This post is just a collection of my speculations on how the final two installments of George RR Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series will unfold, based on what I personally think will be most saatisfying, and the little bits we can glean from Martin's chapter readings at conventions (those parts being in bold, as they're definite).
THE WINDS OF WINTER
*Having dealt Khal Pono and the Dothraki a harsh lesson, Daenerys will be taken by Drogon to Old Valyria, where she will discover of the truth of the Doom.
*In Dorne, Prince Doran Martell has decided to send young Myrcella Baratheon/Lannister home to Kings Landing with and armed escort. He and his daughter Arianne will then learn of Aegon(Griff), and Doran will decide to send Arianne to him (Arianne I).
*In Meereen, Tyrion Lannister will prove himself useful in the Queen's absence, but get along poorly with Ser Barristan Selmy and her other generals.
*In the Riverlands, the warrior maid Brienne of Tarth will hunt down her friend Ser Jaime Lannister to kill him, because of the promise she made to the undead Lady Stoneheart(Catelyn Stark), in order to save her own life and that of her squire, Podrick Payne. She will spend most of the book looking for him, wrestling with her conflicted feelings, and remembering the horror of her undead former mistress.
*Jaime Lannister, meanwhile, will be dealing with the rebels and outlaws in the Riverlands, including trying to track down the escaped Ser Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully. He and Brienne will not cross paths yet.
*In the Vale, Littlefinger will put his plans in motion to kill young Lord Robert Arryn and marry Sansa/Alayne to Harry the Heir.
*Arianne Martell will travel to Griffin's Roost to meet Aegon(Griff) and Jon Connington, discovering some cave paintings by the Children of the Forest on the way, but on arrival will learn that Aegon(Griff) is not there, that he pushed on and took Storm's End. She will receive an invitation to mett him there, and be advised against going because it sounds peculiar and might be a trap, but will decide to go anyway (Arianne II).
*In the Stormlands and the Crown Lands, lords and armies will rally to Aegon(Griff) and lay siege to Kings Landing, but be unable to take it. The Tyrells will initially withhold support, as they try to defend themselves against the Ironborn on the west coast (besides which, Margaery is Queen, wed to the Baratheon/Lannister king Tommen, if they declare for Aegon(Griff) they lose that position of power). The war in the North having largely been won, the loyalist lords will bring their armies south to meet Aegon(Griff) in the field.
*In Kings Landing itself, Cersei will find herself increasingly marginalised on the small council and in court, and without the guidance of her father Lord Tywin, her uncle Kevan or Grand Maester Pycelle - she will still suspect that her brother Tyrion the Imp is nearby, and is responsible for the murders. Her bother/lover Jaime will not have come to her aid either. She will have only the monstrous undead Ser Gregor Clegane to protect her and her son.
*After some time missing, Daenerys will return to Meereen and find it a mess, first terrorized by her other two dragons Viserion and Rhaegal, then enslaved by the Ironborn pirate Victarion Greyjoy (who has brought the dragons to heel with the magic horn he's brought with him). She will overthrow Victarion and reject his marriage proposal, and meet Tyrion, who will tell her what he knows of Aegon(Griff), Jon Connington and the Golden Company. She and her court will then make plans to head west and take Westeros.
*In Oldtown, Sam will forge his maester's chain in near-record time, and with Pate/Jaqen H'Gar and Alleras the Sphinx (Sarella of Dorne) will learn that the horn he carries is the Horn of Winter. He'll leave Gilly with his mother and sisters, and bring the Horn back to Lord Commander Jon Snow in the North, realising that it has to be used to restore balance to the world, but he'll find Jon dead.
*Sansa/Alayne will remain in the Vale, cross Littlefinger and save little Robert Arryn, betraying him for his part in the downfall of her family and because she is genuinely kind. Littlefinger will be imprisoned, or go on the run.
*In the North, Theon Greyjoy will atone for his sins by helping Stannis Baratheon and the Starks defeat Ramsay Bolton, and then Stannis will execute him.
