Martin Releases Chapter from Winds of Winter

Warning: There will not really be spoilers ahead, but if you are trying to avoid any and all information about the upcoming direction of the A Song of Ice and Fire books or the Game of Thrones show, you probably should not be here!

With season five of Game of Thrones about to premiere on HBO here in exactly one week, the hype for all things Westeros has reached a fever pitch. Like a great-bearded gift horse, George RR Martin has delivered. Over on his official site, Martin has released a chapter from the much anticipated sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter. There is no context given, so we just get a random window into the world that many people will be warily returning to shortly.

Sophie Turner as Alayne Stone, aka Sansa Stark.

The newly released chapter focuses on the character Alayne Stone, who both book readers and show watchers know better as Sansa Stark. In it, Sansa is adapting to her new role as a willing player in the “game of thrones” that so many of our powerful characters are involved in. We get to see her dealing with a large variety of characters and see the skills she has developed on how to manipulate different personality types. Sansa has learned what she needs to do to survive (and perhaps regain some shreds of her old life), and has gone through a remarkable transformation throughout the series. For quite some time, she was a much reviled character due to her wet blanket personality and naïve attitude. However, she has become much more of a fan favorite of late due to embracing her dark side and seemingly deciding that revenge is her best option, which also makes her much more similar to her sister than either one of them probably realizes.

Her newfound popularity probably also makes her much more likely to be killed by George RR Martin in some horrible way.

If you want to check out the chapter, you can find it at Martin’s official site here. There are no spoilers there, no revelations or important information that will ruin aspects of either the show or the book. It is just a quick look back into a world that so many people, through both the books and the show, are now a part of. Are you excited for another journey through the seven kingdoms? Ready to see Sansa get her revenge on Cersei? Let us know in the comments!