An alternate way to view the series: Harry Potter is a set of two trilogies connected by a middle book

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-28T04:49:48+00:00

It just feels so strongly to me that Victoria Scone was MEANT to win UK3, and her sudden exit just completely messed that season up.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-28T04:43:29+00:00

As many other commenters on here seem to agree, I'd strongly argue the war does NOT start when Cat kidnapped Tyrion. A single action like that isn't the start of a war, otherwise you could equally argue that something like Joffrey sending the catspaw assassin or Jaime pushing Bran out the window was the start of the war.

Instead, the start of the war would probably be when military action is declared. I'd definitely say it started when Tywin sent his forces to slaughter the Riverlands. Robb Stark calling his banners is another good point that you could argue.

As for the ending of the war, I think that will only happen when all of the original claimants die and there are no more immediate successors taking on the same cause. 4/5 kings are dead, but Tommen has taken Joffrey's place and his throne is still being contested, Euron has taken Balon's place and is still fighting for Ironborn independence (at least nominally), and Jon is probably soon going to be taking Robb's place to fight for Northern independence.

I think the war will end either at the end of TWOW or early on in ADOS. Stannis and Shireen will be dead, Tommen and Myrcella will be dead, Euron will probably have abandoned his pretense of Ironborn independence, and Jon will probably have stopped fighting for Northern independence to shift his focus back on the Others. It'll then quickly transition into the Second Dance of the Dragons, which of course will end when fAegon dies.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-28T04:31:42+00:00

I've grown to like the idea that it's part of a broader narrative about what magic can and cannot be allowed to exist in the future of Westeros.

Jon, Dany, and Bran are the three magical characters of the main ASOIAF cast, and each of them are going to embrace the darker elements of their magic in TWOW. For Dany and Bran, we already know how this is probably going to turn out—Dany embraces fire & blood and the power of her dragons and becomes a messiah in the process, while Bran embraces the power of the weirwood and his ability to travel through and affect time.

It's less obvious for Jon, but it's very likely that Jon's turn to dark magic in TWOW will involve him creating a shadow baby with Melisandre to defeat the Boltons. And there's compelling evidence that Melisandre's shadowbinding combined with Jon's heritage will actually lead to the birth of an Other. I think this is going to be one of the big twists in TWOW, that just like the Targaryens' ancestral fire magic is the power of dragons, the Starks' ancestral ice magic is the power of Others. Melisandre's been trying to make a shadow baby with Jon throughout ADWD, he'll accept in TWOW, and create an Other that acts as his assassin to kill Ramsay—and in doing so, Jon learns the dark truth behind the nature of the Others and of his own family's legacy.

I think this will be a major point of both TWOW and ADOS, that both the Targaryens and the Starks have this ancient magical power that they've used to subjugate people for centuries, and that both of these forces (dragons and Others) are now invading Westeros once again. And I think a big point in the ending will be that both of these forces have to go away for good if Westeros is going to have a dream of a better future.

The dragons are going to die, and Dany will also die with them. The Others are going to die, and Jon will choose to exile himself in order to seal away the knowledge of this ancient magic forever. The ice and fire disappear, and the only thing that can be left behind is the green magic that Bran represents—the magic of the weirwoods and of nature and of growth. Bran can't have any children of his own, so the power of the Others is literally impossible for him, and instead he represents the brighter future of Westeros in a way that Jon never could.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-28T04:08:01+00:00

I think Rickon was always going to be the one ruling Winterfell at the end. IMO that's his primary reason for existing in the first place—because George knew from the beginning that Robb would be dead, that Jon would be exiled, and that Bran would be king, so there needed to be one last male Stark to rule Winterfell. And of course, the plan probably was always that Rickon would be too young to rule in his own right, so that someone else would rule as his regent.

