0:03 one of my oldtime favorite fantasy books
0:07 is George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones
0:08 I have read the whole song of Ice and
0:11 Fire book series two times I love the
0:13 first five seasons of the show right up
0:15 to the moment they killed off the real
0:18 main character I even made Westeros into
0:22 a map for Heroes of Might and Magic 3 so
0:24 whatever criticism of it I may give in
0:28 this video it comes from a place of love
0:31 a place of deep affection for George RR Martin's
0:32 Martin's
0:35 work the Lord of the Rings is rightfully
0:38 the most popular fantasy book series but
0:40 for many people including Me A Song of
0:43 Ice and Fire was for a long time
0:45 something of a comparable close second
0:48 maybe even an equal an American
0:49 counterpart to the works of the
0:51 Englishman JRR
0:54 tolkin when it comes to sheer volume at
0:57 least it already surpassed tolkien's
1:00 writings of several Main books which are
1:03 planned George RR Martin has finished
1:05 five plus several books exploring the
1:07 fictional universe or telling stories
1:10 set in it and the whole text has grown
1:13 to a total of over 7,000 Pages he
1:15 published the first book A Game of
1:18 Thrones in 1996 followed after two years
1:21 by a Clash of Kings in
1:24 1998 keeping a good Pace he released A
1:26 Storm of Swords in
1:29 2000 then he starts to slow down the
1:32 fourth book A Feast for Crows took five
1:35 years and was released in 2005 the fifth
1:39 book A Dance with Dragons took 6 years
1:43 released in 2011 and now for 13 years
1:45 George has been trying to finish the
1:48 Winds of Winter the sixth book in 2023
1:51 he said I'm 12 years late on this damn
1:54 novel and I'm struggling with it I have
1:57 like 1,100 Pages written but I still
2:00 have hundreds more pages to go it a big
2:02 mother of a book for whatever reason
2:04 maybe I should have started writing
2:06 smaller books when I began this but it's
2:09 tough since he published A Dance with
2:12 Dragons a whole TV show based on his
2:14 book started ran eight seasons and
2:17 finished with WID spread dislike for the
2:20 way it ended but at least Game of
2:22 Thrones has managed to bring its story
2:24 to a conclusion a clumsy and unpopular
2:27 conclusion with an almost universally
2:30 reviled finale maybe that's the real
2:32 reason why George can't finish his sixth
2:34 book the ending he had originally
2:36 planned is too close to the unpopular
2:38 show ending and so perhaps he's now
2:40 somewhere frantically trying to rewrite
2:44 it in 2022 he said that he finds himself
2:46 moving further and further away from the
2:48 television series though some events
2:50 from the show will occur in his
2:52 forthcoming novel much will be quite
2:54 different as he wrote in his blog he has
2:57 admitted that he struggles to make
2:58 progress on the book I've been
3:00 struggling with it for a few years years
3:02 he said in an interview The Winds of
3:05 Winter is not so much a novel as a dozen
3:07 novels each with a different protagonist
3:09 each having a different cast of
3:11 supporting players and antagonists and
3:14 allies and lovers around them and all of
3:16 these weaving together in an extremely
3:19 complex fashion so it's very very
3:22 challenging he says that is not
3:24 surprising first of all why did he have
3:27 to name it the Winds of Winter over the
3:29 first five books he established a naming
3:31 convention for the series a something X
3:34 something A Game of Thrones a Clash of
3:36 Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for
3:39 Crows A Dance with Dragons The Winds of
3:42 Winter for whatever reason and the plant
3:45 a dream of spring he's breaking his own
3:47 naming convention with the Winds of
3:49 Winter and this kind of subverting of
3:52 expectations is something he does
3:54 frequently throughout the books for
3:57 example Ned Stark is set up in the
3:59 beginning of the story as a man who is
4:01 honest and honorable and disgusted by
4:02 the political Intrigue going on in
4:04 King's Landing but in the course of the
4:07 story circumstances make him break his
4:10 principles as he engages in a rather
4:12 amateurish attempt to bribe the gold
4:15 cloaks his honest disposition is his
4:17 most defining trait so in George RR
4:19 Martin's story this is the trait he'll
4:22 have to break there are countless
4:24 examples of that kind of subversion of
4:26 an ideal a central part of the knight's
4:30 watch is their oath of celibacy but
4:32 because Oaths cannot be taken seriously
4:34 in georg's fictional Universe there is
4:36 right next to Castle black a place
4:39 called moles town which centers around a
4:41 sprawling underground brole where
