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

[el_kabong]

Didn't Martin already share the planned ending of the series with the HBO guys so that they could finish it if he died?

I believe that I've heard the same thing from interviews. Although there may be small plot points they are not in tune with and may have to flush out, they know about all the major arcs.

Honestly, unless Martin gets his butt in gear or they add a bunch of stuff to the TV show that wasn't in the novels, the show will overtake him. It's only Season 4, yet they are going to introduce Leaf, the CoTF, which wouldn't happen in the novels until ADwD. There are threads that the TV show is booking forward and I don't know how long they'll be able to hold in a stall pattern waiting for the last book.

 

[Smertnik]

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

True. I was actually kind of disappointed at the lack of deaths while reading after everyone (who only watched the TV series) kept telling me how every character drops dead. But in truth the novels are hardly anything special in that regard. It's only secondary and unimportant characters who die, the vast majority of the actual protagonists keeps on living quite merrily. Although I do understand where those people are coming from since there're no POV chapters in the TV series and every character is treated more or less equally.

That being said, the end of A Dance with Dragons did leave me quite shocked for a while, which is rather amusing since the particular scene got spoiled for me in a comment section long beforehand but I dismissed it as a joke at that time.

 

[james.sponge]

Slowpokes! Most fans already knew that. It would a shame if he didn't manage to finish the series but then again I can see why he wouldn't want anyone to mess with it after his death.

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

Really? I always thought it was written quite well, that's why I started reading it. Song of Ice and Fire is a quality narrative in the sea of crap that is fantasy literature. As much as I like Tolkien I have to say his books polluted the genre for decades.

 

[Mahorfeus]

On one hand, I'm one of the people that actually liked Brian Herbert's Dune books better than his father's. It was probably just a matter of writing style, but just about everything after the original book (my favorite of the bunch) was lackluster to me.

On the other hand, I could understand Martin's dilemma. I haven't read his books, but I am sure that dozens of authors would be happy to write a crapton of spinoffs.

 

[Rednog]

Knowing how much of a troll Martin is, he'll finish the last book and then torch himself and the book while laughing like a maniac as we all shit out pants.

My guess as to how it all ends:

Spoiler

John Snow is actually a Targaryen, Daenerys finally comes across the sea, her dragons wipe out the others, the wartorn and tired Westeros unite under her and John's marriage.

 

[elvis-66]

The guy seriously needs to buck up his ideas regarding finishing the series.

He's already quite old, he has the BMI of a deep fried pork scratching, the series continues to expand despite his best efforts and he writes slower than a glacier.

Get on with it George as we want to see in print (and on screen) whats happening in your head.

 

[Anachronism]

I'm pretty certain that he's told David Benioff and D.B. Weiss the broad strokes of how the story ends, so in the event of his untimely death the TV show will finish the story.

At the risk of tempting fate, however, I don't think he's likely to go the way of so many of his characters in the near future. Yeah, he's getting on a bit, and yeah, he's a big guy, but I went to an interview he did about 18 months ago and he comes across as being in very robust health.

Frankly, I'd rather the story went unfinished than he rushed it and botched it. That's just me, though.

 

[1337mokro]

.....No.

I don't agree. Sure it would be a sad thing but in the end you are dead. Your idea now belongs to humanity rather than just one person. Now thanks to Disney though we still have to wait 60 years after you croak before we can start desecrating your work but it will and should happen.

Such is the nature of ideas. They can't be yours forever.

Imagine if we still had to pay money to build airplanes and could only build biplanes just because the original inventor didn't want his "vision of biplanes sullied by single winged planes" (yes powered flight, all flight with engines, WAS patented at one time).

You can have the original books be the only thing that is actually canon but you can't section of a part of our culture as private territory forever.

 

[ShiningAmber]

Think I have to side with Martin on this one. WoT was disappointing, imo. But, I do have friends who loved it. So, to each his own.

Zelazny's Great Book of Amber just ends on book 10 in the middle of the story. Zelazny had died and trust me, there is no way to tell how that book was going to end. I'm glad no one came through and messed it up. I like saying, 'It just stops. Literally. It doesn't end. He died while writing it.' I can side with Martin on that. It leaves room for imagination and not so much potential disappointment and a big, '...That's IT?'

 

[Valkaris]

Knowing how much of a troll Martin is, he'll finish the last book and then torch himself and the book while laughing like a maniac as we all shit out pants.

