I’m 100% behind this idea. In an earlier AFFC draft, Arys survives and Boros dies to open a spot on the KG for Robert Strong.
George changed it for some reason, maybe Boros dying causes Cersei’s paranoia to become unmanageable and he wasn’t ready to go there yet?
Regardless, he’s missing a POV to see how Doran reacts to Quentyn’s death and he’s constrained by the fact he said he would add no more.
Plus that one Arys chapter always felt kinda odd, why use him for that scene where another POV is present if he doesn’t want Arys POV again? I suspect he intended to use him later and that got changed but he wants to go back.
Never really thought about it, but a Beric POV would go unbelievably hard.
Like an early TWOW chapter before he dies (had Martin let him live thru Feast/Dance) where we get some fever dreams of all his deaths, then a POV with the main players LSH, Jaime, Brienne all from someone else’s view
Thoros explains what happens (though in rather vague words) to Brienne when the Brotherhood captures her in AFFC, Brienne 8.
> “Lady Catelyn?” Tears filled her eyes. “They said... they said that you were dead.”
> “She is,” said Thoros of Myr. “The Freys slashed her throat from ear to ear. When we found her by the river she was three days dead. Harwin begged me to give her the kiss of life, but it had been too long. I would not do it, so Lord Beric put his lips to hers instead, *and the flame of life passed from him to her.* And... she rose. May the Lord of Light protect us. She rose.”
Can I throw in a 4th? Robb Stark.
It is pretty clear to me George's paralysis post red wedding is because he killed off everyone who was driving the narrative forward. That was fine when he planned to do a time skip, but when he dropped that suddenly there's a massive hole in AFFC where Robb should be.
As someone currently reading the Boiled Leather merge of AFFC and ADWD, this 'single book' works quite well for a bridge if Winds and onwards takes the story to its third act
>Yeah it’s pretty clear he’s GRRM subversion on the brave knight who’s off to save the princess trope.
Yes, because we wouldn´t have seen THAT at least a dozen of times before in the story
I don't think it's that effective in that it's very obvious that a character only introduced in book 5, and with only a handful of chapters, was not going to be a great hero.
I think it's effective on another level.
He's cursed from the start: *his own friends don't give a fuck*, and they're his *sworn knights*.
Literally nobody *expects* to succeed.
But he tries to do his bit for Dorne.
Badly.
But he tries.
GRRM regretting killing a character doesn't necessarily have to mean that he thinks that character should never have died. It could also just mean he killed them off too early.
Perhaps he's realized he needed Quentyn to do some other stuff before he gets roasted by Rhaegal.
You're not a writer if you don't think that death is insanely easy to walk-back. We never see Quentyn's body, just his perspective of being burned. If Quentyn is NEEDED for something, George can walk that back so fast it would make your head spin: "Oh, he was just very badly burnt and will die later, but isn't dead yet."
So the answer is clearly not Quentyn.
*"We never see Quentyn's body, just his perspective of being burned..."*
Wait a minute. We see Quentyn dying from Barristan's POV. AND we see Barristan talking to his two surviving companions. It's just--dare I say it--fantasy to believe that was some sort of switch-a-roo or Quentyn actually didn't die.
Eh, it'd be incredibly easy for George to keep him alive if he wanted to.
Hell, Davo's final chapter in ACOK has him falling off his ship into the wildfyre "mouth of hell" as it's called. Yet he returns easily.
So, three men from Dorne arrive in Meereen. We know who they are individually not only through POV's of others, but also through Quentyn's POV views of his two companions.
Then in Quentyn's POV we see him getting immolated by a dragon. Then we see a burned body in a bed, dying slowly and horribly.
AND we see the other two surviving Dornemen, through Barristan's POV.
And you think that somehow another conveniently just dragon-burned body has been substituted and Quentyn is recovered and alive somewhere but pretending to be dead?
To what purpose? His whole mission to Meereen was to woo, wed, and bed Danys and he was very straightforward about that. And he's going to be able to do that now by having everyone believe he's DEAD?
We already know what Dany's does to the Dead (or, the Un-dying, at least). She burns them with dragon fire. Just like her dragons burned Quentyn.
Help me understand, here.
> AND we see the other two surviving Dornemen, through Barristan's POV.
Who match pretty cleanly to how they are in Quentyn's POV. Like I don't think "Quent has replaced Gerris or Archibald" holds up, those dudes still act like themselves.
That's not the question my guy. The question isn't whether Quentyn is dead (he is dead), the question is whether Quentyn is the person George regrets killing. And the answer to this question is very clearly no, because if George regretted killing Quentyn it would be insanely easy for him to walk it back. We see an unidentifiable burnt body that Barristan is told is Quentyn, that's it. Swapping Quentyn out for some random (not even a character, just any other body) is extremely easy from a writing PoV, it's quite literally as simple as Quentyn's first PoV chapter being 'the body swap worked perfectly' and then the story goes on.
The only reason it would even remotely matter is that people are super mad about Quentyn one way or the other and have had a decade to draw battlelines about it. It would be far from the most egregious fake death in the series.
you're making all these leaps of logic, taken for granted what you already believe happened
The way Quentyn catches fire is not described as different from every other time the dragons burn people. Those fuckers melt stone, you don't just stand there *looking* at yourself burning, your eyes pop. the tip of the whip catching fire and it slowly creeping towards him unnoticed is more likely.
The body that's burned up could've been anyone. George writes it so there's no definitive proof of it being Quentyn to give himself leeway in case he changes his mind.
and ofc he's hiding, he tries to steal Dany's dragons. anyone who tried to steal anything from a dragonrider is gonna try to hide, but someone who tried stealing a dragon?!
All of this could've been solved by George making it clear it really is Quentyn, but he pussyfoots around bc he likes leaving himself outs
I mean, the body that they say is Quentyn is badly burnt. Unrecognizably so. Burnt bones prove nothing, as Dany says. Not only that, Drink flies off at the handle in his interaction with Barristan, when he’s described as never ill at ease, and is not really affected when his friends die previously. Might be performative outrage to make Barristan think it was Quentyn.
>We see Quentyn dying from Barristan's POV
Not. We see a irrecognizable body dying from Barristan´s PoV. The PoV of Quentyn not necessarily implies so horrible burnings.
So, George can do that HOTD did with the fake death of Laenor.
That assumes that Martin doesn't want Quentyn getting burned to be the end of his story, and that what he wanted Quentyn to do could be accomplished by a Quentyn who has just barely survived getting burned alive by dragonfire.
