Background

Recently I have been posting a bit about GRRM's writing process around the 2003-2004 draft of AFFC. In this post I wanted to move past that a bit and take a look at the POVs that GRRM added in A Dance with Dragons.

If interested: GRRM on What He Tries to do with POV Characters

Previous Book POVs

A Game of Thrones

Original POVs = 8

• Ned Stark
• Catelyn Stark
• Sansa Stark
• Arya Stark
• Bran Stark
• Jon Snow
• Daenerys Targaryen
• Tyrion Lannister

A Clash of Kings

New POVs = 2

• Theon Greyjoy
• Davos Seaworth

A Storm of Swords

New POVs = 2

• Samwell Tarly
• Jamie Lannister

A Feast for Crows

New POVs = 8

• Brienne of Tarth
• Cersei Lannister
• Aeron Greyjoy (mega prologue)
• Asha Greyjoy (mega prologue)
• Victarion Greyjoy (mega prologue)
• Arianne Martell (mega prologue)
• Arys Oakheart (mega prologue)
• Areo Hotah (mega prologue)

If interested: Mega Prologue POV Chapters: Development to their Current Form

A Dance with Dragons

New POVs = 4

Barristan Selmy

GRRM famously chose to add Barristan as a solution to the infamous "Meereenese Knot":

Then there's showing things after [an important event], which proved to be very difficult. I tried it with one point of view character, but this was an outsider who could only guess at what was going on, and then I tried it with a different character and it was also difficult. The big solution was when I hit on adding a new point of view character who could give the perspective this part of the story needed.

where he first tried an "Outsider POV" (likely Tyrion) as well as seemingly trying to expand his use of Quentyn (who has his own section below):

GRRM: Then there's showing things after [an important event (Danys disappearance with Drogon)], which proved to be very difficult. I tried it with one point of view character, but this was an outsider who could only guess at what was going on, and then I tried it with a different character and it was also difficult. The big solution was when I hit on adding a new point of view character who could give the perspective this part of the story needed.

but by adding Barristan as a POV, GRRM was able to use someone who had been in Meereen since Dany's arrival and understood the current political climate, etc. (and potential one who was going to die soon anyways).

There have been two Barristan TWOW chapters that have been "released" in some form. Afterwards GRRM gave some context on his naming convention for some of his post ASOS POVs:

• I asked whether he would comment on his choice to call these chapters “Ser Barristan” instead of continuing with the titles from ADWD, and he replied that he has “a method to his madness” for promoting characters with descriptors to named characters but that he didn’t want to say more.
• He was asked about how some chapters had titles instead of names. He said something along the lines of "There's a method behind my madness, but I'll leave it to you guys to figure out." He said that when an unnamed character becomes named, it means something.

If interested: TWoW Barristan II: A Combination of Fan Summaries, Etc.

Quentyn Martell

Also located in Slaver's Bay, Quentyn Martell's chapters seem like a later add to the story, primarily because there is no mention of Quentyn (as a POV) in any of the drafts for AFFC when they were just one book. That said a Quentyn POV (as with most of the combined AFFC/ADWD reads) ruins some of the suspense of Arianne's chapters (if you know Quentyn is off chasing dragons then you know Arianne's fears of Doran/Quentyn's treachery are completely unwarranted).

For Quentyn, GRRM wrote three versions of his arrival in Meereen:

Now I can explain things. It was a confluence of many, many factors: lets start with the offer from Xaro to give Dany ships, the refusal of which then leads to Qarth's declaration of war. Then there's the marriage of Daenerys to pacify the city. Then there's the arrival of the Yunkish army at the gates of Meereen, there's the order of arrival of various people going her way (Tyrion, Quentyn, Victarion, Aegon, Marwyn, etc.), and then there's Daario, this dangerous sellsword and the question of whether Dany really wants him or not, there's the plague, there's Drogon's return to Meereen...
All of these things were balls I had thrown up into the air, and they're all linked and chronologically entwined. The return of Drogon to the city was something I explored as happening at different times. For example, I wrote three different versions of Quentyn's arrival at Meereen: one where he arrived long before Dany's marriage, one where he arrived much later, and one where he arrived just the day before the marriage (which is how it ended up being in the novel). And I had to write all three versions to be able to compare and see how these different arrival points affected the stories of the other characters. Including the story of a character who actually hasn't arrived yet -Asshai.com: Interview in Barcelona - 29 July 2012

If interested: The Meereenese Knot: The Three Arrivals of the Frog Prince

But as I mentioned above, GRRM potentially tried to expand Quentyn's role as a POV but that didn't work either (with poor Quentyn being marked for death from the start):

Question: do you choose characters because they will provide you with a viewpoint or something characterful?
GRRM: Actually, no. I try to give each viewpoint character an arc of his own, and ideally I would like to think that you could pull the material out – in the early books I was able to pull out the Daenerys chapters and publish them separately as a novella, and I won a Hugo Award for that. It'd be great if I could pull out each [character-arc] and it would resemble a story. In some cases a character died and that was a very short story. My prologue and epilogue characters always die but even then I try to give them a story. -SSM, Redwood City Signing Interview with Dan Jones - "An Evening with GRRM": 8 Sept 2011

but Quentyn's role as a POV served a few roles as we see GRRM's use of POVs has shifted slightly and while Quentyn's story does remind readers and in world characters (especially those in Dorne) about the dangers of when you "dance with dragons". I strongly recommend Poor Quentyn's series of essays on Quentyn. A short story, but beautiful and so tragic, even poetic I would say.

