Many infuriating scenes in Game of Thrones made viewers want to tear their hair out, and according to George RR Martin, there’s a single story that genuinely devastated readers enough to burn his book. As a writer, this is painful to hear, but it also proves how effective Martin is as an author.
The famed HBO series was one of the most highly anticipated shows in the last decade, and no matter how much fans expressed their hate or anger towards it, they still watched with eagerness. It was the same scenario when it came to the novels.
George RR Martin on Writing the Red Wedding Scene
George RR Martin knew fans who read his books or watched the television adaptation have a love-hate relationship with the franchise. He is known as a serial killer of his own fictional characters, and over the years he wrote the novels, many fan-favorite heroes have died – and in the most brutal fashion!
This has become an issue for fans as revealed by the author in his interview with Rolling Stone. He talked about one of the most shocking scenes in the show – the Red Wedding – and how it angered loyal viewers. Apparently, it evoked the same reaction when A Storm of Swords came out in 2000. Martin revealed receiving letters from fans saying:
I’m so angry with you – I’m never going to read your work again. I threw the book into the fire, then a week later I had to know what happens, so I went out and bought another copy.
While this was an amusing anecdote, the author understood the sentiments of his readers. The horror of that scene affected so many people, although he knew from the get-go that he would kill off Robb and Catelyn Stark. In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, he admitted this chapter was the most difficult scene to write. “It was like murdering two of your children,” he said.
It pained him to let go of the beloved Starks, but he had no regrets about killing them off in the most inhumane way possible even if it had some repercussions on his writing legacy. “It cost me some readers, but gained me many more,” he revealed.
The Red Wedding scene is actually based on real events from Scottish history – The Black Dinner and the Glencoe Massacre – so it was not just something he thought out of whim.
George RR Martin’s Latest Update on The Winds of Winter
As much as we want Martin to undo the deaths of our beloved characters, fans are certainly more eager to know the status of the sixth novel, The Winds of Winter. The author’s last update about the upcoming book revealed that he was able to “produce some new pages” as of September although he wished to have written more.
He is currently busy with other projects, especially after the announcement of several new franchises, such as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and a Game of Thrones movie, so that explains the lack of progress.
Game of Thrones is currently available to watch on HBO.
