George R.R. Martin admits that he’ll never finish A Game of Thrones
First of all, a part of me can’t believe that famous author George R.R. Martin is still alive. That might sound harsh, but he doesn’t look like a healthy guy. I know several health conscious people, and none of them want to follow the George R.R. Martin regimen.
I suggested on this blog way back in 2012 that George R.R. Martin might not finish the Game of Thrones book series, also known as A Song of Ice and Fire. Back then, nobody noticed because nobody read my blog. Statistically, nobody reads my blog now, but at least now I occasionally get a comment when I say something controversial.
Even though I thought George R.R. Martin might not finish the series, I believed in 2012 that he would at least finish the next book The Winds of Winter. I thought Martin’s problem with completing A Song of Ice and Fire was going to be wrapping everything up in two or three more books. I thought he was writing himself into an infinite series that would require too many books for his life span.
Back in 2012, I would have been surprised to find out that George R.R. Martin was still alive in 2022. Even back in 2012, George R.R. Martin looked rather unhealthy. I’ve lost friends and family that looked healthier than George R.R. Martin in 2012. Last year, a good friend of mine died. He was a fan of A Song of Fire and Ice and was pissed that the series never got finished.
His final words were, “I can’t believe that George R.R. Martin outlived me, that bastard.”
I admit, those probably weren’t his final words. I wasn’t there in my friend’s final moments. But I’m pretty sure he had that thought at some point. He was pissed that he never had the chance to read The Winds of Winter.
The reason I’m writing about this topic on my blog is because last week Martin made some remark that he was “weary” of his fans asking him about The Winds of Winter. According to Martin, he has a bunch of other projects that he’s working on first and that fleshing out his fantasy world of Westeros is more important than than the one story of A Song of Ice and Fire.
To be fair, George R.R. Martin didn’t say the exact words “I’ll never finish writing A Song of Ice and Fire,” but I know that’s what he meant. Why else would he be tired of answering questions about it? If he were going to finish the series, he’d probably be encouraged by the questions.
At this point, I don’t care if he finishes A Song of Ice and Fire. Yeah, I must care a little if I’m writing a blog post, but you don’t have to care about something to write about it. I think the topic is interesting, but I don’t care anymore if he doesn’t finish the series. I might still read the remaining books if they ever come out (which they won’t), but I won’t miss them if they’re never completed (which they won’t be).
I admit, I cared about five years ago. I had stated several times that I wouldn’t start reading A Song of Ice and Fire until he’d finished the series, but then I broke down and, one by one, I read the books. My opinion of the books was pretty much the same as everybody else’s opinion, and my opinion of the HBO television series is pretty much the same as everybody else’s, so I won’t get into what I think about them.
Some fans are so desperate for a literary conclusion to A Song of Ice and Fire that they want Martin to have some other author finish the series, like Brandon Sanderson did with Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. I think James Patterson would be a good choice. He could have the remaining books out by next month. Yeah, they’d have one-page chapters with cheesy dialogue, but at this point nobody cares about writing quality anymore. Nothing could be worse than Season 8.
I take that back. A lot of things could be a lot worse than Season 8, but you know what I mean.
And to be clear, I don’t want George R.R. Martin to die. I’m just surprised he hasn’t. I mean, c’mon! Look at the picture!
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Ugh, season 8 was awful. I want to read the last book to rid me of the nasty memory of season 8 – unless season 8 was the last book, in which case I want to shake my fist at George R R Martin. I can’t even remember what happened in the last book anymore. You’re right, he will probably die before he finishes the book – I have had this thought but never said it out loud like you did, but he certainly doesn’t look like a healthy man.
“…unless season 8 was the last book, in which case I want to shake my fist at George R R Martin.”-
I think Season 8 was the last book.
I was never willing to start that series because 1) it wasn’t finished, 2) he didn’t seem like he had a plan to finish it, 3) each book was very long. Too many red flags for. Plus, it’s very uncool, almost childish, to put R.R. in your name as a fantasy writer. Even if those are your real initials. Which they are not.
I agree(d) with your viewpoints, but I was weak and read the books anyway. I keep forgetting about the R.R. part of his name, Haha! At least he doesn’t go by G.R.R. Martin.
Waaah! I need closure and I need it from him, not the miserable TV series.
Unfortunately, it sounds like you have the attitude that George R.R. Martin is ‘weary’ of. I think he’d prefer that you read some of his Dunk and Egg short stories.
I have read them, I have read all the Westeros books.
I really hope he is able to finish, I want him to finish so I can enjoy the books in the entirety, but at the same time I kind of harbour the same feelings that you do. One thing I know 100%…I wouldn’t want to be him right now.
“One thing I know 100%…I wouldn’t want to be him right now.”- I don’t know. He might be enjoying himself. He seems to like the attention and the television deals. But who knows what he’s really going through?
