It's been said that a bastard can rise high in the NW (i.e. Cotter Pyke commanding Eastwatch). But have there ever been any bastard Lord Commanders before Jon?
Yes, undoubtedly.
I am a large fan of your work, and have been for a while now. :chuckles: in fact, I have introduced my brother and friends to your series with good results. Regardless, I have some questions I would like to ask, if you don't mind. I did try to go through 'so spake martin', but since it was so long, I can't promise that I am accidentally not repeating a question.
Anyway, here I go.
1) In ASOIAF, we hear a bit of using boats to move armys, both among the iron men and with Dany. However, I was wondering why no one tried this in the past. For instance, instead of fighting up the neck, why didn't any of the andal kings try to land north of the moat? Or land an army at gulltown, behind the bloody gate? Or at sunspear instead of fighting through the dornish marches? This has just been something I am curious about, and I hope there is an answer.
Who says it hasn't been tried in the past? The Seven Kingdoms have a very long history, and I haven't mentioned all of it... nor will I.
2) Is it possible that we may see a few scenes of peace at the end of the series? Some of my favorite scenes are just the relatively peaceful parts at the beginning of AGOT.
Yes, it is possible.
Also, if you do write more on Westeros after ASOIAF ::Crosses fingers:: Is it possible we might get a look at some of the decedents of the present characters? As in seeing the world a generation or two later?
Maybe. That's a long ways off.
3) Also, I don't quite get Renlys motivation for being king. When he is at KL, he seems more than willing to let Ned take control, even though it means Stannis or Joff will be king. However, alter on he claims the kingship and seems quite adamant about holding on to it. I understand the theory that he likes to be king simply because it was 'shiny' and he liked being the center of attention. However, in some of his conversations with Cat, I get the idea that he really thinks he deserves to be king, and that he will be a great king.
He does. Renly was not modest.
) I am also a bit curious as to the social structure of westeros. I understand the seven high lords, and the slightly lower lords (ie. Boltons, Karstarks, Freys etc.). However, do these lords also have sub lords below them? Lords who maybe raise 10 or 20 men for the Karstarks?
Yes, it is a feudal system. The lords have vassals, the vassals have vassals, and sometimes the vassals of the vassals have vassals, down to the guy who can raise five friends.
5) I have also wondered a bit about moat cailin. Normally, who is lord over the moat? Who is there? I suppose its possible it is just abandoned, but that seems foolish when one considers how key a fortress it is. Is there normally a trusted lord stationed there with a garrison to guard it?
It's a ruin. No one is there. The north has not been attacked in hundreds of years.
6) This question relates a bit to 5..but.. hey. How do the great houses, besides the lannsiters of course, make there money. Is it all through the trading of goods?
Taxes and customs duties.
7) Also, what exactly does the tittle 'warden of the (Blank)' mean. In book one, Robert or Ned say something along the liens of it being honorary except in a time of war. But, so far in the series, we have seen little significance in regards to the title. Do the houses who are wardens have some control over the great houses who are not wardens? IS that why the riverlords seem to simply follow the northern lead?
The wardens are supposed to defend their regions against invaders. In theory, at least, they are each the supreme general for their region and therefore preventing any disunity of command.
I am a fan of book series "A Song of Ice and Fire" and I also have purchased your recently re-released short story book "A Song for Lya." I just wanted to ask you a simple question about your writing, specifically "A Song of Ice and Fire." Where exactly did you get the idea for this book?
Hard to say. Ideas come from all over. In the case of this series, the first chapter came to me when I was in the middle of writing a different novel entirely, so vividly that I put the other book aside to write this one.
I know that some authors had dreams that inspired them, or used historical events to help them get an idea about a story. I just wanted to know what your own personal motivations for writing this series and everything else you write.
I have drawn on all this at various times in my career.
I am actually planning on writing a fantasy book in the future, after having a dream. I hope that hearing words from a professional writer will help fuel my writing.
Good luck with that, and thanks for your kind words.
[Note: The following chat is made available through the Internet Archive.]
When I heard 'im talk saturday (yay! still psyched about that) he explained that when he started to write the 4th book (now pushed back to fifth) after the gap, he turned out to be writing hundreds of pages of mainly flashback sequences, people sitting around saying "remember when xx happened". He couldn't manage to make the connection in a good way, so that's why he removed the 5 year gap in favor of aFfC. This, incidentally, also cost him 6 months of writing time which were ditched, which explains some of the lateness of the book.
