[AnimeSoapNinja]

Im new to the furoms so im not sure if this has come up, but would anyone other then me love to see a prequel. I was thinking Martin could write the prequel books on how Eddard and Robert took the throne from Aerys or maybe go even further back to Ned's childhood. I would also love to see Rhaegar, Robert, Jon Arryn, and Benjen as Point of View characters. I guess this really can't even be thought about until a ASoIaF is over anyway, but I like the idea.

[Rob B]

Martin did write prequels, of a sort. The Dunk & Egg tales from the two Legends Anthologies.

[Evil Agent]

I do think a prequel would be awesome (after the series is complete).

How about a series that starts with Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon overthrowing the Targaryens. Then concludes with them putting down Balon Greyjoy's rebellion?

[clockwirk]

I could get into a prequel, but I think it would have to deal with events much earlier than even Dunk and Egg. So much of the recent backstory is revealed in the current series that all of the major plot points would be visited already. It would just be a matter of filling in the details.

I personally would like to see the events of the Valyrians taking power in the 7 kingdoms area. Or maybe something about the early northern kings.

[Physics Knight]

I recall Martin somewhere saying the Ice and Fire was his magnum opus and he wouldn't write anything on this scale again.

I'm not too picky about what he writes afterwards. I'm sure Martin could do a re-write of the phone book and it would be amazing.

A prequil would be nice, but I think if it is of the wrong thing it might ruin some of the mysteries of Ice and Fire. That is one thing I like about it: you are not fed everything on a silver pladder, just like in real life.

[Werthead]

GRRM has told a story about how his friend Stephen Donaldson hit paydirt with The Chronicles of Thomans Covenant, but after he finished the series his publishers encouraged him to write the Second Chronicles. He then resolutely went off and wrote loads of other stuff, only to see his sales slowly declining. He finally agreed to go back and write The Last Chronicles.

So GRRM isn't going to make the mistake of saying he'll never go back to Westeros again after ASoIaF. He's even talked about some of his ideas: a murder mystery set in one of the Free Cities and a first-person novel about King Aegon IV, an absolute soab who is the hero of his own story.

And of course we'll be getting the Dunk & Egg novellas in collected editions at some point.

[Evil Agent]

I still want to read about Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, and Howland Reed in their youth.

[AnimeSoapNinja]

The Ice Dragon is a children's book that is coming out in Oct. and is set in Westeros. I have no idea how much it will have to do with ASoFaI or how interesting it will be for mature readers but it sounds as if it will take place before ASoFaI.

[Werthead]

The Ice Dragon has nothing to do with Westeros. It was written about 13 years before GRRM even thought up the idea for ASoIaF.

Never trust Amazon plot summaries as they have no idea what they're talking about ;)

GRRM has ruled out any stories about the War of the Usurper as we already know how it ends, and by the end of ASoIaF itself we should know most of the details about it as well.

[tomfoster]

JK Rowling was asked this question about the Harry Potter books, and I personally like her answer a lot.

She said that a properly planned series should not need a prequel. The backstory should be properly woven into the novels. Prequels should only cover those elements that a sufficiently distant as to be essentially unconnected to the main story. In essence they should be a different story, all together.

There are some exceptions to this. The Star Wars prequels (while reprehensible in many, many other ways) are not in this way, as Lucas originally had the full six (or more properly, nine) installment series planned out. He just happened to lack the money to make the first three.

"In The Beginning", technically a prequel to B5, does not qualify as it is a story told in flashback (actually, from the future) and was made during the tenure of the main series. But see, for instance, the way backstory is woven into the main arc of B5: a combination of exposition, character memories and other experiences provides a comprehensive history of the main events before the five year arc of the series (their equililent to the Battle of the Trident, the Tower of Joy etc.). I think this is the way GRRM will go.