"Game of Thrones" novel author George R.R. Martin is defending the sexual violence depicted in the HBO series bases on his best-selling books.
In an interview with the New York Times, Martin claims it would be "fundamentally false and dishonest" for the HBO series to skip the violent scenes.
"An artist has an obligation to tell the truth," Martin told the Times. "My novels are epic fantasy, but they are inspired by and grounded in history. Rape and sexual violence have been a part of every war ever fought, from the ancient Sumerians to our present day."
"To omit them from a narrative centered on war and power would have been fundamentally false and dishonest, and would have undermined one of the themes of the books: that the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves," he added. "We are the monsters. (And the heroes too). Each of us has within himself the capacity for great good, and great evil."
Martin is adamant the "atrocities" found in his novels are no more violent than what can be found in "any good history book."
"I will say that my philosophy as a writer, since the very start of my career, has been one of ‘show, don't tell.' Whatever might be happening in my books, I try to put the reader into the middle of it, rather than summarizing the action," Martion told the Times.
"That requires vivid sensory detail," he continued. "I don't want distance, I want to put you there. When the scene in question is a sex scene, some readers find that intensely uncomfortable... and that's ten times as true for scenes of sexual violence. But that is as it should be. Certain scenes are meant to be uncomfortable, disturbing, hard to read."
"Game of Thrones" season four airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m.