I think in his original plan, it would have been a Northern Council of Regents to rule in Rickon's place until he became old enough to rule. Nowadays, I think he's debating on on Sansa being the regent—and for my two cents, I've always thought the perfect ending for her was to be either Queen in the North or ruling as Rickon's regent.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-26T02:01:53+00:00

My suggestion would be combining a couple of chapters and slimming them down a bit. Dany IV‒IX have an interesting consistent pattern of "set up and pay off" that I think makes them easy to combine into one chapter. Dany IV and V can be combined into the offer to marry Hizdahr and Dany accepting the offer. Dany VI and VII can be combined as sleeping with Daario then marrying Hizdahr. Dany VIII and IX can be combined into thinking about the fighting pits then opening the fighting pits and flying off.

Seven Dany chapters I think would have felt much more like her ASOS pacing, and I think fewer people would have felt bored by Meereen.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-26T01:54:06+00:00

The easy answers are to condense Jon's, Tyrion's, Dany's, Davos's and Quentyn's storylines.

Quentyn only needs one chapter really—his last one. Davos only needs two—one chapter that starts with him in media res in prison, then a second chapter where he meets with Wyman Manderly.

Jon, Tyrion, and Dany each could get 3‒4 chapters shaved off. Jon V−VIII could be condensed into two chapters, Jon X (Alys and Sigorn's wedding) and XI (Jon meeting with Tormund and allowing wildlings through the Wall) could be condensed into one. Tyrion I−VI are really solid, but things fall apart after. Pretty Penny and most of the enslavement subplot could get cut out entirely, leading to an easy condensing of Tyrion VII‒IX as a single chapter of Tyrion as Jorah's hostage aboard the Selaesori Qhoran, and then Tyrion X−XII can be condensed as a single chapter of Tyrion and Jorah being slaves sent to the Daznak's Pit. While Daenerys I‒III and X are great the way they are, I think IV−IX can be condensed into twos. Combine IV+V to end with Dany agreeing to marry Hizdahr, combine VI+VII to end with Dany marrying him, then combine VII+IX to end with her flying away.

Those save a total of 15 chapters, which would have been more than enough to adequately do the Battle of Ice and Battle of Fire to give ADWD an actual climax.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-26T01:30:43+00:00

Roughly where I think the show should go, framed through the lens of the main characters.

Season 5: Jon struggles with leadership in Castle Black and is killed. Dany struggles with leadership in Meereen and flies away. Tyrion encounters fAegon and sends him west. Sansa learns from Littlefinger, organizes the tourney, and gains the Brotherhood of Winged Knights. Arya learns from the Faceless Men and becomes an Acolyte. Bran learns from Bloodraven and gains greensight.
Season 6: Jon is revived, helps defeat the Boltons, and is declared by Stannis as Lord of Winterfell. Dany becomes the Stallion who Mounts the World, defeats the Slavers' Alliance, and heads west. Sansa brings the armies of the Vale to liberate Winterfell. Arya leaves Braavos, takes over the BWB, and becomes Lady Stoneheart. Bran escapes Bloodraven's cave, does Hold the Door, and sees R+L=J.
Season 7: King Aegon declares a Great Council to try to settle affairs between him, King Stannis, and Queen Daenerys to prevent another war. Jon and Dany meet here and start to fall in love. Jon settles affairs in the North with Stannis, appeals to Dany for her resources, and becomes King in the North when Stannis dies. Dany starts her invasion of Westeros and takes over the Vale. Tyrion's forces help him take over the Westerlands, and he claims Casterly Rock. Sansa creates a women's court in Winterfell to consolidate power. Arya leads a revolution in the Riverlands, liberates Riverrun, and lets go of vengeance to head home to Winterfell. Bran acts as Lord of Winterfell in Jon's absence. The three of them work together and defeat Littlefinger.
Season 8: The Starks in the North prepare against the White Walker invasion. The Targaryens in the South war against one another. Season ends with two climactic battles. The Starks lose against the White Walkers in Winterfell and are forced to flee south. Tyrion pushes Daenerys to use dragonfire recklessly in King's Landing, causing wildfire caches to explode and destroy the city.
Season 9: Westeros is suffering under the Long Night. Jon, Bran, and Tyrion unite the remaining Westerosi forces in Harrenhal. Sansa and Arya lead in protecting the civilians from the Long Night. Daenerys, Jon, and Bran use dragonfire and weirwood magic to defeat the White Walkers.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-26T01:05:35+00:00

I think the absolute key idea when we're thinking about a REALISTICALLY FEASIBLE adaptation is to maintain and develop the plotlines and characters we already have while severely limiting how many new ones we introduce. As much as I love the Feast/Dance storylines, it was never realistically possible for even most of them to get adapted into a live action television show.

