>>25061717
The series needed a central villain. Tywin and Joffrey served that role early on but they die in book 3. AFFC was necessary to build up Euron as the main antagonist, and also show the aftermath of the war through Jaime's and Brienne's arcs.
ADWD was mostly a continuation of his original outline but the Essosi and Northern plotlines simply got way bigger than anticipated due to the scale of worldbuilding.
The only plotline he could have dropped is the Dornish stuff. Making Quentyn a PoV and giving him four chapters was absurd.

>>25061717
Yes this is a generally uncontroversial take.

>>25061717
I think his issue is that he doesn't allow himself to change course from his initial vision, but doesn't know how to go from where he currently is to where he originally wanted to go, so the last two books it's been him just writing filler trying to see if he can get all the plot points in sync again. The best advice an editor could give him is to forget about his plans and tackle it as if he were hired to finish someone else's unfinished story. The seeds are all there to do something interesting with them if he allows himself to take them in the direction they want to grow. Just give us Azor Jaime, George.

>>25061717
It's been nearly 15 years, don't try to blame complexity on his laziness, he could have finished those books even if he wrote half a page a day

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>>25061717
His mistake was abandoning the 5 year gap and becoming more interested in the setting than actually progressing the story.
If Daenerys had landed in Westeros in book 4 then he would have easily finished the series by now.

His biggest mistake was agreeing to go through with production of a series he hadn't finished, while at the same time taking on a bunch of other writing commitments, up to and including writing several scripts of the show.

He at some point had to have known he was taking on more than he could handle. But he said yes anyway because he knew he'd make a stupid amount of money. All of which was unnecessary, since A Song of Ice and Fire had already sold over ten-million copies before the TV adaptation. He agreed to the show because he wanted to be a bigger star than J.K. Rowling, and the price for his hubris was the cratering of any chance the series will be finished by its own author.

>>25061717
No his mistake was nihilism and anti-morality. He subverted all the hero and villain tropes and made everything this gray amoral meaningless slurry. So there's nowhere to go and no way to wrap it up. Turns out you need morals to make a story.

His sole issue with writing is all the TV shit that is constantly dragging his attention away. Good writing happens when you do it day in day out, you have to get a groove going. I wish he'd just turn his fucking phone off and write.

>>25061717
It was not complex, is was just merely disunited because he promotes nothing.

it's comfy power games coated with a slow rise of the looming threat of the north, but the threat is superficial because it amounts to nothing: so what, we beat those white walkers and then return to petty power games?

very much agree with >>25062097
There's not a single character who is truly driven, there is no clash of ideals. The church? A display of power drivens? The nobles, just power driven. The pleb? worthless, that's accurate for once. The protagonists? power driven. The friends of the protagonists? Loyal, but mostly shallow and power driven.

Ultimately I find that every individuality in the show blends into the same set of values, which is very unrealistic. Stripped of superficial characterisitcs (appearance etc) and of circumstance (place in the world, rank), every character is basically the same.

his main mistake is attempting such a boring and drawn out series. only wot is worse.

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>>25061717
>too complex

>>25062281
I'm having diarrhea now. Didn't need to read that. /sad

PS: Reading The Hedge Knight by GRRM. Got interested after seeing the HBO Series.

>>25062201
>all characters are power-driven
>every character is basically the same

Insane take.

Arya and Bran are not power-driven. Bran and the Frey kids going to the North to find the crow at great personal cost and inconvenience isn't about power. They're doing it for a higher purpose that they don't even understand.

Arya has been trying to get back to Winterfell since ACOK, and just got swept away to Braavos against her will. Her training with the Faceless Men isn't about power; it's about self-improvement and realizing her skills. When this stint is over, she will literally hit the hero's journey beat of The Return after her harrowing ordeal in The Abyss.

Also Samwell going off to become a maester is more a realization of destiny and greater good type thing than a power grab. He had to be forced into it by Jon.

>>25062097
>Muh lack of good and evil
How? Characters like Tywin, Cersei, Roose, Euron and Varys are just flat out evil. Even if you think there aren't any good guys (what is Davos if not a good guy?), there are obviously villains
>>25062201
>every character is basically the same
Imagine actually believing this

>>25061717
Yes.
In his outline, he only had 5 POV characters.
Now there are like 30, and every POV character needs their own supporting cast.
It's just insane. Not everything needs a fucking camera.
Brienne's POV are so removed from everything, he might just cut all the chapters out and release it as spin-off books called:
>The Adventures of Pod and the Maid of Tarth

>>25062013
Shes currently headed back to Mereen on dragonback with a dothraki horde behind her. Waiting for her there is the Iron Fleet. On the way is Volantis which is preparing to slave revolt for her at first sight of her sails, giving her a harbor, fresh supplies and more soldiers. She could be in Westeros in like 3 chapters.

People seriously overestimate how complicated George supposedly made this series. The board is plainly set for Danny and Jon to quickly curbstomp the rest of the world.
The book is taking forever because its going to be full of magic and George has a really hard time writing magic up to his standards because he wants to write real literature not Sanderson tier slop.

>>25061717
no, the root of all problems is his weight, if he was fit he would finish the series (as he would be used to that)

>>25061717
he is a short story writer, his biggest mistake is wanting to get daenerys back to westeros for the dragons

she should burn the iron bank and stay in essos, becoming a queen there
john snow gets to get to be the new king of the north and beat the white walkers

arya should stay in the south of westeros and not join johns grande finale

his issue is that he wants to unite too many plots instead of living with the fact that he created
too many to united them, in my opinion

>>25062097
>>25062201
literal no-wit zero iq takes

>>25062351
>Arya is not power driven
What?
The whole shtick of Arya is that she repeats names that she wants to kill, she wants revenge, that's all I recall from her.

Bran, I had forgotten, very irrelevant in my opinion, I don't know even why he exists, more of a plot device than instilled with any individuality: "The boy who has visions" is what he is, eh. Just plays an irrelevant part with the threat of the north I guess.

I'll be honest I just have watched the show till season 7, I have a fuzzy memory of it all at best, feel free to discard my opinion.

>>25062803
>>25064209
There's no way I can win any argument about the characters being soulless, matter of opinion, that's just how I felt, take it as you will. Still, beyond the fact that character can indeed fit into archetypes, which differ, If I wanted to say what each wanted, I'd say Power for protagonists, side characters and bad guys alike. Like, where is the philosophy? Individualism vs collectivism, idealism vs materialism, any character being more to the side and believing in some anarchy? I just don't see it

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>>25062960
>he wants to write real literature

>>25064839
>Individualism vs collectivism
Westerosi society is collectivist. Braavosi society is individualist
>idealism vs materialism
The Starks broadly are idealistic while the Lannisters are materialistic
>any character being more to the side and believing in some anarchy
Varys is an anarchist

>>25065648
>feudalism is collectivist

>>25065669
It is

>>25061717
his main mistake was writing renaissance themed rape porno with a farce of gays on thrones