Illusiveone
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224: Redoing My Life, Late Night Writing
🕑 Added 2025-07-12 19:51:19 +0000 UTCPost on r/asoiaf
Title: Worried for Storm of Swords Part 2
Well, since it’s confirmed that it’s coming this year thank you, Daniel Martin I just wanted to say I’m very worried.
The last book really did me in. So many named character deaths huge ones. Luwin? Gone. Jeor Mormont? Gone. And don’t even get me started on Ygritte; that one broke me.
I don’t know maybe I got too attached but I genuinely loved Jon and Ygritte together. Their chemistry, their wild and soft moments… I had this whole theory that Jon might abandon the Watch and become king beyond the Wall, with her as his queen. I knew it was a long shot, but still, it felt possible. And then… nope. Arrow to the chest. Just gone.
It honestly feels like Goerge 'obviously not’ Adler is lurking on these forums, seeing whom we love the most and then just… executing them, one by one. Who’s next? Sansa? Tywin? Robb? (Actually, if it’s Tywin I might be okay, but that’s beside the point.)
But and here’s the thing this is also why I’m counting the days until Storm of Swords Part 2. That tension, that unpredictability, the genuine fear of turning the next page that’s the magic of it, even if it hurts.
I just wish George Daniel would hurry it up; my heart can’t take much more waiting.
Also, if he kills off Arya, I will do violence against GRRM Adler.
Top Comments:
Starkned12
I actually think the main character deaths might slow down now. We’ve lost so many already I’m guessing maybe one or two big ones in Storm Part 2, but that’s it. I just hope we finally start seeing the North win something again. The Lannisters had way too much plot armor last book. It’s getting ridiculous.
DragonQueenFan88
Yeah, I was pretty bummed when Ygritte died. But maybe that opens the door for Jon and Dany?
TinfoilMaester44
replying to @DragonQueenFan88
Come on. If that one theory is true, they’re nephew and aunt.
DragonQueenFan88
replying to @TinfoilMaester44
...So what? That’s normal for Targaryens. Literally their thing.
TinfoilMaester44
replying to @DragonQueenFan88
Jon is not Dany’s type.
DragonQueenFan88
replying to @TinfoilMaester44
Oh, like you’re the expert. Dany has had, like, two men, and Jon just one woman. I don’t think they have a "type" yet.
Direwolf_93
replying to @DragonQueenFan88
I’m gonna make a bold prediction: Jon is going to die before Daenerys even sets foot in Westeros. At the rate Daniel RR Adler is killing people, I wouldn’t be shocked if Jon bites it halfway through the book. Then we’re all gonna be stuck rooting for Stannis or something.
Stantheman
replying to @Direwolf_93
Is that an insult I see against the GREAT STANNIS THE MANNIS, THE ONE TRUE KING, AND AZOR AHAI, THE SAVIOR OF WESTEROS?
Snowmerd3
I’m just saying if Sansa dies, I’m flipping my table. She just started being interesting.
CroforeHos69
This whole comment section is just people pre-grieving. Adler is a menace.
Wolfwater32
Okay, hear me out I think Robb Stark is going to die. I know, I know sounds insane, but there have been signs. The war is going too well for him. All this tension with the Freys? He killed Rickard. The Boltons? It’s adding up. I’m calling it now: he’s going to be betrayed by his own men.
Northeror99
replying to @Wolfwater32
Nah, man. Robb is basically the main character at this point. He’s the King in the North.
Blaf5sAgain
replying to @Northeror99
Exactly. We already lost Ned. They can’t kill Robb too. That’d just be cruel.
TowerOfheory
replying to @Northeror99
...We all thought Ned was the main character.
Makerdred3
Why are you all messing up George's name is this a joke on that stupid theory of Adler being the real Author.
====
I read the last comment and chuckled, shaking my head as I closed the browser tab. Those poor people had no idea what was coming; the final post claimed Robb was the main character and would make a perfect king for Daenerys.
It was funny, because at that very moment I was writing the Red Wedding.
I clicked back to the word editor, cracked my knuckles, and began to type again:
“On my honor as a Stark, I will trade your boy’s life for my own… a son for a son.”
I continued.
Boom—the drum sounded—boom, doom, boom, doom. The old man’s lips puckered in and out. The knife trembled in Catelyn’s hand, slippery with sweat.
“A son for a son, heh,” he repeated. “But that’s a grandson… and he never was much use.”
A man in dark armor and a pale pink cloak spattered with blood stepped up to Robb. “Jaime Lannister sends his regards.” He thrust his longsword through her son’s heart and twisted.
Robb had broken his word, but Catelyn kept hers. She tugged hard on Aegon’s hair and sawed at his neck until the blade grated on bone. Blood ran hot over her fingers. His little bells were ringing, ringing, ringing, and the drum went boom, doom, boom.
