Smeags said:
So... let's discuss how things could start up in The Winds of Winter:
- Stannis: Ramsey Bolton's letter is mostly a farce. While it's obvious that he does have Mance Rayder (how else could he know who he is?), there's no way he's battled/killed Stannis' army yet. Too many important happenings have taken place for that to happen.
- One, the letter states that he still doesn't have Jeyne, who was last seen with Stannis' host.
- Two, you have two POV characters (Theon and Asha), who George wouldn't have killed off.
- Three, the arrival of the banker with Asha's men is Stannis' ace in the hole. They came from Deepwood Motte, where the raven was sent from the wall warning them that the Karstarks were on the Bolton's side. By now Stannis knows of their trechery and has either already killed them or has taken them captive.
- Four, from what I've read, this stuff has already been revealed by George himself... so... yeah.
- Jon Snow: I think Jon is dead. But have no fear... Melisandre is here! A few knife stabs? Ha. Unlike Catelyn Stark (what was Dondarrion thinking?), he'll be revived as good as new. This accomplishes an important task: Jon Snow is no longer tied to the Night's Watch (he died and was released from it's service). I do think he's the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna... therefore is part of the "three-headed dragon" that is talked about so much.
- Brienne/Jaime: Brienne is taking Jaime to Lady Stoneheart, but I'm curious to know why. Catelyn is almost assuredly going to have him hanged, and Brienne betraying Jaime for the noose is quite out of character. I'm curious to see how this is going to go down.
- Sansa: More plotting by Littlefinger... at this point, the best possible outcome is for her to avenger her father by killing him (whether it's knowingly or unknowingly...). I'm tired of Littlefinger, and his story-arc, no matter how grand his schemes are, seems unconsequential compared to everything else that is happening now.
- Arya: Going to be trained to become a faceless man. The most interesting thing about her story arc is her battle of her identity. I know we're all rooting for her to recognize herself as a Stark/Warg and not a Bravossi assassin. Other than that, she seems inconsequential to the plot. I hope that changes soon. Essos is boring, come back to Westeros!
- Davos: I really like him as a character, but I'm not sure what to expect on his journey to find Rickon. Still, it'll be nice to see Osha again. Hopefully Shaggydog will be nice...
- Cersei: Continues to lose it. What else is new?
- Samwell: I'm not sure what he's supposed to do down there in oldtown. "Hey Sam, the Others could be at the wall any night now, but go down and train to be a maester for a few years!". There are a couple of interesting subplots down there.
- The Citadel seems to not be a fan of the return of magic. We've heard multiple characters start to speak on the conspiracy of the Citadel's influence across Westeros and their distaste for magic.
- Jaquen H'gar. He was the alchemist that killed Pate and he is either him now or had someone else take his place. What's so important in the Citadel that we should care? I guess we'll find out soon enough.
- Daenerys: Well, she can have periods again! Yay! What does this mean? I really... I really don't care about her. I'm sure she'll have a lot of chapters in WoW though. Hooray!
- Dorishmen: How many Dornishmen does it take for me to be interested in what they bring to this series? *shrugs*
- Victarion: Obviously the horn has some power, and obviously the mute woman who Euron gave him will kill him when he tries to take Daenerys as his own (as Vicarion said, Euron's gifts are poisoned.)
- Other Ironmen: Somehow George made both Asha and Theon interesting! A miracle! :P I have no idea what they're going to do, but I'm actually interested to find out.
- Bran: Creeping on people through trees. *shrugs*
- Tyrion: Almost forgot about him! Well... he's going to use his cunning to stay alive and make you root for him. Same ol' same ol'.
- Everyone else: Meh!
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Cheater!
I pretty much agree on everything regarding Stannis and his army, especially since it was made equally clear that the Boltons' army was not exactly cohesive or prepared itself. I have heard the interesting theory though that the letter came from Melisandre, as an attempt to goad Jon from leaving the Wall and doing his duty. I'm not completely sold, but then again Melisandre is the only other person who knows about Mance (in fact, I can see Mance keeping his mouth shut even after being captured).
As for what Dondarrion was thinking, it was probably something along the lines of "I've had more than enough already, thank you" combined with "I never asked these assholes to bring me back...and back...and back...").
I'm not sure how up to date you are on the original plan, but part of why I think the Sam/Sansa/Arya storylines don't seem to be going anywhere is that Martin originally planned to skip ahead five years after Storm of Swords, with the details of those five years getting filled in via flashbacks etc. Abandoning that plan has thrown a real wrench in the works, I think, which is how I explain Feast being such a meandering novel.
