WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.919 Welcome back to The Deep Dive, where we take 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:04.259 the monumental pile of information you sent us 00:00:04.259 --> 00:00:06.759 and synthesize it into the most potent nuggets 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:10.119 of insight. Today we are cracking open a literary 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:13.019 universe that, well, it completely redefined 00:00:13.019 --> 00:00:15.619 modern fantasy. It really did. But we aren't 00:00:15.619 --> 00:00:17.920 just here to talk about dragons and ice zombies. 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:21.019 We're talking about George Raymond Richard Martin 00:00:21.019 --> 00:00:24.480 G .R .R .M. The man himself. The multi -genre 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:27.789 writer, editor, producer. whose surprisingly 00:00:27.789 --> 00:00:30.289 challenging career trajectory ultimately made 00:00:30.289 --> 00:00:32.649 him the architect of modern grimdark. Exactly. 00:00:32.750 --> 00:00:35.710 Our mission today is to unpack that entire winding 00:00:35.710 --> 00:00:39.310 path that led Martin to epic fantasy. We really 00:00:39.310 --> 00:00:41.829 need to look far beyond the success of A Song 00:00:41.829 --> 00:00:44.039 of Ice and Fire. Right. To understand the science 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:45.759 fiction writer, the dedicated horror author, 00:00:45.899 --> 00:00:48.820 the Hollywood script doctor, and maybe most importantly, 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:51.420 the committed comics fan. This deep dive is going 00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:54.439 to reveal his core creative influences, the pivotal 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:57.259 role of, well, spectacular failure in his career 00:00:57.259 --> 00:00:59.520 development, and the really intricate relationship 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:02.539 he now holds with his colossal legacy. That's 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:05.760 the critical mission. The sources reveal a fascinating 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.180 and at times paradoxical journey where his greatest 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:11.260 professional setback ended up being his greatest 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:13.659 opportunity. It's incredible. We are tracing 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:16.560 the influences and the constraints and the failures 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:19.480 that basically forced him to create Westeros 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.579 on his own terms. So what does this all mean 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:23.799 for you, the listener? Yeah, what's the takeaway? 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:26.900 It means the political complexity and moral ambiguity 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:30.019 that define Game of Thrones. They are not new 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:32.739 themes for him. They were forged decades earlier. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.120 In his genre work, in his TV work. Exactly. And 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:38.680 in his experiences navigating the punishing landscape 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:40.900 of television production. So let's trace that 00:01:40.900 --> 00:01:43.560 path, starting from the literal, geographically 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.219 constrained ground zero of his imagination in 00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:48.120 Bayonne. Okay, let's unpack this constrained 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:50.500 childhood. George Raymond Martin, who adopted 00:01:50.500 --> 00:01:53.159 the confirmation name Richard at age 13, was 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:55.879 born in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1948. And that 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:58.819 geographical confinement of his early life is 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:00.980 the crucial detail here. I mean, it created the 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:03.239 perfect environment for a voracious inner life. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:06.260 It's a truly remarkable origin story. It's so 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:09.360 rich with that kind of melancholic history that 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.080 you see defining his later work. It really is. 00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:15.620 His physical world was incredibly small. According 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:18.300 to the sources, his world consisted predominantly 00:02:18.300 --> 00:02:21.319 of just five blocks. Five blocks. First Street 00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:23.979 to Fifth Street, between his home and the federal 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:26.919 housing projects. and his grade school. That 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:30.039 was it. That's such a tiny space to inhabit every 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:32.099 single day. I mean, it sounds incredibly stifling, 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:34.080 especially for someone with that kind of active 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.699 mind. It was. But restriction often acts as a 00:02:37.699 --> 00:02:40.360 powerful fuel for creativity. You see this all 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:42.840 the time. Because he couldn't travel or experience 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:45.659 the world physically, he became a voracious reader. 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.360 He traveled only through his imagination. And 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:50.340 there was this other layer to it, too, wasn't 00:02:50.340 --> 00:02:52.840 there? The sense of lost family wealth. Oh, absolutely. 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:55.229 He was constantly reminded of his family's lost 00:02:55.229 --> 00:02:57.590 fortune. His mother's side had owned a construction 00:02:57.590 --> 00:03:00.349 business, but lost everything in the Great Depression. 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:02.969 So he would walk past the evidence of that loss 00:03:02.969 --> 00:03:06.270 every day. He often passed the site of what used 00:03:06.270 --> 00:03:09.389 to be their dock and their house. It instilled 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:11.990 this deep sense of generational decline and lost 00:03:11.990 --> 00:03:16.710 history that, well, it clearly informs the ruin 00:03:16.710 --> 00:03:20.229 and political decay in his later work. It's all 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:25.360 there. perfectly foreshadows the darkness and 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:27.340 political maneuvering he would become famous 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:29.860 for. The pet turtle dynasty. The pet turtle dynasty. