‘The Winds of Winter’ Release Date, Spoilers: Read Through Interesting Plot Theories While Book’s Launch Date Is Still Unknown

Unfortunately, there is still no word yet on the official release date of “The Winds of Winter.” Meanwhile, fans can distract themselves from the long wait by reading through some of the most interesting plot theories for the upcoming book.

“The Winds of Winter” is the sixth installment to George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga, which is the reference material for the massively popular “Game of Thrones” on HBO. Last month, it had been exactly seven years since its predecessor, “A Dance with Dragons,” was released — the longest gap in the book series.

Those years gave fans ample time to speculate on what might happen in “The Winds of Winter.” It is also important to note that many events in the upcoming book are expected to be different from the narrative of “Game of Thrones” season 7. So theories that sound off compared to the TV series plot should not be immediately ruled out.

For one, there is a theory that “The Winds of Winter” has a much darker story about Shireen’s death. Some speculate that Melisandre calls for the death of Shireen to resurrect Jon Snow. Reports explained that this plot fits perfectly with the prior prophecy in the book about the Azor Ahai which says dragons will be waking up “out of stone.”

Jon is now a confirmed a Targaryen (dragon) while Shireen has greyscale (stone) both in the books and on TV. Maybe “The Winds of Winter” will also confirm that Jon is, indeed, the Azor Ahai — that is if the TV series will not do it first.

Meanwhile, another widely speculated plot is the so-called “Mad Queen” theory that may unfold in “The Winds of Winter.” It is where Daenerys becomes just like her father, overwhelmed with power and aggression that she ends up crazy enough to want to kill an entire populace. Interestingly, several instances in the TV series showed Dany jumping onto more harsh and rapid war tactics and ignoring advice from Tyrion Lannister.

On the other hand, George R.R. Martin repeatedly gave emphasis on the essence of “Valar Morghulis.” So, if there is anything certain for “The Winds of Winter,” that is more deaths are going to happen.

“I’ve been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming,” the author teased during the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2016. “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.”

As mentioned earlier, fans are still clueless as to when “The Winds of Winter” is coming out. And it now seems like Martin encountered more delays along the way. In 2017, he hinted at a possibility of “a Westeros book from [him] in 2018.” But things changed last April when he wrote “winter is not coming… not in 2018, at least.”