Last year, George R.R. Martin told fans they could “imprison” him if he had not published The Winds of Winter by a specific date. That day is today, and still, the book is nowhere in sight, leaving Game of Thrones fans once again to wait in disappointment. It’s been over nine years since the release of A Dance with Dragons, the fifth in Martin’s planned seven-volume A Song of Ice and Fire series, which was adapted into HBO’s wildly popular Game of Thrones.
While the long-awaited sixth novel remains in limbo, for the time being, Martin has not been entirely absent from the world of Westeros since the release of Dragons. In 2015 he published A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which collected three previously-written prequel novellas set in the world of Game of Thrones. In 2018, Martin continued building the history of his fantasy universe with Fire & Blood, which goes in-depth on the series’ famous dragon-taming Targaryen family, and which is planned to be adapted by HBO in a series titled House of the Dragon.
Despite these spinoff installments in the series, fans have been forced to wait for the next full-on novel, and that trend continues today. In a post on his blog last May, Martin discussed his intentions to attend this year’s World Science Fiction Convention in New Zealand, which begins today, albeit in a more virtual fashion than initially planned. In the post, Martin promised that The Winds of Winter would be finished by the start of the convention – a promise which has fallen through. You can read Martin’s full quote below.
“But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.”
At the time, Fandom shared Martin’s promise in a tweet that unhappy fans have returned to today to vent their frustrations. One fan, @Chinchillazllla, shared a GIF of Game of Thrones villain Ramsay Bolton saying, “You forgot to ask if I’m a liar. I’m afraid I am.”
The continued postponement of A Song of Ice and Fire’s last two novels, Winter and the tentatively titled A Dream of Spring, has been a point of contention with fans for years. The desire for the sixth book’s release was only amplified by Game of Throne’s final season airing to poor critical and fan reception last year. Many criticized the show’s final arcs for central characters like Daenerys, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Jaime Lannister, and the finale itself was seen widely as lackluster. For everyone disappointed by the show’s conclusion, Martin’s return to Westeros offers a chance for redemption, potentially giving a more satisfying conclusion to the story.
At the very least, George R. R. Martin seems to be currently hard at work. In a recent blog post, he said that his writing has been “going well of late,” but that he still has “a long, long way to go.” For the foreseeable future, fans will just have to keep waiting for The Winds of Winter to be finished.
Sources: George R.R. Martin, @Chinchillazllla