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.919 He started his earliest writing by selling monster 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:35.800 stories for pennies to neighborhood kids. Until 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:38.400 he got shut down, right? A customer's mother 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.259 complained her child was having nightmares. Right, 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.960 so that ended fast. But even then, you can see, 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:45.560 he was already playing for keeps, as he'd say 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:48.099 later. He was eliciting a strong emotional response. 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:50.219 But the real miniature court of Westeros was 00:03:50.219 --> 00:03:53.120 the pet turtle terrarium. He had these dime store 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.389 turtles and a little... Toy Castle. And they 00:03:55.389 --> 00:03:57.669 kept dying. They constantly died. But instead 00:03:57.669 --> 00:04:00.349 of just accepting natural causes, the young Martin 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:03.569 invented sinister plots. He decided the turtles 00:04:03.569 --> 00:04:05.569 were killing each other off. That's just, it's 00:04:05.569 --> 00:04:07.870 perfect. That anecdote perfectly illustrates 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:10.909 how his commitment to brutal political realism 00:04:10.909 --> 00:04:14.050 started in miniature. It's the origin of Gringdark, 00:04:14.150 --> 00:04:17.470 scaled down to a reptile terrarium. So where 00:04:17.470 --> 00:04:19.069 did the narrative style come from? Because it 00:04:19.069 --> 00:04:21.329 wasn't classic literature, at least not at first. 00:04:21.550 --> 00:04:23.870 No. The influence that really shaped his narrative 00:04:23.870 --> 00:04:27.000 style came from the world of comics. He became 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:29.220 an avid fan while attending Marist High School, 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:31.620 developing a really strong interest in Marvel 00:04:31.620 --> 00:04:34.800 Comics superheroes. And he has credited Stan 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.639 Lee as possibly his single greatest literary 00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:41.180 influence, which is a truly monumental statement, 00:04:41.259 --> 00:04:43.060 you know, considering he's so often compared 00:04:43.060 --> 00:04:45.079 to Tolkien. It is a huge statement. But is that 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:48.100 influence genuinely literary or is it more about 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:50.279 the organizational structure of these shared 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:53.000 worlds? It feels like it could be a massive reduction 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.949 of his debt to the epic fantasy tradition. I 00:04:55.949 --> 00:04:57.870 don't think it's a reduction of his debt. I think 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:01.449 it's a redefinition of the debt. Stan Lee's influence 00:05:01.449 --> 00:05:04.649 for Martin centered on the idea of creating a 00:05:04.649 --> 00:05:07.470 complex, collaborative and ongoing narrative 00:05:07.470 --> 00:05:10.269 universe. The Marvel Universe. The Marvel Universe, 00:05:10.449 --> 00:05:13.449 exactly, where multiple flawed characters interact 00:05:13.449 --> 00:05:17.149 across shifting moral lines. That model of shared 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:19.730 world -building and collaborative narrative that 00:05:19.730 --> 00:05:22.050 informed his later projects like Wild Cards, 00:05:22.089 --> 00:05:24.810 much more than the singular self -contained epic 00:05:24.810 --> 00:05:27.470 structure of Tolkien. That makes a lot more sense. 00:05:27.629 --> 00:05:30.629 And his fandom, it was deeply public. He wasn't 00:05:30.629 --> 00:05:32.589 just reading these things in a vacuum. Not at 00:05:32.589 --> 00:05:35.259 all. He was contributing, starting with letters 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:37.439 to the editor published in Fantastic Four issue 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:41.620 number 20 in November 1963. And others followed 00:05:41.620 --> 00:05:44.600 after that. This public participation led directly 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:46.660 to his involvement in the early, you know, the 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:49.980 fledgling comics fandom. And in a massive display 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:52.720 of early adopter status, he bought the very first 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.019 ticket to the world's first Comic -Con. The very 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:57.279 first one. The very first ticket, held in New 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:00.540 York in 1964. And he had early professional -level 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:03.220 success in that world, too, winning Comic Fandom's 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:05.399 prestigious Alley Award for Best Fan Fiction 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:08.279 in 1965. Yeah, for his prose superhero story, 00:06:08.459 --> 00:06:10.899 Power Man vs. the Blue Barrier. It just proves 00:06:10.899 --> 00:06:13.300 that long before he was a bestselling novelist, 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:15.899 he was a successful and deeply committed part 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:18.720 of the fan community. He was mastering popular 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.910 narrative tools. This deep community and shared 00:06:21.910 --> 00:06:24.050 world background is absolutely indispensable 00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:27.029 for understanding his lifelong editorial projects. 00:06:27.350 --> 00:06:29.449 Okay, so before he could commit to writing full 00:06:29.449 --> 00:06:32.750 -time, he took a serious detour. Academia and 00:06:32.750 --> 00:06:35.410 alternative service. This seems to have grounded 00:06:35.410 --> 00:06:38.350 him politically. Absolutely. He earned both a 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:41.069 B .S. and an M .S. in journalism from Northwestern 00:06:41.069 --> 00:06:43.230 University's Medill School of Journalism. And 00:06:43.230 --> 00:06:45.910 he graduated summa cum laude. This journalistic 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:48.029 background, you have to think it informs the 00:06:48.029 --> 00:06:50.490 realism and gritty detail in his later fiction. 00:06:50.810 --> 00:06:53.850 He has an eye for detail, for reporting on human 00:06:53.850 --> 00:06:57.009 reality. Then came the Vietnam War. Right. He 00:06:57.009 --> 00:06:59.790 opposed the war and obtained conscientious objector 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:02.589 status, performing alternative service from 1972 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:06.689 to 1974 as a VISTA volunteer. And for the listener 00:07:06.689 --> 00:07:08.910 who might not be familiar with VISTA, what exactly 00:07:08.910 --> 00:07:11.430 was he doing there? VISTA stands for Volunteers 00:07:11.430 --> 00:07:14.000 in Service to America. It's essentially a domestic 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.259 version of the Peace Corps. Martin was attached 00:07:17.259 --> 00:07:19.259 to the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. 