Fall 2025: Confirmed TWoW Chapters that have been worked on (Spoilers Extended)

Background

A few years back (Egg, I dreamed that I was old) I posted The # of Confirmed Chapters that GRRM has at least worked on for TWOW and since that was right in the middle of GRRM's covid TWoW work output as I noted in AC (After Covid): NotABlog - The Winds of Winter Mentions, I thought we could be due for another. This post is a list of the known chapters that GRRM has worked on/confirmed to have planned for TWoW.

Note: Due to how often GRRM writes and rewrites, etc. just because GRRM mentions he is working on a chapter, it doesn't necessarily mean a new chapter for that character. It easily can just be him rewriting the last chapter that he was working on. For instance when GRRM says:

Of late I have been spending a lot of time with the Lannisters.  Cersei and Tyrion in particular.  - Back to Westeros: 8 Nov 2020

this could mean a new chapter (aka Tyrion III or IV, etc.) or revising/altering/combining old ones (Tyrion I or II) or some combination of that.

Note II: Even the chapters that are available in full are subject to editing/alteration/combination as it has been almost 15 years (and some of these chapters are 20+ years old when originally written)

In addition to turning out new chapters, I’ve been revising some old ones (some very old)… including, yes, some stuff I read at cons ages ago, or even posted online as samples.  - Back to Westeros: 8 Nov 2020

(8) Confirmed Chapters that are Available in Full

• Mercy (Arya I) (GRRM website)
• Alayne (Sansa I) (GRRM website)
• Theon I (GRRM website)
• Tyrion II (available from AWOIAF App)
• Barristan I (available from ADWD paperback)
• Arianne I (GRRM website), Arianne II (GRRM website)
• The Forsaken (read at Balticon 2016)

(4) Confirmed Chapters that are Partially Available (Summary, Fragment, etc.)

• Tyrion I (if interested: TWoW Tyrion I: A Combination of Fan Summaries, Etc.)
• Barristan II (if interested: TWoW Barristan II: A Combination of Fan Summaries, Etc.)
• Victarion I (if interested: Revisiting the Victarion Fragment & TWoW Victarion I: An Extremely Small Known but Potentially Forgotten Detail)
• Asha I (assuming) (if interested: Revisiting the Asha Fragment)

Note: GRRM somewhat remembers reading multiple Victarion and multiple Asha chapters at cons/events. If his memory is indeed correct on this, these people were in for a treat as they got to hear some things that very few people are aware of regarding the series.

(1) Known Placeholder for Chapter

• Bran I

(17) Mentioned in SSMs

• Melisandre I, II

“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.” -Guadalajara 2016

• Davos I
• Asha II

I'm not sure at this point what I read and what I haven't read. I think I read some Asha Greyjoy chapters. -The 2017 GRRM St. Petersburg Interview

• Arya II, maybe Arya III

While working on the maps for Braavos in TWoW, the mapmaker was sent several Arya chapters:

"I got chapters of 'Winds of Winter', which was very nice. Now just to give you an idea, this is 2012. There were finished chapters of 'Winds of Winter' in 2012. I'm not going to say any more. So actual parts of the Braavos map are directly involved with 'Winds of Winters

• Cersei I, II (maybe III?)

WINDS, you say?   Yes, still working.   Finally finished a clutch of Cersei chapters that were giving me fits. - NotABlog: Good Stuff, Bad Stuff, Strange Stuff

If interested: GRRM's Recent TWOW Comments

• JonCon I
• Arianne III

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 -Dancing in Circles

• Areo Hotah I
• Victarion II

I've already read a number of chapters from the Winds of Winter. ... A couple of different Victarion chapters. - The 2017 GRRM St. Petersburg Interview

• Daenerys I
• Samwell I

While GRRM has mentioned Sam by name:

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.    And that girl with no name, over there in Braavos. - Back to Westeros: 8 Nov 2020

it is possible, but not confirmed that he has worked on multiple chapters (as this could also reference Aeron or just be him dropping into Oldtown on the same chapter several times):

dropped in to Oldtown a time or three - Back to Westeros: 8 Nov 2020

• Jaime I or Brienne I

Since Jaime and Brienne are together as of the end of ADWD, Jaime I, it is hard to confirm which POV GRRM was referencing when he mentioned this:

Now I am wrestling with Jaime and Brienne.   The work proceeds, though not as fast as many of you would like. - NotABlog: Good Stuff, Bad Stuff, Strange Stuff

• Prologue (appearance by Jeyne Westerling, not necessarily POV)

Did Robb Stark marry a noblewoman from Volantis name Talisa who died at the Red Wedding or did he marry did he marry a woman named Jeyne Westerling who's still alive and will be seen in the prologue of "The Winds of Winter"? -SSM, Game of Thrones Comic Con Panel: July 2014

and:

GRRM: “Let me make this clear here: “I didn’t say she was the viewpoint character,” he explained. “I said she was in the prologue.”
It’s the viewpoint character who always dies,” he says. “I like to break rules. Just when I get it established what the rule is, I like to break it. So maybe the viewpoint character will die in the prologue, and maybe they won’t.” -SSM: Zap 2 It Interview: 26 July 2014

If interested:Anything/Everything: TWOW Prologue

Total: 17 Chapters (including the Prologue)

(2) Unconfirmed POVs

• Jaime Lannister or Brienne of Tarth (If interested: GRRM's Recent TWOW Comments)
• Jon Snow (if interested: Our Last "Unconfirmed" POV for TWoW)

If you like posts about the POV structure of TWoW, etc., please check out: Multiple POVs Present for the same Event

Characters Arc, etc.

With the way GRRM writes (he keeps going with one character until he hits a block/stopping point):

GRRM writes each person's POV story in isolation and then weaves/edits them into 1 piece. So if he gets stuck on, say an Arya chapter, he changes to writing Tyrion stuff and then goes back later. -SSM, Interaction in Glasgow

I think its fair to assume several of these characters are further along than what I have listed above. For instance, from one of GRRM's more recent TWoW character mentioned NotABlog (6/23/2022) he mentions Tyrion:

I was back with Tyrion this past week.

I would assume from his other comments he is further along on Tyrion (easiest character to write) than say Bran (who hasn't been mentioned once besides the placeholder and is the hardest character for him to write due to Bran's age and the amount of magic.

If interested: GRRM: "Back with Tyrion" in TWoW

I also want to laugh at myself a bit for being a sweet summer child as I thought that this was about to roll into something (if interested: GRRM's Writing Style: Some Possible Good News)

I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week.

TLDR: While its very likely there are more due to how GRRM writes, it seems at a minimum there are ~30 chapters (its hard with words like couple) confirmed that GRRM has at least worked on. 8 of these chapters are available in full (either being released or from a con). 4 of these chapters are available in partial form (summary of a reading, partial chapter, fragment). 1 of the chapters (Bran) had a placeholder (or draft) that was moved from ADWD to TWOW and then 17 chapters (including the Prologue) have been mentioned in various SSMs. Let me know if you think that GRRM has completed any others and why!