A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin comments on the ending of his series while attending a Game of Thrones themed baseball game in Staten Island, New York!
Before he comments on the ending while talking to the Observer, Martin has a few words about the Golden Age of Television and how he feels being a part of it:
It’s great! And I’m very glad that we’re such a prominent part of it. This kind of thing, where there are so many reviewers who review every episode as it comes on, and there are 20 different reviewers, probably more than that, who are reviewing us episode by episode by episode—and not only us but Mad Men and Breaking Bad in their day, and a handful of other shows that are getting a tremendous amount of attention—is very gratifying.
On the ending, if it will be apocalyptic, and being inspired by Tolkien:
I haven’t written the ending yet, so I don’t know, but no. That’s certainly not my intent. I’ve said before that the tone of the ending that I’m going for is bittersweet. I mean, it’s no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended Lord of the Rings. It ends with victory, but it’s a bittersweet victory. Frodo is never whole again, and he goes away to the Undying Lands, and the other people live their lives. And the scouring of the Shire—brilliant piece of work, which I didn’t understand when I was 13 years old: “Why is this here? The story’s over?” But every time I read it I understand the brilliance of that segment more and more. All I can say is that’s the kind of tone I will be aiming for. Whether I achieve it or not, that will be up to people like you and my readers to judge.
He discusses being in the spotlight, clickbait journalism and more over at Observer!
While in Staten Island, Martin also attended a special one-night-only Thrones-themed minor league baseball game, with Rolling Stone writer Sean T. Collins. The game featured the Staten Island Yankees (named the Direwolves for the occasion) and the Hudson Valley Renegades (the Lannisters). He took the time to sign some Direwolves merchandise as well as interact with some lucky fans!
His attendance was also a fundraiser for New Mexico’s Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary which is a non-profit rescue facility for our furry friends (in the photograph above).
The team not only wrote a hefty check for the organization but also launched an auction of the custom Thrones-themed jerseys for the cause!
In the end, the Starks finally beat the Lannisters and Martin gave some fitting last words regarding his anticipated sequel:
And remember, Winter is Coming.
Head on over to Rolling Stone for the full story!
It’s nice to see Martin take a break and enjoy himself while also helping a cause! What do you think of his words regarding the ending? Let us know in the comments section!
Bittersweet?
When its coming from a man who can´t write one postitve chapter that includes the “heroes” of ASOIAF it means we get sad ending.
Well, he’s said he hasn’t written the ending yet. So how can it be bittersweet?
The wolf appears to be taking a dump
Maybe “bittersweet” like the True Detective season 2 finale?
I can’t stop laughing. And based on the guys face holding the leash, you’re probably right haha
anon,
he has already planned what the ending will be and shared those plans with the people at HBO as both parties have told us many times now. he just hasnt actually written it out in his books because hes no where near that part of the story. But he definitely knows what the ending is.
Well, he knows the resolution of the major plot points. So with LOTR as an example, he might have the big story points resolved but not have addressed what happens around it, like the equivalent of the scouring he mentions. All those surrounding details will do as much to define the mood of the ending as the big plot resolution.
Lol. I thought the same thing. And bittersweet………….I’m shocked
Heh…the Starks beat the Lannisters. The North Remembers!
Gravemaster,
The TD ending was definitely more bitter than sweet. Long live Ray!
Gravemaster,
More like Bittershit,just like the whole season has been in fact . Everytime someone says that season 5 was bad i just have to point out season 2 of TD to see how far can a show go from how high it was once was .
Must have been pretty dire for that wolf.
#wolfdump
*The scouring of the Shire to me represented that even though you travel the whole world and slay dragons and get the “bad guys” and destroy the ring, things can always be so changed when you return home, so that you wouldn’t even recognize it any longer. While you were away, the mice did indeed play. Making one more effort to put all right with the world again and clean up the Shire. Redemption comes in a different disguise than it appeared. Frodo has to leave the place he did so much for to save (not just the Shire, but that too – the Shire was his home) and Sam marries Rosie and has a ton of kids.