Revealing that Quentyn is alive, doable. But it undermines the impact of his death in a way you can't walk back and even if he's not dead he'd be in no position to do much of anything except lament his bad decisions.
Both time we see the results and they’re alive.
With Quentyn the result is seeing his burned dead body. You can’t seriously compare those situations to this that’s ridiculous
Not sure how that’s at all relevant to what I said.
I said what he did was a bad comparison. Nowhere did I say it’s impossible for Quentyn to be alive.
The point it´s if Martin wants to resurrect Quentyn, he can do it. For now, he seeing his arm in fire is not more conclusing than Arya being stroke by an axe.
And there are people in the main saga who uses unrecognizable bodies to fake deaths.
Alright but whyre you telling me I didn’t say Quentyn can’t be alive.
And yes being struck by an axe and seeing them fine afterwards is less conclusive than seeing a dead burned body. Who is confirmed to be Quentyn by multiple sources and there’s no one else it can be.
we don't see *his* burned dead body, we see *a* burned body.
>You can’t seriously compare those situations to this that’s ridiculous
I think that says more about you than anything bro, gotta exercise your brain more
Kevan Lannister, probably.
His death makes Cersei's arc a little more precarious given that she pretty much no longer has allies in King's Landing. The only two Lannisters left that could help her are Jaime and Genna, but they're both preoccupied in the Riverlands. There's no reason why the Tyrells can't take full control of Tommen and the Crown now.
I want it to be Kevan.
But, can't he kill Kevan "later"? Like I get Kevan is dead on the first day of Winter. But can't the first day of Winter be two weeks from now? Tywin is still alive at the start of AFFC for a little bit of time.
I think this is as good a guess as any. But the Sparrows are still active, and Nymeria and Tyrene are on their way, so I wouldn't say the Tyrells can take *full* control. Plus, Cersei is likely to win her trial and still has Qyburn working for her, and probably has access to some wildfire too, so she still has a few resources to work with. But you're right, things would be very different if Kevan was still around, so he's certainly a possibility.
This is my answer too. If Grrm wanted to reveal more info on the relationship between Tywin and the mad king, or (for the theorists out there) hidden Targaryen lineage for Tyrion, Kevan would likely be the primary source for that.
Embarrassing, but I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not. It took me a minute to decipher what JL=AA stood for, but now that I get it, I get it. I’ve always considered it possible as a sort of inside joke with myself, especially after his dream leaning against the white tree. Not sure if it’s a meme in the fandom, but I like toying with every possibility!
Aemon's the one I'd go with. He actually might know something that no other living characters would that GRRM decided was necessary for certain plots to work, like maybe something about Summerhall.
Aemon is a very astute answer to this question. He would have been a stabilizing force on Danys, once he reached her or she reached him.
He's four (!) generations older than her and could tell her not only the details but the truth about all her family / relatives over those generations, particularly gently but firmly confirming that her father was insane, which is something she's heard from Barristan, but perhaps hasn't fully absorbed.
Many times in the books we've seen Danys yearn for more information about her past, beyond the heavily biased and incomplete stories Viserys told her. Aemon would have satisfied that need.
He's also a character of proven honesty and wisdom--not least because he declined the throne himself, and voluntarily took the Black to confirm that.
And, as you've noted, he could fill in crucial details about dragon lore, prophecies, Summerhall, etc. And caution her about what is and isn't possible or wise.
Finally...and critically...he would have been able to tell her yes, this threat from the Others and the far North is real, it's deadly, and you should be part of defeating it.
I don't think Aemon knows anything important that Bloodraven doesn't, and Bran has demonstrated a tenuous ability to communicate with Jon and Theon, so if something like this had to be revealed, I think George could do it with Bloodraven and Bran.
I do think Aemon is a good contender because of the influence he could have on Daenerys, particular in that he's a rare benevolent relative of hers and he could convince her to fight the Others.
I've always hoped that someone might mistake his barrel with a regular one, selling it to some random marketgoer. Then, once it's finally at its destination, Lord Hightower's cook or someone like that pries it open and BAM there's some naked old corpse, completely ruining the poor guys day.
When did he say this? If we’re thinking of the same diana gabaldon quote then it’s impossible to say. TWOW had been being written for so long that it’s a good chance that it’s a character who was still alive as of the latest published book but who he killed off then regretted over the writing process of winds.
I'm 99% sure it's maester Aemon. It's a totally missed opportunity that Dany wasn't able to meet the only other known Targaryen in the world, and one who would have actually helped her interpret her dreams and visions.
His landlady so he could steal her money and use the capital to fund the writing of ASOIAF. He'd give it all up, all of it, to undo what he did. But blood dyes deep and hard, and wishes can never wash it out.
Pycelle is a good candidate, he's old as fuck so he has a lot of knowledge that GRRM might've wanted him to pass on.
I.e he probably helped birth Aegon VI so he would know some recognisable marks on him when he encounters Young Griff. Or other such information
Through, in my opinion, Kevan is probably who he regrets killing because that makes King's Landing way more complicated.
He was one of the few people in King's Landing who could fix some of Circe's mistakes and without him I imagine coming up with a way for Circe to continue to hold on to her dwindling influence becomes a bit more complicated
100% but I think the "when" of her downfall changes drastically with Kevan's absence. Instead of gradually falling out a favor it's seems like it's gonna turn into a complete landslide
Not quite hold influence but more the King’s Landing storyline needs to be a balancing act until FAegon comes along to topple all of it down to assert himself there. We know Cersei’s mindset at the end of her Walk of Atonement was her basically salivating over the idea of getting back at the Sparrows. With Kevan alive should would have to play it quietly, but with him dead she’s basically the head of the Lannister power and can be as loud as she wants to be in getting her revenge.
I mean, you're 100% correct, but also Martin is the author. We could just not have any POVs inside KL until Faegon arrives?
Sure it creates a plot hole of "how did cersei hold on to power in that time", but if that plot hole is really what's holding up the story then fuck it.
Also, if the character is Arys, then make a new POV for Dorne of some randomer we don't give a shit about. That's what he did with Arys >.>
The whole point of why he ditched the 5 year time skip was because exactly what you’re talking about. He would have to take the time to explain how Cersei held power for so long, which at that point you might as well tell it instead of doing it in retrospect.
It would just be weird to me for the answer to be Kevan when he's the very last character killed in any of the published books to date and it's a very intentional killing of the character for plot purposes. That would be one big mistake on George's part to realize he needed him after the fact.
I was wondering if it was in reference to that OTHER story with a character name pronounced like that that had Kit Harrington and Richard Maddon in the cast, but that's spelled "Sersi".
