At this point I'm the most concerned about Arya and Sansa, I've kind of deluded myself into hoping that Jon Snow will be okay for the foreseeable future. In my mind I don't have much attachment to Rickon and I've accepted that Bran may become a tree. But really--I do not care much about the Greyjoys, the Martells, the Tyrells, the Tullys, etc. They're interesting and I like what they add to the books but I don't see them mattering much in the end.

It must be a lot harder for fans who have been with these books for longer periods of time. Sometimes I try to compare this to what it was like waiting for HP books but it's not really the same, since I never had doubt that JKR would finish her series.