In the aftermath of the third season in Game of Thrones...

Dear friend,

Another episode of Game of Thrones has ended and that makes it three seasons complete! It's almost hard to believe that the show has been on the air for three seasons. When Game of Thrones first started, I was still in school. Feels like a lifetime ago.

What's ironic is that though the first volume in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga hit bookshelves all the way back in 1996, at present there seems to be no end in sight (for the fans at least!). The latest book, A Dance With Dragons, was published in 2011 after a hiatus of 6 years following A Feast For Crows- and it's only the fifth installment in a series of seven planned books. While the author who works diligently alongside David Benioff and D.B. Weiss on the HBO series has confided in the showrunners major plot points should he pass away prior to finishing A Song of Fire and Ice, it isn't much of a comfort to the fans.Many of us, newcomers to the series and old, wish to get to the end of this massive story just the way George R. R. Martin sees it in his head before any misfortune befalls him!

Rumour has it that the TV show will run for seven seasons. Which is interesting because while it has been taking a 'one book per season' approach, season three is based on the first half of A Storm of Swords, the third book. Season four will complete covering that book and seasons five and six would no doubt cover A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons (given that the events in both books take place around the same time, just through different viewpoints). That leaves the final season to cover the final two-planned books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. Okay, let's say that it goes for eight seasons. That means Game of Thrones will end its long run five years from the time of writing this. 

And when it does, I will be twenty-four. Okay, that feels a little weird to consider given that I started watching the show when I was seventeen. 

I wonder how many more favourite characters will get killed in that time. Last week's episodes "The Rains of Castamere" stunned the fans who hadn't read the books with the Red Wedding. It makes you think how many unexpected twists George R. R. Martin has up his sleeve. Either way, we're in for a long night. Since 1996, winter is coming and it doesn't seem likely to pass over anytime soon.

Love always,

Dinesh