The Long Night of Eternity

Almost every theory about the how ASOIAF will end has been talked about so far. At this point, nothing can surprise us really, for no matter what we believe, even the theories which we discard as ridiculous have been impregnated in our minds. GRRM’s ability to surprise his readers can’t be questioned, for his mind works at another level, so what if there is one thing that we haven’t yet considered. What if there will be no ending to ASOIAF?

No, I’m not saying that the walkers will win, and the Long Night will never end. What I mean is that we will never read about what happens in Westeros, who wins and loses and what happens to our beloved characters. So, I was reading The Fault in Our Stars the other day, and John Green has mentioned a novel which goes by the name “An Imperial Affliction”. For those of you who haven’t read Fault in Our Stars, An Imperial Affliction is the story of a girl suffering from cancer and of everyone around her. What’s important here is that the writer leaves the story in the middle of a sentence, thus giving birth to many mysteries and no definite ending. Hazel, the protagonist of Fault in Our Stars, assumes that the protagonist on AIA dies while writing, or becomes too weak to continue the story.

Now obviously it can’t happen that way in ASOIAF since we don’t have a first-person account, and there are many POV characters. But it is quite possible that we won’t get a definite ending either.

Another reason that makes me believe that the readers will suffer this fate is the fact that we won’t get any sequels to this series, only prequels. Of course, it is very presumptuous to believe that there will be no sequels since that can be decided only when the series ends. But given how Martin has already planned on writing the prequels, it really makes me doubt his plans.

So the question that now arises is, where will Martin leave us?

The War of Dawn will take place. There really is no point in writing so much background about it and then omit it towards the end. We can’t really expect a copy of the Imperial Affliction since we have a really long story which needs to have some conclusion. Thus, where ever Martin decides to leave us, we will have some idea about the future of Westeros.

But where does this leave our protagonists?

There are many POV characters in this series, and the most important ones will be those that will be involved in the war, who I’m assuming are, Daenerys, Jon, Tyrion, Arya, Bran, and Samwell. For the story to end on such a note, we need all of them to be dead, so that no one can continue telling us what really happened. I’m not considering Sansa here because so far I haven’t been able to see how her plot is important for the final war.

Now I won’t get into how they will all die, as

(a) it will make the blog really big and boring, and

(b) it’s a really sensitive topic 

What is important, is the scenario in which this will be abruptly ended. I’m imagining Jon as the last man standing (or maybe even Sansa, but since she isn’t a warrior and I’m thinking of a battle, she won’t count). So in my mind, the scene will be Jon getting ready for yet another battle, thinking about all those who died, his aunt Dany, Tyrion Lannister, his younger siblings, Arya and Bran, and his best friend Sam. Thinking about his parents, and what fate had turned his life into. How he thought himself, only a bastard whose biggest achievement would’ve been being the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and now here he was, the heir to Daenerys Stormborn (wishful thinking alert !!), or the brother to the future King of Westeros (assuming Aegon isn’t Faegon. Honestly his escape story is too Harry Potter-ish for me to believe).

His squire would come in to tell him that his men were ready, and as he climbs on Rhaegal’s back, he thinks of the letter which was brought to him last night, that informed him of the army Aegon was bringing with him which will end this war, and how this battle was only being put up to hold the army of the dead, a little longer. With this Rhaegal takes off and Jon looks at the huge population of living and died fighting each other, and after a while somehow Jon dies. As to how he dies is not something I have thought much about.

In this situation, we at least know that the War is all but won. I have left out many details about what helps them kill the walkers and everything, as that is something way too vast and beyond the scope of this blog. But if I have to take a guess, I would say that they somehow found a lot of Valyrian steel to arm their armies, and with that, it becomes just another war.

Although I would love to see the series end and even thinking about an ending such as this pains me if Martin really is going to surprise his readers, then this probably is the best course that can be taken, and with this, I rest my case.

So what do you think? Will we get a proper ending or do you agree with me? Lemme know your thoughts in the comments section below, and make it fast people, because

Winter is Here