00:07:19.639 --> 00:07:21.819 So he's seeing the system up close. He's seeing 00:07:21.819 --> 00:07:25.300 bureaucracy, social struggle, ethical dilemmas 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:28.100 all firsthand. These became essential elements 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:31.120 of his grim, dark world where good intentions 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:34.750 so often clash with a very harsh reality. Now, 00:07:34.769 --> 00:07:37.009 here's where the financial reality of being a 00:07:37.009 --> 00:07:40.629 writer kicks in. His short story sales after 00:07:40.629 --> 00:07:43.029 his first professional sale, which was The Hero 00:07:43.029 --> 00:07:46.050 in 1970, they just weren't enough to pay the 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.110 bills. He needed a day job. And that's where 00:07:48.110 --> 00:07:49.889 the American chess craze came in. This detail 00:07:49.889 --> 00:07:52.709 is priceless. It's just priceless because it 00:07:52.709 --> 00:07:54.769 shows the accidental engineering of his career. 00:07:55.209 --> 00:07:57.910 His need for income coincided perfectly with 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:00.310 the national chess explosion that followed Bobby 00:08:00.310 --> 00:08:03.290 Fischer's 1972 World Championship victory. And 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:05.129 Martin was a good chess player. He was a very 00:08:05.129 --> 00:08:07.769 skilled player. So he capitalized on that and 00:08:07.769 --> 00:08:09.589 worked as a tournament director for the Continental 00:08:09.589 --> 00:08:14.089 Chess Association from 1973 to 1976. So the financial 00:08:14.089 --> 00:08:16.810 stability, and this is the key, it came from 00:08:16.810 --> 00:08:19.089 something entirely outside of literature. And 00:08:19.089 --> 00:08:21.189 that was the actual secret ingredient to his 00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:23.720 early success. It was. Because the tournaments 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:26.560 were primarily on weekends, he was getting paid 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.439 a sufficient salary while leaving him five full 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:32.820 days a week to dedicate solely to writing. Five 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:35.360 days a week just to write? That's a dream for 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:37.679 any young author. It's unbelievable. That's the 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:40.960 so what. This non -traditional funding mechanism 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.899 bought him the necessary time to become established 00:08:43.899 --> 00:08:45.860 and critically acclaimed in the science fiction 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:48.899 community. And then, when the chess craze subsided, 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:51.220 he could jump to full -time writing later in 00:08:51.220 --> 00:08:53.320 the decade without ever committing to a traditional 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:56.860 9 -to -5 job. Okay, moving into the 1970s, G 00:08:56.860 --> 00:08:59.700 .R .R .M. was undeniably a rising star in science 00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:02.440 fiction and horror. His early work often fell 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:04.259 into this future history, what was it called? 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:06.720 The Thousand Worlds or the Man Realm. That was 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.059 a loose framework. And he was immediately recognized 00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:13.120 as a significant talent. His 1973 story with 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:15.620 Morning Comes Mistfall was nominated for both 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:18.279 the Hugo and the Nebula awards. Right out of 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:21.580 the gate. And his 1975 novella, A Song for Laia, 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.840 secured his first major professional honor. He 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.799 won the Hugo Award for Best Novella. This is 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:30.399 a writer who found serious, sustained, professional 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.059 and critical success in the sci -fi world very 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:35.460 early on. His first novel, Dying of the Light, 00:09:35.580 --> 00:09:38.600 came out in 1977, and it really set the tone 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:41.379 for his later, more melancholic work. It's about 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:44.080 a planet slowly drifting into freezing darkness. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.370 And the themes were already there. Complex, unsatisfied 00:09:47.370 --> 00:09:50.269 characters clinging to idealism in a ruthless, 00:09:50.490 --> 00:09:53.129 decaying world. It's all there in nascent form. 00:09:53.350 --> 00:09:56.149 What's fascinating here is his deliberate foray 00:09:56.149 --> 00:09:59.029 into sci -fi horror hybrids. Yeah. And it was 00:09:59.029 --> 00:10:01.409 apparently driven by a need to defy critics. 00:10:01.850 --> 00:10:03.889 It was. He stated that he started writing these 00:10:03.889 --> 00:10:07.409 genre blends specifically in the late 1970s to 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:09.330 prove wrong a critic who claimed that science 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:12.110 fiction and horror were incompatible opposites. 00:10:12.169 --> 00:10:14.110 That stubbornness led to some of his most celebrated 00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:16.659 earlier works. demonstrated his range. We're 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:19.080 talking about Sand Kings in 1979. Which just 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:21.179 swept the major awards. It won the Hugo, the 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:23.700 Nebula, and the Locus Award. And then the novella 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:26.460 Night Flyers in 1980. Night Flyers is the real 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:29.139 pivot point here. It's so important. Although 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.440 it wasn't a box office hit, the film rights were 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.200 purchased in 1984, leading to the 1987 film adaptation, 00:10:35.580 --> 00:10:37.940 which he co -wrote the screenplay for. And he 00:10:37.940 --> 00:10:40.759 later stated that he believes that project Saved 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:43.299 his career. Saved his career. His words. Wait, 00:10:43.299 --> 00:10:45.679 hold on. How does an unsuccessful film save a 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:47.840 career? We're talking about a period where he 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:49.600 had just experienced what he called the destruction 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:52.820 of his career as a novelist. Precisely. We need 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:55.779 to focus on that catastrophic