"A Song of Ice and Fire" author George R.R. Martin would never go so far as to spoil the end of his books or HBO's "Game of Thrones," but he has given fans a hint of what to expect.
"I think you need to have some hope...we all yearn for happy ending in a sense," Martin told Northwestern Medill School of Journalism students this week. "Myself, I'm attracted to the bittersweet ending. 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. You can't just fulfill a quest and then pretend life is perfect."
Martin is well aware that the HBO series has caught up to the narrative timeline of his books, an even surpassed it in some instances, but he's still determined to finish his novels on his own timeline.
"I've been hearing them come up behind me for years, and the question is, How can I make myself write faster? I think, by now, the answer is, I can't. I write at the pace I write, and what the show is doing is not going to change what the books are."
Fans are hoping that the silver lining of HBO's recent announcement that "Game of Thrones" will premiere later than usual is that it gives Martin more time to finish the sixth novel in the series, "The Winds of Winter." Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen. As of now, there have been no official announcements regarding the book's looming publication.
As far as Martin's "bittersweet" comments, it's unknown what that would constitute in the world he has created. Peace in Westeros but the deaths of popular fan favorite characters? A lack of resolutions?
We'll all just have to continue waiting to find out.
