the spears out on their shoulders. The rest have small throwing spears and are ready to step forward when their comrades fall.

Barristan knows that a maester’s chain is only as strong as his weakest link, and identifies the companies of the Yunkish lords as the weakest of his immediate foes, certainly weaker than the slave legions. In particular, Barristan targets the Little Pigeon and his herons. The slaves chosen to be herons were freakishly tall before they were put on stilts, and wear pink scales and feathers and steel beaks. But Barristan sees that they will be blind because of the dawn rising over the city, and like to break ranks easily, so Barristan turns away from the legion guarding the trebuchet at the last minute and heads for the herons.

He cuts the head off of one of the herons and his lads join the fray. Dany’s horse knocks a heron into three others and they all fall over. In a moment, the herons are scattering and running away, led by the Little Pigeon himself. Unfortunately for the Little Pigeon, he trips over the fringes of his bird armor and gets caught by the Red Lamb. The Little Pigeon begs for mercy, saying that he will fetch a large ransom. The Red Lamb just says “I came for blood, not gold” and knocks in the Little Pigeon’s head with his mace, splattering blood all over Barristan and Dany’s silver horse.

The unsullied begin marching through the gates, and Barristan sees that the Yunkai’i have missed their chance to effectively launch a counterattack. As he watches more of the slave legions get slaughtered, mostly those who were chained together and could not retreat, he wonders where the sellsword companies like the treacherous Second Sons have gone. The unsullied finish lining up outside the gates, implacable even when one of their own number falls with a crossbow bolt to the neck.

Tumco draws Barristan’s attention to the bay, asking “Why are there so many ships?” Barristan remembers that yesterday there were twenty, but now there are thrice that many. His heart sinks when he reasons that the ships from Volantis must have arrived, but then sees that some of the ships are crashing together.

He asks Tumco, whose young eyes can see more clearly, to identify the banners. Tumco says “Squids, big squids. Like in the Basilisk Isles, where sometimes they drag whole ships down.” Barristan replies, “Where I’m from, we call them krakens.”

Realizing that the Greyjoys have arrived, his first thought is “Has Balon joined with Joffrey, or the Starks?” But he realizes that he’s heard that Balon is dead, and wonders if this has something to do with the Balon’s son, the boy who was a ward of the Starks. He sees that ironmen are coming ashore, fighting the Yunkish, and says, surprised, “They are on our side!” The sellswords did not come to meet his charge because they were already preoccupied with the ironborn!

Barristan is almost gleeful. “It’s like Baelor Breakspear and Prince Maekar, the hammer and the anvil. We have them! We have them!”

Tyrion prepares himself for the battle, noting it as his third and thinking back to his first fight whilst Penny readies him. Dragons circle overhead and the battle is raging around them. Orders are given to them by the Yunkai’i to fight against the Iron Islanders but the Second Sons loyalties lie not with Yunkai’i, but with Daenerys.

Princess Arianne has been dispatched by her father to meet with Lord Jon Conningtonand Prince Aegon, as Prince Doran was informed of their arrival in Westeros in Arianne’s previous chapter. She is accompanied by a Dornish retinue that includes Elia Sand — the eldest of the younger four Sand Snakes, Oberyn Martell’s daughters by Ellaria Sand — and Daemon Sand, the Bastard of Godsgrace, who appeared in ASOS as Oberyn’s squire and was noted in AFFC to have been Arianne’s first lover. Nymeria and Tyene have also left Dorne, with Princess Myrcella and 300 spears. Arianne’s brother Trystane remains safe at the Water Gardens.

While en route to Griffin’s Roost, Arianne contemplates whether or not Quentyn ever reached Daenerys and married her. She thinks about how Dany is but a young maiden, and thinks that Quentyn, who is unremarkable-looking and not very dashing, is unlikely to impress someone Dany’s age. Still, Arianne thinks Dany will want Dorne enough to marry Quentyn; she wonders if she will have to call her brother ‘King Quentyn’, which she thinks sounds rather silly.

She’s shaken out of her reverie when she realizes her cousin Elia has been missing for awhile, and goes to look for her.Elia is in a cave catching fish with her bare hands in a pool. Arianne is furious with her for running off, and Elia gets a bit petulant because she doesn’t think that she did anything wrong. Arianne makes her promise to behave, as she’s supposed to be pretending to be one of the Princess’s maidservants. She shouts at Elia that the girl could have died in the cave, and ‘died’ echoes ominously three times against the walls. Arianne confides in Elia that she often wishes Oberyn had been her father instead of Doran. On the walls of the cave they find carvings left behind by the Children of the Forest.The party is met by two Golden Company men, Young John Mudd and Chain. They won’t tell Arianne much, but eventually she gets Chain to admit that Connington has left for Storm’s End.

Arianne thinks that’s preposterous, as she considers the various castles in Westeros and proclaims that Storm’s End would be the most difficult to capture.Despite their earlier talk, Elia continues to misbehave; Arianne catches her making outwith a servant named Feathers who is twice her age. Arianne yells at her and Elia protests that it was just kissing; Arianne reminisces privately about losing her virginity to Daemon at the same age. The two women argue over who would be a more attractive hostage, and then Elia promises again to behave.  

Golden Company spymaster Lysono Maar meets the party and begins to lead them. Arianne does not care for him, and describes him as looking like a Targaryen. Lysono and Arianne debate Aegon vs. Dany. Lysono says that Aegon has Dornish blood, to which Arianne replies that so does Daenerys. He then proclaims that Aegon is the Dragon, to which Arianne replies that Daenerys has three. Along the way Arianne contemplates whether Connington is worthy of Dorne’s assistance; she believes he will need the Dornishmen to take King’s Landing.

Upon arrival at Griffin’s Roost, Arianne is informed by Haldon Halfmaester that Connington has not only already left for Storm’s End, but has successfully conquered it; theTyrell armies are coming from King’s Landing now to try to take it back. Arianne is stunned at Connington’s success. Haldon tells her that Connington and Aegon want to meet her at Storm’s End, and Daemon begs her not to go into danger. Arianne rebukes him, saying that she must be her father’s true heir and go to meet this ‘Dragon.’

The chapter follows Arya as she continues her training with a troupe of Mummers in Braavos, currently under the alias of Mercy. She takes part in a play and runs into Raff the Sweetling, one of Gregor Clegane’s men.

Nothing is yet known about the details of this chapter, other than GRRM saying that he was writing about the Dothraki.

#the winds of winter   #asoiaf   #reblogging this to keep it and shift the read more to this blog  

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