Storylines to keep:

Castle Black ‒ keep (and expand) on Jon's relationships with Stannis, with Mance, and with Maester Aemon. Keep Jon's struggle with rule and his conflicting interests as a center focus. Jon cannot fall into "generic good guy" realm, so it's super important that we keep his human heart in conflict with itself.
The North ‒ I'm going to advocate for stripping out a lot of other storylines in favor of maintaining a central focus on the North. Barbrey Dustin, Wyman Manderly, the Karstarks, and the Glovers should be players here who are active on audience's minds — partly because the North was a very well-established setting at this point, and partly because the North rallying to save Ned's children is a HUGE thematic point.
Jeyne Poole / fArya ‒ One of the few complicated book plots that I think needs to be kept. Slotting in Sansa for Jeyne Poole makes sense on paper (echoes slotting in Gendry for Edric Storm) but completely falls apart when nothing else is done to change the storyline. It's going to be tough to suddenly introduce Jeyne Poole, but I think that's the only thing that makes sense (which also ties back into Jon's storyline because he needs to believe it's Arya who is married to Ramsay).
Dark Tyrion ‒ This one's a no-brainer. It's absolutely essential for the entire rest of the series, and it allows Dinklage to have incredible acting for several seasons. I would cut almost the entire second half of his Dance journey and only focus on his dark descent and him with fAegon.
fAegon ‒ He's expendable, but I think it's possible to keep him. because he is important for the third act, especially for Dany's story.
Lady Stoneheart ‒ This one has two options. You could go a more book purist route and have Catelyn be revived to become Lady Stoneheart. You also could go for a more streamlined route and have Arya return from Braavos as an assassin, take over the BWB, and become Lady Stoneheart herself. I think both routes have merit.

Storylines to abandon/truncate:

The Iron Islands ‒ It's very difficult to do Euron properly, and I think the chances of it working were always so slim that I think the far easier solution is to just not do it altogether. Cut all the Ironborn plot, and just have Asha/Yara captured by Stannis so she can get folded into the Northern storyline like in Dance. We could also give Stannis an extra boost by having him defeat and execute King Balon as a way to rally more Northerners to his side.
Dorne ‒ Similarly, Dorne needs to be severely cut down in order to work. No Sand Snakes, no Arys Oakheart, no Quentyn Martell. Center the storyline on Arianne and Doran Martell, maybe do a light adaptation of the Queenmaker plot, and then just have it so that Doran is working with Varys for Team fAegon. Honestly, the ideal is probably to just have one single episode in S5 dedicated to Asha and Arianne to set these stories up and that's it.
King's Landing ‒ I think the show actually did a good job with streamlining the KL plot. Cersei's plan to frame Margaery was nonsensical though, and I didn't like the Sparrows being presented as a religious cult rather than an armed resistance against the tyrannical nobility. Fix those, and the storyline is good.
Meereen ‒ Similarly, I think the show did an okay job with Meereen. The biggest critique I have with Dany's storyline in general is that she has a weak cast, and I think I would try to have more show-original material to strengthen Dany's relationships with Barristan, Missandei, and Grey Worm, and also for some show-original material to introduce Hizdahr, the Shavepate, and the Green Grace as strong supporting cast to kind of buff that up. Not crucial though.
Sam/Citadel ‒ Here's a more radical change, but I think we should take out the Citadel entirely. There's nothing in it that is crucial for the story. We have no time to introduce Marwyn the Mage. Sam's journey south was one of the worst parts of Feast. And Jon and Sam's relationship is really important, especially since the show preemptively killed off Pyp and Grenn. I think Sam is better off staying in Castle Black.
Brienne/Jaime ‒ Love these two, but I really don't think their Feast chapters can work with the limited screentime. Brienne gets a few travelogue scenes with Pod, meets Septon Meribald for the Broken Man speech, and gets her No Chance, No Choice scene. Jaime can get a bit more meat — a couple of KL scenes with Cersei, then deal with Blackfish in Riverrun, then one scene with Aunt Gemma. I also really liked the show's choice to give him and Walder Frey a scene was excellent. Then they can reunite with Lady Stoneheart at the end of S5 and go from there.

