When is it time for Game Of Thrones fans to worry about winter winds?

Summary

• George RR Martin is 13 years behind in finishing The Winds of Winter, causing concern among fans.
• The final two books in the series, including A Dream of Spring, may experience significant release delays.
• Martin's original plan called for a trilogy, but the series expanded, potentially affecting the story's final resolution.

Winter should come from George RR Martin A song of ice and fire saga, but with 13 painfully long years having passed since he published the last book, fans are worried that he may never get around to writing the end of the War of the Five Kings. Although the game of Thrones The TV series had their finale in 2019, there is still a lot of story to tell in book form.

Martin outlined his plan to write seven books in A song of ice and fire series, with the last two entries in existence The winds of winter AND A spring dream. The author has been open about the fact that he is behind on his writing The winds of winter. Although he says he has no plans to retire, his advanced age and previous admissions have readers worried about the last two rumors.

Where is The Winds of Winter?

Martin started writing The winds of winter no later than 2010, from which a recovery is expected A dance with dragons'Stunning ending. The fifth book ended with Daenerys fleeing Meereen in distress on Drogon's shoulders, Jon Snow stabbed by his own men of the Night's Watch, and Varys revealing his plot to put Aegon Targaryen on the Iron Throne. While things have been different in terms of missing characters on the show, these events are more or less in line with season 5 of the HBO series.

Martin's original plan was to write A song of ice and fire like a trilogy, with the only books being A game of thrones, A dance with dragonsAND The winds of winter. This once again underlines the apparent importance of The winds of winter and the story it will tell. This would also have meant that the books had all been published earlier game of Thrones it even started airing. Instead, 28 years have passed since the publication of the first book, and there is still no end in sight.

It's frustrating that A dance with dragons runs concurrently with 2005 A feast for crows meaning other dangling plot threads like Brienne of Tarth's fate at the hands of Lady Stoneheart and Arya Stark being blinded by the Faceless Men remain unresolved. Martin teased fans by releasing 11 chapters from The winds of winter over the years, including when Theon is captured by Stannis Baratheon A dance with dragons' pocket-sized. He stopped posting chapters in 2018 because he didn't want to reveal anything else.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Martin admitted that he was 13 years late The winds of winter, but he doesn't know how it happened. Reiterating that the novel is a priority, he explained:

“This is still a priority. Many people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] “Oh, it will never end.” Maybe they're right. I do not know. I'm alive now! It seems quite vital to me!”

This sparked further complaints from readers, who once again point out how The winds of winter it was not the priority he had previously promised. As well as taking time to write the sixth book Fire and bloodhe worked House of the Dragoncontributed to its development A knight of the seven kingdomsand is working on a film based on the late Howard Waldrop The ugly chickens.

This all goes hand in hand with world building for FromSoftware Elden Ringwhich some argue The winds of winterthe cost. Considering he had written four chapters by June 2010, this shows how slow progress has been over the past 14 years. The hopeful release dates of 2014 and 2016 are long gone, and Martin's critics will point to his infamous quote from February 2016 when he promised readers of his Not a Blog site:

“I won't write anything until I release Winds of Winter. Teleplays, screenplays, stories, introductions, prefaces, nothing.

He once told fans they could imprison him if he didn't finish by July 2020, but nearly four and a half years later, there's no sign of the fabled manuscript. Although Martin jokes about people thinking he might die sooner The winds of winter is published, others look even further ahead.

Game of Thrones fans still dream of spring

When readers close the book The winds of winter, A spring dream it should be even more epic. Although The winds of winter got a surprise release in 2025, if Martin had taken that long to write A spring dreamit wouldn't come out until 2039. Aside from that, by placing George R.R. Martin in his 90s, a huge number of fans probably wouldn't get to see how the story ends.

In a 2022 update on his site, Martin explained how the books will move away from game of Thrones' controversial ending, which makes sense due to the lack of seemingly important characters like Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, and Jon Connington:

“What I've noticed more and more lately, however, is that my gardening is taking me further and further away from television series. Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of Thrones you'll also see in The Winds of Winter (though maybe not quite in the same way)… but much of the rest will be quite different.

This is not a secret game of ThronesThe ending was controversial, with more than 1.5 million people signing a petition to remake season 8. This makes The winds of winterThe release of is even more important, as it will give critics their first real glimpse of where things could go.

In Martin's original plan, the final book would have focused on the Others, who are the book version of the White Walkers. They were presented as the real threat to Westeros, which the show failed to capitalize on. Many have been critical of season 8 and think it should have focused on Cersei and the battle for King's Landing in the first half, before heading towards an epic battle with the White Walkers at Winterfell in the final episodes. Martin hasn't revealed how he plans to conclude the books, but many expect the Others to be the de facto big bads. However, that doesn't mean Daenerys Targaryen won't get her own story arc on Mad Queen.

Like both The winds of winter AND A spring dream are intended to be longer than previous books, it gives you an idea of ​​how long they will be. There are theories swirling that Martin invented something special and perhaps wrote The winds of winter AND A spring dream at the same time. In a more recent July 2024 post on his blog, Martin cryptically warned:

When Winds of Winter is finished, word won't get out, there will be a big announcement… where and when I can't say.

Optimists hope that, even though the final two books will not be published at the same time, Martin has secretly written the end of the story in case something happens to him. Meanwhile, disgruntled readers have begun using ChatGPT to create examples of how they think Martin will complete the sordid saga. With the man himself warning that fan favorites who are dead game of Thrones they will live to fight another day and some survivors won't make it A spring dreamto the last pages, readers are preparing A song of ice and fireThe final rumors of are just as shocking as HBO's live-action adaptation.