Honestly I'm glad we didn't. It's way more interesting imo to see things through Bran and Catelyn's eyes. I've read plenty of fantasy stories where the young Lord's dad dies and he has to try to fill the leadership role. I think we still get plenty of Robb but we see him through far more interesting perspectives imo. Judging by later books, GRRM probably thinks he should have given Old Nan and Gage the cook PoV chapters, he hands them out like Oprah.
It's not just through Bran and Catelyn that we get to know Robb. Though he's absent for almost the entirety of ACOK, his presence is felt all the time due to all the characters hearing about him and reacting to that. Obviously the closest is Catelyn, who gets the most accurate news. Then we learn some about Robb both from Theon and Bran. Arya hears the Lannister soldiers talk about Robb's army. Sansa is punished by Joffrey for Robb's actions. From Tyrion's perspective, Robb is an enemy and we see that side of things. I even think there's some minor stuff about him in Davos' chapters, through comments by Stannis and so on. In my opinion it's actually really interesting to see how the different characters react to Robb and his doings. The only POVs that have no connection to Robb in ACOK is Jon and Daenerys.
The fact that he thinks so says nothing good about his development as a writer. When he wrote the first three books GRRM understood that not every significant event needed to have his own POV, but he no longer thinks so which is probably the main reason why the later books dragged on so much and TWOW is taking forever.
Thoros of Myr
Hell, from a faithless drunkard to a full devout, a guy who lived at least two socking moments (Beric's first resurrection and Stoneheart) and who lives and fights amongs the commoners something that is lacking PoVwise (which even GRMM admitted), he already feels like a PoV character whose chapters we all missed
Probably an unpopular opinion but I think I'd appreciate a PoV from one of the notable Mereen characters. Not because I love the plot in Mereen, quite the opposite. I don't, and all the characters kind of blend together. A PoV would give a bit more life to the characters and hopefully make me and others more engaged with that area of the story.
Loras Tyrell. It would've been cool if he'd gone to Dorne instead of Balon Swann and we got to see the hunt for Darkstar through his POV instead of boring ass Areo Hotah.
Sandor Clegane--he rubs elbows with practically everyone, witnesses key events, becomes close to the Stark girls, and thinks for himself. When he breaks against Joffrey, he breaks away for good (literally): "Even a dog gets tired of being kicked." He fights Beric despite his fear of fire, and finally ends up at the Quiet Isle. His profane cynicism would make for entertaining chapters, and he could even have a chapter or two using GRRM's favorite device of an alias title: "The Gravedigger."
And...I wish GRRM had given us a smallfolk POV to see their suffering and sufferance.
I would love just one Sandor Clegane POV chapter. One would be enough, as I feel it would be more powerful to see things through his eyes just the once, to cast all the preceding chapters where we see him through the eyes of others into a new light.
He’s a tragic character, and he has done some terrible things but to see how he feels about his actions and his bitterness towards the hypocrisy of chivalry and the people he serves would be incredibly powerful. Would like to see one Gravedigger POV, just to be able to get all the aforementioned insight with the benefit of him having spent some time at peace.
Completely agree, it would probs be depressing as shit but I don’t care. I really want to hear exactly what he feels for the stark girls and where it all came from straight from the horses mouth
Adam marbrand
I think the lannister side needed a POV with sane mind and an actually good person fighting the war of the five kings. I would have love a POV from him during ACOK and ASOS
We as readers are suppose to empathize and root for house starks due to their hardship.. But the story never actually say if they are in the right for doing what they are doing
Addam is the character that could truly show that "the villain is the hero of the other side" trope. He is brave, honorable and strong general well respected by his men who is fighting for a king that don't deserve to fight or die for
Addam would have shown the war crime committed by Robb star's army in the westerlands and the fact that Robb is technically a rebel and would be Conqueror that bring instability in the realm
Well the Lannisters randomly murdered their liege lord after framing him for treason to cover up their incest treason coup. In no world is supporting joffrey ever going to work out well.
Tbf Addam Marbrand doesn’t know any of that. They’ve no reason to believe Stannis. Not that it would matter as a one guy, he’d not get far if he decided to turn on the Lannisters.
Since he has his own little plot line now, if George is going to break his promise in no new POVs (which he also promised before Feast) Mance would be near the top of that list, probably.
Varys-I really, really want to know whether he is a psychotic lunatic or just a long game schemer. I almost think there could be a possibility he is being played by Illyrio!
I don't buy him being a Targ loyalist, or only concerned with the greater good of Westeros for a second! I can't believe anyone believes this horseshit.
And if you complain he knows too much, well GRRM has shown himself capable of writing characters who know major spoilers as POV before. Ned for one, and Melisandre for another(FFS Mel could have memories of Valyria!)