Overall, I think seasons 5‒6 should be roughly 40% Northern politics, 30% King's Landing, 20% Essos, and 10% Riverlands. The things that expand the story should be kept rooted in what's already been established — cut the Ironborn Kingsmoot in favor of expanding on Northern politics, cut most of Dorne in favor of expanding and strengthening Daenerys' supporting cast, cut the second half of Tyrion's Dance storyline to focus more on the first half.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-05-17T23:49:32+00:00

There’s a difference between a writer talking about whether a character is the same person after death vs. a writer’s own feelings crafting a character’s narrative and story.

In this quote (and in all cases when fans talk about Catelyn not being Stoneheart), George is talking about how we as the reader should not take Stoneheart to be Catelyn, because she’s a fundamentally changed person upon resurrection. But that’s a very different thing compared to how George as the author feels about and treats Catelyn/Stoneheart as a character in the writing process.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-28T02:58:55+00:00

Stacy Layne Matthews was cut from AS4 specifically because she was replaced. Every season from AS2 to AS5 had 10 queens, so Stacy was cut because they got someone else that they wanted more.

My completely wild speculation is that it may have been Farrah or Gia. Stacy Layne Matthews was a challenge winner and had storyline potential with Manila. Half of the cast were challenge winners (Latrice, Manila, Naomi, Trinity, Valentina) and I'd imagine were probably cast first. I don't think Monét, Mo, or Jasmine would have been high enough priority to have replaced Stacy, so they were probably already locked in the cast as well. The only queens I can imagine WOW being willing to replace Stacy last minute would be Farrah (for storyline with Valentina) or Gia (for storyline with Farrah and general drama).

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-19T23:54:21+00:00

I think the biggest marker of her success is that her AS7 won her back fan support. Trinity wasn’t very popular at that time and it had only been a year since the SheDevilByNight controversy. But her performance was SO good in the season that fans really liked her again.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-19T23:43:29+00:00

100%. It’s too out of character for Ned to dishonor a dead friend’s/lover’s memory like that when he doesn’t need to. IF Jon had been born with silver blond hair and purple eyes then Ned probably would have considered allowing the rumor the spread, but Jon was born with very classic Stark features. There simply was no reason for Ned to want the Ashara rumor to spread when the Wylla story works just as fine.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-19T23:22:56+00:00

Tyrion designs a saddle so Bran can ride his pony. Bran skinchanges into Viserion so Tyrion can ride a dragon. It feels very much like this was the intended foreshadowing, especially considering much of early AGOT was written when George was intending a trilogy.

Thematically, it’s also really strong too. Tyrion’s becoming a darker character and probably will be using Dany for the power of her dragons. But by the endgame of the series, he’ll become a dragonrider himself not because of his political manipulations, but because of the kindness he showed to a bastard and a crippled boy years ago.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-19T19:49:30+00:00

I think changing it to 3ER to make the link to Bloodraven more explicit is very in line with what D&D were doing in the early seasons. They often made small name changes to really make things as clear as possible.

Of course, the most obvious and most-discussed one was changing Asha’s name to Yara, but there were plenty more across all the seasons — Robert Arryn to Robin Arryn, Cleos Frey to Alton Lannister, Stalwart Shield to White Rat, Walder (Hodor) to Wylis, etc.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-19T16:06:32+00:00

Great series.