Now, how that relates to GoT’s/ASoIaF…….I have to think longer on that. Returning home….but who’s home? Winterfell? Dothraki? The BIG picture is getting rid of the Others/WW/NK…..that is the destruction of the one Ring. I can get that. It is about redemption in the end of what you hold most dear…..the Shire/Winterfell? Still more questions than answers. *puts on thinking cap*
(of course, Wimsey, feel free to correct me)
*I posted this on a different website yesterday, but didn’t want to have to re-type it all out.
Jon snow will marry Dany or Sansa to end it. BITTERSWEET
Wont marry Arya because that would be too much of a Disney ending.
Or he will end it with Tyrion/Sansa. BITTERSWEET.
It ends with victory, but it’s a bittersweet victory. Frodo is never whole again, and he goes away to the Undying Lands
Maybe referring to Jon’s resurrection & him not being entirely whole…. *wishful*
Hey you definitely didn’t read the Rolling Stone article if you think RS wasn’t aware of what was going on when they took that pic and posted it. Collins talks about the wolf’s activity. 🙂
YOU KNOW I AM RIGHT,
So Jon marrying Arya,even though they grew up as siblings is considered a Disney ending,yet him marrying Dany,the lone princess who wants to reclaim the throne is not,wtf ? You either have some strange morals or you just mixed up the names . And ,no you aren’t right
Bittersweet : the White Walkers are defeated, Dany or Jon dies during the battle (plus other “good” characters), and the one surviving sits on the Iron Throne.
Bittersweet:
Arya kills Sansa?
Jon vs. Dany?
Jamie rejects Brienne, or vice versa?
Gendry keeps rowing?
Hodor’s Bastard,
HD, Martin gets it! He liked the scouring of the Shire! (which some, I won’t say who or point fingers thought it was bullshit and filler! you know who you are :p … )
I’d freakout but honestly, I can’t. I’m too excited that he’s not doing an apocalyptic-everyone-dies to be honest because that WAS what I expected. And I love surprises!!! Sometimes. Rarely. Well, in this case at least lol.
Martin has been saying for years that the ending will be bittersweet. Why is this just now becoming a “thing”?
Also,that dog or wolf in the picture pretty much says it all about Martin’s statement,DOGSHIT !
We were there. You are sorta correct not a # 2 as Rolling Stone reports, but he did mark his territory as the crowd cheered. Gotta love my hometown!
JCDavis,
Similar to the Middle Earth tale, long ago the Others (One Ring/Sauron) were defeated by the First Men, CotF, Giants and others….without dragons…supposedly.
Ah, the fate of Frodo…as others have said, no one ever comes back from war and devastation the same.
Alexandre Dumas,
That is a possible reference. Bittersweet as in, no one really ends up winning….but they are saved. I still agree with others that there are many more deaths over the last two/three books, three seasons. I am sure there will be much gnashing and wailing before it all ends.
Anymore news on casting – specifically Euron? It’s been killing me, I need to know!
He already told us the ending was going to be bittersweet. How is this news?
The fact that the ending is bittersweet (something we’ve known for a while now) kind of puts the nail in the coffin on those conspiracy theories that everyone will die and only the Others will be left. Doubt that would qualify as bittersweet.
Yes, I agree with Martin. It took years for me to see this series. I probably WOULD have seen it at the time it was running if there was at least a bit of hoopla at the awards to advertise for it’s quality, because I was watching those Emmys at the time. I find the writing and acting to be quite incredible.
I’m surprised looking backward that it never made the news or awards, like some other shows in those years. Same goes for Justified these past few years. Some shows are just overlooked I guess, regardless of their quality.
@Ravyn
That’s not bittersweet, that’s just bitter. :/
Maybe Saruman = LF, the King of the Ashes?
Something doesn’t feel right about GRRM’s comments. Hasn’t he said before there will be a bittersweet ending? It isn’t new news. Why make it appear so?