[Note: Having solicited questions to ask GRRM, Jasper says he asked only one, concerning whether Sword of the Morning was a familial office or a unique epithet for Ser Arthur Dayne.]
GRRM: "There have been other Swords of the Morning."
I went Sunday, and of course I was present when GRRM was being interviewed(by the dutch translator of his books) and we were allowed to ask questions. He'd said several things about AFFC that were new to me:
First of all, the prologue will be different from the prologues of the previous books. In stead of one viewpoint, there will be several, from characters at different places. This prologue will be longer than the previous ones, and be divided into sections.
When he told us of AFFC, he explained the whole 5-year gap thing, and that instead of five years, AFFC will begin seconds after ASOS' ending. Well, that of course we knew already, but then he said there will be some overlap; some of the scenes in AFFC will take place before or during the ending of ASOS.
When I asked him which of the places we never saw before, he is going to show us, he said that there will be quite some scenes on the Iron Islands, and also Braavos and Dorne. I am not sure if he meant that these scenes will take place in AFFC or simply in the following books.
Someone asked (again) if he could tell us if Ned was Jons real father or not, and GRRM answered that he will not reveal it (of course) but that the whole mystery about Jons parentage will be made clear somewhere in his book, not in AFFC, but perhaps in the last book, or even the book before that.
GRRM still wasn't sure whether he would write 6 or 7 books. He still hoped to be able to finish it in six, but couldn't promise anything. He also told that writing about the Red Wedding was very hard to him. It was in fact the last he had written of ASOS; he first wrote everything that came after it, the whole ending, and only then about the Red Wedding itself.
He said that in his original plan (when he wanted to write a trilogy) the Red Wedding would take place in book one, and Dany's landing in Westeros in book two. Now he says that Dany's arrival in Westeros will take place in book 5, A Dance with Dragons.
GRRM also talked about series with no apparent ending. He said that while the Wildcards were such a series, those were meant to be so, everytime another adventure, but that when you have a fantasy-series that keeps on going, with the end getting farther and farther away, that's a bad thing. I woder if he thought about Robert Jordan when he said this. It was mostly in response to the question when his series would end.
[Note: The following is futher information Harren provided after seeing discussion concerning the Iron Isles and Dorne.]
About the overlap-thing, IIRC GRRM first mentioned that AFFC will slightly overlap ASOS(or/and some scenes might even take place before ASOS ending), and at the end he told that there will be some scenes on the Iron Isles, Dorne and Braavos, that in response to my question; I asked if he is going to show us places we haven't seen before. So the Dorne/Iron Isles thing does not necesary take place in the overlap, perhaps not even in the book, because when he answered my question I wasn't sure if he meant that those scenes would take place in AFFC, or somewhere in the rest of the series. He did say something like "quite some scenes on the Iron Islands" or something like that, which makes me think that there must be a POV sometimes visiting/staying on the Iron Isles.
[Note: Calibandar's reference to "Ted's point" is in regards to the immediately previous report by Teddy Mormont]
To return to Ted's point, about Dorne and the Iron Islands, I recall now that Martin said that it did indeed overlap, I believe he said we'll see what happened in these two parts (his words were "and" , not "or" so both will be shown) there during the end of SoS.
Another details from the elf fair that proably interests most of us here: GRRM not only said there will be no gap, but also said parts of AFFC set in Dorne and the Iron Islands overlap with ASOS. That should have impact on the speculations about the new POV. It must be someone in Dorne unless the Theon POV is revived and the prologue is set in Dorne.
[Note: The information immediately below is a response to probing concerning the exact wording with which Mr. Martin conveyed the information mentioned above.]
I believe GRRM said parts of AFFC overlap with the previous book after explaining about the end of the gap idea and mentioned the Iron Islands and Dorne. So the plural can refer to both these aeras combined.
GRRM said at the fair that he will start to work on the second Dunk and Egg story after he finished AFFC. So this can't be the main reason for the delay. I didn't understand the title clearly, but I think it is going to be named "The Sworn Sword".
[Note: The following reports come from the Elf Fantasy Fair in the Netherlands, where Martin was involved in being interviewed and answering questions afterwards, taking part in a panel with other authors, presenting a lecture, and a signing.]
I was at the Fantasy Fair this afternoon where GRRM had a lecture, not about ASOIAF btw, so you didn't miss a thing that you couldn't have read somewhere else ( it was a recap of Science Fiction books from the 50's to the 80's). At the end it became worthwhile after all, because we could ask some questions. A question was posed about ASOIAF of course, about the storyline and release date.
