I was a book fan long before I was a show fan, and I’ve had an off-again-on-again relationship with the show, including big periods of just not watching around season 4 and 7. The main reason I got back into the show was the tempting early spoilers for season 8, and the possibility of getting an ending to a series I have loved for near 20 years (my partner and I bonded in part over these books).

Obviously, getting back into the show didn’t end so well for me. I’m know I am not alone here when I say I have never been more disappointed by any television show, or felt so angsty for so long about a couple of fictional characters. I really wish I had just stuck with the books lol.

That said, I never expected the books to be published while the show was going (I assumed inconsistencies were why the Winds was pulled back in 2015). I’ve clung to the view that Winds is at the finalisation or editing stage (or perhaps now the rewrite the ending stage lol) and all the speculation about changes to his website etc late last year gave me a lot of hope, However, I recently read this article, and try as I might to be positive, it has been playing on my mind (noting that it is ambiguous, and now translated to German and back besides, so may not mean much).

I always try and stay positive - GRRM doesn’t owe us anything, I am grateful for the world he has given us, the fan hatred toward him is unhelpful at best, the book will come when it comes etc. But this is the first time I have actually thought: maybe it won’t? And I find myself getting unreasonably despondent over the fate of fictional characters, and also wondering how to get closure.

This is all a bit hypothetical - it is less than a year since the show ended. But what will you do if the books don’t come? Choose a fanfic and adopt that as your canon (any suggestions?). Write your own ending that involves Jaime and Brienne and meadows in Tarth (I have seen it said that the upside to not getting the books is we can do that). Continue to cling to hope indefinitely?

Or just set the series aside and forget it (if you know how to do this, please let me know, lol!)