failure. Because 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:58.340 prior to Nightflyers, he published the successful 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:02.440 vampire novel... Viva Dream in 1982. Things were 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:05.240 going well. Then came the horror novel The Armageddon 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:09.299 Rag in 1983, a book about the breakup of a 1960s 00:11:09.299 --> 00:11:11.919 rock band. He poured his heart into it. He really 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:14.580 did. And The Armageddon Rag is the hinge on which 00:11:14.580 --> 00:11:17.259 his entire career swung. Its unexpected commercial 00:11:17.259 --> 00:11:20.000 failure was devastating to him, personally and 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.019 professionally. He recalled that its failure 00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:24.120 essentially destroyed my career as a novelist 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.450 at the time. He was so demoralized, he seriously 00:11:26.450 --> 00:11:29.149 considered abandoning writing entirely. And going 00:11:29.149 --> 00:11:31.690 into real estate instead. Real estate. Can you 00:11:31.690 --> 00:11:34.149 imagine? So the fact that the film rights to 00:11:34.149 --> 00:11:37.210 Nightflyers were sold around this time and the 00:11:37.210 --> 00:11:40.320 Armageddon rag flot. That combination created 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:42.919 this crisis point. It was the perfect storm. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.539 So the takeaway here is that the financial pressure 00:11:45.539 --> 00:11:48.840 created by the flop of Armageddon Rag was so 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:51.960 intense that when a producer, Philip DeGora Jr., 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:54.600 wanted to adapt the book. A project that ultimately 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:56.539 never happened, by the way. Right. It never happened. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:59.620 But that interest provided the necessary link 00:11:59.620 --> 00:12:03.080 to a completely different industry, Hollywood. 00:12:03.259 --> 00:12:06.029 It's the ultimate paradox. Yeah. The book that 00:12:06.029 --> 00:12:09.350 destroyed his literary career was the key that 00:12:09.350 --> 00:12:11.590 opened the door to the industry that would later 00:12:11.590 --> 00:12:14.830 fund and popularize his eventual magnum opus. 00:12:14.870 --> 00:12:17.289 It's just unbelievable. So he moves to Hollywood 00:12:17.289 --> 00:12:19.529 and spends a really successful decade there. 00:12:19.669 --> 00:12:22.090 He worked first as a staff writer and executive 00:12:22.090 --> 00:12:24.230 story consultant for the Twilight Zone revival. 00:12:24.529 --> 00:12:26.909 Wrote five episodes for them, then moved on to 00:12:26.909 --> 00:12:29.429 the satirical science fiction series Max Headroom. 00:12:29.570 --> 00:12:31.529 Where he created the character known as Ped Jing, 00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:35.220 which is a great little detail. It is. But his 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:38.379 most stable and creatively involved TV role was 00:12:38.379 --> 00:12:40.299 as a writer -producer on Beauty and the Beast 00:12:40.299 --> 00:12:44.279 in 1987. He wrote 14 episodes and rose all the 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:47.259 way to co -supervising producer. He even had 00:12:47.259 --> 00:12:49.360 a couple of small cameos in the show. So the 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:52.399 TV years sound incredibly successful, lucrative, 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:55.879 but they were also creatively frustrating. And 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:58.460 this frustration is the crucial final insight 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.799 that launched A Song of Ice and Fire. Absolutely. 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:05.100 By the early 1990s, he was deeply unhappy. His 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:07.139 pilots weren't getting made, but more profoundly, 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.720 he was frustrated by the strict limitations of 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:11.639 television production. The budgets. The budgets, 00:13:11.779 --> 00:13:14.539 the episode lengths. He felt constantly constrained. 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.840 He was forced to cut key characters, trim major 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:19.039 battle scenes, the very things he wanted to write 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:20.899 about. He called it his, they can't afford the 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:23.519 horse problem. Exactly. So the limitations of 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:25.659 the TV budget and episode runtime pushed him 00:13:25.659 --> 00:13:28.100 back toward the limitless world of prose, where 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:29.700 his imagination wouldn't have to be compromised. 00:13:30.330 --> 00:13:32.090 That's the exact moment he began to conceive 00:13:32.090 --> 00:13:34.710 of his epic fantasy series. But before we move 00:13:34.710 --> 00:13:37.289 fully to Westeros, we have to talk about Wild 00:13:37.289 --> 00:13:41.149 Cards. We have to. It's this massive, decades 00:13:41.149 --> 00:13:44.990 -long, shared universe project that really demonstrates 00:13:44.990 --> 00:13:48.269 his deep roots in collaborative, fandom -based 00:13:48.269 --> 00:13:51.110 storytelling. This is a series he edits and contributes 00:13:51.110 --> 00:13:54.509 to. It's still running, 33 volumes through 2025. 00:13:55.529 --> 00:13:57.570 And it started not as a writing project, but 00:13:57.570 --> 00:14:00.110 as a role -playing game. Correct. It originated 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:03.490 from a campaign of Chaosium Super World RPG that 00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:06.090 he ran in Albuquerque. His obsession with the 00:14:06.090 --> 00:14:08.610 game was so intense that he referred to 1983 00:14:08.610 --> 00:14:12.399 as his... Lost year. A lost year. A lost year, 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:15.120 where he largely stopped writing original literature 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.379 because he was so into this game. But that shared 00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:19.580 obsession led to the creative idea of turning 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:22.179 those rich RPG stories and characters into a 00:14:22.179 --> 00:14:24.820 profitable anthology series. And he edits the 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:26.820 series and contributed his own RPG character, 00:14:27.019 --> 00:14:29.019 Thomas Tudbury, the great and powerful turtle. 00:14:29.179 --> 00:14:32.220 Who flies around in an armored VW Beetle shell. 