George R.R. Martin is set to re-release a children's book he authored in 1980, called "The Ice Dragon." The re-release features a wrap-around cover and 30 all-new illustrations from artist Luis Royo — but beyond the revamped art, comes news from TOR that "The Ice Dragon" takes place in the same universe as "A Song of Ice and Fire."
TOR teases that the story of "The Ice Dragon" is along the lines of an old bedtime story that Old Nan once told Jon Snow and the other Starks of Winterfell:
"Adara liked the winter best of all, for when the world grew cold the ice dragon came. The ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember.
"Adara could not remember the first time she had seen the ice dragon. It seemed that it had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the frigid snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back for the first time. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara's home. And only a winter child—and the ice dragon who loved her—could save her world from utter destruction."
Old Nan's tales have often proved prophetic about what's really going on in and around Westeros. Does this mean that the story of "The Ice Dragon" foreshadows events to come in the "Ice and Fire" books, as well as the "Game of Thrones" TV series? Could we be seeing an actual ice dragon in the future — separate from the three dragons out in Essos who think of Daenerys as their mother?
It certainly lines up with the idea that Jon Snow could one day have a dragon of his own, what with his mysterious parentage and all. Then again, perhaps it's little more than a bedtime story, a simple folk tale intended to energize the children of the North.
Whatever the case, the possibilities of "The Ice Dragon" make one thing clear: Winter (specifically, "The Winds of Winter") can't come soon enough. For now, expect "The Ice Dragon" on October 21.
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