Will The Winds of Winter Change Game of Thrones Ending for the Better?

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https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/will-th...ng-for-better/

George R.R. Martin revealed that his latest book, The Winds of Winter, is moving further away from how Game of Thrones ended. We examine what that could mean.



Winter is coming. Still. More than 11 years after the last published entry in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, aka the source material that Game of Thrones is based on, author George R.R. Martin took to his lovably antiquated blog—complete with its “Not a Blog” name—to reiterate his apocalyptic blizzard remains forthcoming. Of course these periodic reminders are less newsworthy than they were five years ago. For most of the last decade, Martin has blogged to his loyal literary fans that The Winds of Winter remains a priority, even after Game of Thrones surpassed Martin’s printed story roughly around 2016.

Since then, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss ended Game of Thrones with a highly divisive final season in 2019 and seemed to reveal the shocking end point that Martin has always had in mind, including when he shared this bombshell idea with the television writers: fan favorite Daenerys Targaryen (played by Emilia Clarke in the show) will take her dragon and burn King’s Landing to a cinder, killing Lannisters and innocent peasants alike. Afterward, her lover and nephew Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) puts a blade in her heart.

These turned out to be the most controversial twists in a series finale that featured a spate of them. However, fans still eager to learn the original author’s full vision (or those just perhaps desperate for something less bitter and rushed), were greatly teased by Martin’s latest blog entry. Once again, the scribe trotted out his analogy of some authors being architects and others being gardeners. Martin? He’s definitely a gardener, taking his time and letting his story evolve and grow in surprising ways. However, according to the writer’s latest update, that garden is taking unexpected shape as he continues work on The Winds of Winter.

“What I have noticed more and more of late… is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series,” Martin wrote. “Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in GAME OF THRONES you will also see in THE WINDS OF WINTER (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different…”

Martin goes on to note that some characters who died on the show will live in his books, and vice versa. All of this has gotten fans hopeful for a happier, or at least better structured, ending. Could Martin let Jaime Lannister find and keep his redemption until the end? Would Martin so cruelly kill off the entire Tyrell family? Could Jon instead of Bran become king of the Six Kingdoms?! Will Daenerys NOT become the Mad Queen?!?!

Obviously only Martin and maybe his editor know for sure. But there’s a lot of material in “A Song of Ice and Fire” that already points toward drastic ways the story could change, even if Martin only began considering them in the years after he gave Benioff and Weiss a general outline for how the story will end. Below are just some of the biggest dangling threads on the page that could transform the narrative in minor and major ways. Some of these at first glance may look like superficial differences, but remember another one of Martin’s favorite metaphors is Edward Norton Lorenz’s “butterfly effect.” The flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Japan may tip the scales for a tornado forming in Kansas several weeks later. And breaking your oath to the Lord of the Crossing over a wedding betrothal pact can lead to shockingly steep consequences.

So let us entertain what those butterflies could look like in The Winds of Winter.