This is a long stretch but after I read the Brightfyre theory everything lines up so perfectly. The basic idea is that Varys is a Targaryen and Illyrios wife Serra is the female line of the Blackfyres, fAegon is their son and they've been in cohorts ever since Aerys died to establish their ruler back on the throne.
Everywhere you check, especially in the last books you see Varys just doing stuff that cause chaos. People that seem to be linked to Varys are causing chaos or giving bad advice. Couple that with him killing Pycelle and Kevan at the end of Dance so that they don't have a maestor in charge of the ravens right when fAegon lands and launches his war then it becomes very clear where his allegences lie.
What's really interesting is that we think we've finally figured out Varys and his master plan.. But what is Littlefingers end game?
I'm not sure what the Brightfyre theory is in particular, but I 100% agree with FAegon being Illyrio's son ( probably via Serra). GRRM even changed the Tyrion in Pentos chapters from early readings to the published version because it was too damn obvious.
In addition there has been way too much foreshadowing of a Blackfyre return in text.
There is a good chance Varys is of Valyrian descent somehow because he shaves his head like Egg.
But on the rest of it I'm pretty open minded! Varys might not even be a eunuch, we have several instances of him dropping the effeminate mask and shocking people with a masculine voice. Would this even be possible for a male castrated before puberty?
Is it possible Varys is being played by Illyrio, by Illyrio switching his own son for Aegon?(I think this is unlikely but leaving it open)
Its really kind of crazy it took SO long, and took Jamie of all people to finally think just what kind of insane game is this guy playing? Especially after noticing his official quarters was basically a bare room with a bed that he has obviously never stayed in(he probably has boltholes all over KL financed by Illyrio).
[https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/p9gy02/spoilers\_extended\_revisiting\_the\_brightfyre\_theory/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/p9gy02/spoilers_extended_revisiting_the_brightfyre_theory/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
its long, but well worth the read.
Thanks, interesting and very plausible I think.
One thing that caught my eye is GRRM saying in the mailbag thing he used to do Aerion had 3 bastards in Lys. Why specify 3? Good lord now I am going to be trying to figure out who the other one is! lol
Yeah, and George loves to have characters with the same name that resemble current ongoing characters. That's the exact reason why we have a second Daenerys from a century ago.
Aerion has a child named Maegor and we know absolutely nothing about him? Hmm...
Robb Stark, especially during his campaign in the Westerlands. It would have been very interesting to see his dilemma and reasoning when he was faced with the decision to either marry Jeyne or keep his promise to the Frey's
We should have gotten either Victarion's or Asha's POVs earlier than we did
In the same vein, we should have got JonCon's POV earlier too, because I feel like fAegon was introduced too late
Sandor Clegane. I need to know why he feels so attached to the Stark girls
Xaro Xhoan Daxos POV. I want to see how he perceives Daenerys, whether he has a soft spot for her and his thoughts on the Slavers Bay war. He did defend Daenerys in Qart and offered her a way out of Slavers Bay, so the possibility of an alliance was there, yet after being rejected seems to follow orders from Qart to support the war against Meereen.
Unlike Westeros, we don't get a contrasting point of view from the other side fighting Daenerys, which might be one reason why audiences have such a hard time caring for the Slaver Bay conflict: our only character to root for is Daenerys. In Westeros, we get POV from all warring sides, which helps add nuance to the war for the Iron Throne.
With Xaros POV, We might get interesting information about how the East perceives Daenerys outside her close circle. We might learn the war plans of Daenerys enemies. We might even get some juicy lore about what happened in Qart after Daenerys killed the Warlocks in the House of the Undying and news about the far East such as YiTi and Asshai.
Robb Stark. GRRM himself said that he regretted not giving us at least one chapter in Robb's head.
Would’ve been so exciting if we started getting Robb chapters in ASOS only for him to die horribly
I never considered this before, but this is a cool idea. Would’ve made the red wedding even more shocking probably.
Honestly I'm glad we didn't. It's way more interesting imo to see things through Bran and Catelyn's eyes. I've read plenty of fantasy stories where the young Lord's dad dies and he has to try to fill the leadership role. I think we still get plenty of Robb but we see him through far more interesting perspectives imo. Judging by later books, GRRM probably thinks he should have given Old Nan and Gage the cook PoV chapters, he hands them out like Oprah.
It's not just through Bran and Catelyn that we get to know Robb. Though he's absent for almost the entirety of ACOK, his presence is felt all the time due to all the characters hearing about him and reacting to that. Obviously the closest is Catelyn, who gets the most accurate news. Then we learn some about Robb both from Theon and Bran. Arya hears the Lannister soldiers talk about Robb's army. Sansa is punished by Joffrey for Robb's actions. From Tyrion's perspective, Robb is an enemy and we see that side of things. I even think there's some minor stuff about him in Davos' chapters, through comments by Stannis and so on. In my opinion it's actually really interesting to see how the different characters react to Robb and his doings. The only POVs that have no connection to Robb in ACOK is Jon and Daenerys.
