If you’re in two minds about the last episode of Game of Thrones, you’re not alone. The bestselling author behind the TV series isn’t keen on re-hashing the controversial finale, either.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, George RR Martin was asked whether he’d watched the episode, and firmly said, “We shouldn’t talk about that.”
He did, however, admit that the end of Game of Thrones was a massive relief and that the show itself wasn’t “good” for him.
“There were a couple of years where, if I could have finished the book, I could have stayed ahead of the show for another couple of years, and the stress was enormous,” he said. “I don’t think it was very good for me, because the very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down.”
“Every day I sat down to write and even if I had a good day – and a good day for me is three or four pages – I’d feel terrible because I’d be thinking: ‘My God, I have to finish the book. I’ve only written four pages when I should have written 40.’”
“Having the show finish is freeing, because I’m at my own pace now. I have good days and I have bad days and the stress is far less, although it’s still there…I’m sure that when I finish A Dream of Spring you’ll have to tether to the Earth.”
As for whether public opinion has affected his response to the show, Martin said it doesn’t. “As Rick Nelson says in ‘Garden Party,’ one of my favourite songs, you can’t please everybody, so you’ve got to please yourself.”
Later, he added that all the reactions to the show – good and bad – should be celebrated. “I’m glad of the emotional reactions, whether to the books or the television show, because that’s what fiction is all about – emotion.”
“If you want to make an intellectual argument or persuade someone, then write an essay or piece of journalism, write nonfiction. Fiction…should feel as though you’re living these things when you read or watch them. If you’re so distanced by it that a character dies and you don’t care, then to an extent the author has failed.”
Whether you love or hate Game of Thrones, you’ve got to give it to George RR Martin. He’s the brains behind the books that spawned a TV show that had the world captivated for eight years. That’s no easy feat.