Book set in fantasy’s past offers fans clues to Game of Thrones’ future
THEY are the kings, queens and heroes of the Seven Kingdoms but the Game of Thrones characters may be capable of darker deeds than we may expect.
Speaking with News Corp in New York on the publication of his prequel Fire and Blood, author George R.R. Martin hint- ed the rulers battling for control of the Iron Throne may make fatal mistakes in the final books and TV series. “Like real people, they have strengths, they have weaknesses, they are capable of love, they are capable of hate, they are capable of making mistakes,” he said.
“There is a metaphor if one wants to look at it. Our world, since World War II, has got a number of nations, let’s say, that have weapons that could wipe out man.
“A lot of people have compared the dragons to nuclear weapons, carpet bombing, you could use any of those things.
“All of them could destroy any enemy.”
Martin’s book is not the long-awaited sixth instalment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but a history of the Targaryen family. Yet fans are already poring over the clues to what may happen in the GoT finale.
“The Targaryens are all over the place,” says Martin. “Some of them are very noble and well-meaning and live well, and some of them are terrible and some of them are both. Maybe they’re basically good people and occasionally they do terrible things.”
Martin dropped hints as to the much discussed fate of Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow. “She has the power to destroy, she can wipe out entire cities,” he said. “We see the dragons wiping out entire armies, wiping out towns and cities, destroying them, but that doesn’t necessarily enable you to rule — it just enables you to destroy.
“There’s definitely a bond between the dragons and their riders and the dragons will not accept just any rider. Some people who try to take a dragon wind up being eaten or burned to death instead.”