(Spoilers ASOS) (Allegedly) George R. R. Martin Denies Coldhands Fan Theory.

I went to the Cushing Library and went through the entire 1600-page original ADWD manuscript. This is what I found. (Spoilers ADWD)

I went to the Cushing Library and went through the entire 1600-page original ADWD manuscript. This is what I found. [possible spoilers]

To begin, some pictures.

The Cushing Library

The door to the Kelsey Reading Room

Inside the Kelsey Reading Room

I have to begin by praising the staff of the Cushing Library. Everyone I interacted with was so enthusiastic and helpful, and they also happened to be ASOIAF fans too, so it was really fun talking about the series and the Martin collection with people who were familiar with the source material. They pulled boxes 158 and 159 for me, and I got to work.

Notes from GRRM's editor were in green, with GRRM's own comments and edits added in red. Most of the suggested edits were technical and grammatical notes that had little to no bearing on the tone of the writing. There were, however, a few interesting moments where the editor tried to reshape GRRM's writing style.

"Words are wind" The editor felt that he used the phrase "words are wind" too many times throughout ADWD, and suggested removing a few instances. S/he began passive-aggressively numbering every occurance in the margins. Most of these had a big red STET scrawled on top.

"Soon or late" The editor also wasn't sure what was going on with the repeated use of "Soon or late," and wanted to change them a more contemporary "sooner or later." Martin refused all these changes.

Other interesting notes in the margins

"In my mind, Jon's been Commander for over ten years -- because that is how long ago that ASOS came out..."

"Is this Benjen? I think it's Benjen... :)" "NO"

Does Reek have teeth or not? Conflicting accounts between chapters.

The editor was tired about hearing about Davos's fingerbones at the bottom of the Blackwater.

Jaime's chapter needed more context.

GRRM has terrible handwriting.

Until Tyrion VII, every chapter was in the same order it ended up being published in. After that, almost every chapter was reordered or switched around, but the content of said chapters was the same as what ended up being published. Tyrion VII was originally two parts, with the first part ending as Tyrion went to sleep chained to the wall and the second part picking up the next morning, as he and Jorah are preparing to go meet the widow of the waterfront.

I know everyone is dying to know about the so-called "missing chapters." The description of the folder was "A Dance With Dragons manuscript, rough draft and incomplete. April/May 2011. Contains three chapters subsequently removed to later volume. pp. 1-155. (Martin noted as incomplete with shipment November 2, 2011)" Based on how the staff explained it to me, this doesn't mean that there are three chapters in this manuscript that were removed and held back to be published in TWOW, it means that this manuscript was submitted to the editor with chapters missing. Like so. And again here. My heart dropped when I saw this.

The chapters noted as missing from the manuscript correspond to Theon I, The Sacrifice (Asha), Jon XI, XII, and XIII (although Martin only noted two more Jon chapters in the manuscript, not three), and Tyrion XII, as well as another Bran chapter that ended up not making it to the final published version. The Damphair chapter that he discussed on his blog in July 2010 was not here. There were no chapters in the manuscript that I had never seen before, or that did not correspond to a chapter in the final published version of ADWD. I'm still not sure what this means. Maybe the staffer who made the placard for this display case was mistaken. Maybe the pages in question were intentionally removed from the archive. I'm going to go back next week and ask the Science Fiction curator if he knows what's up with this, because I'm pretty baffled as to where the missing chapters are, if they were ever there to begin with.

I ended my day at Cushing by looking at the two Ice replicas in the Martin collection -- the one based on the book's description of the sword, and the replica from the HBO series. The book version was definitely my favorite of the two (apparently this is the general consensus of people who have seen both swords), and damn, that sucker was HEAVY. Again, I have to thank the awesome staff, who encouraged me pick them up and swing them around in the middle of the Kelsey Reading Room.

Although I was unable to accomplish what I'd originally set out to do and find the mythical missing ADWD chapters, I still had a great time thumbing through the manuscript. There are definitely worse ways to spend an afternoon, and if you happen to be passing through College Station, I definitely recommend going to check it out. All you need to access the archive is a state-issued ID and some cash for the parking garage.

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