Also, what are D&D working towards if no final chapter has been written? There was some kind of statement, over the concern of the show overtaking the books. In that, didn’t they say where they’re going with the show is to the same place as the books? Doesn’t that imply something being written, for reference, even if it’s in a draft format?
Contradictions are a sign of stress. I’ve dealt with enough people who’ve broken down due to this condition.
ZappaCreed,
He didn’t say he doesn’t know the ending,just that he hasn’t written it yet,which is true considering he hasn’t even finished the sixth book yet,i know he doesn’t write the chapters chronologically and he moves some chapters to the next book but even so why jump directly to writing the ending when there are still probably so many set pieces he hasn’t made yet . If he writes the ending know but then decides that some minor plotlines weren’t going to be what they were,he’s going to have to rewrite it anyway .
This is the silliest post I think we’re going to see here today…
But were already at that point in ASOIAF.
Our “heroes”, Jon, Sansa, Arya are not the same and their “Shire” (Winterfell) has been burned….
I mean how the hell can he make it more depresing then it already is?
ZappaCreed,
like its been stated before, GRRM does know how the story will end and he has shared that ending with D&D (they both said that he did in one of their GOT bts vids and they also said so in one of their joint interviews elsewhere). What he says here is that he hasnt actually written the detailed ending because he hasnt started the last book yet. But he certainly knows how the story will end. In fact, he had an interview a year or so back where he said he knows how the story will end and what will become of the main characters but he hasn’t written it out or how the characters will get there yet
I picture the very last scene of the series as Gendry still rowing…fade to black.
A proposed bittersweet ending for Arya:
http://youtu.be/mTJXYknxhWM
Ps
That guy has some pretty great theory videos. Check it out.
Out of the ashes rises the phoenix? With three seasons/books to go, Winterfell can be re-built…the question to me is, by whom. I don’t think it is Jon or Arya. Rickon, to me is the most likely – there is so little known right now about any sort of future he plays, but the fact that he is still alive is hopeful.
I think Bran has a “larger picture” future in store. I believe that he will be instrumental towards end game material. Sansa is also an unknown here. It is hard for me to stretch her into the heroine of the show/books come end game. I just hope she lives and is somehow content with her lemon cakes and sewing.
Hi guys, I was at the game right behind home plate, and spoke to GRRM pre-game and he was awesome. Signed all my books, patiently, and was very enthusiastic when I spoke about growing up in Staten Island and looking wistfully out my bedroom window at Bayonne, NJ and wondering what was there (he having done the reverse). I mention this on my facebook page (John Ross Cocozza) I had no idea Sean Collins was one of the guys there with him, I would have loved to have chat with him too!
I can confirm that the wolf, named Flurry (not Ghost) did indeed take a crap, almost right on home plate, and in my video of the event you can see the catcher (taking warmups) start clapping enthusiastically and pointing it out to his teammates. Unfortunately, the post-game fireworks really upset the wolf and it took a lot of people a long time to calm him down, the poor thing.
As to GRRM, I asked two questions only. I asked what he thought were the chances of Septon Meribald’s awesome speech making it into this season’s Game of Thrones. He asked me what I thought the chances were. I said I hope they were pretty good, and he said “Well, you may be right.” So that confirms nothing, but I choose to see it as a good sign.
My second question was more direct, when was The Winds of Winter was coming out. He said almost the same thing to me he would say three hours later on the field. “You know, Winter is Coming”. He had what I took to be a sly smile and so I spent the rest of the game (which the Direwolves won 10-1) trying to convince my friends that the book was done and should be coming out before the season! They told me I read too much into his answer, and for any other book I would agree, but with the title being Winds of WINTER I couldn’t (and can’t) help it!
A great night all around
Bittersweet:
One Stark sister will die.
One Lannister brother will die.
Dany and her dragons will die in the battle with the Others/WW.
The Iron Throne/monarchy will be gone – no king/queen. The reason many are fighting for won’t exist anymore.
