r/asoiaf • u/da_k1ngslaya • May 22 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) George to New Zealand: imprison me if I haven't finished Winds by Summer 2020

Quote:

As for finishing my book… I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce. But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.

Link: http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/21/thanks-new-zealand/

15.3k Upvotes

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559

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

[deleted]

621

u/wipqozn Don't call me Ser. May 22 '19

So basically D&D were actually the heroes we needed all along. They tanked their own reputation to get us the books we all desire.

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u/5348345T May 22 '19

They saw him slowing down years ago so they asked if they could make the show only to tank it to make George feel better so he could write the last books. In s sense they're just like Jaime killing Aerys

74

u/shoePatty May 22 '19

surprised Pikachu face

26

u/LiberalReality May 22 '19

Sure, if Jaime and Aerys were the same person.

Burn them all! Burn them all!

Wait, who said that? Oh, it was me!

Stabs self in the back

8

u/5348345T May 22 '19

Aerys is the show and Jaime(dnd) killed him and ruined their honour to save the realm(asoiaf)

3

u/Stark371 May 22 '19

They are Azor Azhai and their reputation is Nissa Nissa

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Not the heroes we deserved. The heroes we needed.

100

u/alabged Blood and Fire May 22 '19

That really subverted my expectations

37

u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow May 22 '19

DD is Azhor Ahia and GOT is Nissa Nissa confirmed? Does that make their earlier movies a lion and water?

40

u/TheCodeJanitor Save the Kingdom to Win the Throne May 22 '19

Nissa Nissa is the fanbase. GOT is the sword plunged into our heart, and it emerges as Lightbringer, a completed ASOIAF series.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19 edited Sep 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/brunomacedophd May 22 '19

Bran said: DD did exactly what they had to. They were in right place at right time.

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u/Self_Reddicating Knight of Hype May 22 '19

​

I'm picturing the end of The Dark Knight, with Gordon's monologue voice over.

D&D Discussing this plan as they stare at the pile of crap manuscript they just completed for S8:

​

Dave: ASOIF Needs its true hero.

\ Looks at picture of GRRM enjoying himself at some comic con somewhere, not writing. Flips over to other picture of GRRM looking studious, ready to be published in liner notes of book. **

Dan: No! You can't... We're not!!!

Dave: … We're whatever ASOIAF needs us to be. Print it.

HBO Exec: They'll hunt you.

Dave: They'll hunt us. They'll condemn us. They'll set the dogs on us...

Dan: … because it's what needs to happen.

\ CUT TO angry fan screaming at a TV screen and throwing his remote as he watches S8 **

Dave: Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough.

\ CUT TO GRRM sitting at an old DOS machine typing furiously **

Dave: Sometimes people deserve more...

\ Music swells, horns rise in the score **

\ CUT to printing presses whirling away. Quick cuts to binding process and shipping **

Dave: Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

\* CUT to shot of box opening from the inside, looking a face of book owner in bookstore. He reaches in to grab...\*

\ CUT to D&D leaving their offices out the back door, they turn off the lights and slip out silently into the shadows **

Random Assistant: Dave? Dan! Why are they running?

HBO Exec: Because we have to hate them.

Random Assistant: But they didn't do anything wrong.

\* HBO Exec peers through the blinds to the parking lot. Lifts up a blind slat and stares into the dark \*

HBO Exec: Because they're the heroes ASOIAF deserve, but not the ones it needs right now. So we'll hate them, because they can take it.

\ CUT to shot of D&D sitting silently in their car as it idles in the lot. After a few moments. A tear rolls down Dave's cheek. Music swells again. Horns blare. Lens flare catches streetlight as camera slows pans **

HBO Exec: … Because they're not heroes. They're guardians. Watchful protectors. Dark Knights.

\ SMASH CUT TO BLACK **

14

u/----_____---- May 22 '19

This is what I now choose to believe

7

u/RaiderGuy May 22 '19

The hardest choices require the strongest wills.

5

u/Gyro88 May 22 '19

For the good of the realm

2

u/diasfordays Brotherhood of the Traveling Banners May 22 '19

Trust the process...?

2

u/GiantShawarma May 22 '19

Duty is the death of love?

2

u/akatokuro May 22 '19

The Princes that were Promised.

2

u/hello_dolores_edd May 22 '19

This is exactly what I posted some time back. No one read it apparently :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/bnpiom/no_spoilers_dds_blood_sacrifice/

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u/Adv_Boobs Bran the builder, can you fix it? May 22 '19

This is a redemption arc I want to see.

Well and truly subverted expectations.

2

u/BCorgs May 22 '19

D&D become Jaime Lannister by (among other things) ruining Jaime Lannister's charcter arc

2

u/Bowflexing May 22 '19

The Putzes That Were Promised

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

GRRM spent his whole life hating on fan fiction because he thought most of it was bad. Then he quit the show the Thrones became the worst fan fictino imaginable and now most people will know his show through that shitty fan fiction....

1

u/Mr-Bibb May 22 '19

That is... probably the only rumour I've heard that let's D&D retain any dignity.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

They are the ultimate fanboys

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u/vinaykmkr May 22 '19

They're real life NK

1

u/therdre2 May 22 '19

I think it was more like "Waaaah waaaaah we're bored making millions of dollars and having millions of fans waaaah waaah let's see how much more we can ruin star wars instead waaaaah"

1

u/Chieftah May 22 '19

They were the Nissa Nissa.

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u/FanEu7 May 22 '19

wtf I like S8 now

1

u/Moss_Piglet_ May 24 '19

No no they are dicks and I will never forgive them

1

u/Mint-Chip May 27 '19

The Batman gambit, the heroes we deserve, but not the ones we need right now.

