George RR Martin on Why He Kills Characters 

That's good

Lol

Was Boromir portrayed by Sean Bean in the books as well?

@@LaMilice. yes

Dark Wizard Yes. It being Sean Bean

Tyrone Stevens HAHAHAHAHAH

They did the opposite and killed it anyways...

George is going to be like Bette Midler in the movie "Ruthless People" when they imprison her and she loses 20 pounds. He is going to walk around Dubrovnik behind D&D while the fans yell, "Shame, shame," and then after doing this every day, say, "Hey, humiliation made me lose 20 pounds!" Because all his characters have to go through the wringer: Tyrion, Brienne, Jaime once he gets his sword-hand cut off, Sansa, Jon being brought up told a bastard is born of lust and is deceitful by nature, Davos being loyal to an insane leader who gets Davos' sons killed, Dany who is sold into prostitution, et al.

Valor Morghulis

Yeah its not valar morgules but series morgules

We don’t know he is coming back in the books. Probably, but we don’t know if or how and what he will be when he does.

@@Jungianguy yeah like stoneheart is very different after her death

@@Jungianguy my guess is melisandre burns shireen in order to bring back stannis.(they got the letter stannis is dead) ...but stannis aint dead and burning shireen will bring back Jon instead....i think this is a pretty popular theory....also i think Jon snow will get extremely lifeless after he is revived

@@samarthrana8861 I think he will come back more wild and unfiltered because I think he is in his wolf.

@@samarthrana8861 Only guessing... + It looks like your theory is based on tv show, so hey.

Jon especially considering he executes the man that betrays Ned (Janos Slynt) and ultimately is what gets Ned executed

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

@@VisitormassacreSuddenly start butchering it ? That's what I hate with you people, looks like season 5 and Dorne did not serve as massive warning light ? Neither Season 6 and 7 ? Such people who think they are intellectual for hating season 8 are massive fools, of course the quality dropped but people act like it's way bigger than it is. If they started being shit at S8, it means you were fine with Jon's expedition beyond the wall right ? The dumbest thing the show has ever done just for the sake of being cool and epic. And now people are pissed they don't see mindless epic shit like Jon vs The NK, as always those "fans" are the most inconsistent and entitled people on earth.

No one is entitled for thinking Arya killing the night king was dumb. Sure the show can have surprises but it needs arcs as well.

@@FalconCooper fuck dude. Be more of a gatekeeper.

@@noahmay7708 The worst part is that Sam was lying on the ground for 20 minutes screen time and still survived 8x03.

My man Samwell Tarly, killed at least a dozen wights sitting down. Now imagine how many he would have killed if he just stopped eating ice cream

@beatle pete gilly

If I could give all the money I have I would have for this comment. I'm that pissed watching the last episode

@@sriharsha_sheshn How can you be pissed watching the episode? I had absolutely no complaints with it.

@@scythelord Watch it again

How about a sandwich?

Greatest fantasy world is Witcher. GoT world's second.

@@homoxymoronomatura Greatest is Lotr and everybody knows that.

@@incadeptus LOTR's third.

@@homoxymoronomatura Bakana!

@Harold King You mean how he married a neighboring lady who feared him and locked her away until she starved to death after eating her fingers?

@Harold King i never thought of him being smart on the show either

@@joynelbonetdelgado4952 The bit with having Rickon there in the Battle of the Bastards would have been smart if he had a couple volleys of arrows to kill Jon.

Yall are aware GRR was just bullshiting right? He wasnt being serious.

@@josharntt he did have the arrows, none of them hit (for whatever narrative purpose)

And he drinks water a lot!

Omar Basit Dornish Wine > Water

so is the audience

If he slipped up and said the wrong thing at moment, this could have been a bad viral moment for him 😂😂😂😂

What does this mean

I read it years ago, but on a PocketPC phone using an eReader program. If it had been a paperback I would have thrown the book across the room.

How? In what exactly?

That sounds fucking interesting

😂

His point is good but he choose wrong way to explain it. In lord of the rings, hardly any characters die. Jon snow is the main character in got, him dying and coming back is needed But it could have been better(or maybe worse) when frodo and others complete the task after losing their guide

?