The words came the way they always did slow at first, but once the momentum hit, they poured out. I lost track of time as I wrote the massacre onto the pages—something that would break many hearts.
By the time I typed the final line of the chapter, I sat back and exhaled. The Red Wedding was done.
Only one chapter remained: the death of Joffrey Baratheon. I had saved that and along with this for last; once I finished that, A Storm of Swords, Part 2 would be complete, and Lucy could breathe a sigh of relief.
Even though I remembered the entire story from my previous life,I had no special magical powers. I couldn't simply wave my hand and conjure a perfect manuscript. Writing took time. It demanded discipline and skill to do it well.
My version of the series was still A Song of Ice and Fire, but it wasn’t exactly George’s story. The core remained—the same skeleton, the same beating heart—but I rebuilt the flesh, so to speak. The world felt more grounded, more lived-in. The kingdoms weren’t just names on a map; they felt distinct—culturally, politically, and linguistically.
Take the North, for example: in my version it had its own language used by the smallfolk, while only the lords spoke the common tongue of the South, and only because the Targaryens had demanded it after the Conquest. The South was equally diverse, and even the ‘common tongue’ splintered into dialects. Dornish speech was completely unintelligible in the Reach; the Vale spoke a dialect closer to Old Andalos; and the Riverlands and Crownlands hosted several variants, adding to the chaos. Stormlander gruffness, Reach flowery formality, the clipped and bitter bite of Ironborn speech—they all sounded different.
For the show, most of this could be streamlined, but one thing I would fight to keep— even with my own money—was the castles. I wanted them built exactly as I wrote them, in all their vast, outlandish glory.
And then there were the characters.
I took what the show had done right and brought it into the books. Tywin, for instance, was now pure Charles Dance—so the old lion already had a huge fanbase. Oberyn, too, leaned closer to his on-screen version. Most important was Catelyn: once a divisive figure, she gained some of her stronger show moments here, and the Catelyn hate was far less intense.
Above all, I learned from George’s missteps. I left myself room to breathe—no thirty new plot threads to write myself into a corner.
No Meereenese knots.
The one task that truly daunted me, more than anything else, was finishing the series. I needed a good, satisfying ending—something George himself hadn’t managed in my previous life. Yet I felt confident.
I continued and kept writing as the night wore on.
Soon I found myself typing the final word and sending the entire manuscript to Lucy. A Storm of Swords was finished.
It was already past four in the morning. I leaned back in my chair, eyes heavy, body numb with exhaustion, rested my head on the desk, and fell asleep.
======
Ring. Ring.
I jolted awake, my neck stiff and mouth dry. I was still in the chair, hunched awkwardly over my desk, arms crossed on the surface like some overworked college kid during finals week. Papers were scattered across the table, and the screen of my laptop still glowed faintly.
My phone buzzed again.
I sat up slowly, blinking against the morning light spilling in through the half-closed blinds. I grabbed the phone, groggy, and saw a few missed calls. Margot. And Matt. Matt again.
As it rang a third time, I answered. “Hey.”
“Danny, I’m outside, man open up.”
I glanced at the time. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost eleven in the morning.”
“Oh,” I muttered, standing with a wince. My back cracked like bubble wrap. Right—I’d sent the finished chapters to Lucy around 4 AM, hit send, and… apparently passed out right after.
I stumbled toward the door. When I opened it, Matt walked in instantly, holding a box in one hand and giving me an incredulous look.
“I’ve been calling you for like twenty minutes.”
“I passed out at my desk,” I said, voice still hoarse. “Wrote all night.”
He walked in and looked around. “Where’s Margot?”
“She’s on a girls’ trip,” I said, heading toward the kitchen. “She’s got a busy year ahead, so…”
“Ah, that movie you’re doing?”
“Well, that and another one she was just cast in,” I said, reaching into a cabinet for mugs.
Besides Birdman, Margot had been cast in Z for Zachariah—which I didn’t even remember from my old life. Maybe she did it then too. There was also talk of her being cast in a new Will Smith movie. Either way, she was going to be a very busy woman.
“What was that movie again—Birdman?” Matt asked.
“Yeah,” I said, starting up the coffee machine. “It’s gonna take a year just for pre-production. Alejandro wants to rehearse every shot down to the second.”
Matt raised an eyebrow. “Sounds a bit too much.”
I shrugged, pouring water into the reservoir. “He’s shooting it to look like it’s all one continuous take.”
Matt whistled. “Looks like another Oscar for your company.”
“Yep. Could win another one in 2017,” I said with a smirk.