Very true! Maybe he already has the books finished and is using all this time to creat hype…
I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve heard a theory that Martin has completed the series but will release the books posthumously so that he doesn’t have to put up with fan reactions. Haha!
Omg that is genius…evil genius…knowing him he will live to be 100 just so he can keep the finished series secret just to make us suffer!
I could have lived with the endinng the HBO writers came up with a lot easier if they only took up where the books really left off. Season 8 was a bad joke, made worse by the fact that we who read the books and also followed the series knew we were watching a different story since Brienne and The Hound met face to face in season 4.
I agree that he will never finish the books. I have been been saying this to friends for many years. Unfortunately, when I read his first few books, it seemed obvious to me that he loved word vomit. He got lost in his own stories and could not find a way out. Don’t get me wrong, he is a brilliant writer. But he strikes me as an immature person. The Season 8 ending was written based on his intentions for the ending. The ending makes no sense. There is no way I can see him making a plausible bridge between the brutal world he created and the “weak inheriting the world” ending he wanted for the story. And so he writes and writes, trying to bridge the impossible.
I agree with your assessment. I am fairly certain that George RR Martin pretty much intended the ending which the final season of GoT supplied. I really cannot believe that he wasn’t asked before the script writers started to put the last season together. He even conceded this when the final episode had been aired. He became more circumspect after he realized how angry most fans were. The ending would have been tolerable if it had been carefully constructed in an additional season.
George RR Martin’s has a big problem now. He knows how his fans hated the final season and it’s ending. But if he more or less planned such an ending, he has the tedious task to construct a very similar storyline which is better fleshed out, but which has a similar ending than GoT, which nobody liked. That cannot be fun. Or he needs to come up with a different ending than he had originally planned. And he would need to rewrite much of what he has already written. He may have simply capitulated, and he might not even be interested in the series anymore, which he started such a long time ago. And he is already quite old and not very healthy.
His biggest mistake was that he has not planned and mapped out his story arc before he started his series. And he apparently lost the plot quite literally.
I think that GoT fans will have come to terms with the fact that they will have to make do with the ending of the tv show!
I refuse to buy another GOT product, movie, HBO series, or anything else GOT until he finishes the book. I did watch the trailer for the new T series coming out, and it doesn’t even interest me. He should stop being greedy with all these side projects, and finish what he started.
I agree. I don’t involve myself with any of Martin’s side hustles. Until he finishes what he started, I am done with him. I was too young to make this wise choice when I first entered his web. I was 16years old when A Game of Thrones was published and I read it, loved it, and remained hooked the rest of my high school years, all through college and now into adulthood. Thank God, I didn’t stop my life for him.
I can’t figure out/why he hasn’t been sued by his publisher? Don’t writers generally contract for a certain number of books in a certain amount of time so this crap doesn’t happen?
GOT is like tantric sex, interesting, but no conclusion. WOT-waste of time. smfh
Martin is the reason I don’t read books series that haven’t been finished yet. What’s the point of getting into a book that might never be finished? Too many series out there that are finished to waste years or even decades waiting for the next installment.
I don’t see any point in buying any other books Martin writes, he needs finish GOT
He either Finish’s it or after he passes, some hack will be hired to convert the TV series ending into the official book ending.
I wish I never would’ve read any of them and I dislike the HBO series… what a waste.
I love the idiots that defend this guy. He does owe us a completed series because that’s the entire point of writing a series. and f him for taking on more projects than he can handle. IDGAF…finish what you started prick. He holds it over his fans heads like dangling a carrot in front of the horse. I’m with you though, gave up on him a few years ago. The only way I’ll read the remaining books is if someone else writes them. I’ll never support GRRM again
Owe might be a little strong of a word, but there should be an unspoken understanding between authors and their fans that the author will put in a reasonable amount of effort to finish a series of books if people buy his work and thereby contribute to the authors popularity and his bank account. After all how many people would read the books and get invested in the stories if the author told them that they would never get a conclusion?
And Martin understands this. He has been talking about the next book and when it will be done for more then a decade at this point. He has never given the impression that fans shouldn’t expect the series to get finished. So in his case the unspoken understanding with his fans is not even unspoken.
In any case, his somewhat aggressive response to fans who want to read the end of a story they care about, seems entirely inappropriate. Martin doesn’t seem like a likable person to be honest.
A person who writes for the shekels has an obligation to finish what he starts, so yes, I think it is fair that fans of A SERIES get the entire SERIES, or at least an attempt to make it.
If this was a passion project or something he did in his spare time, I wouldn’t have this opinion… but this is the dude’s job.
I’ve never read the series due to its graphic and sexually obscene nature, but I have played strategy games in its setting (with the nudity filters turned on, of course). My best friend, however, LOVED the series and was even able to recount the entire series to me in one night.
He actually gets mad when asked about the ending of the television seies… he is not the only one I have seen that is actually offended when it’s brought up.