Until the last two books are released, we can only blame D&D for that, seeing as we know they’re adapting books that aren’t finished yet.

Who doesn't? Shit is a masterpiece.

Still its just a "tad" excessive.

@@kirito.alexis32 Neds death and the red wedding both shocked me. From there I think I was numb to the rest, as I just expected gruesome and sudden homicide.

The thing about Martin's writing is he takes fantasy tropes and brings them to the real world, honor has a high cost and there's no such thing as the right thing, it will always affect someone negatively. I'm re-watching the show and even though back then I was traumatized now I only see Ned and Robb as suborn fools who were asking to be killed. Oh yeah, i should tell Cersei I know her secret and that she should run away, that'll work! Oh yeah, I'm gonna marry with another girl and hope Frey gives me his men anyways, sounds reasonable!

@@kirito.alexis32 It really isn't at all, you need to get over characters you liked dying by now, all the deaths served a purpose.

Stop shirking responsibility

Estúpido y sensual Flanders there were consequences for Cat's revival in the books, and we don't know about Jon yet (I'm sure he dies, compared to the show where he was stabbed a lot in the chest, the book has him stabbed 4 times, including one to his throat so if he survives that I'm calling BS)

Yes but every resurrection brought consequences

It be Final Destination 3 all over again.

well hes not an engineer, so I would not get on a roller coaster designed by him

the.raven valar morghulis, pretty sure the end result would be the same

Well, you'd have the chance to become a survivor. A chance, you would've never had, if nobody died or was about to die in the first place.

or one designed by RTGame

Laughing at your death Edit: and life

Valar morgulis one man most die

It could become a meme

Like the end of Amadeus.

U will hear silence and ur place in heaven or hell its a true fact u know

We get it

@@user-ex4is1cv7b Cool.

Valar Morghulis

George has killed and resurrected more than Tolkien most writers are hypocrites including George himself

@@saltytree729Yeah, George killing characters is really more of a meme than actual fact. The only main characters he killed were Ned, Caitlyn and Robb. Apart from that most deaths have either been side characters or have been reversed by resurrection and we all know that Jon, Dany, Tyrion, etc. all have a ton of plot armor going into TWoW or ADoS if they ever see the light of day.

I was like that when I started reading AGOT.

That’s how I was when I watched the show. I haven’t read the books but lately I’ve been kinda wanting to. I know it’s a little different from the show. I think I’m going to wait until GRR Martin finishes the series and then buy the whole set. If I read the books now and he still hasn’t finished the story it will drive me nuts.

Well, to be fair he technically wasn't wrong... but not very long.

117rebel If he finishes the books

He was sort of king for a while, he ruled while Robert was away, so you get to see what the realm would be like if he ruled: Justice prevailed, and he ruled with honor. All that until he gets his head chopped off that is

He really liked the death of Boromir and somehow unknowingly got to kill him himself in a way since both are played by the same actor.

it definitely got me interested in the series.

For me it started already when Jaime pushed Bran out of the window... something different about a book/series where even children are not safe. Its about realism and unpredictability that is lacking in a most other fantasy novels.

Mustafa Nawab was il tu u lo.

Mustafa Nawab was il tu u lo. I

@Mike Fortune Thank you Mike for the insight :)

@Mike Fortune You do know that the books and show are different right? The way the show ended had nothing to do with Martin.

@Mike Fortune like I said before the show had little to do with Martin even when he was overseeing it. After season 4 the show went awol, season 1 to 4 are brilliant because they were a copy and paste from the books. There were a lot of important character deaths in the 1st 4 seasons so I don't know what you're talking about saying that he kills only expendable characters, you calling Ned Stark expendable?!

@Mike Fortune Imma leave it at agreeing to disagree.

@Mike Fortune I ain't a GOT fan, I just know quality when I see it. I don't know what you enjoy if you think Martins books are garbage.

I doubt he is satisfied at all with how the show has gone in the past few seasons

Journey95 Far fr tho

Schmeckle Cersei, Jaime, the hound, the mountain, Varys and tens of thousands of innocents all died in the penultimate episode. I guess they were just saving everyone for that episode.

