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Fans of the Song of Ice And Fire series know that George R.R. Martin can be a bit of a troll when it comes to teasing new material. After all, we've been waiting for The Winds of Winter for five years now, which TBH, isn't quite as terrible as the 6-year drought between A Feast For Crows in 2005 and A Dance With Dragons in 2011 -- but it's still annoying as hell.

Of course, every time we think we're done with GRRM and his games, he does something to pique our collective interests and make us come crawling back like Jorah Mormont storming the gates of Meereen. This time, GRRM confirmed that there will be a nice payoff for our patience.

The author told IGN that he has decided to move forward with a significant narrative twist in The Winds of Winter, the sixth installment of his A Song of Ice and Fire saga -- one that you won't be able to see on HBO's Game of Thrones.

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It's a twist involving one of the characters the show has already killed off. "It's fairly obvious because it is something that involves a couple of characters, one of whom is dead on the show, but not dead in the books," he said. "So the show can't do it, because they have killed a character I have not killed. But that doesn’t narrow it down much because at this point there are like 15 characters who are dead on the show who are still alive on the books."

Who could this mysterious character be? Jojen? Stannis? Mance Rayder? Shireen? JON SNOW? (Sorry.) Obviously, GRRM won't give that away, but he did allude to it being a "very organic" surprise back in April.

Last year, Martin told EW about the "great" twist he was contemplating at the time. "It's easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters," he said. "They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it's just being shocking for being shocking. But this is something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen. And with the various three, four characters involved... it all makes sense."

So, while we may have to wait another year for The Winds of Winter, at least GRRM is giving us something to look forward to, because let's be real: By the time he finally releases that damn book, Game of Thrones might already be on Season 7.