re: Game of Thrones S7E1 "Dragonstone" Maester thread, no dummies allowed

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With all of the Frey male heirs dead now wouldn't they have the claim to The Twins as well?

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The final piece of hopeful evidence comes in the form of a recent blog post from Martin himself. Two days ago, Martin started one of his infamous LiveJournal entries with the following line: “I’ve been working so much of late that I have fallen way behind in my reading (sob) and my filmgoing.” The location was his home in Santa Fe, and the mood on the post? “Pleased.” In the words of Twitter and Redditor BryndenBFish, who has made a name for himself tracking the progress of Martin’s novels: “Guys, dare I ask it, but is the long night almost over?”

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Then something a little strange happened. In his latest blog entry, published Wednesday, Martin included just one line of text above an illustration of Valyria, the ancient city of ASOIAF lore that succumbed to a mysterious and cataclysmic “doom.”

Martin wrote: Alas, alas, that great city Valyria, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

His “mood” below the entry was listed as “enigmatic,” which is worth noting—if anything, Martin has taken pains to avoid mystery in his recent blogging career, since any vague pronouncement is in danger of being treated as a Winds of Winter hint by his rabid fans. To purposefully post something obscure like this, Martin—my opinion only—must be planning something big. Notably, the post came with a single tag: “song of ice and fire.” He also disabled comments. It didn’t take long for the ASOIAF subreddit to begin wondering if this was tantamount to an announcement of a publication date.

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In the analysis that followed, it was discovered that Martin’s quote about Valyria was adapted from a biblical quote about ancient Babylon:

Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Now, let’s get to the theory: That passage comes from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 18, Verse 10. In shorter notation, that’s Revelation 18:10.

Martin also uses the specific language from the King James version of the bible, and the King James in question was, of course, an English monarch. So: Revelation 18:10.

My theory is ludicrously simple, and I’m a little shocked that nobody (as far as I can tell) has scooped me in the past three days: Martin’s “revelation” is that The Winds of Winter will be published on 18/10, which is British notation for Oct. 18.

In the past, Martin has referenced the fact that his publishers could get his book out within three months if they were in a rush. As it happens, Oct. 18 is just over three months from the present, and if Martin had previously turned in his manuscript, it makes sense that a longer, more usual publication schedule was in place.

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Ser Bronn of the Twins has a nice ring to it.

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Ser Bronn of the Twins has a nice ring to it.

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I just can't get over the giant castle in an awesome strategic position being completely vacant

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