ADWD: Random Winters and Summers ?

[Brian]

I would say the random seasons are do to volcanic activity. In ADWD sailors described the winds as red and there was ash, after winter had started. A tsunami was also mentioned indicating tectonic activity.

I dont's think you can get random seasons from planetary rotations.

[Tamahome]

It's a Dyson Sphere. Look at the show intro!

[Jonathan]

I think it's deeper than that. I mean, it could be that volcanic ash cools the planet, but GRRM has said there's a reason, and I think it's tied to the ebb and flow of the supernatural powers that are dormant as the series begins, which as we all know is during The Long Summer.

[Tamahome]

Dragon carbon emissions.

[Keith]

Aww, and I was hoping the series would end with one of those big, out-of-nowhere volcanic eruptions a la One Million Years BC and pretty much every other caveman movie!

[Skip]

It also seems that there is the normal long Summer/Winter cycle and then there is the longer magic level cycle. If I had to guess the return of magic would also meet up with a super long Winter.

It could be some kind of weird star/brown dwarf binary orbit, but I doubt it. It sounds more like the rationale for the return of magic for the RPG Shadowrun, where magic ebbs and flows on the Mayan calendar, or about every 3000 years.

[terpkristin]

This is something that comes up often in ASOIAF forums and was recently covered on a Tor blog post. Long and short, and Martin has more or less said that this is the case, it's magic. As a physics major, I actually tried to figure out if there was a way to explain the seasons using physics (to no avail). Then I came across this article a few months ago and didn't feel so bad. :) http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/05/how-...

[Brian]

Sometimes we just have to believe in something that is not based in science. After Ringworld came out there was a huge cry, "The ring is unstable".