00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:34.320 You can't make this stuff up. This project highlights 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:36.889 his role as a connector and a curator. He was 00:14:36.889 --> 00:14:39.590 constantly running collaborative worlds, co -editing 00:14:39.590 --> 00:14:41.950 nearly a dozen anthologies with the late Gardner 00:14:41.950 --> 00:14:44.830 DeZoy. Covering themes from zombies to sci -fi 00:14:44.830 --> 00:14:48.789 westerns. Everything. Old Mars. Old Venus. It 00:14:48.789 --> 00:14:51.029 proves that editorial collaboration is simply 00:14:51.029 --> 00:14:54.230 hardwired into his creative process. And the 00:14:54.230 --> 00:14:56.330 Wild Card series remains an ongoing concern, 00:14:56.509 --> 00:14:59.049 with a TV adaptation in development by Universal 00:14:59.049 --> 00:15:01.940 Cable Productions since 2016. All right, let's 00:15:01.940 --> 00:15:03.639 turn now to the work that defines his global 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:07.820 legacy. In 1991, fueled by that frustration with 00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:10.580 Hollywood constraints, he began A Song of Ice 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:13.440 and Fire. And he admired Tolkien, but he wanted 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.899 to write an epic fantasy that aggressively countered 00:15:15.899 --> 00:15:17.659 the tropes that had sprung up in the genre's 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:21.120 wake. The scale, it just, it quickly became gargantuan. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.460 It was originally conceptualized as a trilogy. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.299 It's three books, but his ambition expanded rapidly. 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:29.110 It is now slated for seven volumes. the five 00:15:29.110 --> 00:15:31.149 published books, plus the highly anticipated 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:33.809 The Winds of Winter and the final volume, A Dream 00:15:33.809 --> 00:15:35.850 of Spring. And what makes it feel so grounded? 00:15:35.929 --> 00:15:38.629 The source material identifies three key historical 00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:41.210 inspirations. Right. The English Wars of the 00:15:41.210 --> 00:15:43.850 Roses, a period of intense, chaotic, dynastic 00:15:43.850 --> 00:15:46.070 struggle. The French historical novels, The Accursed 00:15:46.070 --> 00:15:49.070 Kings. And Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. That historical 00:15:49.070 --> 00:15:51.730 grounding is why his fantasy is so distinct. 00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:54.889 He specifically aims to dismantle what he calls 00:15:54.889 --> 00:15:57.970 the Disneyland Middle Ages trope. where fantasy 00:15:57.970 --> 00:16:01.909 just simplifies history. He insists on a realistic, 00:16:01.950 --> 00:16:04.769 brutal interpretation of feudal social structures, 00:16:05.009 --> 00:16:08.049 the multi -generational, strictly consequential 00:16:08.049 --> 00:16:11.169 nature of that society. He moved past that simplified 00:16:11.169 --> 00:16:13.950 theme that if the king was a good man, the land 00:16:13.950 --> 00:16:16.750 would prosper. Exactly. He stresses that real 00:16:16.750 --> 00:16:19.029 history is complex, saying it's not that simple. 00:16:19.110 --> 00:16:20.769 Just having good intentions doesn't make you 00:16:20.769 --> 00:16:23.190 a wise king. Which means even the hero's well 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:25.769 -meaning actions can cause catastrophic unintended 00:16:25.769 --> 00:16:29.009 consequences. Look at Ned Stark. The quintessential 00:16:29.009 --> 00:16:32.110 example. The result is a world defined by deep 00:16:32.110 --> 00:16:35.149 moral ambiguity. The characters, Daenerys, Arya, 00:16:35.149 --> 00:16:37.929 even the Kingslayer, are complex anti -heroes. 00:16:37.950 --> 00:16:40.269 They are defined by internal conflicts, often 00:16:40.269 --> 00:16:42.169 troubled by their own self -seeking or violent 00:16:42.169 --> 00:16:44.759 actions. This complexity is what keeps readers 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:47.019 invested, even through the sheer brutality of 00:16:47.019 --> 00:16:49.899 the world. He's using genre fantasy to explore 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:53.960 serious literary concerns. He cites William Faulkner's 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.399 influence and insists that this exploration of 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:58.620 the internal human condition is the ultimate 00:16:58.620 --> 00:17:01.379 reason to read any literature. And this brings 00:17:01.379 --> 00:17:04.319 us to the shocking narrative structure, the sudden 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:08.660 consequential deaths of major characters, a move 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:11.059 that just stunned fantasy readers who are used 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:13.480 to heroes wearing plot armor. It was a complete 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:15.940 paradigm shift for the genre. So what's the ultimate 00:17:15.940 --> 00:17:18.619 justification for killing off main characters 00:17:18.619 --> 00:17:21.420 like Ned Stark so abruptly? Martin justified 00:17:21.420 --> 00:17:23.980 this by necessity. His goal is to make the reader 00:17:23.980 --> 00:17:26.799 genuinely fear for his characters. He stated, 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.500 when my characters are in danger, I want you 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:31.539 to be afraid to turn the page. So you need to 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:33.359 show right from the beginning that you're playing 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:36.240 for keeps. Exactly. If the world is truly brutal, 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:38.859 then being the protagonist shouldn't shield you 00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:40.859 from the consequences of a political blunder. 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:43.640 And while this is a fantasy series, he is extremely 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:46.460 careful about the role of magic. He consciously 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:49.650 avoids a didysis ex machina. He took inspiration 00:17:49.650 --> 00:17:51.950 from Tolkien here, noting that in The Lord of 00:17:51.950 --> 00:17:54.509 the Rings, although the world is infused with 00:17:54.509 --> 00:17:57.150 this great sense of magic, there is very little 00:17:57.150 --> 00:18:00.410 onstage magic. Right. Gandalf doesn't just snap 00:18:00.410 --> 00:18:03.210 his fingers and solve everything. No. And Martin 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:06.509 ensures magic is kept under very tight control, 00:18:06.750 --> 00:18:09.549 serving as merely one element in the geopolitical 00:18:09.549 --> 00:18:12.170 landscape, not the primary force driving the 00:18:12.170 --> 00:18:15.029 narrative or solving problems arbitrarily. OK, 00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:17.569 let's look at the publication history. The momentum 00:18:17.569 --> 00:18:20.269 built quickly at first. A Game of Thrones in 00:18:20.269 --> 00:18:24.410 96, a Clash of Kings in 98, a Storm of Swords 00:18:24.410 --> 00:18:27.109 in 2000. Then the first major gap occurred before 00:18:27.109 --> 00:18:29.769 A Feast for Crows in 2005. Which immediately 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:31.910 hit number one on the New York Times bestseller 00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:34.670 list. The appetite was clearly there. And... 00:18:34.910 --> 00:18:37.150 A Dance with Dragons in 2011 just solidified 00:18:37.150 --> 00:18:39.589 his global status. It was a massive international 00:18:39.589 --> 00:18:42.089 bestseller, staying on the New York Times list 00:18:42.089 --> 00:18:44.890 for an incredible 88 weeks. 