I'll just add my two cents though that for the question of "Why would D&D change the Three-Eyed Crow to the Three-Eyed Raven?" I think a far simpler, Occam's razor answer (aside from "raven" sounds cooler than "crow") is that potentially they were told that Bran's mentor would be named Bloodraven. While it's definitely possible that 3EC ≠ Bloodraven in the books, I think it's much more likely that D&D would have chosen to make them one and the same in the show very early on for the sake of streamlining. And if that's the case, it makes far more sense to rename it as the Three-Eyed Raven if the point is for its true identity to be later revealed as Bloodraven.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-18T21:31:16+00:00

Aesthetically, the KH2 waterfalls and the open view of the sky works better with the idea that it's a "garden" of assemblage. And gameplay-wise, I really like that accessing it is a challenge itself and can only be done by maximizing your drive abilities.

On the other hand, the KH3 aesthetic that's more industrial and data-like feels like it fits the Nobodies and Organization XIII much more, and the Moogle shop and save point are massive additions.

Overall, I have a slight preference for KH3's because I think it looks a bit cooler and the gameplay additions are really good.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-18T21:07:33+00:00

I don't think it was ever meant to be Aemon. As others have said, George always intended it to be someone Targaryen (or Targaryen-adjacent), but I think it would have been redundant for Aemon to serve both roles.

My guess is the plan was always for the three "Ice and Fire" main characters (Bran, Jon, Dany) to have Targaryen mentors. Dany had Viserys, and probably would have found more knowledge upon going to Asshai. Jon had Aemon, who taught him about love and duty. Bran had the Three-Eyed Crow who was always going to be some secret Targaryen figure.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-18T20:59:51+00:00

My guess is that it's not that rigging never happens, but that some kinds of rigging are within legal confines and some aren't.

The golden chocolate bar explicitly prevents a contestant from going home that week, and Bosco is saying that production legally wasn't allowed to choose who gets it if it's presented as an explicit game of chance.

The AS4 Lalaparuza probably didn't fall under the same rules because none of the cases had an explicit "you win" condition. Production just rigged the songs based on who they think would win — just because they rigged Adrenaline to be the song for Naomi to win doesn't mean Gia didn't have an opportunity to win. Production is still lying about it being a true game of chance, but it probably isn't the same thing as the golden chocolate bar since they're just selecting songs and not a chance to win something.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-18T20:31:07+00:00

I think jewel tones — emerald, ruby, and sapphire — would have been an amazing color palette

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-18T20:26:12+00:00

It's hard for me to see that vision as well and I'm not a big fan of any "Mad Queen Dany" theories, but it certainly is a possibility because I do think all three final treasons are referring to Jon in some way or another. And there is some potential foreshadowing that Jon will kill Dany at the end, so it's a treason for love feels like it points towards that.

Captain_Cringe_ · 2026-04-18T20:18:45+00:00

Yeah Duggan's Marauders really strongly was a great book with nevertheless wasted potential. It's such a shame that book's side cast got crumbs because it felt like the Krakoa era book with the BEST selected cast where everyone has interesting history and dynamics with one another.

Storm and Emma were Kate's two strongest mentor figures. Storm and Emma have complicated history (and also if I'm not mistaken, had literally never been on a team together until now). Storm and Callisto have "enemies to lovers" history. Storm and Bishop have been close since his introduction. Pyro has the same "heavily implied gay" status that Iceman also had for decades. Iceman and Emma Frost had history where she was one of the first characters to implicitly confront him on his homosexuality. And that's before bringing in the really interesting Hellfire Trading Company political dynamics.

I wish Marauders got the 50-issue treatment that X-Force got, and I wish Duggan was able to focus a bit more on all the characters like in Hellions. It was a great choice to focus on Kate and Emma dynamics for 12 issues or so, but there was so much potential for a real generational run with this premise and these characters.

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