*Asha Greyjoy will return to the Iron Islands to discover that her favourite uncle, the Reader, has been murdered by his brother Euron Crow's Eye. She will decide to kill him in retribution.
*Pate/Jaqen H'Gar will return to the Faceless Men in Braavos with what he has learned in Oldtown, and will meet Arya again. As a result of their conversation, she will quit the Faceless Men, take Needle and head back to Westeros, either to warn Jon of something or to get revenge with her new assassin skills.
*The Wall will be brought down with the Horn of Winter, restoring balance in the seasons and freeing the dead Jon Snow from his vows. But it will come down too soon - the White Walkers and their army of undead will swarm across the North, bringing the full power of winter with them. The whole of Westeros will be threatened.
A DREAM OF SPRING
*Daenerys will arrive in Westeros with her army and dragons, and will be greatly impressed with Aegon(Griff) and his leadership of the armies that are amassed in the Crown Lands.
*The Faith will declare for Daenerys when she lands with her dragons, and will set upon Queen Cersei and little King Tommen in Kings Landing. Cousin Lancel will be told he can only atone for his treason and fornication by killing the little king born from incest.
*Rhaegal the green dragon will seem to bond with Aegon(Griff), and he will ally with Daenerys. Thus, the conspiracy to kill Daenerys and put Aegon(Griff) on the Iron Throne as dead Prince Rhaegar's presumed-dead son Aegon will be go awry as Aegon(Griff) first proves himself worthy of the throne and then joins forces with his main rival, contrary to the plans of the conspirators, who meant for her to die so that he could be named her heir.
*Arya will return to Westeros, cross paths with Brienne of Tarth and meet Sandor Clegane (the Hound), and go on to kill Roose Bolton and Walder Frey/warn Jon of a plot discovered by Pate/Jaqen H'Gar in Oldtown.
*In the North, Melisandre will kill Stannis Baratheon and the direwolf Ghost to restore Jon Snow to life, believing him to be Azor Ahai. Jon will thus have been separated from the outward symbol of his Northern heritage. He will have spent time as a wolf north of the Wall, and been with Summer, and so Bran is aware of him. This resurrection will make Melisandre confident in her powers as she has never been before.
*Bran will have seen various crucial pieces of information about how to defeat the White Walkers and about Jon's true identity through his time with the Three Eyed Raven, but will be saved from going too far down that path by Meera and Hodor. He will pass on the crucial information to Jon, and Sam will tell Jon all he has learned while forging his chain in Oldtown.
*In the Vale, Sansa/Alayne will declare herself, and the Vale will rally behind her. She'll send soldiers north to help Jon at the Wall. But things will go wrong, Littlefinger will escape imprisonment and attempt to exact revenge on her, and she'll retreat up to the Eyrie with little Sweetrobin and find herself beseiged for the remainder of the war. Sandor Clegane will go to her aid.
*Brienne will finally confront Jaime, but will find herself unable to fulfill her promise to Lady Stoneheart, and will let him go. She'll believe she has disgraced herself, and will wander, waiting to be caught by the Brotherhood Without Banners and killed.
*The plot to kill Daenerys will be exposed before it can come to fruition, and the plotters - Varys, Illyrio and Prince Doran of Dorne - will be imprisoned, executed or banished. Varys will be revealed as a Blackfyre, cousin of Daenerys and uncle of Aegon(Griff) - the 'Mummer's Dragon' - his sister being the wife of Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos, Aegon's true father. It will transpire that Varys was made a eunuch because his Blackfyre blood/flesh held power. Ser Jorah will die proving his love for Daenerys, saving her from the betrayal, and she will forgive him.
*When word reaches Daeaerys and Aegon of the dire situation in the North, he will fly into war beside her, but will not have the control of the dragon that he will soon need.
*When Jon Snow is able to tame/control the unruly white dragon Viserion when Daenerys and Aegon arrive in the North, it will be revealed that he is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, having been raised by Lord Eddard Stark as his alleged bastard to protect him, at the dying Lyanna's request. The resurrected Jon will thus be the third head of the dragon. Viserion will be the most unruly of the three Dragons, but Jon will be able to control him through the unique gifts of his mixed Targaryen/Stark heritage. Jon will thus have traded Ghost (a symbol of the North, and the Old Gods' protection) for a dragon, a symbol of his true parentage.
