Last month, George RR Martin updated fans on his progress with The Winds of Winter. While the 71-year-old has been working hard, he did admit that he hopes a 2021 release, rather than this year, will happen. He wrote: “Of late I have been visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah. I will be dropping back into Braavos next week. “
Now A Song of Ice and Fire expert BryndenBFish, has written an intriguing new post arguing this update is possible evidence for the popular turncloak theory in The Winds of Winter.
The well-respected fan wrote: “In one of GRRM’s recent notablog posts, in which I was totally not subtweeted by my favourite living author, he talked about TWOW.
“Old news, I know. But I figure it’d be a fortuitous opportunity to chat about how the notablog post might provide evidence for one of my favourite theories: that Barristan Selmy will turncloak on Daenerys Targaryen in favour of Young Griff.
“Of those POV characters [mentioned in the post], one name stuck out to me: Ser Barristan Selmy.”
READ MORE: Winds of Winter DEATHS theory: These FOUR characters will die
BryndenBFish continued: “His inclusion on the list of characters GRRM’s been ‘visiting’ lately piqued my interest – especially given the dire circumstances that Ser Barristan finds himself in at the start of The Winds of Winter.
“By the end of A Dance with Dragons, Barristan is stuck inside the city of Meereen with mounting tensions from both within the city from the Sons of the Harpy and without from the Yunkish siege of the city.
“Battle breaks out at the end of Barristan’s final ADWD chapter, and Barristan’s fate and the fate of Meereen is left as a cliffhanger to the book.
“But, as you might know, GRRM wrote at least two Ser Barristan TWOW chapters.”
The ASOIAF expert added: “With all of the dangers posed to Barristan, this has led to the general idea that Barristan might end up dying at or immediately after the Battle of Fire.
“However, the alternative theory (the one I favour) is that Ser Barristan will survive the Battle of Fire, and then learning about Young Griff, he’ll turncloak on Daenerys Targaryen in favour of Aegon “VI” Targaryen, the tRuEbOrN sOn of Rhaegar Targaryen.”
Once George RR Martin has published The Winds of Winter he won’t write A Dream of Spring straight away.
The author has admitted he will pen a new Dunk and Egg short story as a palate cleanser between the epics.
And when A Song of Ice and Fire is finally done he’ll write another Dunk and Egg short.
Then Martin will begin work on Fire and Blood Volume 2.
The first half was published in 2018 and together they cover the 300 year history of House Targaryen’s Iron Throne rule.
The first book is being adapted into a Game of Thrones spin-off called House of the Dragon.