How Tolkien inspired GoT’s high death rate

Anyone who watches Game of Thrones understands that no character is safe from death.

In a clip from PBS’ The Great American Read, George R.R. Martin, whose A Song of Ice and Fire novels were adapted into the hit HBO show, reveals who opened his eyes to the dramatic tension created by character deaths — J.R.R. Tolkien, author of fantasy classic The Lord of the Rings.

In the clip for the PBS series (which returns Sept. 11), Martin says the death of Lord of the Rings wizard Gandalf influenced his own books and series, which have sent plenty of characters to an early grave.

“The minute you kill Gandalf, the suspense of everything that follows is a thousand times greater, because now anybody could die,” Martin says. “That’s had a profound effect on my own willingness to kill characters off at the drop of a hat.”

Martin, 69, says he read Tolkien’s fantasy novel when he was in middle school, an escape that took him “everywhere” when his family couldn’t afford to leave their New Jersey home during the summer. “And then Gandalf dies!” he says. “I can’t explain the impact that had on me at 13. You can’t kill Gandalf. I mean, Conan didn’t die in the Conan books, you know? Tolkien just broke that rule, and I’ll love him forever for it.”

Martin has killed more than 1,240 characters on Game of Thrones so far, according to the Washington Post.