The delay and potential non-release of George R.R. Martin's "The Winds of Winter" are attributed to the immense narrative complexity of tying up numerous plot threads, the author's "gardener" writing style, and personal factors including his engagement with other projects and his current mindset.
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ground all right hello YouTube we are
going to be talking about Winds of
winner the likelihood of it getting
released maybe it won't get released why
that is and this is kind of a question
that I had from a patreon I kind of took
their question and made it something I
could actually apply to it I will say
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influence is so yeah I just want to put
that out there but again I do want to
take a moment to thank all the people
that do support me on those other
platforms YouTube memberships patreons
I'll have those up on screen but let's
talk about Winds of Winter and why I
think it's been delayed for so long and
if we don't get it what those reasons
are going to be so I've talked a lot
about on this channel some of the
reasons as to why it won't get released
or it's taking so long to get released I
still hold out hope that it will but
let's kind of put everything that I've
done in the past and put it together so
let's think about just in the story our
characters think about all of the
different characters all the immense
amount of stuff that has to happen in
this next book to set up if George wants
to continue with it just being two books
left what those characters have to do I
think the two biggest offenders of this
are Danny and Bran Bran is a character
that we don't know where George is going
with the character he is the most
magical he is the hardest to write he is
a character that is going to have to a
learn how to be in blood Raven position
or basically controlling the knowledge
of the world he's a character that how
does he change as a character getting
all this knowledge how does he take that
knowledge apply it to the story in a
meaningful way that makes it feel like
his journey was worth reading because as
of right now out of the main povs I
think if you pulled the fan base bran
would be their least favorite I can tell
this by when I upload uh Game of Thrones
rereads brand videos always do the worst
I can tell this when I do YouTube polls
he's the worst or the least the one that
people like the least okay and so when I
think about the character of bran George
has to do so much to make this character
feel worth it and earned think about the
ending of season 8 season 8 had bran
being the king people hated that because
it wasn't developed to bran as a
character they didn't do enough to make
it feel earned enough for that to be the
outcome whether that was George's
original outcome or not and so bran
right off the bat is one of the biggest
factors because he's so difficult to
right he has a lot of information that
is going to be needed for the story to
work as a whole but if you think about
where bran is in the story he's the
furthest North and by the end of this
book we have to have a lot of our forces
coming together probably not even in the
north so bran has a lot to do in a very
short amount of time so then apply that
to Danny again I've made a video on both
of these characters relating to Winds of
winner but Danny Danny is being C
captured by the doth raki at this point
she has to either one escape the doth
raki doesn't seem as likely I think it's
she's going to basically take over the
doth raki as their
kisi so she's got to get them back to
Marine she's got to fix the Marine plot
with getting the dragons back to
basically under her control somewhat she
has to put in the next government while
she's gone she has to deal with the sons
of the harpies she has to deal with the
slavers and the uh Siege that's going on
right now she has to deal out with the
Fallout of all these new characters and
people coming to Marine like victarion
like Tyrion we need all of that to
happen while we also need her to begin
her journey to westos Andor get to
Dragon Stone by the end of the
book that is insanely difficult to do
and how do you achieve that right do you
achieve that by oh you have flashbacks
so you go forward in Danny chapters and
then you kind of flashback tell us what
kind of happened the last few days we
see this in Danny chapters before this
is not something that's unheard of in
book one this is something that Danny
does like recount right she recounts
events that happened prior because
George didn't want to tell them on
screen like we needed to progress the
story so then in that point we could
also then go back and tell that other
part of the story that's something that
George could do so right away you have
two main characters that have a lot of
work to do in the next book and it's
going to be very difficult to get them
from point A to point B but outside of
that we also have a ton of povs and I
don't think this is as big of an issue I
know other people think this is a big
issue for me it's not as a big of an
issue because when you think about all
these povs a lot of them maybe not a lot
of them but a good amount of them could
get killed off in this next book we
could also see a situation in which we
just start all getting all these povs
together and then you don't need to have
all these different plot lines right
because it's more like how do we
condense all of our plot lines into
maybe like 10 plot lines down to like
three or four like how do we go from A
Storm of Swords level plot lines or
Feast for Crows level uh in dance plot
lines down to like a Game of Thrones
plot lines where Game of Thrones plot
lines you kind of had a couple to start
the story right you only had like a
handful so that's what I'm talking about
like so for instance when you think
about book one you have Ned Aria and
Sansa all in King's Landing that all
functions to tell the story of King's Landing
Landing