88 weeks. And it 00:18:44.890 --> 00:18:47.369 won the Locus Poll Award for Best Fantasy Novel 00:18:47.369 --> 00:18:50.309 in 2012. It's hard to overstate the anticipation 00:18:50.309 --> 00:18:52.950 for a writer who had already delivered five consecutive 00:18:52.950 --> 00:18:55.470 works of this scale and quality. The television 00:18:55.470 --> 00:18:58.109 adaptation changed everything. It all started 00:18:58.109 --> 00:19:01.710 with HBO purchasing the rights in 2007. But let's 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:04.650 revisit that extremely rocky start. It was almost 00:19:04.650 --> 00:19:07.650 a nonstarter. The original pilot, shot in late 00:19:07.650 --> 00:19:11.430 2009, was a near catastrophe. It was so poorly 00:19:11.430 --> 00:19:14.069 received that HBO executives waited four months 00:19:14.069 --> 00:19:16.500 before making a decision. And Martin was heavily 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:19.200 involved initially as a co -executive producer, 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:22.660 consulting on casting, script reading. But even 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:25.420 his involvement couldn't save that initial footage. 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.059 No. They eventually greenlit the series in March 00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:31.140 2010, but demanded that the entire first episode 00:19:31.140 --> 00:19:33.740 be reshot. And they scrapped all the scenes filmed 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:36.319 in Morocco? The entire location. It's truly amazing 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.200 that the show survived such a poor initial creative 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:41.660 reception. But once it premiered in April 2011, 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:43.839 the success was immediate. The show received 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.759 13 Emmy nominations that first season, winning 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:49.180 two. Including Best Supporting Actor for Peter 00:19:49.180 --> 00:19:51.319 Dinklage. That success allowed the production 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:53.619 to scale up dramatically. And by season two, 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:56.859 they received a significant 15 % budget increase 00:19:56.859 --> 00:19:59.400 specifically to stage the war's most important 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:01.839 battle. Her Battle of the Blackwater. Which Martin 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.700 himself wrote the episode for. He maintained 00:20:04.700 --> 00:20:07.599 heavy involvement in those early years, writing 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:10.599 one episode per season through season four. And 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:13.029 adding to the world's realism. was the linguistic 00:20:13.029 --> 00:20:16.670 depth. The constructed Dothraki language and 00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:19.970 later Valyrian were developed by conlanger David 00:20:19.970 --> 00:20:22.490 J. Peterson. And a conlanger, just for the listener, 00:20:22.690 --> 00:20:25.329 is someone who specializes in creating fully 00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:28.480 functional fictional languages. Right. based 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:30.740 on just the few words Martin provided in the 00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:33.400 novels. It added this whole other layer of authenticity. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.220 By season four, Game of Thrones was an absolute 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:39.259 cultural behemoth. It officially became the most 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:42.000 watched HBO series in history. It surpassed the 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.180 fourth season of The Sopranos. Which is a huge 00:20:45.180 --> 00:20:47.579 milestone for a fantasy show. It's unbelievable. 00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:49.759 But here's where the narrative of the books and 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.390 the show starts to separate. After season four, 00:20:52.670 --> 00:20:54.750 Martin started to step back from the production 00:20:54.750 --> 00:20:57.569 process. He later admitted he had become estranged 00:20:57.569 --> 00:20:59.190 from the show during the production of the last 00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:01.569 four seasons. Starting with season five. Right. 00:21:01.630 --> 00:21:04.210 The pressure to finish The Winds of Winter was 00:21:04.210 --> 00:21:06.890 simply too great to allow him the time to write 00:21:06.890 --> 00:21:09.069 scripts and be involved in production. And this 00:21:09.069 --> 00:21:11.430 separation, of course, led to the massive divergence 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:14.690 between the source material and the show's controversial 00:21:14.690 --> 00:21:18.269 conclusion. The show was forced to conclude using 00:21:18.269 --> 00:21:20.349 outlines Martin provided for the unpublished 00:21:20.349 --> 00:21:23.240 novels. But despite their creative split, the 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:26.160 awards just continued to pour in. Season 5 set 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.200 a Guinness World Record with 12 Emmy wins in 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.880 a single year. And the final season, Season 8, 00:21:31.980 --> 00:21:35.000 received a record -breaking 32 Emmy nominations. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:38.079 Yet that finale was met with such mixed reviews. 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:40.880 It was criticized for short run times, only six 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.380 episodes in Season 8, and creative decisions 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:46.039 that, well... commentators deemed a disappointing 00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:48.680 conclusion. It's a perfect example of the challenge 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:51.700 of adapting unfinished works, a real cautionary 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:53.900 tale. And critically, despite the controversy, 00:21:54.299 --> 00:21:56.339 Martin's collaborators have stated that they 00:21:56.339 --> 00:21:58.700 will not conclude the A Song of Ice and Fire 00:21:58.700 --> 00:22:00.920 series should he die before finishing it. The 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:03.799 series remains his sole domain. A clear line 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:06.200 has been drawn between his work and the adaptation. 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:09.119 But the world of Westeros is far from closed. 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:12.720 The sources list a stunning array of active projects. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.099 It's a sprawling multimedia empire now. It really 00:22:16.099 --> 00:22:18.759 is. The immediate success is the prequel series 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.259 House of the Dragon, which premiered in 2022. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:24.900 It's based on his book Fire and Blood. set 200 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:26.920 years prior to Game of Thrones. And that was 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:29.920 an instant renewal. Instant. And the future live 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.940 -action slate is immense. There's the Snow sequel 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:35.279 series, which was apparently initiated by Kit 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.500 Harington himself. And several other prequels 00:22:37.500 --> 00:22:39.480 currently in development. Those prequels include 00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:42.019 10 ,000 Ships, which is a story about Princess 00:22:42.019 --> 00:22:45.339 Nymeria, Nine Voyages, or Sea Snake, following 00:22:45.339 --> 00:22:47.660 Corley's Valerian. And the Dunk and Egg prequel 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:50.099 series, tentatively titled The Hedge Knight or 00:22:50.099 --> 00:22:52.319 Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, that's based on 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:55.180 his popular novellas. And we even have Animated 00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:58.039 Frontiers being explored. HBO Max is developing 00:22:58.039 --> 00:23:00.839 at least two animated series, including one set 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:03.299 in the distant nation of Yi Ti. A location loosely 00:23:03.299 --> 00:23:06.180 based on Imperial China. Right. And Martin's 00:23:06.180 --> 00:23:08.240 world -building expertise isn't limited to fantasy. 00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:10.980 He's an executive producer on the AMC series 00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:13.779 Dark Winds. And he even had a cameo in a season 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:16.079 three episode. Playing chess opposite Robert 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:19.079 Redford in a Navajo jail cell. As you do. His 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:21.599 ability to transplant his storytelling talents 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.819 into entirely new media forms is just so evident. 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:26.799 I mean, look at his contribution to the 2022 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.059 video game Elden Ring. For which he wrote the 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:33.279 overarching mythos. That game actually won a 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.839 Nebula Award for game writing in 2023. It showcases 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.220 his ability to build complex, layered worlds 00:23:39.220 --> 00:23:41.799 regardless of the platform. We must now address 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:43.759 the issue that has become central to his relationship 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:45.559 with his fan base. The elephant in the room. 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:47.740 The writing pace for A Song of Ice and Fire. 00:23:47.980 --> 00:23:50.940 We're talking about a six -year gap between A 00:23:50.940 --> 00:23:53.480 Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. And 00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:56.900 now, over 14 years since the last volume, waiting 00:23:56.900 --> 00:23:59.019 on The Winds of Winter. That fan song, Write 00:23:59.019 --> 00:24:01.250 Like the Wind, is legendary. It highlights a 00:24:01.250 --> 00:24:03.650 unique challenge, right? How does an author balance 00:24:03.650 --> 00:24:05.849 creative integrity with the massive pressure 00:24:05.849 --> 00:24:08.230 of a global audience who feels they own the story? 00:24:08.410 --> 00:24:10.569 And Martin has been consistent in his defense. 00:24:10.829 --> 00:24:13.869 He is simply unwilling to write only the Asawa 00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:16.329 series. He's explained that working on other 00:24:16.329 --> 00:24:19.609 prose, editing anthologies, compiling other book 00:24:19.609 --> 00:24:23.230 projects. That is his essential integral working 00:24:23.230 --> 00:24:25.950 process. It's clear that this continuous engagement 00:24:25.950 --> 00:24:28.690 in diverse collaborative projects is what keeps 00:24:28.690 --> 00:24:31.410 him engaged. This includes his long editorial 00:24:31.410 --> 00:24:34.730 career, co -editing nearly a dozen cross -genre 00:24:34.730 --> 00:24:37.450 anthologies with Gardner DeZoe. Books like Songs 00:24:37.450 --> 00:24:39.940 of the Dying Earth. warriors, dangerous women 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:42.980 and rogues. He finds inspiration and creative 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:45.839 refreshment by stepping away from the main narrative. 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:48.299 And his actual working method reflects a deep 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:51.690 need for isolation and control. Oh, yeah. He 00:24:51.690 --> 00:24:54.529 writes using WordStar software on an MS -DOS 00:24:54.529 --> 00:24:57.369 computer. Which is ancient technology. Specifically 00:24:57.369 --> 00:24:59.890 to avoid internet distractions and the intrusion 00:24:59.890 --> 00:25:02.210 of automated spell checking. He uses a separate 00:25:02.210 --> 00:25:04.329 computer entirely for the internet. Okay, moving 00:25:04.329 --> 00:25:06.390 to his relationship with the wider fan community. 00:25:06.670 --> 00:25:09.130 Despite the criticism of his pace, he maintains 00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:11.849 an unusual degree of accessibility. He does. 00:25:12.130 --> 00:25:15.490 Through his active blog. Not a blog. And his 00:25:15.490 --> 00:25:18.049 regular attendance at conventions. And this is 00:25:18.049 --> 00:25:20.549 a lifelong habit rooted in his early comics fandom. 00:25:20.829 --> 00:25:23.990 Since the early 1970s, he has regularly attended 00:25:23.990 --> 00:25:26.390 World Science Fiction Conventions, or Worldcon. 00:25:26.650 --> 00:25:29.470 And he's participated annually in Albuquerque's 00:25:29.470 --> 00:25:33.529 regional convention, Bubonicon, since 1986, near 00:25:33.529 --> 00:25:36.089 his Santa Fe home. On the flip side of that engagement, 00:25:36.250 --> 00:25:39.049 he holds some very firm boundaries, particularly 00:25:39.049 --> 00:25:41.490 his strong opposition to fan fiction. Which he 00:25:41.490 --> 00:25:44.369 views as copyright infringement. And he sees 00:25:44.369 --> 00:25:47.369 it as poor practice for aspiring writers, arguing 00:25:47.369 --> 00:25:49.789 that it hinders the development of crucial skills 00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:52.829 like original world building and character creation. 