The Winds of Winter

The Winds of Winter is the planned sixth and penultimate novel of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by American writer George R. R. Martin. The novel, which has been in the works since 2011, has been described as one of the most anticipated books in modern history.

Following the troubled creation of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, which had been released in volumes due to length, Martin began The Winds of Winter with a large amount of content that had been cut from the previous entry. Martin had been optimistic that the book's writing would progress significantly faster than earlier books, initially hoping to complete the book before the television series eclipsed complete material. However, development of The Winds of Winter has been similarly troubled, causing the television series to run out of material after Season 5.

Since 2010 Martin has made numerous predictions regarding imminent publication of the novel, all of which passed without publication. Since late 2022, he has repeatedly stated that he had completed approximately three quarters of the novel, estimating that he had written approximately 1,100 to 1,200 pages, and had roughly 400 to 500 pages left. He has previously said that he was "struggling" with the manuscript.

Martin stated in a 2012 interview that The Winds of Winter and the following book A Dream of Spring would take readers farther north than any of the previous books, and the Others will appear in the book. The previous installment, A Dance with Dragons, covered less story than Martin intended, excluding at least one planned large battle sequence and leaving several character threads ending in cliffhangers. Martin intends to resolve these storylines "very early" in The Winds of Winter, saying "I'm going to open with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice and the battle at Meereen—the battle of Slaver's Bay. And then take it from there."

A Victarion Greyjoy chapter will begin five minutes after the end of A Dance with Dragons, taking place on the eve of the Ironborn's arrival in Slaver's Bay. Arianne Martell sample chapters that Martin released on his website showed her heading for Griffin's Roost to see the young man who is calling himself Aegon Targaryen. At Guadalajara International Book Fair 2016, Martin gave some clues about the dark nature of The Winds of Winter: "I've been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places. .... Things get worse before they get better, so things are getting worse for a lot of people."

Martin has confirmed that the following characters have perspective chapters in The Winds of Winter:

Martin confirmed that some of these previously released chapters have been rewritten.

Martin confirmed that there are no new viewpoint characters intended for The Winds of Winter. He also stated that Samwell Tarly and Asha Greyjoy will appear in the novel, but did not elaborate if as viewpoint characters. He has also stated that non-viewpoint characters Lady Stoneheart, Quaithe, Euron Greyjoy and Rickon Stark will appear. He stated that Melisandre will return as viewpoint but did not state which novel her chapters will appear in. He teased at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con that Jeyne Westerling, Robb Stark's widow, will appear in the prologue chapter, but did not reveal who will be the POV character.