Fans of George R.R. Martin spent years waiting for the death of one of his most infamous characters.
But, there’s a reason why he didn’t kill King Joffrey Baratheon (really, Lannister) sooner.
“I don’t think I can insert things just because everyone wants them. If it was a democracy, Joffrey would have died much earlier than he did,” GRRM said at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Monday, per the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.
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George revealed at the event that some fans have correct theories about his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, and because of this, he doesn’t read certain message boards any more.
“I want to surprise and delight my reader and take them in directions they didn’t see coming,” he said.
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“At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I’d planted in the books and came to the right solution,” GRRM said.
Despite fans figuring things out, George said he won’t be changing his pre-planned end game.
“You can’t do that, so I’m just going to go ahead,” he added, according to the paper.
During the chat, George also said he is often asked by women to put gay sex scenes in his books.
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“I do get letters from fans that want me to present an explicit male sex scene. Most of these letters come from women. I don’t pretend to understand this, I merely read my emails. I’m not going to shy away from doing it if it has to happen, but I don’t think you can just insert things because everyone wants to see them,” he said at the event, per The Guardian newspaper.
George offered a reason for why he can’t fulfill those readers’ wishes either — but, he noted, the TV show on HBO, can.
“In the books I have a very limited third-person viewpoint. It’s the way I prefer to write fiction, because it’s the way we all see and experience life. I put gay characters in the books but they’re not the viewpoint characters. A TV show doesn’t have that limitation,” he said, according to the paper’s website. “There are some very terrific scenes, such as Robert and Cersei discussing their marriage, which doesn’t exist in the book.”
“Game of Thrones” is currently filming Season 5. It returns to HBO next year.
— Jolie Lash
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