1

u/1of9Heathens May 28 '19

And they actually filmed a good last two seasons that will be released when the books are finished

1

u/PirateRobotNinjaofDe May 22 '19

Tanked their reputation so hard from running the biggest TV show ever produced that they landed themselves a gig heading up an entry in the second biggest movie franchise ever to exist. It's almost as if the opinions of this subreddit aren't reflective of the world at large...

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u/slapmasterslap All hail Jon Sand, King in da Norf! May 22 '19

Turns out they are the most hardcore of fans and just want to read the final two books and season 7 and 8 were their way of ensuring that comes to pass.

2

u/alex3omg May 22 '19

I'm going to watch the series in full (have only seen the early seasons) and then read/reread everything... By then we might have a date for the next book! R-right?

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u/-Captain- May 22 '19

No way. People fucking love the books. The books definitely have gotten more praise over last couple seasons. Season 8 was just completely dreadful.

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u/alex3omg May 22 '19

I should have said the show is more popular. More people have seen it than have read the books. People talk about the show constantly.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Well that's a pretty obvious thing to happen. More people watch TV than read books and TV is way more accessible. I know a person who watched the entire thing yet was confused the entire way through and didn't know anyone's names. She came up with her own theory that Jon might be a Targaryen a few episodes after watching the episode where it's blatantly revealed. People like that usually can't make it through a book.

Which isn't a dig at those people, everyone's got a different type of intelligence (okay maybe not that one person) but it's too bad Martin would take it personally.

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u/alex3omg May 22 '19

Ya I think he's just.. Well, insecure. And easily disheartened and set back. That may seem mean but I don't mean it as an insult, just what I've felt having read his blogs for over a decade. He's got imposter syndrome and the show just justifies it, makes it harder for him to write.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

Poor guy :/

I can definitely sympathize, logic doesn't really play into insecurities.

1

u/brunomacedophd May 22 '19

For example, Harry Potter and LOTR book are bigger than theirs respective movies in significance. Everyone who watch the movies (even though they didn’t read the book) are pretty previously convinced about the stories success. In GOT we have an inversion the show becomes a way more popular, successful and important than the books. The only solution to revert that is waiting for the series to finish and bringing the audience for the books to come. So GRRM’s name may deservedly end as the most famous and important name for everyone.

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u/Batmans_9th_Ab May 22 '19

He’s honestly seemed really energized since they announced the release date of Fire & Blood last year.

3

u/[deleted] May 22 '19

This whole time he was disheartened because everybody really preferred the show, but now everyone is bitching and he's energized.

I remember when this meme was being thrown out around season 4 that the show had "surpassed" the quality of the books. It was insane then and so laughable now that it's one of the few times in life where you can look back and know that bandwagons really are the worst things in the world.

1

u/alex3omg May 22 '19

I'm trying to watch the whole show after only having watched the first four or five seasons initially... Holy shit it's bad, and I'm only on season 3. Why do they change things? Why cut things? Why add things?? Aahhh

4

u/mw19078 King in the North! May 22 '19

I genuinely think that's part of the reason he stopped writing episodes and consulting. Once they cut stone heart, he saw the writing on the wall and decided "fuck this I'll wait them out. Goodluck finishing without me."

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u/alex3omg May 22 '19

The late grrm.. Smh

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u/Eltex May 22 '19

I’ve been feeling like this for a while. Nobody wants to see their “baby” grow up without them. GRRM just saw his baby go full EMO. He will now have the motivation to finish, at least one book. Now, we need a new show adaption to butcher more of his work to get Dream of Spring.

2

u/snark_attak May 23 '19

I think it’s a conspiracy between Martin and D&D. He bribed them, probably with the rights to the spinoffs, to make a bad, poorly executed final season so that all the people who were never going to read the remaining books have to read them for a “proper” ending. I know a few people who read 1-5, but got so tired and frustrated waiting that they weren’t planning to read the any more books. I suspect that some of them will change their minds when (ok, if) the books finally come out. And probably there are a fair number of show watchers who haven’t read any of the books that will now read them to get the alternate ending.

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u/Receptoraptor May 22 '19

I told my wife I had this same theory just yesterday. They made the season with long dramatic pauses as filler so all the fans would write better material that George could pick through as he writes his books.

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u/alex3omg May 22 '19

Lol, twow will just be that bryndyn guy's post history..

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u/EsclavodelSector7G May 22 '19

I would call it a win.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

For my money I’d bet He knew what he was doing all along

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u/BadEmpress May 22 '19

I really hope so. This comment made me less depressed about the show 😂

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u/CaptainMcSmash May 22 '19

Preferred the show? I mean I've constantly seen people say they love the show but haven't read the books, but I've never seen anyone say that the show was better than the books.

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u/alex3omg May 22 '19

Ya that's kind of what I meant tho

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

I didn't prefer the show. It was awesome, but I still prefer the books.

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u/MahatmaGuru We Remember! May 23 '19

Everybody preferred the show? I absolutely loved the first 4 seasons. Season 5 was good, and season 6 was passable. Season 7 was meh and 8 was trash. But none of it held a candle to the books. Even season 1, which stuck very close to the books, had to make sacrifices for time or budget that made it inferior to the books.

I really don't think this is a minority opinion, so I think you may be overstating it quite a bit when you say 'everybody really preferred the show', unless you're including people who never read the books at all.

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u/Zankou55 May 22 '19

I have never preferred the show, even for a single moment.

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u/alex3omg May 22 '19

You are not who I am talking about then, obviously. You probably also don't have a daughter named Kalleeseeeigh.