King’s Landing won’t be the capital of Westeros.
Jon and Bran are the wildcards for me. They’re important for endgame but I have no idea what their ultimate fates are.
This was totally interesting to watch. The guy has done his homework, that is for sure. And….why not? His end game for Arya is just as good a guess as anyone else’s I think. And when you listen to him tell it, it also seems like a good way to end the series. There may be holes in there that I didn’t see/hear, but that would be sort of satisfying.
Flora Linden,
If “they” overcome the WW/Others/NK, why would there be a need for another wall?
I think Sansa will rebuild Winterfell, with LF’s help. And then LF will start trying to mess with it and Sansa will be like “NOPE.” Off with his head!
(So maybe Sansa = hobbits in Scouring of Shire?)
#hopespringseternal
Also, I was at the Staten Island Direwolves game! It was really fun!
My husband and I were conflicted, though, because we live in Westchester/Hudson Valley and the Renegades are “our” team. Plus they’re clearly from the RIVERLANDS. So we justified cheering for them by saying they were clearly good Tully’s who were being occupied by Lannisters. Now after the Direwolf victory they are liberated and back to representing the good old
TridentHudson Valley!I think there may be a hint when he mentioned frodo.
My ‘vague’ bittersweet ending will be jon saving a potential apocalyptic situation (thanks to ww) and of courses he won’t be whole after he becomes azor ahai.Bitter will be some sorta agreement that forces jon to leave for lands of always winter just like undying lands.Tears flowing . Another good bye nd this time for real to arya or sam.
Sweet may be varys on iron throne.
Dany , tyrion obviously be dying in the war of dawn.
Rickon or sansa lord of winterfell.Bran will never come out.Thats my bitter sweet folks.You are all welcome to destroy be if u like. 😉
JCDavis,
It’s just fun speculation.
Number Johnny Five,
Thanks for the info. Glad you had a good time. The poor wolf though, scared of the fireworks.
Aryamad,
Yeah, I enjoy his thoughts as well.
Piyush Sharma,
Your fate for Jon sounds plausible. He’ll disappear into the far North and into legend as an AA/Age of Heroes figure.
I agree about Bran too.
I think the point he was making is that he wants the ending to be bittersweet, i.e. peace but at a very high price.
JON SNOW=KING CROW CONFIRMED
Jon will be king but when spring come he’ll realise he can’t tolerate the heat, so he will abdicate for Tyrion and Sansa and travels to the Land of Always Winter.
anon,
He has said like 1 trillion of times that he knows how it ends,D&D know how it ends too. Of course he haven’t written it yet…. he hasn’t even finish TWOW.
Hodor’s Bastard,
If he lives that long, YES! Chaos is a ladder and Petyr always climbs. And no one wants Varys as King of the Ashes… do they?
The dog shits in front of GRRM and all the Direwolf fans night.
I guess he doesn’t care about his bittersweet ending
Love that caption
LOL
He can take all the time he wants.
YOU KNOW I AM RIGHT,
How is Jon/Dany or Sansa (disturbing idea) not a bittersweet ending and Jon/Arya(disturbing too) is? In fact, it’s the other way around. You know, Ice and Fire, lone princess and long lost prince (if R+L=J is true) etc.
…..Good for the wolf………an appropriate comment to a guy who has taken 5.5 years (so far) to write one fucking book.
GRRM has always said that the ending would be bittersweet. But that could mean many things, many of the main characters doesn’t necessarily have to die, although it might happen. Dying isn’t necessarily the worst thing for a character, Theon is a good example here. The story is already bittersweet, if it ended today it would have been a bittersweet tale, leaning more towards the bitter part at this stage. When you watch the first episodes it is always somewhat sad to see how many characters have died, and the difficult journeys that so many characters had to endure. At this stage it does not really matter that much how the story ends, it already has it bitter parts.
