'Winds Of Winter': George RR Martin Trip To Hamburg, Germany, Inspires Novel's Death Scene

Novelist George RR Martin reportedly planned the death of one of the characters in “Winds of Winter,” while he was in Germany. The author is said to have spoken about the plan while he was attending an event at the Congress Centrum Hamburg.

"Winds of Winter" is the forthcoming sixth novel in Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, which has served as the basis for HBO's "Game of Thrones" television series.

According to a report by David Harris of Winter is Coming, Martin said in an interview at the event that there was a character he always knew would die, but he did not know how the death would occur. The author said he now knows how the character will die and said that being in Hamburg may have played a role in him coming up with the idea.

Martin did not name the character or describe the manner of death, but the report speculates about which character Martin was talking about. One of the most probable candidates to die in the next book, according to Harris, is Asha Greyjoy. A German friend is said to have told Harris about a local legend in Hamburg about how a pirate called Klaus Stortebecker and his crew were beheaded for their crimes. The report notes that if the legend was the inspiration behind Martin’s plan to kill the character, then Asha could be the one to die.

Another possible character that Harris considers a candidate to die is Cersei Lannister. He points to the Prophecy of the Valonqar, which predicts that she will die at the hands of her younger brother. Although Tyrion has more reasons to kill Cersei, Harris believes that Jaime may end up killing his sister because such a scenario “blows your mind.”

Martin is said to have read another unpublished chapter from his next book at the event. The report doesn’t specify which point-of-view character’s chapter the author read at the event. The author has been releasing sample chapters from his unpublished book on his official blog from time to time and currently the chapter of Sansa Stark appears on his blog.

Sansa is currently at the Vale and will be doing the tasks assigned by Petyr Baelish in “Winds of Winter.” One of the tasks is to get close to Harrold, who is the heir to the Vale after Robert Arryn. Harris doesn’t believe that Sansa will die just yet.