jenn96 said:
bluefire579 said:
BenFiasco14 said:
C@LAg said:
BenFiasco14 said:
I firmly believe he has no intentions of finishing the last two books
i think he thinks he is going to.
I think he is utterly incapable of doing so at this point.
I've always heard the rumor it's written into his will that when he dies, if the books aren't finished, the rights go to the grave with him. So we couldn't even see an eventual Robert Jordan situation.
No idea if the source of that rumor but I've heard it ever since Dance with Dragons came out
It's not a rumor, he has outright stated as much
He has clearly stated it multiple and his wife has said that she agrees completely with his wishes. No kids to sell out. And the more years go by, the less anyone will care anyway. The HBO series killed a lot of enthusiasm for the books finale, especially since the ending on the show is Martin's ending, just done in a terrible, non-nuanced and hyper-rushed way.
So Martin knows that fans hate the main pieces of the ending (Jon back at/over the wall with no recognition, Dany mad and dead, Bran the king, Jamie going back to Cersei and both dying in the end). Now he doesn't really like his fan or care about their expectations, but he's a good storyteller and can probably recognize after seeing it that "damn, that is a dud of an ending." He's just done. He probably does want to finish - American Tolkien and all that - but he doesn't have the discipline and even if he did, he's totally lost the plot to wrap it all up.
Maybe Dance of Dragons will be good. It looks good! 
The Targaryens in general bore me to tears but if it's well done I'll be happy to go back to Westeros.
I think if he ever does release WoW, people will be reminded of what made the books so good in the first place. As you mention, it's very easy to see pieces of what he's spent the series setting up coming together, but so much was done in a clumsy way with huge missing pieces.
I still contend that the biggest mistake the showrunners made was leaving out Aegon. It doesn't make sense for Dany to burn down King's Landing when Cersei's troops decide to stand down. It does make sense for her to arrive to find the land celebrating another Targaryen (one who might not even be a real one) after she put off her own ambitions to save the realm, and decide to show everyone the kind of power dragons have, especially with the way the books hint at her madness throughout. That felt like the biggest story beat that was missing to me. All the others were annoying (Tyrion being just drunk instead of having his usual wit, Varys turning on Dany without much subtlety or reason, Bran doing...well, nothing, no Lady Stoneheart, etc.), but given how things went, I don't think any of the others really compare.
I do think this show has potential. Hopefully the showrunners aren't looking for a quick out like D&D were, and put in the effort that GoT received for the first 3/4 of its run. At least we know there's a defined ending here, but there's also a lot of gaps to fill in beyond the big beats.