*Cersei will flee Kings Landing and go to Casterly Rock with Tommen, to save him from the zealots who would kill him, but her cousin Lancel will follow them there, and will succeed in murdering Tommen. Cersei will thus have failed to save her last child - her own actions will have gotten him killed, and Maggy the Frog's prophecies will all have come to pass.
*The North, the lands beyond the Wall and Skagos will unite behind young Rickon with the aid of Osha, Ser Davos Seaworth and Lord Manderly, and will bring reinforcements to help Jon and his armies fight the White Walkers and the wights.
*When Melisandre plans something particularly terrifying, Ser Davos will sacrifice himself to kill her.
*Daenerys on Drogon, Jon on Viserion and Aegon(Griff) on Rhaegal will win the fight against the White Walkers and their army of undead, but Aegon(Griff) and the green dragon Rhaegal will die in the battle.
*Sandor Clegane will die defending Sansa and Robert Arryn from Littlefinger's lackeys. Sansa will be trapped in the Eyrie as winter rages outside, but will finally be rescued by Jon on his dragon.
*Jamie will go to Cersei at Casterly Rock and find her mad with grief, babbling about prophecies and confessing her every sin, and he will strangle her and then fall on his own sword. Tyrion will therefore inherit the Rock and become Hand of the King - his father's true heir, in an ironic twist of fate.
*Princess Arianne of Dorne will succeed her father.
*Asha/Yara will rule the Iron Islands and the Stony Shore from Pyke, making peace with the North.
*If Shaggydog dies, Rickon will become little more than a beast. If Rickon dies, he will live on in Shaggydog, out in the wild.
*Bran will become the Stark in Winterfell, married to Meera Reed. Summer will leave him, but they'll retain a connection, and he will warg into Summer in his dreams for years to come, running with Shaggydog/Rickon.
*Arya will reunite with Gendry and eventually become his wife, and the Lady of Storm's End, but neither will spend much time there. Nymeria and her pack will contribute to the downfall of the Freys, but the big wolf will eventually go north to be with Summer and Shaggydog, and so Arya will run with her brothers in her dreams.
* Jon will marry Sansa Stark, having always had a thing for redheads (Ygritte the Wildling, Melisandre the Red Priest and - on TV's Game of Thrones - Ros the redheaded whore) and being revealed as her cousin rather than her half-brother. She will have learned that heroes and knights are not always the same thing, and to look beyond his bastard status, having spent time posing as a bastard herself, and having gained experience at the Game of Thrones. He will have proved himself the sort of hero she always dreamed of, with the honour and bravery of her father and the command experience gained from his time on the Wall. They will leave Bran to restore Winterfell and head to Kings Landing to rule together, their strengths complementing one another.
*Jon Connington will die mourning Aegon(Griff), but not before he tells Jon and Daenerys all he remembers about Rhaegar and Lyanna.
*Littlefinger will be executed, Prince Doran will die of old age and illness, and Varys will escape.
*Lady Stoneheart will persist long enough to see her husband and eldest son avenged, and will learn that her other children are in fact safe, then will relinquish the last vestiges of life, saving Brienne from her wrath. The Blackfish will have died at Jaime's hand after rescuing Edmure Tully and his Frey wife Roslin. Edmure and Roslin will survive the winter and the war, rebuild Riverrun and name their children Brynden and Catelyn.
*Daenerys will decide that her place is not in Westeros after all, it's not her home. Having won the Iron Throne, she will abdicate, leaving her sole surviving relative - Jon Snow - on the throne, with his beautiful wife Sansa beside him. Daenerys will return to Essos to continue her work with its reformation - ruling from Meereen or Volantis. She will keep Drogon with her, but not her other two dragons (one of which is dead, the other of which has flown off somewhere). When she eventually dies, Drogon will return to Valyria, and with the Targaryens and Blackfyre lines extinguished, dragons and magic will disappear from the world.
.png)