if you have all of our factions
Gathering into the riverlands eventually
you're going to have all of them telling
the same plot line but just in different
povs so for instance by like the
midpoint of the book If a lot of our
Northern people are together like Davos
like John like Mel um like maybe Arya at
some point if you have all of these
Theon Asha if you have all these povs
together eventually you don't need to
see as many of these povs maybe we get
one or two povs of Asha Maybe one or two
of Davos like that's what I think that
part of it is like yes it's going to be
difficult to get all of them together
but once George does get a lot of these
povs together it's much easier to tell
the story but the povs are an
issue U maybe a minor issue but I think
still an issue when you look at where
all of our povs are right there's just a
lot that has to happen Arya is still in
Bravo she needs to get to weros and then
probably some stuff's going to happen
the riverlands and then meet up with the
rest of our crew right so A lot's got to
happen there the whole Veil plot has to
get kind of shed up a lot of our
villains in the story have to be gone
right Roose Bolton and the boltons can't
be alive in the story when the others come
come
over the phrase probably will have to be
dealt with given that they are a main
part of the transportation of our forces
they got to kind of be wiped out when
you think about other factions right you
kind of almost think Cersei she has to
be off the throne at some point by the
time the others come Maybe not maybe
they go to or George go the show route
but a lot of these things have to be
wrapped up and it is really all of that
weight is being put on Winds of Winter
now let's think of some other stuff just
outside of the story when I look at wins
of winter I think it's a difficult book
to write because I think when you look
at George R Martin's writing style it
seems like he had a pretty wellth
thought out way of writing the first
three books and then after that it seems
like that's when the real gardening
style started to kick in and have a big
impact because Feast for Crows and dance
I think are easier to write than WIS
because a lot of it is reactionary to
what happens in the Storm of Swords
Winds of Winter now is difficult to
write because it's not as it's not a
reactionary thing anymore it's really
taking all these plot lines that were
built up and feast and dance paying them
off but then also setting up the end of
the story so it runs into the really
difficult problem that Clash of Kings
has where Clash of Kings has to be a
reactionary book to book one but also
needs to set up all the big payoffs of
book three so the Red Wedding so tywin's
death so Joffrey's death so all these
big things that happened Jaime's reveal
all that's got to got to be built up in
book two while also book two having its
payoffs to book one and being a reaction
to Ned's death Rob's campaign things of
that nature Danny hatching the dragons
like all of it's got to be kind of
wrapped up in an ice type bow and so I
think when you look at the first three
books I would say and I would argue
Clash of Kings is probably the hardest
one for George to write I think that's
going to be the same case here because
I've always said that the main Series
has a split the first three are kind of
the first segment of the story whereas
book four five six and 7even will all
kind of be the second half where they
kind of repeat right book four and five
in a lot of ways are very similar to
book one and what it's trying to achieve
and so wins of is going to take on that
role of being a Clash of Kings level
style book but just bigger on a grander
scale having to do more and accomplish
more in that set time and that's a very
difficult task to do and then the last
book is really just going to be
finishing the story right how do you
take everything that has been built up
and paying it all off you don't have to
build up anything else anymore it's just
all payoffs Like A Storm of Swords
was and so that kind of takes us out of
the story now at that point I think
that's a lot of the main reasons that
the story is is getting delayed why it's
very difficult for George to write but
when it comes to George himself why
would George be struggling to write and
finish the story well for one George is
someone that now has come into a
lifestyle of of Fame of wealth he's able
to do projects that maybe he was not
able to do when he was just trying to
make a living he's able to write video
games he like Elden ring or he's able to
start up this Cinematic Universe like
House of the Dragon the Duncan egg maybe
even the aegon conquest show he's able
to be involved in all of those things to
ensure that his legacy goes with those
shows even though what should be
happening is his books but you know you
also have to build on the fact that does
George even want to finish his story if
you look at the Way season 8 ended it
was a smack in the face right it was
somebody else telling your story and
doing it in a really poor way that
damaged the legacy of that story of A
Song of Ice and Fire and so that I think
coming off of Game of Thrones was
something that was very huge that
impacted George very negatively I think
George is also in a state of just
negativity you look at his last blog
post that he posted it's very negative
right talking about a lot of death
talking about the current state of the
world it's a very pessimistic way of of
that he is in I think in this point and
how he's going to write it feels a lot
like the Tian character in A Dance with
Dragons where it's just a very negative
outlook on everything taking all these
negative spins and throwing dirt on it
really and so you look at that aspect of
it you look at the fans constantly being
on his case you know anytime he goes on
Twitter to post anything it's oh but
where's WIS at or who cares I want wins
and you know I I don't hate that
sentiment as in you know I want wins as
