And the ADWD prologue character is...

[Werthead]

GRRM attended InConJunction last week and read out the ADWD prologue, a chapter he's apparently struggled with for some time.

Obviously, MAJOR SPOILERS:

The POV character is Varamyr Sixskins, the wildling skinchanger who caused some trouble for Jon in ASoS. He is recovering from his wounds in a hut somewhere north of the Wall, tended by a wildling woman. We learn a lot about Varamyr's life, how he started warging, his tutor Haggen and so forth. We also learn that a lot of the wildlings who fled north after the Battle at the Wall are divided over what to do, whether to raid the Shadow Tower or find ships and go around Eastwatch or go north to Thenn. A commotion breaks out and Varamyr attempts to investigate, but he is too ill. The wildling woman returns, but she is now a wight. Varamyr tries to skinchange to escape his predicament, but is unable to do so, although he has a brief vision of Bran, Meera, Jojen and Coldhands. He finally slips his skin and his soul escapes into his wolfe, One Eye, whilst his body dies. The wolf sees many men surrounding the hut. But they are not men, for they are not living and have glowing blue eyes...



Awesome.

Much more detailed information here.

[Wiggum]

Uh oh.

Nice though, very nice.

[KiwiBird]

Nice indeed, especially since i thought he would not be giving away new chapters, since he felt that he had given half the book already of some earlier volumes because of it

[TK-421]

Holly cr*#. Awesome. This is undoubtedly the best prologue yet.

GRRM also discusses in his Not a Blog: Not A Blog

[Weasel Soup]

Right when I was beginning to become complacent(sp?) with my wait for Dance, we find out Winter may be here. God's be good, I need a beer.

delayed gratification is a good thing (breathe and repeat the mantra)

[Florian the Fool]

I haven't read the spoiler yet. What do you suppose are my chances of getting to publication day without finding out about it? Given that I would like to continue reading and occasionally contributing to this forum?

Why is everybody laughing....

[TK-421]

Once the fool, always the fool

[KiwiBird]

well it wont be a total spoiler, since he is still tweaking it, like a 90% spoiler

[TK-421]

This was posted on his Not a Blog on July 17th:

And I've been working on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS too. Just finished revising the prologue a few hours ago. As I mentioned last post, after reading it at the Indianapolis convention, there were aspects of it that I was not happy with. The new version is a page shorter and much stronger, I think, with a better flow and crisper transitions. I also punched up one element that somehow had gotten lost before... but it was an important element, I believe, so I'm pleased that I was able to strengthen it.

[KiwiBird]

Right, he'd just forgotten about that one element, good one GRRM

[TK-421]

GRRM's Not a Blog says that he read a new version of the prologue at the WFC in NY a couple weeks ago. He says he liked alot more the way it now read. Are there any reports what changes we made? Wert? Anyone???

I am dying for news of what sounds like the best prologue yet.

[Boaz]

TK, it does sound good.

The prologue in AGOT was great. I liked it because it was obvious that the three characters Gared, Will, and Waymar were not major characters. They were going to die and the story soon changed to the Game of Thrones. But the prologue was the real story. Men can fight for or against the Iron Throne, the Seastone Chair, the Lannisters, the Freys, the roses, the wolves, the fish, or King Robert. But the real danger is north. Winter is Coming. The night is dark and full of terrors.

The prologues all deal with the larger picture... the impending clash of the supernatural. AGOT had rangers dying at the hands of the Others. ACOK had the arrival of the powerful hero of Rh'llor. ASOS featured the Others and the wights assault on the Fist. And AFFC told of an assassin who gains access to the secrets of the Citadel, the great repository of learning for the natural and supernatural.

[viZion]

What do you guys think the significance of the title is? Today I was thinking that since there's a lot of speculation about the three heads of the dragons being Dany, Jon, and Tyrion that it might not be a coincidence that the three main characters of the next book are Dany, Jon, and Tyrion. You know, the three dragons dancing their way to power or whatever. Of course, my little theory here makes a lot of assumptions. It could be as simple as the title simply referring to Dany's efforts to train her dragons. Or maybe it's something I haven't thought or heard of.

[Shacklock]

Originally Posted by viZion

What do you guys think the significance of the title is? Today I was thinking that since there's a lot of speculation about the three heads of the dragons being Dany, Jon, and Tyrion that it might not be a coincidence that the three main characters of the next book are Dany, Jon, and Tyrion. You know, the three dragons dancing their way to power or whatever. Of course, my little theory here makes a lot of assumptions. It could be as simple as the title simply referring to Dany's efforts to train her dragons. Or maybe it's something I haven't thought or heard of.

Well its named after the war of the Taergenys. (Spelt wrong I know) Cant remember the details though, beyon that I dunno really.

[viZion]

Originally Posted by Shacklock

Well its named after the war of the Taergenys. (Spelt wrong I know) Cant remember the details though, beyon that I dunno really.

I realize that it's named after that war and the initial speculation was that the title referred to Dany's invasion of Westeros. GRRM said that's not it though. I was just wondering what it might actually be.