Backroom secrets of the “Game of Thrones”: a revelation from the author of the basic book

Cult American writer George Martin, author of the novel “A Song of Ice and Flame”, which features the series Game of Thrones, first visited Russia, where he met with fans of his work, spoke about his favorite heroes and plans for the future, which are especially relevant in the run-up to the end of the seventh season of “Game of Thrones” and the expectations of millions of viewers to continue it.

In an interviewMedusa"Martin stressed that the show is not completely his creation.

“The books are 100% mine, but the series is only partially mine. The world is mine, the characters are also mine, I took part in writing the scripts in the first four seasons. But we can’t count those who also participated in the creation of our magnificent series. David Benioff and Dan Weiss, showrunners first and foremost. Their work cannot be called anything other than phenomenal,” the writer noted.

He added that the show runners are quite independent of him and in the series go far enough away from the plot line invented by him.

“They are quite independent, believe me. They do what they want. I have no legal means of stopping them - nothing that would be prescribed by this or that contract. But we communicate regularly, and a few years ago we had a crucial meeting where I told them the most important plot twists and surprises from the books not yet written. However, I can’t say that they move strictly according to the outline. They deviated from my plot in a lot of ways, quite far,” Martin said.

Game of Thrones team.
Фото: Depositphotos

He admitted that today there are about 20 characters who have long been killed in the series, but still live in his novels.

“Both minor and central - such as Rickon Stark, Barristan Selmy, Myrcella Baratheon: they are all dead only in the series, keep in mind! There are also important characters who did not appear in the series at all. At all. They were not only killed, they were not allowed to be born. This is the Heartless, Arianne Martell from Dorne, Victarion Greyjoy - the brother of Balon and Euron... All of them are very important for my books, by the way,” the writer said.

In his novel, the writer managed to embody the principle of the polyphonic novel, when the characters are equal and the reader can root for any of them, but it is rather difficult to convey during the film adaptation.

“I tried to make each of my characters look like a person. Real, alive. I wanted them to be different. Some are noble and fair, others are selfish. Some are smart, others are not very smart or even stupid. However, they are all human. I've always dreamed of creating great characters, and they're not black or white. Fantasy often depicts good versus evil, and sometimes it works. However, I don't believe it. I don’t believe that on the battlefield there are good and bad - and the good ones are in white, and the villains are in black, and they are also ugly and feed on human flesh...”, the writer noted.

He also spoke about some of the tricks resorted to by the creators of the series, due to lack of funding during the start of filming the first seasons.

“A series is a series. Sometimes his producers have to deal with problems that I don't have: budget, timing, what's allowed and what's not allowed based on format and audience. In the first season, the budget was small and there was no talk of showing battles on screen. The series handled this simply: we see events through the eyes of Tyrion, who receives a blow to the head, and when he comes to his senses, the battle is already over. The reason is simple: there was no money for extras and special effects. The book shows my vision of this world, not limited by anything. Including sexuality and violence,” said the author of “A Song of Ice and Fire.”

In an interviewKinopoisku"The writer spoke about the difficulties that arose on the set.

“It’s very difficult with horses on set. It is incredibly difficult to get them to perform the desired actions. I remember we were filming in Morocco, and there was this trick: a horse jumps over fire. To no avail. The horse did not want to jump into anything. Mind you, this was a trick horse trained for such things. And so he was like: “Nope, I won’t jump over this! It’s hot there, something is burning, let me get out of here.” Gives it back and that's it. I tried ten times, to no avail. As a result, the director says: “Put out the fire. Let him jump over the smoldering branches. We’ll draw the fire in post-production.” But the horse still stands like a pillar! “No, you can’t fool me. I remember it was hot there, jump over these sticks yourself!” Martin said.

He noted that there are political metaphors in his book, but they are not as specific as it seems to readers or viewers.

A Song of Ice and Fire is about power, its use and abuse. The lengths a person is willing to go to get power, and what he does with it when he gets it. We are talking about rulers and governments who wage war. Of course, my views on these issues are fully reflected in Game of Thrones. But what it definitely is not is an allegory for specific rulers and politicians of the 21st century. Those who read between the lines are mistaken, just as the researchers were mistaken when they considered The Lord of the Rings to be a parabola about the Second World War,” the writer explained.

According to him, he himself resembles almost each of his heroes, having in his character some features from each of them.

Martin admitted that he borrowed some moments from classic books, in particular, from Russian classics.

“The corpse of Tywin Lannister and what happens to him is borrowed from The Brothers Karamazov. I don't remember anymore. But I haven’t read much Russian classics. Only in college - Dostoevsky, War and Peace, then Doctor Zhivago. I tried to find Russian science fiction, but I couldn’t find anything except the Strugatskys,” said the writer.

He added that he wanted to do without magic in his book, but then he realized that it was necessary.

“Fantasy needs magic. But I try to control her, not to give her free rein. Something mystical, dark, inexplicable - that’s what magic is for me: it should not become familiar, everyday,” said the writer.

Martin even has his own idea of ​​the perfect dragon.

“Of course, Tolkien’s Smaug is a candidate for my top favorites. Such an impressive dragon. But my personal favorite is the dragon from the 1980s movie "Dragon Slayer" — Vermithrax pejorative. Before him, the dragon was not shown better in the cinema, and for twenty or thirty years after the release of the movie no one bypassed it until the company Weta didn’t do Smaug,” said the writer.

He added that he doesn't like the beloved Draco from "Dragon Hearts".

“That dragon would never fly. Thick, bloated, with small wings. Also with four legs. I prefer dragons with two legs. So that the front legs form wings. When they attach four paws, from an anatomical point of view this is complete nonsense! Remember? Science fiction is subject to logic... Dragons must fly. You can't attach tiny wings to a fat lizard and think it will fly! You need powerful muscles and huge wings to support such weight,” explained Martin.

He added that viewers tend to feel more sorry for lyutovolkov and dragons than characters in the event of their death.

“When the direwolf Lady died in the first season, it upset many thousands of people. But in the same episode, the butcher boy died. But no one cared about him! Just think, some stupid guy was killed! But they kill a direwolf, and I receive mountains of letters: “How could you do this?” he said.

The writer admitted that “bloopers” and plot holes often occur in his books, but he calmly treats those who point out to him.

“I'm sure there are mistakes in my story. I’m not the Lord God in fact, I make mistakes, and fans point them out to me. For example, I have a complete problem with my eyes. I always forget what color someone has, I might get confused. Someone noticed that my horses change gender. What can I do, I’m bad with the gender of horses,” Martin noted.

Despite being busy and working on the continuation of “A Song of Ice and Flame,” the writer has time to read a lot.

“I read when I travel around the world. Sometimes in the evening I read in my hotel room. At home I read for an hour or two before going to bed. Sometimes I come across an interesting book, and I can sit with it all night. I love it when this happens. The next day, of course, is hard, but now it’s so rare to come across books that you can’t put down. You say to yourself: “That’s it, the last chapter!” Then another one, and another one. It’s great to read at night,” he noted.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Composer Dmitry Gordon - about studying in America and plans to conquer Hollywood

Like in the movies: the life in the USA resembles plots from Hollywood films

How they simulate snow, rain, heat and other bad weather in the movies

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.