@@zain4019 And only the Hound's death held some kind of meaning. This whole cleganebowl was pure fanservice and didn't contribute anything to the overall arc. Also, thousands? I think "hundreds of thousands" of innocents is more appropriate. A city of a million people, and Dany torched the entire place. She must've killed about half the population. But truth be told, way too many people survived the Game of Thrones. I went into season 8 thinking this season would end with almost everyone dead. I genuinely thought the NK battle would take place in KL in the finale with the living winning by a thread. And only a handful of people surviving. Next episode is just a wrap up and will see the death of two people, one of which is obviously Dany (by Jon's hand, or maybe Arya's, not sure). The other one is, well .... you'll see (unless you know of the leaks).

Or.....then entire show since season 5. This season sucks, but seasons 6 and 7 were BY FAR the worst for plot armor

If John Snow comes back to life in the books that would make him a hypocrite

@@Visitormassacre Lady Stoneheart revival however wasn't the return of a protagonist/likeable character, but its transformation into someone much more cynical and sinister. From my perspective her return didn't ruin the ethos of GRRM's writing as she became a stark remind of the consequences of bad decisions (hers and Rob's). On the other hand Jhon Snow just waltzing back into the story would taint the aforementioned ethos as I believe that many would take it (I included) as the convenient comeback of a loved underdog protagonist (At least if did as done in the show).

@@josebenardi1554 lol not if george follows the flaming sword dude storyline

@@josebenardi1554 am i mistaking? But jon hasn't died in the latest book yet, right?? Maybe i just forgot, i havent read it in years

Logan Ford he died

Not really, Thoros did die and also Viserion

George had no control past S5-6 as the source material had ran out, that’s just pure d and d genius

As Vulcan points out: Thoros and Viserion both die. The Viserion death is a pretty big gut punch. In part, because of what it means for the bigger plot: a) Night Kings can insta-kill dragons, and b) Here come the zombie ice dragons. Thoros... well, this was not so much of a gut punch. You sort of saw that one coming. The actor probably had to get back to playing guitar for Steeleye Span or something.

@@vulcan387 lmao the night king could have killed Drogon in that same instance as he was not flying. Then proceeds to 360 no scope viserion from god knows how far away. It just didn’t make any sense. If the night king just kills Drogon in that instance everyone dies. GIANT PLOT HOLE

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Klespyrian ofc

Nice thought but I disagree because he didn’t create the tv or cast the actors. I think it’s more of a case that Benioff and Weiss cast Bean because he just effortlessly suits those sort of noble historical drama roles and usually gives a stellar performance.

@@brendansheehy8124 i think in another interview somewhere he said that the only character he knew who should play him was Charles Dance as Tywin. Something like that

@@Conflictedhots wired google answers

Major Sharpe was so bloody tough not even being played by Sean Bean could kill him.

Mike Selk He must have been watching a Monty Python film when he wrote the red wedding.

He must be really ticklish.

Exactly my thinking as to why anyone would willingly join the army or the police, jumping head first into life or death situations, as if it won't happen to them.

This is overgeneralized. Sometimes people want to die, don’t care, or have other overriding motives. Not everyone thinks they’re the “hero,” that’s for sure.

@@whatdoesthisthingdo seems kind of f’ed up to purposefully put your life at risk like that. I can understand doing it to defend who you care about, but doing it for any other reason is either suicidal or psychotic.

@@ifstatementifstatement2704 Hey, I'm not making a judgement either way. Just saying, people do it for more reasons than being the hero.

@@whatdoesthisthingdo fair enough.

Yep.

Ever since the show went past the books, the plot armor on main characters have been too noticeable.

Yeah they completely fucked with the Dorne storyline.

Aishwarya P literally feels nothing like GOT anymore, at least 4 or 5 more main characters should have died

I keep hearing comments like this. I have to say I highly doubt this genius of a man just let D&D do whatever the heck they wanted. He’s read every script and approved or disapproved. It will pan out the way he wants it to.

@@maddievalprivateuser2373 He hasn't been actively involved in the show runner in a long time. He has had conversations with them and shared source material, enough to have lasted them about 5 seasons more than these 8, but since after season 4? It has been HBO's and D&D's creation, and this has been noticeable. Painfully noticeable.

