"The Winds of Winter," the sixth instalment in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, will be released in 2016, probably much before the April release of HBO's "Game of Thrones."
According to Los Siete Reinos via Watchers on the Wall, Alejo Cuervo, the editor for Ediciones Gigamesh, the Spanish publisher who owns the rights to the books, confirmed the 2016 release in an interview with Catalan radio station El Mon a RAC.
"It is expected next year," Cuervo said, and added that the Spanish version will be released soon after the publication of the English version. "We have been promised the manuscript in advance of the release in English which we will translate, there won't be a big difference."
Martin had previously expressed a desire to release the book before the sixth season of "Game of Thrones" is aired. If Martin succeeds in doing so, then readers won't have to wait long to find out how Jon Snow is brought back to life.
The book and the television series ended with Jon Snow being stabbed to death by his Night's Watch comrades, and it was implied that Jon wouldn't survive.
Later, Martin admitted that Jon survives, but he did not elaborate on the plot, leaving readers to come up with various theories on how Jon would be brought back to life. One such theory dealt with magical resurrection.
While many believe Melisandre could have a role in Jon's resurrection, a theory on Westeros.org pointed towards Bran being the one to bring back his older half-brother to life.
According to this new theory, Jon dies and his spirit enters his direwolf, Ghost. And Bran, realising Jon's importance to Westeros, brings him back to life using blood magic or blood sacrifice.
"Blood sacrifice to the old gods through the heart trees is mentioned a couple other times during the series so we know it's a thing. What we also know, is that there is a very good chance that Theon is going to have his head chopped off by Stannis in front of a heart tree as soon as he's done with the Boltons. (We know this from the teaser chapter from The Winds of Winter). So Bran may use the power from Theon's blood (remember this would be king's blood) to restore Jon to his body," the theory noted.