My guess as to how it all ends:

Spoiler

John Snow is actually a Targaryen, Daenerys finally comes across the sea, her dragons wipe out the others, the wartorn and tired Westeros unite under her and John's marriage.

Yup. That's about how I expect it will go down.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Considering what happened to the Dune series, I'm totally with him on that one...

Don't forget about Watchmen, and Metroid hasn't been faring well without Yokoi around to keep an eye on it (the Prime series being the exception). Oh right, and I shudder to think what Capcom will do with Mega M- *Snerk* Nope! Couldn't finish that one. Capcom release a new Mega Man? Right...

*Ahem* But yes, it's hard to disagree with Martin. While I'm sure that there do exist people who would finish his story and let it stay at that, those people are in the minority. There's just too many examples of franchises being completely destroyed by people wanting to milk every last cent out of it; sometimes before even leaving the creator's control (I'm looking at you, Lucas).

 

[briankoontz]

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.

A lot of people die before they reach their mid 20s, so it's never too early to consider death.

 

[Ken_J]

Oh come on.. Sauron Strikes Back sounds awesome!

And you thought there was only One Ring. But only one can't Rule Them All!

 

[Veylon]

Imagine if we still had to pay money to build airplanes and could only build biplanes just because the original inventor didn't want his "vision of biplanes sullied by single winged planes" (yes powered flight, all flight with engines, WAS patented at one time).

In fairness, patents and copyrights are different things. Nothing is stopping you from picking up a pen and writing a Low Fantasy epic about the onset of snow - accompanied by snow-spirits - involving occasional character deaths the way a patent actually prevents innovation for a time.

And besides, we don't want there to be an incentive to off authors, do we?

 

[ecoho]

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.

im sorry but what? The last 3 books were great the only thing that made them kind of messy was the fact that they were written as three books instead of two(which Jordan had wanted but Sanderson didn't have the reputation for the publisher to do)hell the last book was mostly Robert Jordan's notes with spelling and grammar corrections.

 

[rees263]

True. I was actually kind of disappointed at the lack of deaths while reading after everyone (who only watched the TV series) kept telling me how every character drops dead. But in truth the novels are hardly anything special in that regard. It's only secondary and unimportant characters who die, the vast majority of the actual protagonists keeps on living quite merrily. Although I do understand where those people are coming from since there're no POV chapters in the TV series and every character is treated more or less equally.

That being said, the end of A Dance with Dragons did leave me quite shocked for a while, which is rather amusing since the particular scene got spoiled for me in a comment section long beforehand but I dismissed it as a joke at that time.

No doubt the people get over excited when they describe all the death, but there are still a lot of main characters that snuff it.

Spoiler: From the first book alone *Spoilers*

Viserys, King Robert, Khal Drogo and of course Ned. Also Lady (the direwolf)

Of course most of the impact comes with Ned's death because it seems like he's being set up as the main character.

That list might grow too, depending on how attached you are to the minor characters.

 

[DugMachine]

This is something I've worried about too. I REALLY hope he lives long enough to finish but seeing as he's still got 2 books to do I'm doubtful. I think it would be best for no one to continue his work though, let the show continue with the ending he's already told them but nobody should try and finish the books if he can't complete them.

 

[rdaleric]

This is something I've worried about too. I REALLY hope he lives long enough to finish but seeing as he's still got 2 books to do I'm doubtful. I think it would be best for no one to continue his work though, let the show continue with the ending he's already told them but nobody should try and finish the books if he can't complete them.

I would put good money on HBO working with the publishers to release novelizations of the last few series if Martin does die.

 

[Undomesticated Equine]

Fine with me. Considering my, ahem, strong feelings on Star Wars Episode Seven bringing the Skywalkers out of their much deserved retirement (Fuck you J.J. Abrams), I feel like any material that takes these characters beyond their intended roles will only diminish them in the long run.

Expanded Universe, however, stories long before, long after, or just around the Song of Ice and Fire events, is all fine and dandy, so long as it doesn't encroach on the established main story. Don't show me Tyrion leaving the Westeros Old Folks Home to bang one more hooker; show me the stories of some dude a hundred years ago/later who did something interesting or significant.

Now, back to slowly working my way through A Feast for Crows so I can get back to the interesting people in Dance With Dragons...

You can do what i am doing and read them simultaneously as from continuity standpoint both books run parallel. Although Dance with Dragons takes the story further in the last few chapters so 2 chapters FfC 1 chapter DwD is my rule.