With No Contraints, How Big Could the ASOIAF Story End Up? (Spoilers Extended)
GRRM has as recently as 2019 stated that he intends to finish in 7 books.
It's very important me to finish A Song of Ice and Fire. I want to finish it. I still have two more books to do, and I want to finish it strong. So people look at it and say, you know, this entire thing is an important work, not a half-finished or broken work. I know some of the more cynical people out there don't believe that, but it is true.
That said, this was originally supposed to be a trilogy. And its grown and grown and grown.
With that in mind, I wanted to explore just how big of a series this really could have ended up in a perfect world.
The original outline was a trilogy with the following:
- A Game of Thrones (battle for power in Westeros)
- A Dance with Dragons (Dany Invasion)
- The Winds of Winter (War for the Dawn)
The scope has expanded so much that as of now it isn't very likely that Dany will reach Westeros until the latter or even her last chapter in The Winds of Winter due to all the open plotlines in essos
GRRM has also stated numerous things that could really expand the series such as:
GRRM has enough material about Arya's adventures in Braavos that he could write an entire novel about it. The audience cheered the idea, so GRRM jokingly proposed setting aside TWOW to work on it instead. -SSM, Worldcon Reading/Forum: 3 September 2012
and:
Another interesting thing he mentioned: he mentioned the coming of age of Arya in Braavos in the context of how a writer had to discipline himself to write only as many chapters as were necessary to serve the story, saying that what Arya was dealing with in Braavos could make a worthy young adult novel in its own right. - SSM, C2E2 Q&A: 16 April 2010
and:
Hi, short question. Will we find out more about the Dance of the Dragons in future books?
GRRM: The first dance or the second?
GRRM: The second will be the subject of a book. The first will be mentioned from time to time, I'm sure. -SSM, Concerning the Dance of the Dragons: 22 November 2003
With things like the above in mind (how much he wrote/wants to write about Arya in Braavos and how the upcoming Dance of the Dragons II could be "the subject of a book" (quote from 2003 mind you) its obvious that with no constraints this story should easily be at least 9-10 books and 8 at a minimum.
Act I:
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A Game of Thrones - setting the stage
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A Clash of Kings - beginning of the War of the 5 Kings
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A Storm of Swords - "End" of the War of the 5 Kings
Act II:
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A Feast for Crows - Aftermath of the War of the 5 Kings/Rise of New Threats
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A Dance with Dragons - New Threats/Beginning of Plot Consolidation
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The Winds of Winter - Major Plot Consolidation/4 major battles/Dany's journey home
Act III
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Book VII -Dance of the Dragons II/Wall has Fallen/beginning of battle for the dawn in the North
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Book VIII - Battle for the Dawn/aftermath
Dunk and Egg
GRRM has stated that there could be up to 12 Dunk and Egg novellas and that he has working titles/plotline ideas for numerous of them.
He also mentioned the possibility of a Dunk and Egg TV show:
I am frequently asked whether or not there are any plans for Dunk & Egg movies or television shows. There has been interest, yes, but the rights situation is complicated. Film and television rights to the characters and the three published Dunk & Egg stories remain with me at present... but HBO, when acquiring the rights to the SONG OF ICE & FIRE novels, also acquired film and television rights to the world of Westeros. So if we did Dunk & Egg with anyone else, we would need to remove all the references to House Targaryen, the Iron Throne, etc... not completely impossible, but certainly undesireable. Whereas if HBO decided they wanted to make a Dunk & Egg miniseries or TV movies, they'd first need to buy the stories. That's a much more attractive proposition for all concerned, I think... but if it happens, it will happen years from now, not tomorrow, and not next week. -SSM, Dunk and Egg: 15 April 2014
If interested, please check out some previous posts on the future of Dunk and Egg:
What We Know: The She-Wolves of Winterfell
Fire and Blood
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Fire and Blood I was a great history and added a ton of new information from Aegon I to the regency of Aegon III.
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Fire and Blood II is expected to describe the reign of Aegon III through the death of the Mad King
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A few months back, u/bryndenbfish presented a possible third option (he stated it was complete speculation) but it would basically be breaking up Fire and Blood II into two parts so that Dunk and Egg at Summerhall isn't ruined by a history book.
There are numerous factors that probably make even some of the above options mutually exclusive, but my goal in this was just to get the richness, depth and background for the ending that we got in the beginning.
TLDR: Some thoughts on how big of a series the ASOIAF universe could have become
Posted Apr 18, 2020, 4:12 PM UTC · edited