Back when I was in school, books by George R.R. Martin books came out once every couple of years. Because I still had all the time and energy in the world back then, I would go back and do a re-read of the entire series leading up to the next book’s release, in order to remind myself of every character’s attributes, where they were be situated, and how they got there ahead of the next installment. It was a pattern I’d developed from reading Robert Jordan, who had also been in a clockwork release pattern during the 1990s.
But those days are long gone. And what was once a re-read of two or three large novels is now double that, and will be very time-consuming to read ahead of The Winds of Winter, whenever it finally gets released. As much as I want to believe I have that kind of time again, a re-read of that magnitude will take months. For many fans who grew up on the series, who are now busy adults with children and jobs and all those things, how can we re-situate ourselves for the next book when it is released?
Blessedly, it is in fact the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, and that means the internet is here to provide. And provide it has, with a a brand new site that one reddit user said “might just become as useful as asearchoficeandfire.com.” Enter The Weirwood-net.
Based off a character tracker spreadsheet that reddit user KCenturion had created, this website has meticulously tracked every last character who either once lived or is still living in Westeros and Essos, 1874 in all, according to their FAQ. Not only does it tell us their location at the beginning of the next book, it provides all the character attributes that are necessary to remember when we meet them again, things like physical data, skill sets, and any other general information that is important. The Status characterizations, for instance, explain why this is so helpful, as a simple “Alive” or “Dead” will not cover everyone. There’s also “Undead,” which is different than “Wight.” (Some categories have two versions, a regular and a “Book,” since there are some characters who are dead on the show and less so in the novels.
And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. As I said, this is a meticulous database, one that hardcore fans are going to appreciate the time and effort that went into it. I highly recommend checking it out.