“You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children."

Jezzascmezza You deserve more likes for this lol

haha

Waluigi cosplays George

lolllllll

🤣🤣🤣

he is not the one writing it

no it wasn't. you think he likes being pigeon holed into having to kill at will to please his fans who misunderstood this message? it's incredible that the NK died actually. goes to show nobody is safe, not even the all powerful NK.

reiko na6ase You think his lame ass death fight wich lasted 5 seconds was incredible?

@@larochejaquelein3680 I think it is an incredible fact that he died how he did, yes. and was blindsided by a vessel of the faceless, the god of death. a greater power which the night king had no knowledge off. the god of death has proven through arya's story line that death is not to be played with and the night king was the largest offender. his own programming to destroy humanity left him susceptible to an even greater enemy (who was hidden on another continent that the night king could not reach throughout history) I think his sudden death represented that very well. he seemed near unkillable and yet he died. I actually think this is another example of George's point. But many viewers do not seem to look into the lore and the religion as being important to the series. Many people seem to forget the previous seasons of the show and when removed from context, I see how it could not be enjoyable for some people Would it not be against George's point here to have the night king have a mega fantasy battle with the hero Jon, for Jon to come out on top and everyone lived happily ever after? To me, that sounds like a far less interesting turn of events.

@@jovialvibes5962 You totally forget every other main character who was swarmed by wights so many fcking times and just didn't die. That's the disconnection from reality George criticises. And just because Arya doesn't kill the NK doesn't mean Jon has to kill him with ease. Why not an epic battle between the two which Jon looses and someone else delivers the final blow. Idc if aryas is the onr, just give the scene more impact and the NK some purpose

IIRC that was Jojen's line in the books.

@ZINURU it’s indicating how books can give significant detail throughout a persons life. Doesn’t matter if it is fantasy or not. If you’re a book reader, you learn all the experiences that shaped out the persons’s life. You read about, how their feeling, what were they thinking, and how their personalities were, and what they were about to do. The detail makes it feel so surreal, that you feel like you are there making the choices yourself.

A man who reads a thousand books loves a thousand lives but never his own

@@christophergalatoulas9090 i’m pretty sure you don’t need 80 years full time to live a thousand books.

A content man only needs one life to live

Mr Muscle well I’m just saying the plot armor in that episode was off the charts and it didn’t feel a thing like GoT

@Mr Muscle How? Not only did characters magically get out of impossible situations, but 8 years of White Walker build up wasted, and no answers well... answered. Now we are left with a completely underwhelming villain, with Arya the superhero having the ability to easily defeat her.

Pretty sure Jorah's death is going to have nasty consequences for Dany. She's doubting everything she's ever known right now and is essentially alone. She has almost no army and has to trust people she doesn't know. She doesn't believe in Tyrion any longer; who is likely going to to argue on Sansa's behalf when it comes to the North. Let's not forgot the situation with Jon. Even if he doesn't want the throne, there will be those around him who will want him opposed to her. Add in the issue with Sansa and the North and one dragon... Oh, and I doubt Tyrion and Jaime will be doormats when it comes to Cersei. Dany will want to kill her. If she's really preggers, Jaimie won't allow it. Tyrion will argue for their behalf. Further sowing distrust for him. She's alone. Jorah's death is actually pretty huge.

@@MekareP Both Dragons survived

The ruined the whole show with last episode

I know, right!!! He's so clever!! Now they are just pandering to fan theories in a tasteless manner too

@beatle pete the show is farther into the story than the books

@beatle pete the show passed up the books

@beatle pete I'm pretty sure he's helping them write and come up with the story, but yes

@beatle pete yeah pretty much. i think its pretty cool because you cant have read the books and know the ending for the show and likewise you cant have watched the show and know the ending for the books

That being said, Tolkien in his childhood lived in areas of great natural beauty, and over the course of the war as he served in the Battle of the Somme, saw the industrial machine of war slowly turn the idyllic fields of France into muddy cratered wastelands, and he conveys that information in his books very strongly. The orcs, and especially Saruman taking the axe to Fangorn, represents the industrial machine of war destroying the natural world.