4:42 Brothers of the knight's watch go to
4:45 break their Oaths every now and again I
4:47 am also reminded of the time when on the
4:50 eve of the Red Wedding Caitlyn is
4:52 suspicious of Walder fry and anxious to
4:54 eat of his bread and salt because that
4:56 would Grant her and Rob the status of
4:59 guests and not even Walder fry would
5:02 dare to violate the sacred laws of
5:04 hospitality and what follows is of
5:06 course the Red Wedding in A Song of Ice
5:09 and Fire Oaths exist to be
5:12 broken compare this just for a moment to
5:14 Lord of the Rings in tolkien's Universe
5:17 A promise is sacred and words more often
5:20 than not have a predictive power over
5:22 reality thanks to character's generally truthful
5:23 truthful
5:26 disposition characters are bound by
5:28 their words and when an oath is broken
5:31 it is an offense of such gravity that
5:33 the oath Breakers remain bound to Middle
5:36 Earth as ghosts unable to depart into
5:38 the Afterlife unless they find a way to
5:40 see their oath
5:42 fulfilled when Aragorn in the movie in
5:44 his speech at the black gate speaks of a
5:46 day when we forsake our friends and
5:49 break all bonds of Fellowship he's
5:51 talking about the day when Middle Earth
5:54 turns into a world like Westeros okay
5:56 George are our Martin subverted
5:58 oathkeeper in each other's word what's
6:02 next how about family ties in Lord of
6:05 the Rings Family Ties Are sacred it is
6:07 deeply endearing the way Hobbits put a
6:09 lot of importance into family kinship
6:11 Boromir and faramir's relationship to
6:14 denior stays strong despite Deni Thor's
6:17 attitude towards faramir just imagine
6:18 what it would look like if the family
6:21 existed in Westeros and the one time
6:23 Family Ties are broken in The Lord of
6:26 the Rings when smago murders his brother
6:29 Diego the story punishes him for it with
6:32 centuries of Torment A's love for her
6:34 sister aowin inspires him to do great
6:36 deeds and stays entirely wholesome
6:38 compare that with how brother treats
6:41 sister in A Song of Ice and Fire viseris
6:44 abuses danerys Jamie and Cersei have an
6:46 incestuous relationship while Cersei
6:48 actively hates tyon the barathan
6:52 brothers fight each other to the death
6:53 actually we have a pretty good idea of
6:56 what it would look like if faramir and
6:58 denior existed in Westeros and we know
7:01 it from the way Balon groy treats Theon
7:04 upon his return to the iron Islands
7:07 Theon acts like faramir honoring his
7:10 family ties since you are robbed of your
7:13 other male heirs pretty much says Theon
7:15 I will do what I can in their stead and
7:18 go invade the north Theon chooses his
7:21 family his Blood Ties over his ties of
7:24 Friendship with Rob Stark and George RR
7:26 Martin's story subsequently punishes him
7:29 for it the story punishes him through
7:31 prolonged torment not unlike that of
7:34 smeagle tolkien's story turns smeagle
7:37 into Gollum for breaking Family Ties
7:39 while in George's story Theon is turned
7:42 into reek for keeping
7:44 his I know that the point is obvious by
7:46 now that George R Martin subverts
7:48 everything set up by tolken but we just
7:51 have to mention religion in tolkin
7:54 Universe religion is simply true it
7:56 corresponds one to one with reality and
7:59 atheists do not exist though there are
8:01 many who are unfamiliar with the lore of
8:03 the Deeds of the Valar but nobody who is
8:05 learned doubts the divine order of
8:08 things of course there are those who
8:11 openly oppose u iluvatar in The Lord of
8:14 the Rings movies when the Nazgul Advance
8:16 on the hobbits the chorus in the
8:17 soundtrack that is playing in the
8:28 maker in a vicious Rebellion against eru
8:32 uat are not in denial of his existence
8:34 this would be the equivalent of not the
8:37 Earth's atheists but the Earth's
8:39 satanists meanwhile in Westeros the
8:41 faith of the seven seems to be there
8:44 only to subvert and mock our conception
8:45 of organized
8:48 Christianity of course the high septon
8:50 is a corrupt drunk and of course the
8:52 story does everything to rob the main
8:54 religious institution of the Seven
8:57 Kingdoms of any sense of actual
9:00 Divinity next is beuty beauty beauty is
9:03 associated with virtue not only in
9:05 reality but in The Lord of the Rings as
9:07 well but in Game of Thrones you have
9:09 characters like Cersei Joffrey and
9:11 viseris people with an attractive
9:14 exterior hiding a vicious personality
9:16 while ugly people like Tyrion and
9:19 Brienne are often virtuous in addition
9:21 to that beauty such as that of
9:23 melisandra is often revealed to be
9:27 glamour hiding a hideous physique
9:30 underneath but one of the most obvious
9:32 examples of The Lord of the Rings being
