The Glade 4.0

I'm with you, I think thats where he's headed. Martin has even hinted that Jon isn't dead in interviews since the book came out. I think some really dark times are in store for the nights watch, and for the rest of the world for that matter. The last two books have been slow, but I think it's because it's the calm before the storm, the lull between the fighting if you will. I also think that might be why it took Martin so long to finish it. I think it will all start coming together in the next book. Arya definitely has a role to play in the overall outcome, we just had to get to a point where her being capable of pulling off whatever role that may be is believable.

I would say so. It's also why he's silent.

This completely blindsided me, and I'm quite disappointed that I let it. I should have seen it coming, no good ever comes of locking the wolves away from your side. And Melisandre even chastises him for it!

I don't think Stannis is defeated, but could be wrong, here. I suspect Bolton sent that out immediately after he caught Mance's girls, and the Stannis part is either a bluff, or mistakenly assuming that Stannis' Umber ally at the gates was the bulk of his force after it gets annihilated.

Yes. But she's got to become a Faceless (wo)Man first, and that can't be glossed over. I've actually found her training incredibly fun and interesting. Let me tell you, though, the wall of actual faces surprised the hell out of me and completely creeped me out. The cult of the Many Faced God is by far the most interesting death deity I think I've ever read about. Kudos to Martin on that one.

I completely missed that part of the Azor Ahai prophecy. And, to be honest, I was expecting it to be fulfilled by Aegon now that he'd turned back up.

Speaking of, I think that Martin deftly deflected that feeling like a cheap shot. The whole thing with "Griff" and the dyed hair made it pretty obvious that we were dealing with an exiled Targaryen ally, and that (if you could remember the name; I couldn't, but I got the character right) it was Jon Connington specifically. That alone wouldn't have been enough, but a few pages before Tyrion does the reveal, they do slip a few times and call him "the Prince." Which had me really confused, at first, because my first reaction was to go, "These aren't Quentyn's companions!" But I caught on after a little thought, and just in time for Tyrion to do the reveal. So, by letting the reader discover clues on his own to be in on the secret, it doesn't *feel* as much of an arbitrary/lame retcon of known information.

As for Cleganes.. I'm not sure if "zombie" Gregor is accurate. I'm thinking we may see more of a Frankenstein Gregor. I think it's pretty obvious that Qyburn and his rogue-doctoring is at work here, rather than Rh'llor-y zombie magic. So it wouldn't surprise me if the end result is somewhat different. Recall that Zombie Beric could speak, for one (and the reason Zombie Cat can't is because her jaw had rotted off before she was zombified). Gregor's been in Lannister possession the whole time, and died of poison, not violent, skull-crushing wounds or anything. So he wouldn't have the same trouble as Cat. Instead, I suspect that Qyburn's reanimation probably results in a golem-like simpleton, rather than a zombie that retains its wits and personality as Thoros' do.

Arya is totally going to finish her list. Cult be damned. If I get my way, she'll reunite with Nymeria, too.

On to my own thoughts.

I'm glad you guys pointed out the Jon thing. I was definitely panicking. I'm disappointed that Quentyn's logic didn't play out. I would have been pleased for him to end up as one head of the dragon, along with Aegon and Daeny herself. The whole Daenarys ends the books meditating in the wilderness thing was really lame, and would have been even if she hadn't spent an entire book bogging down the interesting plots with boring Meereen. I think it suffers because we recently saw Rand al'Thor end a book similarly. Had GRRM finished aDwD in the year or whatever he suggested in the aFfC prologue, the end of Daenarys' plot wouldn't have been as much an issue, just the middle.

I've enjoyed Tyrion's fate well enough, and have become anxious to see what happens with Aegon. I was really depressed reading Davos' chapters, because he was basically a doomed man based on prior knowledge, up until he has his second talk with Manderly. I'm surprised at Theon's turn-around, so I guess he was well-treated this time around. Jon's plot has been excellent. I'm hoping that his stabbing ultimately keeps him away from abandoning his oaths as he was intending, and that the Tormund and his cadre goes and turns the tide to save (some of?) the Manderlies and the mountain clans among Stannis' forces. In any event, I've been really impressed with Jon's development in character, and the way he's really grown beyond the letter of the Night Watch oath and has gained a broader, more enlightened understanding of their purpose.

Victarion continues to amuse me and remain sympathetic. I worry that he's cavorting too much with the Red Priest with him, and that his Drowned God will begin to disfavor him (I also really like the concept behind the Iron Men's religion). I expect that the dragon horn thingie will be somebody's huge downfall, just like trying to control the dragons with magic came back and bit the Valyrians of old in the ***.

I grow concerned that the old gods of the North may end up being on the sinister, world-devouring end of the Others/Rh'llor conflict that continues to draw the rest of the world into its orbit. I really like the theme, but I've got too many favorite characters really tied up in the old gods/warg/green sight thing to want to find out that the Others are somehow associated with the gods of the North. I'm really hoping that Coldhands or whatever they called him is a thrall-ed Benjen resisting whatever hold the Others have on their thralls. I was hoping that the three-eyed crow would turn out to be him (crow/Night's Watch, and Starks with a family bloodline that has proven warg/greensight tendencies), so now I must settle for the next best thing, which has good (better?) circumstantial evidence as well.

I look forward to Davos' upcoming story, chasing down Rickon and Osha on the island of cannibals.

And I find it interesting that we get yet *two more* possible thread for Jon's heritage, speaking of Davos. So we've got the possible son of Ashara Dayne by Ned, or, now, maybe Brandon! (in which case the stillborn girl was a cover, which makes Brandon more believable, IMO, especially as then we've got the death of Brandon as motivation for suicide). Alternately, we've got the possibility of Ned's son by Edric Dayne's wet nurse, the common girl named Wylla. There's still the theory that some people passionately hold that Jon is Lyanna's son by Rhaegar. And now, also, we've got the possibility of Ned's son by the fisherman's daughter.

Looking at those theories, the Rhaegar/Lyanna one is certainly lent some credit by the new developments re: Jon and Azor Azhai. Blood of kings, and all that. I've always favored theories that put Jon as Brandon or Lyanna's son, to begin with, because it really makes more sense for Ned, for whom the sense of duty and honor has always conflicted with the whole bastard angle. Whereas, you put duty to his loved siblings' kin up against duty to his own wife, and you probably get about the right result...

It really is amazing to me how good GRRM is at making you absolutely hate a character, and then bring him back and redeem him. I really hated Theon for what he did to Winterfell, and thought that even death would be too good for him. Well, Theon went through something much worse than death. Unimaginable mental and physical torture. I think that is what it took to redeem his character. The same is true of Jaime. For books 1 and 2 he was firmly in the "bad guy" category. And yet GRRM managed to redeem him in book 3 as well.

cause Martin lacks an editor.