As the coffee machine whirred to life, Matt opened the box he’d brought and revealed a dozen donuts—glazed, powdered, chocolate-frosted. I grabbed one without hesitation, biting into the sugar as the scent of fresh coffee filled the kitchen.
“So,” I said between bites, “ready to go see Lucy?”
Matt nodded. That was why he was here—to drop in on Lucy and go over the next Invincible release together. It had been a while since the last issue, so he wanted to come along. He sipped his coffee and added, “Got some rough sketches for the Conquest fight if you want to see.”
“Oh yeah show me,” I said. We moved to the couch, donuts in hand, and Matt pulled out a sketchpad. He began flipping through pages, each filled with clean pencil drawings.
The upcoming issues would cover the Invincible War storyline and, right after that, the arrival and fight with Conquest.
Matt showed me a particularly brutal panel—the one where Conquest beats up Oliver.
Then he frowned slightly and turned to me. “Do we really need to make this guy creepy?”
“Creepy?” I raised an eyebrow. “How is he creepy?”
Matt pointed at one of the drawings, where Conquest, floating above Earth, blows a heart-shaped splatter of blood toward Invincible. “This. The whole I’m so lonely thing. It’s weird, man.”
I chuckled. “Hey, that’s not creepy—it’s building his character.”
“Yeah? Still sounds creepy to me.”
“Maybe,” I said, leaning back, “but it makes him stand out. He’s not just another guy who shows up and punches stuff—you can expand Viltrum’s lore through him.”
Matt shrugged, accepting that, and finished showing me the drawings. They all looked very promising, and I was sure they’d be great once he polished them.
“If you think this is creepy, you might not like what I’ve planned for Anissa.”
Matt paused. “What? What do you mean?”
“Oh man—just realized you have to draw it too,” I said. I barely remembered that panel from my previous life, but I knew it would need to be handled with care.
Matt kept pressing for details, but I didn’t answer. After going over the artwork, we finally left the apartment and headed for Infinite Worlds Publishing. As we drove through the sunlit streets, the conversation continued about Invincible but drifted to DC about halfway there.
“The New 52 is a disaster,” Matt said, shaking his head. “I’m serious, man. They don’t even know what they’re doing anymore. Can’t you do something? Didn’t you get separated from Stardust or whatever? I thought you and Dave controlled DC now.”
I laughed. “Separated? No more like we got autonomy. Dave and I run DC Studios, sure, but not the comics division. They won’t let me anywhere near their precious books.”
“Damn shame,” Matt muttered. “I just want something fresh from them.”
I nodded. “Well… there might be something on the horizon.”
Matt narrowed his eyes. “Like what?”
“Scott Snyder’s cooking up a pitch. He might approach the comics soon. Alternate versions of all the main heroes—an entirely new Earth. If I remember right, Wonder Woman’s raised in Hell, Batman’s blue-collar instead of a billionaire… I forget exactly what he said about Superman, but the concept sounds wild.”
Matt sat up straighter. “A Wonder Woman raised in Hell? That sounds fantastic.” He paused. “Not so sure about blue-collar Batman, though.”
I shrugged. “I’ll let you know if they loop me in, but I doubt it. For now, they’re guarding that side of the company like Fort Knox.”
We pulled up to Infinite Worlds Publishing. I hadn’t been here in months—too busy with Midas and DC. Inside, we nodded to a few familiar faces and rode the elevator to the top floor. Moments later, we stepped into Lucy’s office.
“I have returned!” I declared theatrically as I pushed the door open. “The king is back!”
Four senior editors were already there, clustered around Lucy’s massive desk. She looked up—definitely not happy.
“What?” I asked.
“Robb Stark, Daniel… what the fuck?” she snapped.
Michael, one of the editors, jumped in. “And you can’t kill Tywin yet—not until—”
Like a dam breaking, they all started shouting at once: arguments about keeping fan-favorite characters alive, complaints that I was slaughtering everyone they loved.
I chuckled to myself. These people were going to lose it if I just told them about my plans for jon in two books.
What I was looking forward to most now was seeing how the general public reacted to each death when the series finally hit Netflix in the years ahead.
.
.
So Daniel's version of ASOIAF is the same but also different.
Daniel does not know about the DC's Absolute universe so it's something new to him.
Next time..Daniel goes on a trip to Paris with Mar ...wait, that’s not Margot. Is that Vin Diesel?
Comments
Illusiveone
Wasnt that already in the books or am i misremembering
Loveburgers
Are you going to add the part where Robb send people to the wall before the wedding because he made Jon a stark and name him his heir or at least at hint of that
Illusiveone
Will make some changes in history as well.
TyrantGod
Did the past history of Targs change in any way like Dorne Conquest, Blackfyre Rebellions etc and will u do fire & blood book?