well but the way I go about it I think
is different from those people I think
those people you don't need to be
constantly badgering the man about wins
of winner if we get it we get it if we
don't get it we don't get it you know
that's just how it is and I also find
that I think George has become more
interested in telling the history of his
story than actually finishing and
telling the rest of his story because
you think about Fire and Blood you think
about Duncan egg you think about the
world of Ice and Fire all of these
things have started to creep up as Winds
of Winter has not come out and we've yet
to see more and more details uh about it
right we we're not getting updates
really about it at all anymore right
about oh he just finished this or he
just finished that even in the last year
it seems like he writ almost nothing on
this story so if it is going to be
delayed or or even more or if it's never
going to come out it's going to come
from a place of lack of
motivation where it's a really difficult
task to
do and you're always giving yourself
ways out right one of the biggest things
that I think when you look at people
trying to lose weight losing weight is a
very difficult thing because it's a
completely different change of mindset
right you're taking what you've been
doing in the past whether that's not
eating whether that's or not eating
right whether that's not
exercising and it's changing that to do
that to put yourself on a schedule only
allowing yourself to eat a certain
amount of things it's a completely
psychological thing to me instead of
physical I think a lot of people think
weight loss and stuff like that is a
mainly physical thing it's in my opinion
it's more a psychological mental thing
of telling yourself to have restraint
things like that and that's something
that I think George R Martin I think
could be struggling with when writing
right like giving himself excuses as to
why not to write right because of the
things he sees on Twitter about wins of
winner because of this or that because
it just seems overwhelming because of
how long he's kind of put it off you
then add that with the fact that he's a
gardener style writer so he could write
something right he could write a 100
Pages or whatnot and then completely
scrap that because it goes against
something else that he wants to do as he
was writing the story Feast for Crows
and dance dragons are products of that
gardening mindset right we talk about
the 5year time skip or whatever that was
originally what was supposed to happen
and so his gardening kind of said you
know what let's not do that and let's
spit up our povs into two books that's
what happened and so things like that
could happen all the time right George
could be sitting down writing a Tyrion
chapter going
wait this doesn't make sense because now
I want to do this so I'm going to take
that away and it's a good and bad side
of George because on one side of it it
allows some of the Great Moments the
great writing that George has given us
throughout the years with the first five
books and even his history books but it
also makes him a very slow writer
because you also got to be thinking
about from a mentality standpoint if
you're trying to write and nothing's
coming to you well you're thinking well
I'll just sit on it right I'll sit on it
and wait for the idea to come to me
instead of trying to force it or trying
to just iron out what the issues are and
what I could do with the character or
characters whatever is causing him an
issue and so that is another part of it
that that is really difficult to look at
and go yeah that's why he's so slow
because George himself when you when he
is ever talking to other book writers he
is someone that struggles with realizing
that these people put out like a book
every year he just cannot do that
because it takes him longer to I think
process what he wants to happen to the
story and it changes so much so yeah you
put that into effect so all these things
are going
on that would really give us a reason as
to why he's not working on the story as
much or finishing it
you then take that and you look at
George's condition physically George is
not a healthy person he is he's very
overweight um which is going to affect
you right when you start getting older
and you know I I again I hope George
lives forever right that that's best
case scenario but looking at
realistically I am someone that can
speak from experience you know I was a
lot heavier right I was considered you
know obese if you go back I if you go
back to like the first video on this
channel with me in it
you can tell I'm much different than I
am now but that's not even close to like
where I was but when you are that
unhealthy you definitely feel like you
just do not feel as motivated you don't
feel like you just feel bad I I don't
know how to explain it you don't feel
like you can do things in my opinion
that's how I felt it's different for
everybody else but I think that could
also be an effect of it right you're
getting older too as well like when you
get older your body starts to break down
it's harder to do things and sit there
and do things for like 8 n hours and
write a story so all of that I think is
is a conflicting part of why George is
struggling to write um the story
finishing the story and you know
hopefully I think I still hold out hope
for wins I think a dream of spring if we
ever get it it's going to be because of
another writer or it'll be because of
something down the line that we just
basically get what George had already
written but it's not actually the full
book type thing
um yeah but let me know what you guys
think I also will say again thank you to
my patreon mark Matthews for um you know
supporting the channel and I hope I did
a good job on the video um I know it
wasn't exactly what you wanted but I did
try my best so thank you guys all for
watching I'll see you guys in the next
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