'Game of Thrones': A New 'Winds of Winter' Chapter Reveals Who (and What) Is Missing

Up until Season 6, the Game of Thrones TV series has (mostly) walked hand-in-hand with George R.R. Martin’s books through Robert Frost’s proverbial woods. But now it has reached a place where the two roads have irrevocably diverged. To see just how far the HBO show has wandered away from Martin’s prose, you can read the latest excerpt from the oft-delayed sixth book, The Winds of Winter, that the author has posted on his website. Fair warning: If you’ve never cracked the cover of a single novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series, but have watched every episode of Game of Thrones, you’ll likely be more lost than a Wildling who has ventured south of the Wall. Sure there are the names of people and places that you’ll recognize — King Tommen, for example, or maybe Dorne — but it’s clear that Martin is on a very different journey through Westeros than showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

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How different? Well, let’s just say this chapter is told from the perspective of a character who doesn’t even exist in the show’s universe. That would be Arianne Martell, the daughter of Dornish prince Doran Martell, who recently perished on the Season 6 premiere — along with his only son — in a coup orchestrated by Ellaria Sand, grieving lover of the slain Oberyn Martell. In the books, Doran is still very much alive and Arianne is set to inherit the throne if and when he does meet his end.

The specific Winds of Winter chapter that Martin posted finds the prince’s heiress on a mission for her father, exploring the southern-dwelling Stormlands where House Baratheon lies. She’s looking for Jon Connington, former Hand to the slain Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen, who may be protecting another Targaryen descendent not named Daenerys (or, possibly, Jon Snow): Prince Aegon, offspring of Rhaegar and Oberyn’s dead sister (the one he kept badgering the Mountain about during their duel), Elia Martell.

Like Arianne, neither Connington nor Aegon is currently part of the series, and they appear likely to remain that way. On the other hand, her traveling companion for much of the chapter, Elia Sand — one of Ellaria’s Sand Snake daughters — has been heard of but not yet seen. (Only three Sand Snakes —Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene — have been glimpsed wielding their weapons on HBO.) Fortunately for Arianne, Elia doesn’t display any of her mother’s treacherous leanings and swears her sword to her cousin while they’re in the Stormlands.

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The same can’t necessarily be said for the sellswords who are eager to take her to Storm’s End, the House Baratheon homestead, where Connington and Aegon supposedly await. Her own knights doubt their claims, though, cautioning her that she’s walking into a trap. “If Prince Doran meant to send you into the middle of a battle, he would have given you three hundred knights, not three,” says one of those warriors, Ser Daemon, who even offers to make the journey in her stead. But Arianne won’t be persuaded to stay away, saying she wants to make contact with Connington and “this dragon prince of his.”

At its most basic level, this chapter primarily serves to maneuver Arianne — and, by extension, Dorne — into the looming battle to determine the future of Westeros and the identity of the next person to sit atop the Iron Throne. That’s territory that the show has ceded entirely to Ellaria, who is all too eager to involve herself in the affairs of King’s Landing, whereas Doran preferred to let sleeping direwolves lie. There’s no easy way that the series could have made room for this storyline, and the show’s fans aren’t likely to miss a character they’ve never met. But this small taste of The Winds of Winter should make readers eager to see how Arianne will fare as Martin’s game of thrones heats up.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.