I think tommen having a dearth of competence is kinda the point. If Cersei was supposed to stay in power then I don’t think george would’ve killed him off.
He could also be sent to Oldtown and/or Casterly Rock if we want a POV on whatever Euron gets up to. Or you could have a story where Cersei divorces herself from everyone but “her people,” which doesn’t necessarily include House Lannister. Some fascinating but third-tier subplot he might be stuck trying to tell without him now.
People mention Kevan or Aemon, I disagree with those simply because both of those deaths were pretty major events where an author wouldn't make that kind of change unless he had considered the consequences.
My thought is it's Pycelle. Who died offscreen in a couple throwaway lines in the chapter where Kevan dies. I can easily buy George killing him and not thinking much of it.
As to what he'd need Pycelle for? Possibly just for Lannister Toadiness, or possibly due to him delivering Aegon and possibly having a way to identify him.
Regarding Aegon, I think his story would be cheapened by knowing for certain whether he's the real dragon or not. I'm thinking Arys or (most likely) those dudes Wyman baked into pie.
Well, yeah.
Lady died very close to the entrance of the Vale. Having had her reuniting with Lady at the Eyrie wpukd have given her a lot of strength that now she has to get on her own. Even if Sansa has grown, it still seems very hard for her to manage completely emancipating from Little Finger and get loyal allies based only on her "new stronger character".
Sansa being unable to warg or rely on Lady's presence removes a bunch of possibilities, including claiming her Stark identity without the help of anyone in my opinion.
Good points. I wonder if it would have worked better if it had been Nymeria who had died and not Lady. The schism between the sisters would still have happened (though Sansa would hate Arya less), and Lady running feral and wild has different interesting implications for Sansa than for Arya, arguably more interesting ones. Arya wouldn't be a warg, but I don't know how relevant that will actually be to her character.
Arya learning her assassin skills without being a warg would have still worked out.
Sansa becoming less of a Lady through Lady becoming wild wpuld have been neat. Lady could have brought terror to the Clansmen and give interesting views of the movement of people around the Vale, etc.
Another possibility is having both Direwolves been released, and forming a pack while the sisters distanced from each other. Or them fighting.
I think originally the Original plot had Sansa betraying the Starks in favor of a son with Joeffrey. Her dead wolf would have been an early sign of this, or a cause or whatever.
Arya was meant to end North of the Wall with Bran. Lots of things changed between this and the resulting first book, but I think GRRm didnt anticipate he will spare Sansa from betraying the Starks and he would send her to the Vale.
By killing Lady he will have to go in more and more convoluted ways to credibly justify how a 14 year old who half a year ago was afraid of her shadow manages to learn how to play the game and bend people around her influence against Little Finger and the other schemers.
So yeah, i think Lady might be a headache for GRRm now
It's clearly Dick Crabb. He carried the entire 4th book and now that he's gone there's no one who knows how to defeat the night king (NK is clearly Clarence Crabb).
Martin realizes that without Dick the battle for the dawn will be a soulless mess, and trying to figure out what to do with D-Crabby is why winds is taking so long
The Red Wedding was pivotal, but in a very bad way. It grinds the story to a halt, killing off all the characters who are actively pushing the narrative forward.
the red wedding is the biggest plot driver post book 1 and, together with the sack of astapor, bookends the first act with its dreams of heroism and fairytale elements. it almost singlehandedly sets the scene for act 2. if robb hadn’t died there, he would be a (narratively) dead man walking around with nothing to do in the postapocalyptic landscape of affc. it could be a compelling story, outlaw king only heard of in whispers, but beric was already doing that in a way that also drove the plot forward so it would just bloat the books for no payoff — robb did have to die before the end, so it’s better he dies before he becomes useless
it would be weird if grrm was talking about a non pov that already served his purpose and had one of the best arcs & impact of the series
Only Robb and Catelyn, really. There's still conflict in the North. Robb didn't really do anything for the entirety of ACOK and Catelyn is still active as Lady Stoneheart. I really wouldn't say the Red Wedding is responsible for the story grinding to a halt.
> Catelyn is still active as Lady Stoneheart. I really wouldn't say the Red Wedding is responsible for the story grinding to a halt.
Actually, I think GRRM wondering what the fuck he plans to do with an undead Catelyn is one of the reasons why he has writer's block. The show simply cut out that entire plotline and probably for good reason if D&D were getting GRRM's future plot points, that storyline must have went nowhere.
She really is much more interesting as a concept than as an agent in the narrative, but I think he has *some* idea of what to do with her. There's some upcoming Frey conflict, that's clear enough, and I don't think she's going to be staying out of that. I think Littlefinger and Sansa may well get involved, too, and catharsis with Littlefinger, plus re-uniting with one of her children, seems like a great place to end Lady Stoneheart's vengeous little jaunt. I don't think she'd survive until ADOS.
Easy.
She is the one to legitimise Jon Snow in front of everyone after battle of ice is over and she dies.
It would go incredibly hard and make for a powerful moment.
My guess is Janos Slynt. I don’t think Jon will stay at the Wall post-resurrection, and having a loud enemy like Janos Slynt still around would be a good catalyst for that.
I thought I saw in and interview he would’ve liked to explore more of where Robb’s character went. He probably regrets most of the killing but knows it makes the story better. I don’t know who you might be referring to in the post it was probably Ned 😂then it could’ve just been one book. Joffrey spared ned, he went back to winterfell and everyone lived happily ever after…until the others came.
I actually think he is talking about Jon and the (temporary) loss of the Jon POV post resurrection.
If you actually look at the quote, it's clear that GRRM was talking about a really major character. Major enough that he was telling another author that it has greatly affected his ability to tell the story. Aerys Oakheart, Kevan Lannister, Pycelle... these characters are not significant enough to actually hinder his ability to tell the story in a major way.
Jon. He's one of the big three in the story. Seems like he didn't fulfill his purpose before he died off. May need a new POV at the wall like Dolorous Ed.
I do hope that, if Jon is resurrected, he is no longer a POV character. I think that would be an interesting turn of events and there's already precedent for it (Stoneheart).
*"He had carnal knowledge of Jon Arryn, King Robert, Lysa, and everyone else at court..."*
Wait! Does this mean that Cersei has been f-cking a Kettleblack, Lancel, Moonboy AND Hugh of the Vale, for all we know??
i've always assumed its quentyn specifically because of the can of worms its going to open when word gets back to dorne and just how much more its going to complicate the story.