I could see two types of ends for some of the characters. They either get what they want, and it turns out not being what they expected, or the most important things are taken from them. These are things that GRRM likes to do. Like Sansa for example becoming engaged to Joffrey, or Jaime losing his sword hand. The end could explore similar type of themes.
For example Jon and Dany could actually really fall in love, but Dany might still be barren, or in order to secure more political stability they might have to marry elsewhere. Jon might perhaps have to marry Sansa or Arya, which could turn out to be awkward. Or someone like Margaery and they might not be very compatible. Dany perhaps has to marry someone like Rickon.
Or they could get married but it might end up being more like Robert and Cercei then a Ned and Catelyn type of marriage.
Tyrion might get Casterly Rock, but because the kingdom are split into 7 kingdoms again, he cant play his political games anymore. He might be lonely, alone in Casterly Rock as an alcoholic, married perhaps to Sansa who never really forgives him for being a Lannister. With the resolution of the conflict Arya might be a political bargaining chip, maybe she would have to marry and she would have to become a Lady. Bran could remain stuck in that tree. Or Arya might feel too ashamed to ever reveal herself to her family again. Cercei might actually survive somehow, but go completely crazy with the death of her children and Tyrion taking Casterly Rock.
There are many other interesting solutions then just killing off half of the main characters.
Those with relatively happy endings will properly be Sam and Rickon. I always thought it would have been an exceedingly neat solution to marry Jon and Shireen, that would have tied both royal families together. But obviously that is off the cards now.
At this stage with all that has happened, it would actually be quite interesting to try and figure out what exactly would be a happy ending for these characters.
For example, a lot of people always complain that something like for example Jon becoming a/the King would be too much of a happy ending. But I dont think something like that would be a happy ending for Jon at all, he would properly hate to be a King, although he would take the responsibility seriously. And perhaps the same could said about Dany as well to a certain degree.
My bittersweet ending:
-Jon wins, becomes the 1000th Lord Commander Night’s King.
-Arya and Jaqen go on a road trip of mischievous adventures.
-Sandor and Brienne become an endlessly bickering but undefeatable couple.
-Jorah becomes the world’s leading dragon handler, due to being impervious to fire as he is half stone. He is much happier with this job than the wolf handler in the photo above is with his. The greyscale stops progressing in time to preserve his pretty pretty face and sanity.
-Jaime somehow survives and marries Dany after explaining to her that he killed her father to spare thousands, causing Cersei to jump off a cliff.
-Hodor.
The bittersweet part of it is that, ala Old Valyria, a natural disaster kills absolutely everyone shortly after peace is reached. The end.
Yeah, I also think it cant really get much more depressing at this stage. Perhaps this is the part where everyone is at their lowest.
I though the dude holding Ghost was Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden 😀
biobi,
Me and some of the FireandLunch ladies were there. Actually the wolf was peeing. I swear as soon as he started to talk, the wolf just squatted. It was very awkward, but amusing at the same time. Poor little girl was probably scared, honestly.
Cumsprite,
That would explain the symbolic bowel movement at homeplate then.
Jon gets resurrected by The Others leads them into battle and is the main force of ice. Dany leads the opposition and is the main force of fire. Neither side can defeat the other thanks to the equal parts magic each has. So, Jon and Dany marry each other in a forced political arraignment to bring a cease fire and peace treaty to the conflict. Bittersweet because the war is over but everyone has lost something of themselves in the process, and no one will ever be the same thanks to the chaos and misery the war has inflicted. And unlike the tumblr crowd wants this is no lovey dovey Jon/Dany partnership. It’s a forced political union between the two sides leading ice and fire. There is no love there at all. It’s forced to end the war.
I got a good chuckle out of seeing the text before the cut as the caption of the photograph.
GeekFurious,
Bittersweet:
Meaning happy yet sad. History repeats itself so my guess is … depending on who the real Evil is, either COTF or The Others one of these will be left standing.
Everything else will be destroyed except for Two People (Possibly Danery’s and Jon?) or maybe a few more will be by their side and survive. Ultimately the race of The First Men Bloodline will have to be started completely over.
