Fans always eagerly await new blog posts from A Song of Ice and Fire author George RR Martin, written on a WordPress site that looks straight out of 2009. Martin often offers updates, and sometimes apologies, about the state of his next book, The Winds of Winter. He complains about House of the Dragon, he praises A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. But his first new post in six months is quite sad, and it appears like it’s time to let Martin, and the idea of him finishing some grand Song of Ice and Fire finale, go.

In the latest blog post, there are no updates about The Winds of Winter at all, rather, personal reflections on a hard year:

“This year has been… stressful, to say the least. So much has been happening, it’s been overwhelming. Some great things, exciting things. Dreams coming true. But there have been nightmares too. I have lost friends. Battled sadness and depression. The worst may be yet to come. I turned seventy-seven last September, and I tell you, getting old is no fun. But there have been amazing times as well.”

According to Martin, he has been working on Winds of Winter since 2012, a year after the release of A Dance with Dragons. He admits he missed countless deadlines, and now here we are, 14 years later.

As Martin says, he’s now a 77-year-old man dealing with loss and depression. Even if by some miracle he manages to finish The Winds of Winter, the seventh and final book, A Dream of Spring, is likely impossible, and I think it’s time for fans to realize that. I don’t think we can or should expect some sort of explicit announcement from Martin that he’s stopping. He probably never will. But to keep badgering him about this endlessly seems mean and fruitless at this point.

There are many theories about why Martin has taken this long. A lack of ideas, watching the end of Game of Thrones, which could have reflected his own ideas, and attempting to change his own ending. It could be any number of things.

One common fan-suggested idea is that Martin pass on the responsibility of finishing A Song of Ice and Fire to a fellow fantasy writer like the prolific Brandon Sanderson, giving him his notes and ideas and letting him take it from there. That, however, is contrary to what Martin has said in the past, that if he, say, dies, the work will simply remain unfinished. He doesn’t like the idea of authors taking over universes, and that would obviously especially apply to his own.

This situation may have been brewing for a while, but it seems like time everyone recognizes it. Let him delight in new seasons of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and write when he wants, or not. Just let him live.

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