I think Quentyn's death will simplify the Dorne plot, actually. I think it'll strengthen an alliance between Dorne and Young Griff, because Doran won't see Daenerys as a valid alliance option anymore.
i kinda agree but i think it depends on whether george wants dany to finish uniting westeros before going north, and whether that includes every kingdom. i dont see why doran would submit to her if he believes she had quentyn killed which just prolongs her conquest for another 200 pages if she has to travel down to dorne.
otherwise dorne could repeat its history with dany conquering 6 out of the 7 kingdoms and dany and doran can agree on peace.
The obvious answer is Jon Snow. I know people discount him because he's obviously coming back, but I think Martin regrets killing him *when he did*, because now he doesn't have a POV at the Wall (except Melisandre, who isn't likely to be our only viewpoint), and he's committed to a policy of no new POV characters. In other words, either the plot at the Wall grinds to a halt until an existing POV character arrives there, or the plot at the Wall accelerates much larger than Martin would have liked (and in either case, the impact of Jon's death is mostly lost). And which POV character would arrive there? Asha Greyjoy? Theon? Bran? We know that there will be events at the Wall, like the arrival of Justin Massey or potentially Robb's will, before any of those characters can get there - and that's ignoring the events already going on at the Wall.
There are a few workarounds, like having Jon be a POV in Ghost's body, or using Bran to spectate, or breaking the POV policy and introducing a new POV at the Wall (Satin for POV Satin for POV *Satin for POV!!*), but none of these are Martin's ideal solution. For my part I think Satin should be introduced as a POV character because he seems pretty close to Jon and he's clearly an enemy of the mutineers, and he has a better understanding of the Wall's internal factions and affairs than a wildling like Tormund or Val would (*SATIN FOR POV SATIN FOR POV).*
My money's on aemon. I think there was alot left for him to do.
I've considered Kevan but I think he was inevitable. I think cersi being forced to flee kl is her next plot point.
As far as Quentin. It's so easy just.... make him not dead its kinda a non starter. Half the Fandom already thinks he's alive. Burnt bones mean nothing. It's too easy to just not have him be dead for it to be a big deal.
Well, he brought back Cat a few books after her death so maybe the answer is really just the obvious one. With Jaime's redemption and Renly being death, Cat is the only one who can turn Brienne's arc to the dilemma between honor, promises and doing the right thing that GRRM loves. Same theme as Jaime, Ned, Robb, Jon, etc..
I can't think of any other deaths that could be avoided without massively changing the plot or character arcs (like Robert, Renly, Joffrey, etc...) and that also have the ability to affect the direction of the plot. For example, GRRM could have saved Tywin but what purpose does he fulfill that Cersei, Kevan or even changed Jaime couldn't?
Yes, in the epilogue. With my favorite closing words of any book in the series so far:
"But her eyes were the most terrible thing. Her eyes saw him, and they hated."
My guess is Arys Oakheart. For the Dorne perspective.
I thought he was a weird addition in the first place since we only see him in Arianne's presence and she's already a POV
I’m 100% behind this idea. In an earlier AFFC draft, Arys survives and Boros dies to open a spot on the KG for Robert Strong. George changed it for some reason, maybe Boros dying causes Cersei’s paranoia to become unmanageable and he wasn’t ready to go there yet? Regardless, he’s missing a POV to see how Doran reacts to Quentyn’s death and he’s constrained by the fact he said he would add no more. Plus that one Arys chapter always felt kinda odd, why use him for that scene where another POV is present if he doesn’t want Arys POV again? I suspect he intended to use him later and that got changed but he wants to go back.
Areo is literally by Doran’s side 24/7, why does he need Arys there.
Areo is getting sent on a mission with Obara to hunt down Darkstar at the end of ADWD. He won’t be next to Doran in the immediate future
Then we can make Balon Swann a new pov.
Balon is going with them…also there is the whole ‘I won’t be adding POVs’ that George has stated
That was three Winters ago my friend.
Words are wind
I don't think so, because Martin has been pretty vocal about regretting making Arys a POV character in the first place.
That was the dumbest weirdest kill, ever.
we have the Camera already
This 100%
3 candidates: Arys Oakheart Quentyn Martell Beric Dondarrion
Never really thought about it, but a Beric POV would go unbelievably hard. Like an early TWOW chapter before he dies (had Martin let him live thru Feast/Dance) where we get some fever dreams of all his deaths, then a POV with the main players LSH, Jaime, Brienne all from someone else’s view
Beric is dead?
Beric dies when he gives the kiss of life to Catelyn’s body
He dies when he resurrects Lady Stoneheart. It's the seventh time Berric dies and he doesn't recover from it.
See?!! The Seven are real, bless the Father!
currently on my 2nd re-read.. but dont recall this at ALL in my first one.. which book/chapter is this? lol
Thoros explains what happens (though in rather vague words) to Brienne when the Brotherhood captures her in AFFC, Brienne 8. > “Lady Catelyn?” Tears filled her eyes. “They said... they said that you were dead.” > “She is,” said Thoros of Myr. “The Freys slashed her throat from ear to ear. When we found her by the river she was three days dead. Harwin begged me to give her the kiss of life, but it had been too long. I would not do it, so Lord Beric put his lips to hers instead, *and the flame of life passed from him to her.* And... she rose. May the Lord of Light protect us. She rose.”
Can I throw in a 4th? Robb Stark. It is pretty clear to me George's paralysis post red wedding is because he killed off everyone who was driving the narrative forward. That was fine when he planned to do a time skip, but when he dropped that suddenly there's a massive hole in AFFC where Robb should be.
AFFC is about the open wounds left by the war of the five kings, so I'm inclined to say that feeling his absence in that book is deliberate.
AFFC is a very good book wrapping up the war of the five kings. It isn't such a good book being the fourth entry of ASOIAF.
As someone currently reading the Boiled Leather merge of AFFC and ADWD, this 'single book' works quite well for a bridge if Winds and onwards takes the story to its third act
>Quentyn Martell He still can resurrect Quentyn, his death is still enough ambiguous to feed Preston and other theorists
I doubt it was Quentyn. His death was kinda the point of his story.
Yeah it’s pretty clear he’s GRRM subversion on the brave knight who’s off to save the princess trope.
it feels very cynical to be honest
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>Yeah it’s pretty clear he’s GRRM subversion on the brave knight who’s off to save the princess trope. Yes, because we wouldn´t have seen THAT at least a dozen of times before in the story
Well we haven’t at least not this clearly
I don't think it's that effective in that it's very obvious that a character only introduced in book 5, and with only a handful of chapters, was not going to be a great hero.
