George RR Martin called Game of Thrones âtraumaticâ and confirmed that theyâve deviated from his plot thank rhllor I can sleep tonight
âGAME OF THRONES author George RR Martin is âa little sadâ about the way the HBO show will end the stories created in his Song of Ice and Fire books and would âpreferâ it was done differently.â
âI mean, would I prefer they do it exactly the way I did it? Sure.â
âIt can also be⌠traumatic. Because sometimes their creative vision and your creative vision donât matchâ
I was listening to an old interview with Sue Grafton (you know, A for Alibi) and they asked her why there wasnât a Kinsey Millhone movie and it was because she refused to sell her character and lose control of it and it wasnât leaving money on the table because her sanity and self-respect were worth a hell of a lot of money.Â
Anyway, hereâs Wonderwall.Â
Bold of any of us to assume GRRM has an ending in mind.Â
Because hereâs the thing: there is no âexactly the way I did itâ because he hasnât. Thereâs no âdid itâ or âendâ to the stories heâs written. Because he hasnât written them. And heâs had time - he was pitched in January 2006 and the series began actual development in January 2007. Thatâs 13 years to write three books that he assured his fanbase had already been plotted out - and in that time heâs written ⌠one. (And a half, if you count the weird âcomplete history of House Targaryenâ - or âstalling for timeâ - that is Fire & Blood.) He handed over the reigns of storytelling to people who had to actually hit the deadlines they made to their own fans, and then got âa little sadâ when that creative didnât match the as-of-yet uncommunicated mythical ending he continues to push back into the ether of tomorrow.
And Iâll be clear here: as a fan of the books, while I appreciate the world heâs created, I no longer believe he has an actual creative vision for the end of these books. His constant assurances and subsequent broken promises lead me to believe heâs written himself into a corner and doesnât know how to get out. And as a hobbyist creative I also think itâs shitty that heâs taking pot-shots from the sidelines of âno, not like thatâ at other professionals when heâs provided no alternative âcreative visionâ to match, aside from ânot that.â
Thereâs nothing more frustrating than when you pitch an idea to someone, and their feedback is âno, not like thatâ while offering no alternative or pathway to success. Just ânot like that.â Itâs like someone saying âImagine an airplane. No a different one. Thatâs not the one I had in mind. No, still not right.â
And hereâs the thing: I think in his heart of hearts, GRRM agrees with this, because the article ends with the following quote:
I really shouldâve finished this thing four years ago â and if I had, maybe it would be telling a different story here.â
Yeah. I agree with you there. Because I donât even watch the show, but in this era of perpetually chaptered, never-ending story universes, I appreciate that the showrunners of GoT did the one thing the series never could: finish the story. That itâs different from a theoretical ending that may never come is immaterial - there are a million books never written and a million songs never sung. Until theyâre created, they donât matter.
