After some consideration, I have decided to blow off rereading the published Song of Fire and Ice books, and instead, wait for another book to be published (not holding my breath) and then referring to something like this, where the published major story lines left off:
https://www.vox.com/2019/5/20/18631417/game-of-thrones-winds-of-winter-martin-release-date
Sure — here’s where the major characters and storylines were at the conclusion of A Dance With Dragons:
In the North of Westeros:
Jon Snow, still Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, has just been repeatedly stabbed by his own brothers after vowing to march south with an army of wildlings to fight Ramsay Bolton. His fate is unclear. Melisandre, Stannis’s wife Selyse, and his daughter Shireen are all alive and still at the Wall, never having ridden south with Stannis’s army.
Stannis Baratheon is also alive, and preparing for battle against Roose and Ramsay Bolton near Bolton-held Winterfell. Theon Greyjoy just escaped the Boltons’ abuse alongside Ramsay’s bride — who isn’t Sansa but instead a Northern girl named Jeyne Poole who’s being passed off as “Arya Stark.” These fugitives are now in Stannis’s camp alongside Theon’s sister, Asha (not Yara) Greyjoy. Also, several Northern lords ostensibly in the Boltons’ camp are plotting against them. One, Lord Wyman Manderly, has sent Davos Seaworth on a mission to find the long-missing youngest Stark sibling, Rickon, and bring him out of hiding.
Bran Stark has traveled north of the Wall to the cave of the Children of the Forest and the Three-Eyed Crow. He was last seen exploring his magical powers — skinchanging into animals, speaking through trees, and seeing visions of the past. Hodor and Summer remain alive and well, as does Jojen Reed (
or does he)? The White Walkers themselves, meanwhile, have not been seen on the page since book three.
In the South of Westeros:
Sansa Stark remains safe — well, relatively — in the Vale with Littlefinger, but since she’s a wanted fugitive from the Iron Throne, she’s posing as his bastard daughter “Alayne Stone.” Littlefinger has increasingly gained influence over the Vale, and is plotting to marry Sansa not to Ramsay Bolton, but to “Harry the Heir,” a strapping young lad who will become Lord of the Vale should anything unfortunate befall the young and sickly Robert “Sweetrobin” Arryn. Littlefinger has also suggested that he plans to restore Sansa to power in the North.
Jaime Lannister has been estranged from his sister Cersei since discovering that she had had affairs with other men. Then, after retaking Riverrun, Jaime was unexpectedly reunited with Brienne of Tarth, who claimed to have finally found the long-missing Sansa Stark. But this is a lie — Brienne instead appears to be unwillingly leading Jaime into a trap set by Lady Stoneheart, the resurrected Catelyn Stark. Stoneheart is now leading the Brotherhood Without Banners and is hell-bent on revenge against the Lannisters and Freys for the Red Wedding, and she holds Podrick Payne hostage. (Stoneheart was cut from the TV adaptation.)
Queen Dowager Cersei Lannister has just been subjected to her “walk of atonement” (
the one we saw onscreen in Game of Thrones’ season five finale)and is now sidelined from power in King’s Landing and awaiting trial by the Faith (though she has the undead Gregor Clegane to protect her). Margaery Tyrell is also awaiting trial in the capital, but the Tyrell army has occupied the city to try to ensure her acquittal. Her brother Loras is said to have been badly burned in battle.
King Tommen, Cersei’s son, is still on the throne, but he’s much younger and not at all an independent actor in the books. Cersei’s uncle Kevan Lannister had really been running the show in King’s Landing, but at the conclusion of the fifth book, he was murdered by Varys, who announced that he hoped to deliver the Iron Throne not to Daenerys but to...
Aegon Targaryen! Wait, who’s that? (Not Jon Snow!) Well, if you’ll recall, back during Robert’s Rebellion, Dany’s late older brother Rhaegar had two young children who were murdered by the Lannisters — or so we thought. Varys is now claiming that he, in fact, managed to spirit baby Aegon to safety and has had him raised and educated in secret, so that he could be prepared to take over Westeros. Aegon is backed by the
Golden Company, a formidable group of mercenaries. He was supposed to travel east and ally with Daenerys, but he instead decided to turn west and invade Westeros without her. There is
much fan debate about whether Aegon truly is who he claims to be, and this storyline, which was cut completely from the TV show, looks to be a major part of The Winds of Winter.
In Dorne, Prince Doran Martell had a secret plan to ally with Daenerys Targaryen against the Lannisters, and sent his son Quentyn to propose marriage to her — but his plan went awry when Quentyn died in Meereen. So Doran and his daughter Arianne Martell (another character cut from the show) must now decide whether to ally with Aegon instead. Meanwhile, some of the Sand Snakes are on their way to King’s Landing alongside Cersei’s daughter Princess Myrcella (who is alive but had her face badly scarred in an assassination attempt).
Euron Greyjoy — who in the books is a less clownish and much more sinister figure, with seeming magical ambitions — won the kingsmoot and was named king of the Iron Islands. He says he wants to marry Daenerys and use her dragons to conquer Westeros. But first, he and his Ironborn are pillaging the Tyrells’ kingdom, the Reach — and they’re threatening to take over Oldtown, the city where Samwell Tarly has just arrived to begin his training as a maester. The Faceless Man Jaqen H’ghar (Arya’s old friend) has also infiltrated the maesters’ headquarters, for reasons unknown.
In Essos, the Eastern continent:
Arya Stark remains in assassin training with the Faceless Men of Braavos, having just carried out her first successful assassination for them. She often has dreams of her direwolf, Nymeria, who is leading an enormous wolfpack back in Westeros.
Daenerys Targaryen, after having flown away from Meereen on dragonback, is somewhere in the plains far away from the city. She has just been discovered by a group of Dothraki, but unlike on the TV show, this encounter takes place while she’s standing proudly beside her dragon, so she may not end up in their captivity.
Barristan Selmy is alive and well and trying his best to run the city of Meereen, which is besieged by the slave masters in Dany’s absence. Meanwhile, Euron Greyjoy’s vicious but simple brother Victarion Greyjoy is sailing toward Meereen with the Iron Fleet, hoping to spoil Euron’s plans by claiming Dany for himself. He has in his possession a magical horn given to him by Euron that can supposedly control dragons. We’ll see if it works.
As for Tyrion Lannister, he’s currently in the camp of the slave masters who are besieging Meereen, but he recently escaped bondage by making a deal with a mercenary company, the Second Sons. Tyrion’s companions at this point are Jorah Mormont (who does not have
greyscale) and a female dwarf named Penny. Tyrion hasn’t actually managed to meet Dany yet, and he’s currently trying to convince the Second Sons to defect and fight with Dany’s forces during the upcoming Battle of Meereen.