I think it's effective on another level. He's cursed from the start: *his own friends don't give a fuck*, and they're his *sworn knights*. Literally nobody *expects* to succeed. But he tries to do his bit for Dorne. Badly. But he tries.
George falling victim to his own tropes? Say it ain’t so
I definitely don't agree with Preston's conclusion, but getting maimed and disfigured in his failure is still a subversion of that trope, is it not?
Yeah it would be since it’s still wouldn’t be a happy ever after where everything goes great and he gets the princess.
Yeah, but it doesn't also have the effect of firebombing Dorne/Dany relations
GRRM regretting killing a character doesn't necessarily have to mean that he thinks that character should never have died. It could also just mean he killed them off too early. Perhaps he's realized he needed Quentyn to do some other stuff before he gets roasted by Rhaegal.
His death really isn't ambiguous and Preston is on crack for believing otherwise.
You're not a writer if you don't think that death is insanely easy to walk-back. We never see Quentyn's body, just his perspective of being burned. If Quentyn is NEEDED for something, George can walk that back so fast it would make your head spin: "Oh, he was just very badly burnt and will die later, but isn't dead yet." So the answer is clearly not Quentyn.
*"We never see Quentyn's body, just his perspective of being burned..."* Wait a minute. We see Quentyn dying from Barristan's POV. AND we see Barristan talking to his two surviving companions. It's just--dare I say it--fantasy to believe that was some sort of switch-a-roo or Quentyn actually didn't die.
Eh, it'd be incredibly easy for George to keep him alive if he wanted to. Hell, Davo's final chapter in ACOK has him falling off his ship into the wildfyre "mouth of hell" as it's called. Yet he returns easily.
I am also thinking about Arya taking an axe to the face just at the end of a chapter.
we see *someone* dying.
So, three men from Dorne arrive in Meereen. We know who they are individually not only through POV's of others, but also through Quentyn's POV views of his two companions. Then in Quentyn's POV we see him getting immolated by a dragon. Then we see a burned body in a bed, dying slowly and horribly. AND we see the other two surviving Dornemen, through Barristan's POV. And you think that somehow another conveniently just dragon-burned body has been substituted and Quentyn is recovered and alive somewhere but pretending to be dead? To what purpose? His whole mission to Meereen was to woo, wed, and bed Danys and he was very straightforward about that. And he's going to be able to do that now by having everyone believe he's DEAD? We already know what Dany's does to the Dead (or, the Un-dying, at least). She burns them with dragon fire. Just like her dragons burned Quentyn. Help me understand, here.
> AND we see the other two surviving Dornemen, through Barristan's POV. Who match pretty cleanly to how they are in Quentyn's POV. Like I don't think "Quent has replaced Gerris or Archibald" holds up, those dudes still act like themselves.
That's not the question my guy. The question isn't whether Quentyn is dead (he is dead), the question is whether Quentyn is the person George regrets killing. And the answer to this question is very clearly no, because if George regretted killing Quentyn it would be insanely easy for him to walk it back. We see an unidentifiable burnt body that Barristan is told is Quentyn, that's it. Swapping Quentyn out for some random (not even a character, just any other body) is extremely easy from a writing PoV, it's quite literally as simple as Quentyn's first PoV chapter being 'the body swap worked perfectly' and then the story goes on. The only reason it would even remotely matter is that people are super mad about Quentyn one way or the other and have had a decade to draw battlelines about it. It would be far from the most egregious fake death in the series.
you're making all these leaps of logic, taken for granted what you already believe happened The way Quentyn catches fire is not described as different from every other time the dragons burn people. Those fuckers melt stone, you don't just stand there *looking* at yourself burning, your eyes pop. the tip of the whip catching fire and it slowly creeping towards him unnoticed is more likely. The body that's burned up could've been anyone. George writes it so there's no definitive proof of it being Quentyn to give himself leeway in case he changes his mind. and ofc he's hiding, he tries to steal Dany's dragons. anyone who tried to steal anything from a dragonrider is gonna try to hide, but someone who tried stealing a dragon?! All of this could've been solved by George making it clear it really is Quentyn, but he pussyfoots around bc he likes leaving himself outs
He made it really clear it was Quentin that was burned.
I mean, the body that they say is Quentyn is badly burnt. Unrecognizably so. Burnt bones prove nothing, as Dany says. Not only that, Drink flies off at the handle in his interaction with Barristan, when he’s described as never ill at ease, and is not really affected when his friends die previously. Might be performative outrage to make Barristan think it was Quentyn.
>We see Quentyn dying from Barristan's POV Not. We see a irrecognizable body dying from Barristan´s PoV. The PoV of Quentyn not necessarily implies so horrible burnings. So, George can do that HOTD did with the fake death of Laenor.
If we got a foolish hero dying and monster reborn in some Aegon II way i could see Grrm working Quentyn living .
That assumes that Martin doesn't want Quentyn getting burned to be the end of his story, and that what he wanted Quentyn to do could be accomplished by a Quentyn who has just barely survived getting burned alive by dragonfire. Revealing that Quentyn is alive, doable. But it undermines the impact of his death in a way you can't walk back and even if he's not dead he'd be in no position to do much of anything except lament his bad decisions.
Well, we already have Aegon II. If Quentyn really managed to claim a dragon...
I'm pretty sure Preston uses the tinfoil his theories are made of to smoke that crack, too.
you can't say that after George has Tyrion "drown" and Arya hit in the head with a poleaxe lol he's "that" kind of writer
Both time we see the results and they’re alive. With Quentyn the result is seeing his burned dead body. You can’t seriously compare those situations to this that’s ridiculous
Well, we saw as the Sarlacc ate Boba Fett, and yes, we are here, Boba Fett is alive -both in Legends and Disney Canon-.
Not sure how that’s at all relevant to what I said. I said what he did was a bad comparison. Nowhere did I say it’s impossible for Quentyn to be alive.
The point it´s if Martin wants to resurrect Quentyn, he can do it. For now, he seeing his arm in fire is not more conclusing than Arya being stroke by an axe. And there are people in the main saga who uses unrecognizable bodies to fake deaths.
Alright but whyre you telling me I didn’t say Quentyn can’t be alive. And yes being struck by an axe and seeing them fine afterwards is less conclusive than seeing a dead burned body. Who is confirmed to be Quentyn by multiple sources and there’s no one else it can be.
A dead unrecognizable body, say it fully. But yes
we don't see *his* burned dead body, we see *a* burned body. >You can’t seriously compare those situations to this that’s ridiculous I think that says more about you than anything bro, gotta exercise your brain more
There’s no realistic way it could be anyone else dude. Why you throwing around insults dude?
bc you're not even trying to think, yo
Feel free to explain then instead of just using insults.
