Another New GRRM Interview (Re: future of the series/unanswered mysteries)

In the last Jon Snow chapter  from ADWD, for the first time there’s a temporary ellipsis in the story of events. Is that a deception for the reader?

Oh, I don’t think is the first time, I’ve done it plenty! (laughs) There are a lot of conversations we didn’t get to listen (laughs). Anyway, it is uncovered a few minutes later in a more dramatic way. Jon gives this great speech  in front of everyone explaining what Tormund and himself had decided: Jon is going to ride South with his army against Bolton’s bastard and Tormund will command the bulk of the Night’s Watch to Hardhome. That’s what they were discussing. - There must be a trick there, I know (laughs) (laughs) You surely are suspicious (laughs) -When Ned and Robert are discussing the murder of Daenerys in AGOT, Ned says “Why did we rebel against Aerys Targaryen, Robert, if it was not to end the murder of children?”* Aerys committed a lot of atrocities but it is never mentioned again that he killed children. Is it a slip on Ned’s part or is there something we don’t know yet? Well there were times when Aerys ordered to kill children. It is revealed in later books. Just as with Blackwater when they take the city and kill most people including the youngest children of the rebelling Houses, like House Darklyn or House Hollard. I imagine there were several situations when the same thing happened. You slaughter a complete House. You don’t kill the father and let the children grow to avenge later. This becomes an endless circle… Targaryen children were murdered themselves.

How did Ned Stark run into Syrio Forel? Well, I’ve never given it much thought. Ned was searching for a fencing master who could teach Arya, and he knew it couldn’t not be a conventional master at arms or a knight, or the castle master at arms, because he didn’t think his young daughter could handle a broadsword (or maybe longsword) the way man with greater strength in their torso could, so he decided the Braavosi style suited her best. Who was available in the city that might fit the bill? Obviously, somebody had to recommend him to Ned. I believe Syrio must have been in the city at the time, because there wasn’t enough time to send for someone all the way from Braavos. How did Jaqen H’ghar wind up in the dungeons of King’s Landing? Wow, that’s also a mystery (laughs). You really pay attention when you read, don’t you? (laughs) How many theories have you gleaned from these books? (more laughs) Have you settled on whose POV you’ll use for the epilogue of A Dream of Spring? Yes, I made up my mind (laughs).

And is it going to be 7 books? I’m hoping for 7, but I can’t promise anything. Seven is my aim, but I’ve learned how bad I am at estimating. What is the origin behind the Azor Azhai prophecy? The prophecy comes from the countries of the east (my own note: in Spanish it said west, but they acknowledged this was a mistake on the transcriber’s part), it’s not a Westerosi prophecy, you can infer that from the name. Westeros has its own prophecies, different from the one about He Who Was Promised. What was Robert’s reaction to Rhaegar naming Lyanna Queen of Love and Beauty? I can tell you it didn’t quite sit well with him. He should have crowned his own lady. This is gonna be a “keep reading,” but I have to try. Is Coldhands a wight? If so, why isn’t he like the rest of them? Keep reading, (laughs). Are the Faceless Men under contract to kill Dany’s dragons? Not yet (Interviewer: Hmm…) Did Howland Reed stand witness to the promise Ned made to Lyanna? (Silence) No. (Interviewer: Hmm…2) Why are the Others moving south? Well, I don’t know, you should ask the Others, I guess (laughs). Why did man go north? Why are countries invaded and the inhabitants killed? The Others don’t like us that much… In A Feast for Crows and  A Dance With Dragons the POV characters are well spread out from each other. Are they gonna stay that way in Winds of Winter? How much of the sixth book have you written? The idea is for the sixth book to bring the two storylines together. The fourth and fifth book saw them spreading further apart, and I now hope to reunite them in order to have all the characters in a single volume. I have 200 pages of Winds of Winter in their definitive version, and another 200 more that I am revising. They are in an early stage, so they need more work and I need to polish more details until they read the way I want. Bear in mind that the MS of the last book, A Dance With Dragons, had 1,500 pages, so I still have hundreds of pages ahead of me. As soon as I am done with the long tour I hope to go back home, lock myself up, and write like hell. At any rate, let it be clear that the sixth book won’t hit the shelves for a long time. It won’t be out in 2012 or 2013, either. I trust it can be published in 2014. Now, I take all these estimations with a grain of salt, because I’m bad at calculating deadlines and dates. Besides, what worries me is that people value the saga for its literary quality, and not how smoothly each book has been published. What I can assure you of is that I’m doing the best I can within my abilities, I’m working full tilt and I think that’s how I must deal with this book.

Source: georgerrmartin.com

GRRM posted this on his blog Not A Blog

This is, to the very point, exactly what happened to the show.

Yeah, and considering it’s from a 2015 interview, and he’s said similar things in 2012 and elsewhere… you can imagine what he thinks of that particular form of “writing”.

Whoever she is, I hope she’s living her best life

Early on in the development of ASOIAF, GRRM was debating whether the Targaryens should have real dragons, or whether their magic should be pyrokinesis instead, making flames with their minds. An old friend of his, the SF/F writer Phyllis Eisenstein, told him, “George, it’s a fantasy – you’ve got to put in the dragons.”

I hope she’s living her best life too.

“My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results… but it is the effort that’s heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.”

— George R.R. Martin

#too many people in this fandom believe that heroes can only be perfect flawless angels #who never make any mistakes #but that line of thinking doesn’t align at all with the kind of story grrm is trying to tell #according to the author himself being a hero is not determined by whether you succeed or fail in your attempts #being a hero is about being willing to fight for what’s right #failure and success are irrelevant  (via @viisenya)

“On the ADWD cover for Brazil, I put Daenerys at the top of the stairs of the meereenese pyramid. I had undoubtedly been, unconsciously, influenced by the series. And George told me that Daenerys wants equality for everyone, she wants to be at the same level as her people, so I had her climb down to keep it consistent” - Marc Simonetti

Here you can see the original one and other asoiaf art he drew

“George told me that Daenerys wants equality for everyone, she wants to be at the same level as her people.”

Louder please for the idiot antis in the back!!!!

Such a villain.

Just to clarify:

And there is a reason why this is important, because the thrones and what they symbolize is a running theme with Dany in the books. Even when it “does not befit a queen”, Dany prefers a simple bench over an fantastic throne. She doesn’t act based on what is proper and improper according to society; rather she strives for equality and simplicity. She genuinely wants equality or everyone, even when it reduces her own grandeur. Even when others think that as a queen, she should place herself above her subjects, she does NOT.

There is a reason why her thrones are brought up repeatedly in the books:

Can I also add that it’s interesting to note the size of her profile has also reduced with GRRM’s input. Previously, she appears as a large yet distant imposing figure from high on above. And with the revision, she’s brought closer to the ground and appears smaller in stature, more human and therefore more approachable.

“I have no idea what Ryan has planned — if indeed he has planned anything.”

- George R. R. Martin

quote: source

image: source

—George R.R. Martin

This aged well

“From my mother’s stories, I always had this kind of sense that I was like disinherited royalty. Here was this dock that my great-grandfather built - it wasn’t ours anymore. Here was this house that my mother had been born in - we didn’t own this house anymore. We didn’t own any house, we had an apartment. So it was like, ugh, I came from greatness - like Dany! And I will take back what is mine with Fire and Blood! I think on some level, that must’ve gotten to me.” —George R. R. Martin