George R.R. Martin Spoils Book Instead of Writing It
Famous author George R.R. Martin is almost ten years late on The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in his Game of Thrones series, but that doesn’t stop Martin from talking about SPOILERS.
*****
As Game of Thrones fans know, the lovable, monoverbal Hodor (Kristian Nairn) perished in the season 6 episode “The Door.” The gentle giant was commanded to “hold the door” and used his weight to block an exit as undead wights attacked, allowing Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Meera Reed (Ellie Kendrick) to escape.
Martin chose the scene to give an example of how his upcoming books will be different than the show, and it also serves as an interesting example of the choices made when adapting a print tale to television.
“I thought they executed it very well, but there are going to be differences in the book,” Martin said. “They did it very physical — ‘hold the door’ with Hodor’s strength. In the book, Hodor has stolen one of the old swords from the crypt. Bran has been warging into Hodor and practicing with his body, because Bran had been trained in swordplay. So telling Hodor to ‘hold the door’ is more like ‘hold this pass’ — defend it when enemies are coming — and Hodor is fighting and killing them. A little different, but same idea.”
Read more at George R.R. Martin reveals how Hodor’s fate will be different in his books.
*****
Is it really a SPOILER if the book never gets finished? I figure there’s a 35% chance The Winds of Winter never gets finished anyway, so this probably wasn’t a spoiler.
Maybe this is Martin’s way of telling his devoted readers what happens in his books without having to write them. If so, it works out for everybody. George R.R. Martin gets to do interviews, which he seems to love to do. Fans get tidbits about what happens in the series.
And George R.R. Martin never has to really write again. It’s a perfect solution.
*****
What do you think? Will George R.R. Martin ever finish writing A Game of Thrones? Does anybody (in a statistical sense) even care anymore? Can you give SPOILERS to a book that never gets finished?
Dysfunctional Literacy 
I have thought for years that he will never finish it. And how could he, even, now that the show has finished it for him? I think that’s what happened, anyway, but I might be wrong. I only read a few pages of the first book and watched a few minutes of the first episode. Plus, I’m still upset with him for using “R.R.” in his name as if he were on par with Tolkein. I don’t care if those are his real initials, that’s Tolkein’s schtick, and no fantasy writer should have the stones to rip off Tolkein’s schtick.
At least he doesn’t go by GRR Martin.
I doubt he’ll finish, but I’m even more convinced I won’t bother reading it if he does. I enjoyed the books, but they are an awful lot to revisit, which at this point I’d probably have to do. I’m satisfied enough with the show to just put it to rest.
I think a lot of potential readers were the opposite of you; they were dissatisfied with the show enough to actually want to read the books.
But Martin seems to be blowing his window of opportunity.
I would sooner watch the miniseries Winds of War than read his next book.
Before the tv series was announced, a friend told me to read the books but to wait until the author finished them, though that was unlikely ever to happen as he had already been writing them for some 20 years. And here we are, 12 years later. I’d only be willing, maybe, to read the end to see if he does the characters justice.
Grreat read thankyou