Terry Prachett said of fantasy: "Fantasy is escapism, but wait... Why is this wrong? What are you escaping from, and where are you escaping to?" I think Tolkien was very much hoping to escape from that grim reality though which he lived.

@@MarcBliss Tolkien had this to say on the matter: "I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”

On the other hand he is clearly covering the topic of shell shock, the damage to the soul. Frodo is never the same after the whole ordeal. He sails from the Grey Havens as he knows that is the only way he will find peace, moving on to the next life. Another note, Gandalf is really only brought back to fulfill a necessary role, and leaves Middle Earth with Frodo.

@@eli3568 Well sort of. That's 1 person and it doesn't happen until his epic quest is complete. The whole PTSD thing is a capstone on a well-rounded personal journey. Similarly, Boromir and Gandalf die but they have very heroic and climactic deaths. I think GRRM's point is that death doesn't have a sense of narrative or dramatic timing. Great heroes die of disease or accidents or in minor skirmishes with 2 nobodies. Death (or trauma) is a threat to everyone all the time, not just a potential twist or downer ending to an otherwise conventional story/arc.

Jihanna Hainé ???

@@unicornhorn6662 it's a joke

UnicornHorn dumbass

whats happen I get it, it was just really fucking cringey

@@unicornhorn6662 ??? means you don't get it...

I missed my one lesson and Now i am trapped in my basement in fear of Duolingo

I did not finish mine either... Ooops

it is known

someone needs to make an edit of the duolingo owl with george's laugh

Funny because high valyrian is on duolingo lol

Stole the comment right out from under me ;)

he casts no one, and GoT was written in 1996

Specifics, specifics. Just let the fun be had. XD

Konstantin Yagodin actually that’s one of the things he was most involved in, having the right people casted for the right roles.

Konstantin Yagodin SIT DOWN

Exactly

It is more relatable in that way, realistic. Life isn't fair, it can be brutal, especially in war. And if you love, or like someone, a little part of you dies with them. It makes you appreciate your memories more, especially when they're fond. About the same goes for hatred, Ramsey dying is closer to satisfying: He deserved it. I always hated Rambo, etc. 1 dude takes out legions, with ease. Near untouchable. Boring, predictable. That's also what makes his death and decay writing style more exciting. It isn't that predictable. Oz and the Sopranos had the same quality, also a lot of sex, by the way, which is often also conveniently left out of stories. HBO must love George for killing off so many characters and describing sexual scenes. I guess it's what got them hooked.

Well said man. I'm fucking sad watching the last episode

Yes, but if all the characters you are invested in are killed off, you lose overall interest. "The Good Wife" did it right - one brutal and unexpected character death, but it was devastating and powerful. After so many character deaths on GoT, they have lost their emotional punch.

@@laprimaverrra Agreed. It feels like I'm watching reality TV at this point.

Its called lazy writing, just live from the impact until it turns meaningless. So overrated in my opinion.

he is not the one writing the tv series

Oh, my sweet summer child.

lol this comment did not age well

Bwook

Bock

his work is writing death, that's just his creative way of saying "I wish you all would die" lol

The show is not the books so especially after season 6

They're the ink he writes his books in....maybe that's why it's taking so long to release another book, he ran out of a consistent flow of material before he could finish and can only write in small bits.

@SmallmoneyYT I don't think many people or authors are that sadistic. I think that is only something some fan would think, that got personally offended by a fantasy book. George is right: There is much more suspense in the story if you don't know who wins or survives. 95+% of all stories you know who the good and bad guys are after 10 minutes and you already know who wins in the end. You only watch/read how exactly it ends up there. His books aren't like that and that makes them powerful. Very rarely do "good" main characters die and even more rarely the bad guys win at the end. Silence of the Lambs comes to mind. Maybe even "empire strikes back". Se7en for sure. I cannot even think of any other major movies.

@SmallmoneyYT Eh, depends. Reading one of the Dragonlance books as a kid, my favorite character dies, very big and foreshadowed moment in the series. The authors talked about planning to kill him from the start, and how hard it was actually to go through with because they really liked the character.