He stated that it was "definitly behind schedule" and then started to proceed with some reasons, which most of us here know, about the Dance for Dragons, 5-year gap thing, and how that initially delayed things and how flashbacks would never work. Still, it became apparent that things hadn't been going all that well but GRRM didn't give a date. Yet. At the end someone else asked about a specific release date (again) and GRRM said that "I really have no idea. There's no way of saying right now, might be in Spring 2003, might not. It's a big book".
There was another question about the number of books, if he could keep it to seven, a question most of us here must have heard posed a hundred times before. And again, GRRM said he'd keep it to six, while Parris, stepping up, said that it would definitly be seven. Which I think means that it *will* be seven books, because I don't see any reason why she would be so adamant about over and over (unless they're being Impish again and again).
[Note: This is GRRM's reply to a mail informing him that DOORWAYS, an SF pilot he was involved in, was finally making an appearance on American television.]
Hot damn! I had no idea. Shows you how well they keep you informed.
I am pleased it's finally going to get seen by an American audience... albeit only on cable, and nine years too late.
Interesting to reflect that DOORWAYS was the project that caused me to put A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE on the shelf for two years. If DOORWAYS had never happened, I might be finished with ICE AND FIRE by now... or at least I'd be one book further on. On the other hand, if DOORWAYS had gone to series, A GAME OF THRONES might still be sitting gathering dust in my file cabinet, along with BLACK AND WHITE AND RED ALL OVER.
Have you come back from Spain? Did you enjoy? I go to Spain quite once a year and the only thing I remember with love is fish...
I loved Spain, and hope to visit again. But the next country in my travel plans is the Netherlands, followed by the Czech Republic.
The sun shines and I will spend my afternoon reading the discussion
about ASoIaF in internet.
One topic in particular has caught my attention:
- Has GRRM ruined Fantasy?
... picking up new Fantasy books, I am having immense difficulty finishing them - I'm constantly thinking "Martin writes better," "Martin's characters are better,"...
(Bloody well obsessed as everyone. Do you imagine what sorrow when the saga will end definitely? Think carefully about it)
Anyway I haven't difficulty finishing boring books, my problem is finding something enough valuable to be brought home (like a dog). I think, yes, in some ways you have spoiled Fantasy market, now re-considering my favourite books I don't see them so well developed as
before. It's your fault.
There's still a lot of great fantasy out there. Try Robin Hobb. Try the later books of Guy Gavriel Kay. Try Tad Williams. Try Jack Vance, still the greatest living fantasist.
A part from gossips, I agree with them you gave an uncommon depth to all female characters; and this is something not easy to find in Fantasy books, where women are usually beautiful princess, warrior princess or similar cliché.
I try. Thanks, that's high praise.
Today I have some questions:
1) Can a woman marry without someone (father, king or anyone) that stands for her? Or they are passed from hand to hand like horses as Cersei showed to Sansa, and that's it?
Well, the truth is somewhat in between. But yes, fathers have a lot to say about who a girl marries... a widow, however, especially an older one with property or a title, might have a deal more say.
2) The mixture called Tansy (or something similar, I haven't the book to check, so please forgive any names' distortion) is truly an abortion mixture or something you have invented?
No, it's real enough. Tansy and pennyroyal are two powerful (and DANGEROUS) natural abortifactants. Carelessly used, however, they can kill, so I was purposely vague and added a few fantasy touches to "moon tea." I did not want anyone trying them in real life. A web search will turn you plenty of both of them.
3) Speaking about women there's is a hidden figure: Ned's mother, you only say "she was Lady Stark and she died". Nothing more? Nothing important or something too important? (please at least choose one hypothesis).
If there is anything important, I will reveal it in due time.
(Did Tolkien ever get letters asking about Aragorn's mother, I wonder?)
4) When you say: bastard's sword, do you mean an half hand sword with general historical measures, or Jon's Long Claw has different size?
A "bastard sword" was a genuine historical term for a hand-and-a-half sword, larger than an ordinary broadsword but not large enough to be a true two hander.
5) The temperature on the Wall?
Cold.
6) How old is Howland Reed?
He'd be in his thirties.
7) And how would have been Ashara Dayne?
Ditto.
8) A part from Tyron, is there any female character you love more than the others?
Oh, probably Arya... but as with the men, I love them all.
A lot of females on stage in A FEAST FOR CROWS, by the way. The women are taking over...
there's a lot of stuff in the forum after WorldCon in Philadelphia!
