New point-of-view characters we want in the final Song of Ice and Fire novels

7) Brynden Tully

The last time we saw Brynden “the Blackfish” Tully, in A Feast for Crows, he slipped out of Riverrun right after playing Jaime Lannister for a fool at the parley. (On the show, Brynden stays and dies at his post.) In everything he’s done, Brynden has proven himself capable and intelligent, and in the novels, he’s still out there, on his own but not without friends, capable of all kinds of mischief. That makes him one of the biggest wild cards left in this story.

The Blackfish has the potential to reemerge somewhere very interesting, and Martin could wring a lot of drama out of his desperate journey to find a safe haven before the Lannisters find him. The Blackfish could show us whatever is still left of a network of Stark loyalists in the Riverlands. He could end up in the North, and offer his talents to anyone from Wyman Manderly to Jon Snow. He could return to the Vale, and play a role in bringing its military into the war. The possibilities are many, and all of them enticing.