Your not alone.. RIP Lady Mormont, Jorah, Theon.

battle of winterfell is exactly what he is criticizing in this, all the heroes survived like magic especially sam

his books have magic and the story has becoming increasingly full of it - I think many people upset about episode 3 are mistaking his words by thinking in every encounter someone heroic must die just to remind you nobody is safe. The deaths throughout the show carry meaning and impact as well, but now it seems everyone just expects random troll deaths for the sake of the lolz. It is funny that so many people predicted the NK would not die yet, and so they are upset, but at the same time are complaining the show is not unpredictable enough?

reiko na6ase no he’s saying he gets upset when characters somehow escape consequences that they would normally face in real life. We didn’t want characters to die just to die, we just know it’s BS that a character like Sam would actually make it out alive in the situation the showrunners put him in, but yet he magically did

@@Flamerunner451 okay but it makes sense that he defeated a white walker in single combat or healed greyscale on his first try ? I'm not tracking.

Absolutely agreed with you, those Arya chapters, as well as Davos's after the Blackwater are my favorites

I agree

Adithya Krishnan haha

that’s why jon died. he’s a targaryen

quite hypocritical since in the last two books it is seen that it is difficult for him to kill his characters, in fact no one important in the saga dies, and it is disappointing

Um, Jorah? Theon? Beric?

Russel Tinnier they weren’t integral to the plot. or even served much of a purpose. that last episode felt so unimportant. “holy shit, we all need to ban together to defeat the night king or we’ll all die” for one whole fucking season and they killed off i’d say 2 “big” characters during the fight. like please, utter bullshit. so many people they could’ve killed, should’ve killed

UntamedBanana the fact that u expected they would kill nore proves how good this show is. they did the unexpected and let a lot of them survive. it is also necessary to do so to not reveal who will sit on the Iron Throne at the end. plus there will be another war which has to be fought. probably a lot of chars will die there.

Taiga that’s not a breaking of expectations, it’s disappointment. the only reason why so many main characters survived is because their main characters. that’s utter bullshit imo, especially given the scenario they were in. i get the progression of story that needs to be fulfilled, so they have to spare certain people, but did they really have to spare so many on what’s supposed to be the biggest fight of the series? that episode did not feel like it even had a big impact, or that the dead army was even a major threat to begin with. i can name so many reasons why that episode was just bad altogether, but i don’t want to waste your time man lmao

@Paul McCartknee Ghost is alive.

@channel of light "five minutes a day to masturbate" and thats too much already!!!

LoooooooooooooooooL best comment on this video lmao 😂 😂😂😂😂

George R.R. Martin is not your bitch!

@Smaug Studios His comment was intented as a joke. But I still like your comment and here's your like :)

Others got to learn from him.

R well he is a producer on a upcoming GOT prequel so I don't think we will hear what he really thinks.

@@lowercase21 prequel? Please explain

@@alil3231 theres a prequel coming with the storyline of "honeycomb and a jackass on the brothel"

correct

They couldn't give a shit, their egos are out of control

The writers don’t care. Its pretty clear they’re rushing to finis the show. They don’t care about GOT anymore

The dichotomy of fantasy.

His death was important IMO

Yes. It was the most shocking death to me. Even more than the red wedding.

Valar morghulis

he was a good screamer

was looking for someone to comment this! i agree

He's still dead in the books

No that wouldn't make sense. George set everything up very well. He used Lady stoneheart and Beric to establish that it could happen and works as a bit of foreshadowing. Jon is a Warg so he can stay in the body of Ghost. And it wouldn't be a satisfying conclusion to his story since in the books his mom is still a mystery.

Adum Sundler That only shows that if/when Jon comes back he’ll be severely impacted by his resurrection

When we read how George actually did it I think it will be much more satisfying

I agree. When Jon died, it left me thinking what chance do the other Starks have to survive. Makes it way more interesting

callum pierce it’s actually not at all if you don’t just cherry pick the bits of his philosophy you want to quote

Yeah, the way he is constantly trying to interact with the crowd instead of paying attention to his conversation partner is really annoying.

The interviewer also looks like a fucking idiot and a slob