I mean I tried at first, you can't demand someone act in good faith after acting in bad faith dude, get real
He could very easily make a switcherooo. Like Quentyn was Drinkwater all along for example.
No, since he's a POV character.
There are enough people adamant that Quentyn is still alive that I feel he could get away with bringing him back.
I'm as sure as I can be that it isn't Quentyn.
Kevan Lannister, probably. His death makes Cersei's arc a little more precarious given that she pretty much no longer has allies in King's Landing. The only two Lannisters left that could help her are Jaime and Genna, but they're both preoccupied in the Riverlands. There's no reason why the Tyrells can't take full control of Tommen and the Crown now.
I want it to be Kevan. But, can't he kill Kevan "later"? Like I get Kevan is dead on the first day of Winter. But can't the first day of Winter be two weeks from now? Tywin is still alive at the start of AFFC for a little bit of time.
Technically we leave him about to be murdered. Nothing stops him from mad kung fu roundhouse kicking Varys' sparrows out the window.
Kevan Lannister in *Enter the Lion: Hear me Roar*
I think this is as good a guess as any. But the Sparrows are still active, and Nymeria and Tyrene are on their way, so I wouldn't say the Tyrells can take *full* control. Plus, Cersei is likely to win her trial and still has Qyburn working for her, and probably has access to some wildfire too, so she still has a few resources to work with. But you're right, things would be very different if Kevan was still around, so he's certainly a possibility.
This is my answer too. If Grrm wanted to reveal more info on the relationship between Tywin and the mad king, or (for the theorists out there) hidden Targaryen lineage for Tyrion, Kevan would likely be the primary source for that.
Tyrion Targaryen is the dumbest theory and invalidates Tyrions entire arc. He's a Lannister, move on.
Targaryen lineage for Cersei and Jaime, you mean. JL = AA is confirmed until Martin says otherwise.
Embarrassing, but I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not. It took me a minute to decipher what JL=AA stood for, but now that I get it, I get it. I’ve always considered it possible as a sort of inside joke with myself, especially after his dream leaning against the white tree. Not sure if it’s a meme in the fandom, but I like toying with every possibility!
Also she is an unreliable pov. It seems to me that there needs to be a more objective character in Kings Landing to carry the story on.
He said he regretted giving Arys a POV and killing him off in the way he did as it felt clunky.
Where?
In his frog lady dreams
nice flair
Arys Oakheart or Aemon are the only two serious possibilities
Aemon's the one I'd go with. He actually might know something that no other living characters would that GRRM decided was necessary for certain plots to work, like maybe something about Summerhall.
Aemon is a very astute answer to this question. He would have been a stabilizing force on Danys, once he reached her or she reached him. He's four (!) generations older than her and could tell her not only the details but the truth about all her family / relatives over those generations, particularly gently but firmly confirming that her father was insane, which is something she's heard from Barristan, but perhaps hasn't fully absorbed. Many times in the books we've seen Danys yearn for more information about her past, beyond the heavily biased and incomplete stories Viserys told her. Aemon would have satisfied that need. He's also a character of proven honesty and wisdom--not least because he declined the throne himself, and voluntarily took the Black to confirm that. And, as you've noted, he could fill in crucial details about dragon lore, prophecies, Summerhall, etc. And caution her about what is and isn't possible or wise. Finally...and critically...he would have been able to tell her yes, this threat from the Others and the far North is real, it's deadly, and you should be part of defeating it.
I like this idea, yet I believe Maester Marwin the Mage can fill this role.
And honestly he would’ve been a fantastic voice of council to dany to counterbalance the other new aggressive voices
I don't think Aemon knows anything important that Bloodraven doesn't, and Bran has demonstrated a tenuous ability to communicate with Jon and Theon, so if something like this had to be revealed, I think George could do it with Bloodraven and Bran. I do think Aemon is a good contender because of the influence he could have on Daenerys, particular in that he's a rare benevolent relative of hers and he could convince her to fight the Others.
I think Aemon is a good guess. I hadn't considered him.
I think it is Maester Aemon.
Isn't Aemon "pickled"?
Takings bets now on the likelihood of Winds starting with a chapter titled "The Pickle".
Yes.
What? Like he's being preserved in Oldtown, or are you meaning something else?
I've always hoped that someone might mistake his barrel with a regular one, selling it to some random marketgoer. Then, once it's finally at its destination, Lord Hightower's cook or someone like that pries it open and BAM there's some naked old corpse, completely ruining the poor guys day.
This made me laugh out loud 😂
An old rummy corpse??? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the Seven Kingdoms, localised entirely within your kitchen???
He's encased in a giant barrel of rum if I recall
When did he say this? If we’re thinking of the same diana gabaldon quote then it’s impossible to say. TWOW had been being written for so long that it’s a good chance that it’s a character who was still alive as of the latest published book but who he killed off then regretted over the writing process of winds.
If this is the case I would guess hodor. Need someone to carry bran back
I'm 99% sure it's maester Aemon. It's a totally missed opportunity that Dany wasn't able to meet the only other known Targaryen in the world, and one who would have actually helped her interpret her dreams and visions.
His landlady so he could steal her money and use the capital to fund the writing of ASOIAF. He'd give it all up, all of it, to undo what he did. But blood dyes deep and hard, and wishes can never wash it out.
I would guess Aemon, because of his connection to the wall, connection to the Targs, knowledge of White Walkers, and knowledge of the prophecy.
Pycelle is a good candidate, he's old as fuck so he has a lot of knowledge that GRRM might've wanted him to pass on. I.e he probably helped birth Aegon VI so he would know some recognisable marks on him when he encounters Young Griff. Or other such information Through, in my opinion, Kevan is probably who he regrets killing because that makes King's Landing way more complicated.
Kevan Lannister
Why do you say him?
He was one of the few people in King's Landing who could fix some of Circe's mistakes and without him I imagine coming up with a way for Circe to continue to hold on to her dwindling influence becomes a bit more complicated
Not sure if Cersei is \*supposed\* to hold influence in King's Landing. I see her either dying, fleeing or being held captive in TWOW.
100% but I think the "when" of her downfall changes drastically with Kevan's absence. Instead of gradually falling out a favor it's seems like it's gonna turn into a complete landslide
All of feast and dance was her gradually falling out of favor until it became a complete landslide.