9:35 subverted is the portrayal of the king
9:38 compare King Robert barathan fat
9:41 slovenly given over to VIIs to King
9:44 theodan of Rohan both of them struggle
9:47 to rule and both receive a man of Great
9:50 Character to help them Robert brings Ned
9:53 Stark South to be his hand and Gandalf
9:55 takes over the role of the chief adviser
9:58 from grima wormtown gandel's guidance
10:01 helps Theoden to become a great king but
10:03 in Game of Thrones the notion that a
10:05 king can be great seems to not exist and
10:08 Robert Baratheon gives himself even more
10:11 to hunting whing and drinking after Ned
10:12 takes over his
10:15 hand and it's not like you can accuse
10:18 Ned Stark of giving imprudent counsel
10:20 instead it just seems that in tolkin
10:23 Universe the king who is well advised
10:25 can become a great leader while in
10:27 Georgia's Universe being well advised
10:30 exacerbates the king's negative trait
10:32 but that's not enough we have to subvert
10:35 the king in Exile also picture Aragorn
10:38 the ranger learned in lore and tongues
10:41 courteous of speech Noble of character
10:43 who dedicates Decades of his life to
10:45 thankless service in defense of the
10:47 borders of the Shire his equivalent in
10:51 Westeros is of course the beggar King
10:54 viseris cowardly delusional abusive
10:57 sociopath viseris whose existence seems
10:58 to be born out of George RR Martin's
11:00 desire to counter the character of
11:03 Aragorn to subvert tolkin Noble King in Exile
11:04 Exile
11:07 Trope but the worst subversion happens
11:10 in the Game of Thrones show in season
11:12 six after Ramsey Bolton loses the battle
11:14 of the bastards he's tied up and locked
11:17 in a dungeon with his dogs who end up
11:18 eating him
11:22 alive this one crosses a line a good dog
11:25 will starve before it eats its owner you
11:27 can mock religion you can create a
11:29 universe where people break over all the
11:31 time you can paint Kings as obese
11:34 drunken degenerates fine but to
11:36 undermine the ideal of a dog's loyalty
11:40 to its master that goes too far so this
11:41 is the horrible disenchanted and
11:44 nihilistic Universe George RR Martin has
11:48 created and yet despite being explicitly
11:51 nihilistic he can't escape an enchanted
11:53 worldview every now and again the story
11:56 of Game of Thrones develops a plot Arc
11:57 that gives the world a sense of
11:59 Enchantment only to be cut down and
12:02 subverted later on the Mind jumps again
12:04 to Ned Stark who was being set up from
12:07 the beginning as a sort of protagonist
12:09 of the story except that at the very
12:12 last moment George chooses not to tell
12:15 that story and Ned Stark is
12:17 beheaded of course the biggest Trope in
12:19 writing is the expectation that every
12:22 story must provide closure and George RR
12:25 Martin just can't help himself he must
12:28 subvert sensing the satisfaction his
12:29 readership is about to get from the
12:31 closure provided by a concluded story
12:35 arc he jumps in at the last minute to
12:38 take it away this of course is part of
12:40 the unique appeal of a Game of
12:42 Thrones but what on Earth could Inspire
12:45 George to write a story like that we all
12:47 write and speak in recombinations of
12:50 phrases and ideas we have heard before
12:52 and it is in this recombination that new
12:55 works and ideas are created the most
12:57 noble work of fiction will draw from the
12:59 most noble sources
13:01 which the author recombines in a
13:04 creative way tolkin sources were the
13:07 Bible and Germanic and Finnish Mythology
13:09 stories that were with us for Millennia
13:11 and have proven their value by staying
13:14 in our Collective memory for so long
13:17 George RR Martin's sources seem to be an
13:20 egalitarian American reading of English
13:22 medieval history with a focus on how
13:25 terrible and unjust at all was and two
13:27 his experience with the Vietnam War
13:29 which made him think that all old war is
13:32 bad and never worth it many people have
13:34 remarked upon the fact that in his heart
13:38 George is a 1970s hippie given these
13:40 sources for inspiration I'm beginning to
13:43 see the Viewpoint that George RR Martin
13:45 simply has no understanding of the
13:48 medieval European interpretation of
13:51 Concepts such as chivalry honor trust
13:54 piety and virtue Concepts that used to
13:55 carry real meaning for medieval
13:58 Europeans are disenchanted and bereft of
14:01 me meaning in A Song of Ice and Fire
14:03 such as a conception of Knighthood where
14:07 any KN can make another night Knighthood
14:09 which in medieval Europe was a sacred
14:11 Brotherhood with religious connotations