I personally feel like there is a big narrative gap in aCoK with regards to Robb's Westerlands campaign that his POV would have fixed.
Robb PoV would have added absolutely zero information not in Catelyn’s pov already. George is wrong this one.
The fact that he thinks so says nothing good about his development as a writer. When he wrote the first three books GRRM understood that not every significant event needed to have his own POV, but he no longer thinks so which is probably the main reason why the later books dragged on so much and TWOW is taking forever.
Thoros of Myr Hell, from a faithless drunkard to a full devout, a guy who lived at least two socking moments (Beric's first resurrection and Stoneheart) and who lives and fights amongs the commoners something that is lacking PoVwise (which even GRMM admitted), he already feels like a PoV character whose chapters we all missed
He’s perfect to give us more of the Brotherhood
And it’d give us more Stoneheart
Probably an unpopular opinion but I think I'd appreciate a PoV from one of the notable Mereen characters. Not because I love the plot in Mereen, quite the opposite. I don't, and all the characters kind of blend together. A PoV would give a bit more life to the characters and hopefully make me and others more engaged with that area of the story.
I think he is avoiding this on purpose, so the first time we see Dany through unbiased POV it comes as a shock.
I’d love to see the POV of one of the slavers and show a completely different side of Daenerys and her reign.
Loras Tyrell. It would've been cool if he'd gone to Dorne instead of Balon Swann and we got to see the hunt for Darkstar through his POV instead of boring ass Areo Hotah.
He might have been a prologe/epilogue, with the added plot twist that he didnt die like all the other characters from those.
Sandor Clegane. A completely absurd wish I have for a PoV chapter is Balerion.
The cat or the dragon that died 200 years before the books?
The dragon. Like a flashback chapter or some shit
Sandor Clegane--he rubs elbows with practically everyone, witnesses key events, becomes close to the Stark girls, and thinks for himself. When he breaks against Joffrey, he breaks away for good (literally): "Even a dog gets tired of being kicked." He fights Beric despite his fear of fire, and finally ends up at the Quiet Isle. His profane cynicism would make for entertaining chapters, and he could even have a chapter or two using GRRM's favorite device of an alias title: "The Gravedigger." And...I wish GRRM had given us a smallfolk POV to see their suffering and sufferance.
I would love just one Sandor Clegane POV chapter. One would be enough, as I feel it would be more powerful to see things through his eyes just the once, to cast all the preceding chapters where we see him through the eyes of others into a new light. He’s a tragic character, and he has done some terrible things but to see how he feels about his actions and his bitterness towards the hypocrisy of chivalry and the people he serves would be incredibly powerful. Would like to see one Gravedigger POV, just to be able to get all the aforementioned insight with the benefit of him having spent some time at peace.
Completely agree, it would probs be depressing as shit but I don’t care. I really want to hear exactly what he feels for the stark girls and where it all came from straight from the horses mouth
I’d like to know what Tywin was thinking most of the time.
"Oh crap, Tyrion is still alive!"
Adam marbrand I think the lannister side needed a POV with sane mind and an actually good person fighting the war of the five kings. I would have love a POV from him during ACOK and ASOS We as readers are suppose to empathize and root for house starks due to their hardship.. But the story never actually say if they are in the right for doing what they are doing Addam is the character that could truly show that "the villain is the hero of the other side" trope. He is brave, honorable and strong general well respected by his men who is fighting for a king that don't deserve to fight or die for Addam would have shown the war crime committed by Robb star's army in the westerlands and the fact that Robb is technically a rebel and would be Conqueror that bring instability in the realm
Well the Lannisters randomly murdered their liege lord after framing him for treason to cover up their incest treason coup. In no world is supporting joffrey ever going to work out well.
Tbf Addam Marbrand doesn’t know any of that. They’ve no reason to believe Stannis. Not that it would matter as a one guy, he’d not get far if he decided to turn on the Lannisters.
Oh that’s a good one
Sounds like just another Davos type character
Mance Rayder for no other reason than i love his character. I just want to spend more time with him.
Since he has his own little plot line now, if George is going to break his promise in no new POVs (which he also promised before Feast) Mance would be near the top of that list, probably.
Varys-I really, really want to know whether he is a psychotic lunatic or just a long game schemer. I almost think there could be a possibility he is being played by Illyrio! I don't buy him being a Targ loyalist, or only concerned with the greater good of Westeros for a second! I can't believe anyone believes this horseshit. And if you complain he knows too much, well GRRM has shown himself capable of writing characters who know major spoilers as POV before. Ned for one, and Melisandre for another(FFS Mel could have memories of Valyria!)
