Winds of Winter release date: George RR Martin Teases A 'Bittersweet' Ending
George R. R. Martin, the man behind the wildly-popular political fantasy series in television and print, "Game of Thrones" and "A Song of Ice and Fire," respectively, recently spoke in a press conference event at his old college, the Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, last week.
According to the report from Vulture, the 67-year-old was there to receive the institution's Hall of Achievement alumni award. As expected, his appearance at his alma mater would also be plagued with questions relating to his influential fictional works, the GoT and ASoIaF.
First off, he made it clear that regardless if the HBO series will catch up on the book series, the small screen adaptation "is not going to change" what the story is in the source material. However, he admitted that the given scenario might stress him up and could, in some way, influence his writing.
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With regards as to how he envisions his story to conclude, GRRM is more inclined to having a "bittersweet ending." But he insists that like any other epic sagas, it will bring forth some sort of hope despite it not being all sunshine and rainbows.
"People ask me how Game of Thrones is gonna end, and I'm not gonna tell them … but I always say to expect something bittersweet in the end, like [J.R.R. Tolkien]. I think Tolkien did this brilliantly. I didn't understand that when I was a kid — when I read Return of the King," the novelist was quoted as saying (via Vulture).
Speculations were rife indicating that the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss show won't follow Martin's writings and that the producers might resort to a crowd-pleasing conclusion. Such is the case with Peter Jackson's adaptation with Tolkien's "The Lord of The Rings" where he had Frodo Baggins return to a blissful Shire. This comes in contrast to the books where, after he succeeded in his mission to destroy the one ring, he finds his homeland already in chaos.
"Game Of Thrones" returns to HBO for its sixth season in 2016. Martin's sixth book, "The Winds of Winter," is expected to hit the shelves by next year.
Stay tuned for more updates.
