The idea seems to be that all three houses or dynasties, we could say, are in peril. Of course, the parallels between the three houses are not as huge as one would think from simply watching the three little trailers. House Stark is basically destroyed. It only lives on in hiding and through Jon who can't really be of House Stark anymore as a Lord Commander. House Targaryen has been gathering power, but Dany (as the only official member of the house in the show at this point) is in danger right now. House Lannister, however, still controls the Iron Throne, even if King Tommen is officially a Baratheon. The parallel doesn't go much deeper than: "All three houses are in bad shape."
What I find most interesting here is that the three teasers don't seem to lead up to a fight between any of these three houses that the showrunners seem to consider the most important ones at this point. Jon will face House Bolton, seemingly led by Ramsay Bolton, who seems to be an ally of the crown only in name, really. Dany will seemingly face Dothraki, slavers an probably krakens, while House Lannister will have to deal with the Faith and House Tyrell. I am curious of how the show will try to not let these three story arcs diverge even further. Will they be able to show that this is still one epic story?
Finally there is an official release date. Season 6 of HBO's Game of Thrones will be bach on 4/24/2016. That's three months, two weeks and two days from now. Are you exited, yet? We are somewhat, I guess. We are knee deep in speculation season, anyway. Let's see if mainstream media can go any more crazy about Jon Snow's fate with arguments that have been wielded by people in the know for years. Must be an awesome job.
1. Ned
was never the hero. Therefore, Ned’s death, while having brought home –
together with his eldest son Robb’s death at the Red Wedding – the point that
(nearly) no one is safe, doesn’t mean that Jon isn’t safe, but rather that he
is. Ned was never the hero, and Robb certainly wasn’t either. But Jon is, in a way. Nobody is safe. But Jon is, somewhat. He is either the
Ice in Ice and Fire or he is both Ice and Fire. He might not get his happily
ever after, but he will be right in the middle of the endgame of both the books
and the show.
2. Melisandre.
On the show even more so than in the books, Mel has moved on from Stannis to
Jon. Jon is the savior that she imagined Stannis to be. Why on earth would she
not give him the kiss of life? If Thoros can do it, why not her? Is there
anything she would not sacrifice to save Jon? I guess no. Stannis is most
likely dead on the show and nearly as likely dead in the books. What place in
the story is there for Melisandre without Jon Snow?
3. Ghost
represents Jon’s other possibility of cheating death. We have seen it in
Varamyr Sixskins’ prologue in A Dance with Dragons, where his body dies,
but he lives on in the body of his wolf One Eye. A dying skinchanger might
survive in a different body, especially the body of his own pet. The author
chose to show us that this is possible in the same book in which Jon dies. A
coincidence? Nah. Don’t think so. Why would Jon not instinctively try to
escape to Ghost’s body before he dies?
4. The
teaser trailer that HBO released recently is nearly all about Jon. If Jon were
really out of the picture, why focus on him so much? It’s not that there are no
other important characters to focus on in the teaser. You just don’t produce a
trailer that shows you what you enjoyed the first five seasons just to rub in
the fact that you are not going to get any more of it. A good trailer shows you
something that you want to see more of and that you are going to get more of. The
teaser trailer basically says: There’s going to be more of Jon.
5. There
have been snapshots of Kit Harrington on the set of season six and it is
basically clear that he is still part of the cast for now. Of course, this
could simply mean that there will be flashbacks with Jon in it or that
Harrington will “play” a corpse or a walking corpse. However, the leaked images
of Jon Snow in alleged Stark attire certainly don’t look like it.
6. Keep
your tinfoil hat at hand for this one: Jon’s death might have been planned
by people that do not want to actually see him die. Who might that
be, you ask? Probably Mance Rayder, who also just might be Jon’s father, who
might just happen to be Rhaegar Targaryen. You don’t have any clue, who that
is, Unsullied show audience? Sorry, I can’t help you here. Probably none of
this is true, anyway. Well, probably the last part is. And Mance probably wrote
the Pink Letter. You don’t know what that is, either? Probably you want to
consider reading the books?
7. This is
connected to number 6. If Jon were to die and not come back in any shape or
form, the whole mystery about Jon’s mother (or father for that matter) would
most likely amount to nothing at all in the end. The most famous ASoIaF
theory would just be left hanging, never to be shown to be true or false. R+L=J
would be a non-issue, because everybody interested in the truth would be
dead. There have been way too many hints throughout the books and the seasons
of the show for that to happen.
8. It has
been said that ASoIaF and, by extension,GoT is about
Rhaegar Targaryen. A man that died more than a decade before the story even
begins. If that’s true, Rhaegar can’t be out of the story from this point on,
but he would be if Jon is indeed dead. On the show, he is most likely Rhaegar’s
only offspring and, therefore, the only person who might fulfill the prophecies
that Rhaegar held so dear. If Aegon VI is indeed fake in the books, as most
people seem to think, the same is true there.
9.
Bloodraven. The fashionable answer to all questions concerning ASoIaF or
GoT nowadays. The equivalent of attributing anything that can’t be
readily explained at first glance to “aliens”. But in this context, Bloodraven
might actually make sense as an answer. Bloodraven has been in contact with
Maester Aemon and, at least through the former, with Rhaegar. It’s reasonable
to assume that both were fighting the same fight at some point. Bloodraven is
with Bran, so he is linked to Jon in at least two ways. Bloodraven and Bran
are most likely keeping an eye on him with some weirwood magic at the ready.
10. There
might not be very strong plot armor in this story, but maybe there is something
like prophecy armor? Most people seem to assume that somebody will have to
fulfill all these prophecies, especially four of them: The prince that was promised,
the Last Hero, Azor Ahai reborn and the dragon has three heads. Jon is a likely
candidate to fulfill or at least be a part of the fulfilling of these
prophecies. Who will fulfill these prophecies if Jon is no more?
11. Jon has
another possible way of cheating death and it is the strangest one: the
Others/White Walkers. Some fan theories claim that as a Stark, a warg and/or as
a Targaryen the Others/White Walkers might turn Jon into an Other/White Walker
himself and he might become their leader. The show has already shown that
turning People into Others/White Walkers is a thing and Crasters sacrifice of
male children to them also occurs in the books, so Jon might actually become
an Other/White Walker, if it is ice instead of fire that saves him.
12. This
last one might apply to the show more than it does to the books. Kit Harrington
is probably the most hyped actor on the show, he is the face of the franchise,
so to say. He has been the center of action during season 5 and he is the king
of GoT memes. They would not write him out of the show, even if George
killed Jon in the books, I’d say. The Rubicon has been crossed. The show has
become an entirely different beast after following the books’ lead relatively
closely for a while. The showrunners simply cannot have any interest in
getting rid of Kit Harrington at this point.
So, here it is. The part that everybody wanted to know about, for that matter. It's the last part of George R. R. Martin's New Year update.
1) The Winds of Winter is not yet done.
2) It will not be out before season six of Game of Thrones.
3) The book is close, but it might just stay like that for a while longer.
4) There will be spoilers, but we will probably not know what's a spoiler, until we have the book in hand.
5) There will be no more deadlines because deadlines don't seem to help the writing process.
What's news about that, really? All of the above is actually just confirmation of what used to be the most likely interpretation of events anyway. For me the real news is this: George has really been feeling the pressure and he is trying to find a new approach that puts him in a better position mentally do get more progress. Part of that approach is giving more information on his writing progress and not having deadlines anymore.