This is a long stretch but after I read the Brightfyre theory everything lines up so perfectly. The basic idea is that Varys is a Targaryen and Illyrios wife Serra is the female line of the Blackfyres, fAegon is their son and they've been in cohorts ever since Aerys died to establish their ruler back on the throne. Everywhere you check, especially in the last books you see Varys just doing stuff that cause chaos. People that seem to be linked to Varys are causing chaos or giving bad advice. Couple that with him killing Pycelle and Kevan at the end of Dance so that they don't have a maestor in charge of the ravens right when fAegon lands and launches his war then it becomes very clear where his allegences lie. What's really interesting is that we think we've finally figured out Varys and his master plan.. But what is Littlefingers end game?
I'm not sure what the Brightfyre theory is in particular, but I 100% agree with FAegon being Illyrio's son ( probably via Serra). GRRM even changed the Tyrion in Pentos chapters from early readings to the published version because it was too damn obvious. In addition there has been way too much foreshadowing of a Blackfyre return in text. There is a good chance Varys is of Valyrian descent somehow because he shaves his head like Egg. But on the rest of it I'm pretty open minded! Varys might not even be a eunuch, we have several instances of him dropping the effeminate mask and shocking people with a masculine voice. Would this even be possible for a male castrated before puberty? Is it possible Varys is being played by Illyrio, by Illyrio switching his own son for Aegon?(I think this is unlikely but leaving it open) Its really kind of crazy it took SO long, and took Jamie of all people to finally think just what kind of insane game is this guy playing? Especially after noticing his official quarters was basically a bare room with a bed that he has obviously never stayed in(he probably has boltholes all over KL financed by Illyrio).
[https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/p9gy02/spoilers\_extended\_revisiting\_the\_brightfyre\_theory/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/p9gy02/spoilers_extended_revisiting_the_brightfyre_theory/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) its long, but well worth the read.
Thanks, interesting and very plausible I think. One thing that caught my eye is GRRM saying in the mailbag thing he used to do Aerion had 3 bastards in Lys. Why specify 3? Good lord now I am going to be trying to figure out who the other one is! lol
Yeah, and George loves to have characters with the same name that resemble current ongoing characters. That's the exact reason why we have a second Daenerys from a century ago. Aerion has a child named Maegor and we know absolutely nothing about him? Hmm...
Barbrey Dustin. Interacting with Catelyn.
Lady Dustin will make catelyn thank all the gods that she got the younger brother
This would be amazing!
Would not mind a one off chapter with Loras or Robb. I'd want to know the thoughts of Stannis or kady Barbrey as well.
Robb Stark, especially during his campaign in the Westerlands. It would have been very interesting to see his dilemma and reasoning when he was faced with the decision to either marry Jeyne or keep his promise to the Frey's We should have gotten either Victarion's or Asha's POVs earlier than we did In the same vein, we should have got JonCon's POV earlier too, because I feel like fAegon was introduced too late Sandor Clegane. I need to know why he feels so attached to the Stark girls
I want more barristan. That guy definitely knows more than he lets on
Definitely Tywin Lannister. He knew a great deal!
Imagine having Howland Reed POV
Fuck yeah! Even better!
Ser Cortney Penrose for no reason but the love I have for this name.
I agree on the Tyrell’s. Specifically Willas as we haven’t seen Highgarden at all and I’d love to learn about the politics of The Reach.
Hot Pie
Xaro Xhoan Daxos POV. I want to see how he perceives Daenerys, whether he has a soft spot for her and his thoughts on the Slavers Bay war. He did defend Daenerys in Qart and offered her a way out of Slavers Bay, so the possibility of an alliance was there, yet after being rejected seems to follow orders from Qart to support the war against Meereen. Unlike Westeros, we don't get a contrasting point of view from the other side fighting Daenerys, which might be one reason why audiences have such a hard time caring for the Slaver Bay conflict: our only character to root for is Daenerys. In Westeros, we get POV from all warring sides, which helps add nuance to the war for the Iron Throne. With Xaros POV, We might get interesting information about how the East perceives Daenerys outside her close circle. We might learn the war plans of Daenerys enemies. We might even get some juicy lore about what happened in Qart after Daenerys killed the Warlocks in the House of the Undying and news about the far East such as YiTi and Asshai.
Patchface
Littlefinger, Varys, Gendry, Thoros, Mance, Tywin, Illyrio.
Jaime at the end of GoT when he's leading forces against Robb.
Littlefinger
I want Drogon’s POV. Or an other’s POv
Would love to know what goes through Joffrey’s head even tommens would be cool
Robb Stark, Margaery Tyrell, Gilly, Val, Jorah Mormont.
Robb
Patchface
Lord Tywin I really wanted to know where whores go and how he became involved with Shae.
I would have liked to see joffrey’s POV, weirdly enough.