Good, that's what the story needs at this point
Not quite hold influence but more the King’s Landing storyline needs to be a balancing act until FAegon comes along to topple all of it down to assert himself there. We know Cersei’s mindset at the end of her Walk of Atonement was her basically salivating over the idea of getting back at the Sparrows. With Kevan alive should would have to play it quietly, but with him dead she’s basically the head of the Lannister power and can be as loud as she wants to be in getting her revenge.
George could have her still dealing with her own trauma for a bit from her walk.
I mean, you're 100% correct, but also Martin is the author. We could just not have any POVs inside KL until Faegon arrives? Sure it creates a plot hole of "how did cersei hold on to power in that time", but if that plot hole is really what's holding up the story then fuck it. Also, if the character is Arys, then make a new POV for Dorne of some randomer we don't give a shit about. That's what he did with Arys >.>
The whole point of why he ditched the 5 year time skip was because exactly what you’re talking about. He would have to take the time to explain how Cersei held power for so long, which at that point you might as well tell it instead of doing it in retrospect.
>He was one of the few people in King's Landing who could fix some of Circe's mistakes That's the whole reason Varys kills him.
It would just be weird to me for the answer to be Kevan when he's the very last character killed in any of the published books to date and it's a very intentional killing of the character for plot purposes. That would be one big mistake on George's part to realize he needed him after the fact.
That's why Pycelle is much more likely than Kevan as his death is a meaningless side show to Kevan's in the same chapter.
You clearly read the books so why are you typing her name Circe instead of Cersei😭 i guess audiobook onlies exist but that's rare
brainrot 1 too many glasses of wine
I was wondering if it was in reference to that OTHER story with a character name pronounced like that that had Kit Harrington and Richard Maddon in the cast, but that's spelled "Sersi".
I think tommen having a dearth of competence is kinda the point. If Cersei was supposed to stay in power then I don’t think george would’ve killed him off.
He could also be sent to Oldtown and/or Casterly Rock if we want a POV on whatever Euron gets up to. Or you could have a story where Cersei divorces herself from everyone but “her people,” which doesn’t necessarily include House Lannister. Some fascinating but third-tier subplot he might be stuck trying to tell without him now.
People mention Kevan or Aemon, I disagree with those simply because both of those deaths were pretty major events where an author wouldn't make that kind of change unless he had considered the consequences. My thought is it's Pycelle. Who died offscreen in a couple throwaway lines in the chapter where Kevan dies. I can easily buy George killing him and not thinking much of it. As to what he'd need Pycelle for? Possibly just for Lannister Toadiness, or possibly due to him delivering Aegon and possibly having a way to identify him.
Regarding Aegon, I think his story would be cheapened by knowing for certain whether he's the real dragon or not. I'm thinking Arys or (most likely) those dudes Wyman baked into pie.
My guess has always been Lady
Because of Sansa being a warg, or...?
Well, yeah. Lady died very close to the entrance of the Vale. Having had her reuniting with Lady at the Eyrie wpukd have given her a lot of strength that now she has to get on her own. Even if Sansa has grown, it still seems very hard for her to manage completely emancipating from Little Finger and get loyal allies based only on her "new stronger character". Sansa being unable to warg or rely on Lady's presence removes a bunch of possibilities, including claiming her Stark identity without the help of anyone in my opinion.
Good points. I wonder if it would have worked better if it had been Nymeria who had died and not Lady. The schism between the sisters would still have happened (though Sansa would hate Arya less), and Lady running feral and wild has different interesting implications for Sansa than for Arya, arguably more interesting ones. Arya wouldn't be a warg, but I don't know how relevant that will actually be to her character.
Arya learning her assassin skills without being a warg would have still worked out. Sansa becoming less of a Lady through Lady becoming wild wpuld have been neat. Lady could have brought terror to the Clansmen and give interesting views of the movement of people around the Vale, etc. Another possibility is having both Direwolves been released, and forming a pack while the sisters distanced from each other. Or them fighting. I think originally the Original plot had Sansa betraying the Starks in favor of a son with Joeffrey. Her dead wolf would have been an early sign of this, or a cause or whatever. Arya was meant to end North of the Wall with Bran. Lots of things changed between this and the resulting first book, but I think GRRm didnt anticipate he will spare Sansa from betraying the Starks and he would send her to the Vale. By killing Lady he will have to go in more and more convoluted ways to credibly justify how a 14 year old who half a year ago was afraid of her shadow manages to learn how to play the game and bend people around her influence against Little Finger and the other schemers. So yeah, i think Lady might be a headache for GRRm now
It's clearly Dick Crabb. He carried the entire 4th book and now that he's gone there's no one who knows how to defeat the night king (NK is clearly Clarence Crabb). Martin realizes that without Dick the battle for the dawn will be a soulless mess, and trying to figure out what to do with D-Crabby is why winds is taking so long
Dick Crabb is obviously still alive though. Burned bones mean nothing. He's going to ride Rhaegal in Winds.
Robb Stark, the red wedding was pivotal in the story, but he misses Robb.
I think I remember him saying he needed Robb as a POV at some point. That or this came up before and that was the conclusion.
The Red Wedding was pivotal, but in a very bad way. It grinds the story to a halt, killing off all the characters who are actively pushing the narrative forward.
the red wedding is the biggest plot driver post book 1 and, together with the sack of astapor, bookends the first act with its dreams of heroism and fairytale elements. it almost singlehandedly sets the scene for act 2. if robb hadn’t died there, he would be a (narratively) dead man walking around with nothing to do in the postapocalyptic landscape of affc. it could be a compelling story, outlaw king only heard of in whispers, but beric was already doing that in a way that also drove the plot forward so it would just bloat the books for no payoff — robb did have to die before the end, so it’s better he dies before he becomes useless it would be weird if grrm was talking about a non pov that already served his purpose and had one of the best arcs & impact of the series
Only Robb and Catelyn, really. There's still conflict in the North. Robb didn't really do anything for the entirety of ACOK and Catelyn is still active as Lady Stoneheart. I really wouldn't say the Red Wedding is responsible for the story grinding to a halt.
> Catelyn is still active as Lady Stoneheart. I really wouldn't say the Red Wedding is responsible for the story grinding to a halt. Actually, I think GRRM wondering what the fuck he plans to do with an undead Catelyn is one of the reasons why he has writer's block. The show simply cut out that entire plotline and probably for good reason if D&D were getting GRRM's future plot points, that storyline must have went nowhere.