Jon Connington

With Tyrion being "dropped in Volantis" (with what was originally going to be a cliffhanger as Jorah "took him to the Queen" which Tyrion/the reader would be expecting to be Cersei before Tyrion turned up in Meereen), GRMM no longer had a POV for Young Griff (who was turning towards Westeros and invading).

While GRRM could have waited and only shown the invasion through the eyes of the Dornish (as we see reports in some of Arianne's chapters):

“We have heard the same tales here that you have heard at Sunspear,” Lady Nymella told them as her serving man poured the wine. “Sellswords landing on Cape Wrath, castles under siege or being taken, crops seized or burned. Where these men come from and who they are, no one is certain.”
“Pirates and adventurers, we heard at first,” said Valena. “Then it was supposed to be the Golden Company. Now it’s said to be Jon Connington, the Mad King’s Hand, come back from the grave to reclaim his birthright. Whoever it is, Griffin’s Roost has fallen to them. Rain House, Crow’s Nest, Mistwood, even Greenstone on its island. All taken.” -TWoW, Arianne I

it is probable that he not only wanted to have someone loyal to Young Griff as a POV, as well as be able to show someone with greyscale and be able to continue to give Rhaegar info dumps.

We also know that GRRM at one point planned to have the Golden Company's assault on Storm's End before deciding to add a "complimentary chapter":

But no, I've restructured again, and put the original precipitating event back close to the end of the book. Which means the Arianne chapters can be returned to WINDS, where I had 'em originally. It also means that I don't have to write that third Arianne chapter and the complementary chapter from the other POV... not yet, anyway... -SSM, Dancing in Circles: 27 June 2010

and (from u/werthead):

As speculated by many, two large battles will take place early on, a 'battle of ice' (presumably at Winterfell) and a 'battle of fire' (presumably at Meereen). A third battle has been added, namely the assault on Storm's End by Jon Connington's forces. Originally this was going to happen off-page, but GRRM decided it really should be shown. Possibly because we've seen Storm's End under siege forever and it might be cool to finally see the place under full-scale assault.
...
A chapter featuring Arianne Martell arriving at Griffin's Roost. Prince Doran immediately dispatched her upon news of Aegon's arrival to learn more. Startlingly, Storm's End has apparently already fallen, triggering chaos and forcing the Tyrell army to march from King's Landing earlier than expected. GRRM has said that the chapter featuring the battle at Storm's End is yet to be written. -Worldcon 2011

If interested: "By Guile" The Battle of Steel

Melisandre

With Jon "dead" (inside ghost), Melisandre will likely be our Castle Black POV for the time being (GRRM does not plan to add any new POVs as of 2024) as GRRM has mentioned writing Mel chapters:

For the nonce, it is what it is.   My life is at home, on hold, and I am spending the days in Westeros with my pals Mel and Sam and Vic and Ty. -SSM, Back in Westeros: 15 Aug 2020

and:

“I don’t plan to set any scenes in Asshai – at least not in the present book, but you may find out a little bit about it in future books. We do have one character who’s been there, of course, and that’s Melisandre. So, in the chapters from her thought, you may occasionally have her think back to her time in Asshai.” -SSM, Guadalajara Book Festival: December 2016 (27:22 mark)

we also know that he was hinting at a Mel ADWD POV as early as 2008:

Question: Loras Tyrell, Sandor Clegane, or Melisandre (GRRM had previously announced that there is a new POV for ADWD, and hinted that it was one of these three character) Of these three characters, which one has a POV?
GRRM: Not Sandor. -SSM, Sandor as POV: 15 April 2008

If interested: The Castle Black Plotline in The Winds of Winter

Also worth noting that while she only has one chapter so far, she is the only character from this list who never got a "nick name" POV.

Final Note: "Kings & Queens"

We also know that GRRM originally just planned to use the AGoT POVs for the entire series but changed it when he realized he need to see what Stannis was doing but didn't want to use Stannis as a POV:

George said that at first he was just going to use the original POVs from AGoT for the entire series, then he realized that he needed to see what Stannis was doing, but did'nt want to use Stannis as a POV. So he created Davos. Davos was his first added POV. The rest followed.
On writing his POVs, as Rhelle mentioned above, he uses their motivations and desires. What do they want? What do they want to achieve? What drives them? What SHOULD they do? Ethics, morals, ambitions, etc... all part of the mix. -SSM, TorCon: 28 Aug 2003

as GRRM seemingly regrets not having a Robb POV for the same reason, the decision to avoid having the "decision maker" as a POV does keep the reader guessing. It is possible that GRRM may continue this trend in future books with Melisandre in place of Jon and with JonCon there for Young Griff. While Tyrion and Dany have a ways to go before they intersect, that is also something we must consider.

If interested: Dany and Jon as POV Characters

TLDR: In this post I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the POVs that GRRM added in ADWD (Barristan Selmy, Quentyn Martell, Jon Connington and Melisandre) and their place in the story.