Because like in history to undo the evil and cruelness in the world; you would have to break it down,destroy it,and begin a new. So the bittersweet is the balance in life and magic will be restored, but at the cost of destruction of civilization and the devastation of sacrifice and loss with the struggle to begin again.
The hunger for power and greed, along with not living peacefully to aid eachother for a better way of life even when they know it’s the right thing to do. This will be Westeros’s demise.
Much like our own world today we are destroying it through greed and the addiction of power . In the end the Iron Throne will be empty and remain that way.
There is no true good or bad. As GRRM has stated ” The Human Heart in conflict with itself”. It’s about a chain reaction in the way we choose to live. One bad choice sets off an unbalance, a ” chain reaction” and what each chooses to do with that choice creates our History and our way of life.
Loooper the Great,
For who ever says season 5 was bad, I hate to say it, but that’s ridiculous.
Season 5 was so good.
I also didn’t mind TD2.. it was a little confusing but good
I think we all know Dany (and possibly Jon Snow) will end up on the Iron Throne. She’ll probably lose all her dragons, have no one to rule over/rule a ruined Westernos, or something like that…hence the bittersweetness.
Lauren,
Yeah every time someone caught the ball, she would visibly be terrified from the slap of the glove.
You’re right! But look closely. George is a wily fox: “I’ve said before that the tone of the ending that I’m going for is bittersweet.”
Haha! The ending that he’s “going for”! Now we know why he’s a writer.
I think someone will manage to restart the Stark family again at Winterfell.
. But like Ned who lost his father, brother and sister that person will have suffered major losses. I think that person is most likely Sansa.
Everyone will have suffered major losses, and not all of them will make it to the end.
– The battle of ice and fire will be won. Westeros will be safe, but both the Others and the dragons will probably disappear from the realm again.
– JON will be resurrected and save the realm, but will not find happiness in it. He’ll become the 1000th commander of the Night’s Watch. (Well someone will – GRRM did not leave that significant number open for just some random guy.) Alternately, he wanders off alone, never to be seen again.
– DANY will conquer the iron throne, but it will come at such great cost that she will have it melted down. I don’t think the 7 kingdoms will survive as a unit.
– SANSA will die. She least deserves it, so it will happen.
– ARYA and BRAN will forever remain lost. Arya may die or warg, Bran will forever be stuck in the tree.
– RICKON will restart the Starks at Winterfell.
– LITTLEFINGER and VARYS will fall victim to their own scheming and will die, too.
– Doran will die, too, from natural causes. Arianne, in a show of cosmic irony, will be maimed and thus sobered up enough to actually rule Dorne competently.
– CERSEI and JAIME will die. Jaime’s death will be tragic, like he will sacrifice his life for the greater good (or Brienne) to complete his redemption arc.
– TYRION will become Lord of Casterly Rock and, if the realm survives, hand of the queen. But it will be a hollow victory, as he will have soured to the machinations of politics, and he will never have what would truly make him happy: love.
– Gilly does the pragmatic thing and stays with Sam’s family. SAM becomes the maester of the Night’s Watch. They’ll be separated, but safe.
– Loras dies heroically. Highgarden remains mostly unaffected.
– BRIENNE dies heroically. SANDOR remains on/returns to the island. The Freys are scattered and powerless. Edmure returns to Riverrun and becomes a decent ruler, thanks to Roslin. Robert Arryn has long since been killed by Littlefinger. Hardyng dies in the war. The Vale and the Stormlands are taken over by new Houses.
– The cycle starts again. All that has been gained is a reprise – like summer, which is always followed by winter eventually. The current players are alive but will never be truly happy. They have saved the realm, but not for themselves, but for the next generation.
Did I forget anything?
Very interesting news thanks for the post 🙂
Kate,
I’m willing to go along with romance,kids. Not with them on the Iron Throne. It’s still too much a fairytale ending and too predictable.