Well, Game of Thrones season 6 has come and gone, and we still haven’t gotten Winds of Winter. It’s something of a crushing disappointment, both for the millions of book readers and for George R. R . Martin himself. But at least it tells us one thing. GRRM was being honest. He really wasn’t done with Winds of Winter, and told us so, and wasn’t lying. And trust me—lots of people on the Internet thought otherwise.
Winds of Winter Release Date: When GRRM Finishes, Which He Hasn’t
Nobody is happy that Winds of Winter isn’t out yet—at least nobody except really hardcore bloggers about the show, who like that we don’t know whether it’s different from the books now. But there was a vocal Internet contingent who feared, and perhaps even believed, that Winds of Winter was already done—and that the publisher or George R. R. Martin was sitting on the manuscript until Game of Thrones season 6 premiered, or until after it was finished. Much as we would like to have Winds of Winter in our hands now, this thankfully turned out to be a load of hogwash. Big surprise.
There was no secret announcement following the Game of Thrones finale that Winds of Winter would be in stores the very next day. No shocks, no surprises. No reasonable person could have expected them. George has promised to let us know as soon as the book is done, and based on past experience, he will.
It was ridiculous to think that GRRM or his publishers would have sat on the completed manuscript. At the very least, they would have announced it, with a publication date set to coincide with the Game of Thrones premiere or finale. For whatever reason, publishers believe in “marketing,” rather than “dropping big surprises on you without any fanfare”—the closest we’ve gotten to the latter in recent years is Fallout 4 and Pokémon Go. There was never a real chance that George was holding onto Winds of Winter just to surprise us. That’s not really how this works.
So, for better or for worse, he was really telling the truth all along. Winds of Winter isn’t done yet. He’ll tell us when it is. Then it’ll come out about three months later and the world will change forever (or, well, maybe not). But he’s playing straight with us—no tricks. It just ain’t done.
