George RR Martin’s unfinished “The Winds of Winter” surprise, “Game of Thrones” Season 6 wins deadline race

On Saturday, George RR Martin made an announcement none of his fans ever wanted to hear. He said that his much-awaited “The Winds of Winter” book was still unfinished, fourth year in a row, and that he has little idea when he would be completing the sixth book in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga. More disheartening was the news that he was 100 per cent certain that it was impossible for him to release the book before “Game of Thrones” Season 6 release date in mid of April.

Martin wrote in length the pressures he has gone through in 2015, how incessant travels affected his writing and his dislike for deadlines. However, he rendered a heartfelt apology to his fans for first missing the Halloween 2015 deadline and then the New Year deadline. It was most definitely the most revealing post by Martin till date who generally stays silent on his book updates. He sounded disappointed and thoroughly discouraged.

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The declaration led to the obvious question – will “Game of Thrones” Season 6 ruin the book “The Winds of Winter?” While the answer would have been a resonant “yes,” George RR Martin was in for a surprise. His blog post, instead of angry reactions and disappointments, was filled with fan support. Majority of the comments supported the writer and sympathised with him for the hurdles he is facing. Although many were disappointed, they all wished him well. So much so that Martin came up with yet another blog post thanking his fans for the stupendous response.

Another important reason why the release of “Game of Thrones” Season 6 won’t spoil the book is that the HBO TV show has already diverted massively from the book series.

[Spoiler Alert] Those of you who are not up-to-date with the show or the book and have somehow shielded yourselves from the numerous “Game of Thrones” Season 6 spoilers on the internet, this is not for you.

Princess Shireen (Kerry Ingram), Princess Myrcella (Aimee Richardson, Nell Tiger Free), Mance Rayder (Ciarán Hinds), and King Stannis (Stephen Dillane) are all dead in the show but very much alive in the book. On the other hand, Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide) is dead in the book and alive in the show.

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Interestingly, Martin does not mention Jon Snow (Kit Harington) even once in his blog post. That might be pretty telling of the immensely popular character’s fate. Can this mean that the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch is most definitely making a comeback in “Game of Thrones” Season 6?

For now, Martin’s “The Winds of Winter” has no release date.