14:13 which you had to train for from your
14:15 Early Childhood was bestowed upon a new
14:17 Knight by his senior in the feudal
14:21 hierarchy not by a peer a knight usually
14:23 owned land to support himself Esquires
14:26 and several men at Arms the shallow
14:28 modern conception of Knighthood in A
14:30 Song of Ice and Fire leads to ridiculous
14:32 situations where the Knight Beric dond
14:35 Darian dubs all his Outlaw followers as
14:38 knights in the fourth book taking all
14:40 meaning out of the
14:42 title see if I was a bit less of a
14:45 complete full-hearted American Patriot I
14:47 would be almost tempted to say that the
14:49 story of Game of Thrones is like that
14:52 because George RR Martin is an American
14:54 and as such carries American values
14:56 within him the United States is not just
14:59 an uncultured Nation it is an anti antic
15:01 cultural Nation culture has been defined
15:05 by Nature as Unity of style but in
15:07 America you are encouraged to be an
15:10 individual unlike the others a disunity
15:12 of style an absence of culture is
15:14 encouraged and promulgated by American
15:17 institutions at home and abroad
15:19 America's influence upon the rest of the
15:21 world is like an asset corroding local
15:24 cultures wherever it spreads that is
15:26 what I would have been almost tempted to
15:29 say were I not an American Patriot
15:31 unfortunately for George RR Martin
15:33 mainstream American values which
15:36 personally I broadly agree with do not
15:38 conform to an overarching narrative that
15:41 is fit for a fantasy setting the
15:43 overarching narrative that you can build
15:45 from American values by taking
15:47 inspiration from our national mythology
15:49 would be something like a story about
15:51 the global spread of Liberty and
15:54 equality before the law for example if
15:56 Daenerys or the High Sparrow or King
15:59 Stannis conquered everything abdicated
16:01 power like George Washington did and
16:03 instituted a medieval variant of a
16:06 global liberal democracy now that would
16:08 be a complete story with a clear start
16:10 and end point which has a clear
16:12 narrative Direction and a moral lesson
16:14 in the end that is maybe why people
16:16 think that A Song of Ice and Fire might
16:18 be some kind of post-apocalyptic science
16:20 fiction because sci-fi is such a
16:22 typically American
16:24 genre in the last episode of the show
16:26 they even talk about setting up a
16:28 democracy the proper ending of an
16:30 American an inspired Story Only to
16:32 dismiss it because of course that would
16:34 break the fantasy setting for several
16:37 reasons a no Lord would give up his
16:39 Noble status and ancestral privileges
16:42 willingly B the average feudal peasant
16:44 is illiterate and barely politically
16:46 conscious and C there is no
16:49 communication technology to maintain a
16:51 common space where Wester white National
16:54 political discourse can take place
16:55 unless of course you somehow learn to
16:58 mass-produce Glass candles from Old Town
17:00 or selectively breed green seers to
17:03 communicate through the wewood net but
17:06 no at the end of the show the idea of a
17:08 democracy is laughed at and discarded by
17:10 the assembled Council of main characters
17:13 that is held in the end and as a viewer
17:16 you're not meant to agree with them
17:18 you're not meant to watch the scene and
17:21 say truly democracy is stupid matters of
17:23 State should not be left to a popularity
17:25 contest we need a based Monarch to put
17:28 things to rights no you are meant to
17:30 view the character present as
17:32 unenlightened and the conclusion of the
17:34 show as an unfortunate product of its
17:37 time as backwards and illegitimate even
17:39 from the audience's point of view at the
17:42 very end Game of Thrones condemns and
17:45 dismisses itself it does not believe in
17:48 its own values and why would you it was
17:50 born out of a vengeful urge to subvert
17:52 and the way it ends is a direct
17:55 consequence of that the same problem is
17:57 encountered by George RR Martin when
18:00 writing the books his Grand project is
18:02 fundamentally self-contradicting and the
18:04 main reason he cannot finish his work
18:06 aside from the show reducing his
18:09 motivation is that he cannot find a way
18:11 to resolve the story in a way that is
18:14 both satisfying yet subversive the
18:16 reality is nearly all complaints people
18:18 raised against the ending of the TV show
18:20 would also most probably apply to the
18:23 books yes the execution was awful but
18:25 that wasn't the only problem the fact
18:27 that ARA kills the Knight King is an
18:30 excellent example of this everything in
18:31 the way the story was structured from