00:25:53.130 --> 00:25:55.369 However, regarding a more modern controversy, 00:25:55.650 --> 00:25:58.410 when backlash arose about the alleged use of 00:25:58.410 --> 00:26:01.309 generative AI art in an illustrated edition of 00:26:01.309 --> 00:26:04.259 A Feast for Crows. His team published a blog 00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:07.140 post clarifying their stance. Yes, stating that 00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:09.140 they have not and will not willingly work with 00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:11.299 AI generative artists. That's a very current 00:26:11.299 --> 00:26:13.940 and specific stance. It reinforces a commitment 00:26:13.940 --> 00:26:16.700 to human artists and originality, which aligns 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:18.559 perfectly with his stance against fan fiction. 00:26:18.740 --> 00:26:20.680 It does. Let's talk about his investments in 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:22.759 his home city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:25.240 he and his wife, Paris McBride, live. Martin 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:28.400 is deeply invested in the local art scene. He 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:30.799 purchased and completely restored the John Cocteau 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:33.920 Cinema and Coffee House, reopening it in 2013. 00:26:34.339 --> 00:26:37.160 And he made sure it kept its original 35mm capability 00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:40.519 alongside modern digital projection. And he followed 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:43.460 that up by opening the adjacent bookstore, Beastly 00:26:43.460 --> 00:26:46.779 Books, in 2019. Named after his time working 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:48.819 on the Beauty and the Beast TV show. That's right. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.359 Furthermore, he was a key funder for the arts 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:54.339 collective Meow Wolf, pledging $2 .7 million 00:26:54.339 --> 00:26:58.500 in 2015 toward a new art space. It just highlights 00:26:58.500 --> 00:27:01.420 his support for innovative, immersive art. His 00:27:01.420 --> 00:27:03.960 philanthropy also directly involves his narrative 00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:07.299 style, which is fascinating. In a 2014 Prizio 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:10.000 campaign, he raised over half a million dollars 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.619 for the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and the Food 00:27:12.619 --> 00:27:14.759 Depot of Santa Fe. And he did this by offering 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:16.799 high -level contributors the chance to have a 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:18.819 character named after them. And killed off in 00:27:18.819 --> 00:27:21.089 an upcoming novel. That is a practical application 00:27:21.089 --> 00:27:24.230 of his playing for keeps narrative philosophy. 00:27:24.589 --> 00:27:27.509 It doubles as a fantastic fundraising strategy. 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:30.589 But brilliant. Lastly, let's just revisit his 00:27:30.589 --> 00:27:33.569 consistent political engagement. His opposition 00:27:33.569 --> 00:27:36.509 to the Vietnam War and his conscientious objector 00:27:36.509 --> 00:27:39.309 status that provided him with a profound political 00:27:39.309 --> 00:27:42.490 framework. He has consistently endorsed Democratic 00:27:42.490 --> 00:27:46.190 candidates like Obama, Udall. And Biden. And 00:27:46.190 --> 00:27:48.269 he also took a powerful stand on the First Amendment 00:27:48.269 --> 00:27:52.069 by ensuring his Jean Cocteau cinema screened 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:55.289 the controversial 2014 film The Interview. Yeah. 00:27:55.390 --> 00:27:57.269 During all that pressure to pull the film. And 00:27:57.269 --> 00:27:59.490 his most famous piece of political commentary 00:27:59.490 --> 00:28:02.170 used his own fiction as a critical lens. That's 00:28:02.170 --> 00:28:04.829 right. During the 2016 election, when some fans 00:28:04.829 --> 00:28:06.930 tried to compare Donald Trump to his more complex 00:28:06.930 --> 00:28:09.490 characters, Martin doubled down on his criticism. 00:28:09.630 --> 00:28:11.869 What does he say? He explicitly stated that Trump 00:28:11.869 --> 00:28:14.529 shared many personality traits with the universe. 00:28:19.550 --> 00:28:36.769 Wow. All the way to becoming a global icon whose 00:28:36.769 --> 00:28:39.670 work influences not only television and film, 00:28:39.730 --> 00:28:42.690 but also video games like Elden Ring. His career 00:28:42.690 --> 00:28:45.289 is just a roadmap of resilience and paradox. 00:28:45.650 --> 00:28:48.589 We saw how the commercial failure of the Armageddon 00:28:48.589 --> 00:28:51.910 Rag in 1983 paradoxically saved his career by 00:28:51.910 --> 00:28:54.029 forcing him into Hollywood. And how the budget 00:28:54.029 --> 00:28:56.410 constraints of Hollywood in turn drove him back 00:28:56.410 --> 00:28:59.369 to the boundless world of prose, leading directly 00:28:59.369 --> 00:29:02.480 to A Song of Ice and Fire. And his honors reflect 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:05.640 this vast, diverse output. The Inkpot Award for 00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:08.220 Comics, the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award, 00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:12.220 multiple Hugos, Nebulas. And of course, the incredible 00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:15.279 Emmy success for Game of Thrones. He's a literary 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:18.660 polymath who never settled into one genre, consistently 00:29:18.660 --> 00:29:21.420 finding ways to collaborate and expand his worlds. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:24.039 And if we take Martin's core thematic philosophy, 00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:26.099 that fantasy should be grounded in historical 00:29:26.099 --> 00:29:29.099 realism, critiquing the simplistic Disneyland 00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:31.970 Middle Ages trope. focusing instead on the messy, 00:29:32.089 --> 00:29:35.269 ambiguous internal human condition. We are left 00:29:35.269 --> 00:29:37.849 with a powerful closing thought for you to consider. 00:29:38.150 --> 00:29:41.289 Since GRRM grounds his fantasy in historical 00:29:41.289 --> 00:29:44.470 realism and focuses on the internal human condition, 00:29:44.750 --> 00:29:48.089 what modern political, economic, or social structure, 00:29:48.250 --> 00:29:50.829 one currently overlooked by simplified fiction, 00:29:51.130 --> 00:29:54.609 might be ripe for his unique brand of grimdark 00:29:54.609 --> 00:29:57.200 exploration? Think about his focus on brutal 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:00.279 hierarchies, the complex consequences of unintended 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:03.220 actions, and the idea that good intentions rarely 00:30:03.220 --> 00:30:06.180 make wise ruler. Where do you see that complexity 00:30:06.180 --> 00:30:07.960 playing out in the world right now that needs 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:10.799 his brutal realism? That's the challenge. The 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:12.960 ultimate purpose of his fantasy is the truth 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.500 of the human heart in conflict with itself. Where 00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:17.599 do you see that conflict raging today? Thank 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:19.299 you for diving deep with us. We'll be back soon 00:30:19.299 --> 00:30:20.200 with another stack of sources.