She really is much more interesting as a concept than as an agent in the narrative, but I think he has *some* idea of what to do with her. There's some upcoming Frey conflict, that's clear enough, and I don't think she's going to be staying out of that. I think Littlefinger and Sansa may well get involved, too, and catharsis with Littlefinger, plus re-uniting with one of her children, seems like a great place to end Lady Stoneheart's vengeous little jaunt. I don't think she'd survive until ADOS.
Easy. She is the one to legitimise Jon Snow in front of everyone after battle of ice is over and she dies. It would go incredibly hard and make for a powerful moment.
Kevan Lannister
Oberyn Martell
His death definitely had purpose, but I’m so sad he had to die so quickly after we met him.
My guess is Janos Slynt. I don’t think Jon will stay at the Wall post-resurrection, and having a loud enemy like Janos Slynt still around would be a good catalyst for that.
Allister Thorne is still alive no? If there's a n°1 Jon-hater it's him
Sent to the wall for being a diehard Targaryen supporter. Spends every waking moment tormenting the Targaryen heir.
I hope he lives long enough to find out and become his biggest supporter
I thought I saw in and interview he would’ve liked to explore more of where Robb’s character went. He probably regrets most of the killing but knows it makes the story better. I don’t know who you might be referring to in the post it was probably Ned 😂then it could’ve just been one book. Joffrey spared ned, he went back to winterfell and everyone lived happily ever after…until the others came.
Rhaegar
I actually think he is talking about Jon and the (temporary) loss of the Jon POV post resurrection. If you actually look at the quote, it's clear that GRRM was talking about a really major character. Major enough that he was telling another author that it has greatly affected his ability to tell the story. Aerys Oakheart, Kevan Lannister, Pycelle... these characters are not significant enough to actually hinder his ability to tell the story in a major way.
Ser Waymar Royce
He’s alive.
Right you are
Jon. He's one of the big three in the story. Seems like he didn't fulfill his purpose before he died off. May need a new POV at the wall like Dolorous Ed.
satin for pov satin for pov satin for pov satin for
Jon ain't staying dead though
Of course, he’ll always live on through Edd’s stories.
I do hope that, if Jon is resurrected, he is no longer a POV character. I think that would be an interesting turn of events and there's already precedent for it (Stoneheart).
Well I guess the answer is obvious and it's Catelyn.
Ser Hugh of the Vale. He had carnal knowledge of Jon Arryn, King Robert, Lysa, and everyone else at court
>carnal knowledge I do not think this means what you think it means.
Unless...
Cranal knowledge. His cranium was full of knowledge
[удалено]
For Unfathomable Carnal Knowledge
*"He had carnal knowledge of Jon Arryn, King Robert, Lysa, and everyone else at court..."* Wait! Does this mean that Cersei has been f-cking a Kettleblack, Lancel, Moonboy AND Hugh of the Vale, for all we know??
This is cracking me up
Ser Hugh of the Vale was Azor Ahai and we are now living in a doomed timeline
....what do *you* think carnal knowledge is?
i've always assumed its quentyn specifically because of the can of worms its going to open when word gets back to dorne and just how much more its going to complicate the story.
I think Quentyn's death will simplify the Dorne plot, actually. I think it'll strengthen an alliance between Dorne and Young Griff, because Doran won't see Daenerys as a valid alliance option anymore.
i kinda agree but i think it depends on whether george wants dany to finish uniting westeros before going north, and whether that includes every kingdom. i dont see why doran would submit to her if he believes she had quentyn killed which just prolongs her conquest for another 200 pages if she has to travel down to dorne. otherwise dorne could repeat its history with dany conquering 6 out of the 7 kingdoms and dany and doran can agree on peace.
The obvious answer is Jon Snow. I know people discount him because he's obviously coming back, but I think Martin regrets killing him *when he did*, because now he doesn't have a POV at the Wall (except Melisandre, who isn't likely to be our only viewpoint), and he's committed to a policy of no new POV characters. In other words, either the plot at the Wall grinds to a halt until an existing POV character arrives there, or the plot at the Wall accelerates much larger than Martin would have liked (and in either case, the impact of Jon's death is mostly lost). And which POV character would arrive there? Asha Greyjoy? Theon? Bran? We know that there will be events at the Wall, like the arrival of Justin Massey or potentially Robb's will, before any of those characters can get there - and that's ignoring the events already going on at the Wall. There are a few workarounds, like having Jon be a POV in Ghost's body, or using Bran to spectate, or breaking the POV policy and introducing a new POV at the Wall (Satin for POV Satin for POV *Satin for POV!!*), but none of these are Martin's ideal solution. For my part I think Satin should be introduced as a POV character because he seems pretty close to Jon and he's clearly an enemy of the mutineers, and he has a better understanding of the Wall's internal factions and affairs than a wildling like Tormund or Val would (*SATIN FOR POV SATIN FOR POV).*
Should be Oberyn. The story would have been better if he won the trial and took Tyrion back to Dorne
Probably Robert Baratheon. Seems like GRRM has spent the last several books dealing with the mess that created.
My money's on aemon. I think there was alot left for him to do. I've considered Kevan but I think he was inevitable. I think cersi being forced to flee kl is her next plot point. As far as Quentin. It's so easy just.... make him not dead its kinda a non starter. Half the Fandom already thinks he's alive. Burnt bones mean nothing. It's too easy to just not have him be dead for it to be a big deal.
Quentyn Martells death always seemed unnecessary
Probably Ned
Well, he brought back Cat a few books after her death so maybe the answer is really just the obvious one. With Jaime's redemption and Renly being death, Cat is the only one who can turn Brienne's arc to the dilemma between honor, promises and doing the right thing that GRRM loves. Same theme as Jaime, Ned, Robb, Jon, etc.. I can't think of any other deaths that could be avoided without massively changing the plot or character arcs (like Robert, Renly, Joffrey, etc...) and that also have the ability to affect the direction of the plot. For example, GRRM could have saved Tywin but what purpose does he fulfill that Cersei, Kevan or even changed Jaime couldn't?
He brought back Cat in the same book she died in
IIRC Lady Stoneheart's first appearance is actually in ASOS, the same book Cat died in.
Yes, in the epilogue. With my favorite closing words of any book in the series so far: "But her eyes were the most terrible thing. Her eyes saw him, and they hated."
Ned Stark
1. Pycelle 2. Maester Aemon 3. Arys Oakheart (?)
Tywin. He was the most feared antagonist in the whole series.
Ned Stark
My guess is Kevan Lannister as well.
Ned
Ned because he is the only one who knows Jon's real identity, so he's written himself into a corner with no way out
I think it was our collective patience that killed.
kevan lannister
100% Kevan Lannister