'Winds of Winter' plot news and release date: Stannis Baratheon, still alive?
Several spoilers have been revealed concerning the happenings of George R.R. Martin's upcoming novel "Winds of Winter."
It was revealed by Martin himself that Stannis Baratheon is "alive beyond doubt," in the novel, unlike the outcome in the HBO series. He posted the announcement on his blog called "Not a Blog" under the post name "Off to Spokane."
Another interesting spoiler was when he read an excerpt from the novel during his science-fiction convention in Spokane, Washington. According to GeekWire, the chapter that Martin read was from the perspective of Princess Arianne Martell from Dorne. She is expected to be the eldest daughter of Prince Dorane, of Dorne. While she has yet to be introduced in the HBO series, she was already present in the previous installments of the novel series. She was seen welcoming Myrcella Baratheon upon her arrival at Dorne.
Even with the sixth book still unfinished, Martin already shared that he plans to finish the novel series with a bittersweet ending. He mentioned that it will be greatly influenced by the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. He stated, "I haven't written the ending yet, so I don't know, but no. That's certainly not my intent. I've said before that the tone of the ending that I'm going for is bittersweet. I mean, it's no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended 'Lord of the Rings. It ends with victory, but it's a bittersweet victory."
With that, he also explained that the final book will be released before the end of the HBO series. He explained that the HBO series is still far behind the happenings in the novel. He said, "Anything is possible. The show is moving forward like a locomotive, or sometimes a jet locomotive. They're writing 60-page scripts, I'm writing 1,500-page novels. So who the hell knows? There was a period where I was worried about that," Martin said. "Then I said, to hell with that. Worrying about it isn't going to change it one way or another. I still sit down at the typewriter, and I have to write the next scene and the next sentence...I'm just going to tell my story, and they're telling their story and adapting my books, and we shall see. "
Winds of Winter is expected to release by next year.