- The next book in the ASoIaF series will be called A Feast for Crows.
Good title, I'm afraid the Italian translation will spoil it. Anyway, I'd prefer crows rather than dragons.
A FEAST FOR CROWS is next, but A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will follow.
- There will NOT be a 5 year gap.
Well, it will be easier to understand the whole story.
True. Couldn't make the gap work.
- There will be 2 new PoVs - Cersei and another PoV.
Firstly, the not revealed new PoV, is someone Known or completely unknown? Can you tell me?
Someone known.
I hope Cersei will not became a "saint".
Small chance of that.
Anyway, it will be very interesting see her POV. I like her evil and frustrated, that Sansa-chapter where she told how disappointed had been when Jaime and her had grown up was illuminating. I've read your chapter's summaries in the forum, I regret not being there, I could have tried to kidnap you and made you read again!
Ah! I was forgetting: I loved the Spanish interview appeared on El Pays! Spanish is warm and suits perfectly your words; I've asked them for some information to get the other books in Spanish.
I don't think the Spanish editions are out yet... but soon, I hope.
Go on writing, and do not complain. You know? One day we will make you write the 7th...
PS: I've written so you many times and I don't know nothing about
the "small things".
For examples: favourite food, colours, season, where you write, how and when (day or night), any animals?
Two cats and a dog. Write best in the morning. Autumn is my favorite season, purple is my favorite color, and I've never met a food I didn't like.
Let me begin by saying how much I have enjoyed your "Song of Fire and Ice" series, and how much I am looking forward to the succeeding volumes.
Since I have two degrees in Geography and I work with maps, whenever I read a book, I am obsessed with the spatial relationships between cities/locations/continents/etc. I have a few geographic questions for you, if you would be so kind as to answer (although I understand you not answering if an answer would give away a plot detail).
1) Are we ever going to see a full map of your world, showing Westeros, the Summer Sea, the Jade Sea, etc?
There will be new maps in each book, so the pieces will gradually come together... but I am not sure that I will ever do a map of the entire world.
I like the idea of far off realms being fabulous places, and the maps getting vaguer out toward the edges... as they did in real life. "Here There Be Dragons," and all that.
2) What is the approximate distance between Westeros and Valyria (shown in the map labeled The Lands of the Summer Sea). Also, what general direction would you head if you travelled from Westeros to Valyria?
To get to Valyria from Westeros you would likely have to go south a bit, then hang a left and head east.
3) Along those same lines, how far is it from Valyria to the 9 Free cities? Are the 9 Free Cities located in the general area of Qarth on the map "The Lands of the Summer Sea"?
No, the Free Cities are much closer to Westeros than to Qarth. Several of them are just across the narrow sea -- Braavos, Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys.
The others are a bit further east.
4) What did the Broken Arm of Dorn connect to? Was it the eastern continent? Did it connect somewhere around Sothoryos?
It was a land bridge that connected Westeros to the eastern continent.
Sothoryos is the southern continent, roughly equivilent to Africa, jungly, plague-ridden, and largely unexplored.
5) Does Westeros connect to the eastern continent through the north?
No.
I hope that helps. Keep reading.
I have a few questions for you.....
1) I live in NYC. R u ever going to come to the city so i can meet you and get a book signed? I hope so!
I have family in Bayonne and often visit the NYC area, but no NYC bookstore has ever expressed any interest in having me sign there.
2) I was wondering if you could tell me if Euron CrowEye is a faceless man himself or if he simply hired a faceless man? Will we see more of Euron? He seems like a great idea for a character and id love to see you develop him somemore.
Euron is not a faceless man. Yes, you'll see the Crow's Eye in A FEAST FOR... hey, what a coincidence...
3) Is your world round. I mean if Dany traveled far enough east couldnt she come to the other side of westeros?
Yes, the world is round. Might be a little larger than ours, though. I was thinking more like Vance's Big Planet.... but don't hold me to that.
Oh, stupid fan question. I've been trying to get a visual of what the Quarth look like in my mind. In terms of what race they might be in our world. Tall and pale but I don't believe their hair color was mentioned. Would they be Western European looking? Slavic? Whenever their culture is mentioned I always think of either Persian or Indians.
I have tried to mix and match ethnic and cultural traits in creating my imaginary fantasy peoples, so there are no direct one-for-one correspodences. The Dothraki, for example, are based in part on the Mongols, the Alans, and the Huns, but their skin coloring is Amerindian. The Qartheen are an even more exotic hybrid, and offhand I don't recall where I got all the cuttings.