George R.R. Martin Wants A Song of Ice and Fire to End With Him

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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George R.R. Martin Wants A Song of Ice and Fire to End With Him



George R.R. Martin, the man behind A Game of Thrones, would prefer his creations not be tampered with by outside authors.

Unexpected and often shocking deaths are kind of par for the course when you're dealing with A Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. We won't go into any spoiler-ific specifics, but suffice it to say that if you're a newcomer there are moments that will gut punch you <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygQvB6OjHOU>like Ivan Drago. That being the case, all the fatalities in Westeros could pale in comparison to the damage done by one real world death: George R.R Martin's.

Martin, in addition to being the author and architect of A Song of Ice and Fire is also a tad on the elderly side and, if the five years it took him to deliver the most recent book in the series is any indicator, there is a very real possibility he might not live long enough to bring the franchise to a close. It's a possibility that Martin himself is very much aware of. "Eventually I will not be alive because Valar Morghulis- all men must die," he said, talking about the subject recently.

The obvious question is what would happen to the series in the case of his demise. Martin has expressed that he would prefer his work be left alone. That said, he fully expects that eventually the land of Westeros would fall into money hungry hands. "One thing that history has shown us is eventually these literary rights pass to grandchildren or collateral descendents, or people who didn't actually know the writer and don't care about his wishes. It's just a cash cow to them."

He, in turn, expressed his admiration for the family of The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R Tolkien, which has guarded his writing quite closely. "Although I've never met the man, I admire Christopher Tolkien, his son, who has been the guardian of Tolkien's estate who has never allowed that," he said. "I'm sure there are publishers waiting in the wings with giant bags of money just waiting for someone to say 'yes, go ahead, let's write Sauron Strikes Back'." So, put shortly, if Martin were to pass away without finishing A Song of Fire and Ice, we might have to wait for some cash hungry relatives to come around to find out how it all ends. Then again, the HBO series would probably come up with some good too, so there is that. Even so, here's hoping it never comes to that and Martin himself is able to see his vision through.

Source: <a href=www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/game-of-thrones-author-george-rr-martin-rules-out-sharing-westeros-20131111-2xbsy.html>The Sydney Morning Herald


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Imre Csete

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Jul 8, 2010
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On top of that, he wants the manuscripts of his current book burned if he dies while writing it, so there's that.

I didn't like the last two books of Stephen King's The Dark Tower saga, so I'm all about waiting for a proper, finished book. He can do as he wish with his IP, I've given up on the hope that the series will ever be finished.
 

Sigmund Av Volsung

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Dec 11, 2009
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First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
 

dragongit

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Ok Martin, fine and dandy. Now get to bloody finishing your books before your croak then. There will be millions who curse you in your death if you fail to do so.
 

FloodOne

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Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
When people reach a certain age, they start to think about their mortality. Hell, me and my wife were discussing it, and I'm only 30. Granted, we have kids to worry about, but death is natural and something to be discussed and thought about.
 

Dr.Awkward

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It sounds risky, but my suggestion is to make the works public domain when he dies - Fandoms for series like this have long and finely-detailed discussions and debates about what's canon or not, after all...
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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dragongit said:
Ok Martin, fine and dandy. Now get to bloody finishing your books before your croak then. There will be millions who curse you in your death if you fail to do so.
If he dies, someone will invent necromancy just to bring him back so he can finish his books.

Shortly before bringing back Tolkien just to see him rage at what LotR would have become by then.
 

ecoho

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Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
ok gotta ask what do you mean by another wheel of time ending?
 

Reed Spacer

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Jan 11, 2011
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Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
Frankly, after 'Children of Dune', I basically thought "Okay, yeah; fuck this shit" and went on to something else.
 

EmilShmiengura

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Love the guy, Tuff Voyaging is the first SF book I ever read (been a fan ever since) but I honestly think even he has no idea where he's going with the stuff anymore. Even if he would live to be 100 (which I hope he does) he still won't finish them. Luckily the guys at HBO are doing an awesome job with the material (albeit with a slight propensity towards weener displays) .
 

Jadak

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ecoho said:
Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
ok gotta ask what do you mean by another wheel of time ending?
He probably means he didn't like the ending of the Wheel of Time series....

He is of course incorrect as the series ended rather well, and even if one disagrees on that point, it certainly ended no worse than some of the previous books in the series thus I would not consider it valid to blame any dislike on the ending on the author change.
 

ThreeKneeNick

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We won't go into any spoiler-ific specifics, but suffice it to say that if you're a newcomer there are moments that will gut punch you like Ivan Drago.
Anyone who is at this point a newcomer is going to read it because they've heard about the deaths and aren't going to feel gut-punched. News outlets basically can't mention GoT and not mention deahts, like the series has nothing else to offer. /rant
 

Soviet Heavy

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Well, Christopher Tolkien guarding J.R.R's works hasn't stopped people from making their own fanficy stories in the forms of videoo games.
 

ecoho

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Jadak said:
ecoho said:
Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
ok gotta ask what do you mean by another wheel of time ending?
He probably means he didn't like the ending of the Wheel of Time series....

He is of course incorrect as the series ended rather well, and even if one disagrees on that point, it certainly ended no worse than some of the previous books in the series thus I would not consider it valid to blame any dislike on the ending on the author change.
hell I hated some parts of the ending but they all fit. Its also really funny if that's the part he hated cause the last like 5 chapters were literally Robert Jordan's note word for word.
 

veloper

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Jan 20, 2009
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Jadak said:
ecoho said:
Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
ok gotta ask what do you mean by another wheel of time ending?
He probably means he didn't like the ending of the Wheel of Time series....

He is of course incorrect as the series ended rather well, and even if one disagrees on that point, it certainly ended no worse than some of the previous books in the series thus I would not consider it valid to blame any dislike on the ending on the author change.
Yeah, I'd say Sanderson's overal contribution was a slight incline.

OT: I hope Martin will get to end the series himself and enjoy a happy retirement. Just a couple more books and finish it, before a Song of ice&fire outstays it's welcome.
If not, then a decent writer to tie up the biggest plotlines, using the author's notes would be preferable to an eternal cliffhanger.
 

Covarr

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May 29, 2009
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TiberiusEsuriens said:
Didn't Martin already share the planned ending of the series with the HBO guys so that they could finish it if he died?
Yeah he did. I suspect he doesn't want the franchise expanded beyond that, though.

P.S. Thanks
 

Sigmund Av Volsung

Hella noided
Dec 11, 2009
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ecoho said:
Akichi Daikashima said:
First of all, I hope he is okay: people rarely discuss their own mortality unless things are at least a tad wrong

Secondly, I would like it to end with him too, I don't want another Wheel of Time ending on our hands, or the way that Dune went.
ok gotta ask what do you mean by another wheel of time ending?
Well how the author died.

And the work had to be continued by someone else and it wasn't as good.

Good, but not as much, like Season 4 of Community(without that ending though).

Though that may be a harsh comparison, as S4 was definitely the nadir of the entire show.