18:34 the setup to the backstory to the teases
18:36 of the azorah high myth pointed towards
18:39 John Snow being the one to kill him that
18:41 was the only emotionally satisfying
18:43 resolution and of course that was the
18:46 resolution that could not take place in
18:49 George R Martin's story ever a slave to
18:51 his desire to subvert he had to replace
18:54 it with something else but to finish a
18:56 book series of such Epic Proportions
18:58 there must be something Beyond subversion
18:59 subversion
19:01 George's writing style by the way
19:03 doesn't help either he has described
19:06 himself as a gardener writer back when A
19:09 Dance with Dragons just came out he said
19:11 I think there are two types of writers
19:14 The Architects and the gardeners The
19:16 Architects plan everything ahead of time
19:18 like an architect building at home they
19:20 have the whole thing designed and
19:22 blueprinted out before they even nail
19:25 the first board up the gardeners dig a
19:28 hole drop in a seed and water it they
19:30 kind of know what the seed is they know
19:31 if they planted a fantasy seed or a
19:34 mystery seed or whatever but as the
19:36 plant comes up and they water it they
19:37 don't know how many branches it's going
19:40 to have they find out as it grows I'm
19:43 much more a gardener than an architect
19:45 not only is George A gardener he seems
19:47 to be a gardener who doesn't know the
19:49 borders of his own garden struggling
19:52 with its scope compare this to how Sam's
19:54 gamji gets tempted by the power of the
19:55 ring in the
19:58 books already the ring tempted him
20:01 knowing at his will and reason wild
20:03 fantasies arose in his mind and he saw
20:06 some wise the strong hero of the age
20:09 striding with a flaming sword across the
20:11 darkened land and armies flocking to his
20:14 coal as he marched to the overthrow of
20:16 badur and then all the clouds rolled
20:19 away and the white sun Shone and at his
20:22 command the veil of gorgoroth became a
20:24 garden of flowers and trees and brought
20:26 forth fruit he had only to put on the
20:29 ring and claim it for his own and all
20:31 this could be in that hour of trial it
20:34 was the love of his master that helped
20:37 him most to hold him firm but also deep
20:40 down in him lived still unconquered his
20:43 plain Hobbit sense he knew in the core
20:45 of his heart that he was not large
20:47 enough to Bear such a burden even if
20:49 such Visions were not a mere cheat to
20:51 betray him the one small garden of a
20:54 free Gardener was all his need and due
20:57 not a garden swollen to a realm his own
21:00 hands to use not the hands of others to
21:03 command Sam resists because he is
21:05 content to have his one Garden small but
21:07 well tended and he knows where its
21:10 boundaries should end but does George RR
21:12 Martin know where to set the boundaries
21:15 of his garden enthralled by the
21:17 Temptation to create an all-encompassing
21:19 fictional Universe all inspiring through
21:22 its sheer size he plants seeds and moves
21:26 on instead of tending one place to full
21:28 fruition and so the story trudges on
21:32 with no end inside so far it has over
21:35 3,000 named characters with a myriad of
21:37 individual story arcs and every new
21:40 chapter that is released adds yet
21:42 another handful of new characters sets
21:44 up a couple more
21:46 subplots even if George wanted to It
21:48 seems impossible to tie together all of
21:51 that mess into one cohesive narrative
21:53 where at the end of book Seven you can
21:55 say that's it the story has a satisfying
21:58 conclusion with all plot points resolved
22:00 in The Lord of the Rings that was
22:03 possible and every plot Arc does get its
22:06 resolution the ring is destroyed froos
22:08 tra is cured when he departs into the
22:11 West Sam marries Rosie and becomes mayor
22:14 of the Shire Aragorn becomes king
22:17 marries Arwin and has an heir Gandalf's
22:19 task his Grand strategy game against
22:22 Sauron is done he wins and goes back
22:25 into the West with Frodo Mary becomes
22:27 master of Buckland Pippen becomes thing
22:29 of the Shire and a representative of the
22:32 king just as the tkks were in the old
22:35 days faramir becomes Prince of eelan and
22:37 marries Awin Legolas and gimy depart
22:40 into the West together every plotline no
22:43 matter how minor gets a fully satisfying
22:46 conclusion Bill the pony if you were
22:48 wondering is reunited with Sam in the
22:50 end and Carries him as he accompanies
22:53 Frodo to the gray Havens even the Good
22:56 Pony Bill gets his plot resolved minor
22:58 political questions get settled in the
23:01 end merkwood for example is partitioned
23:03 between borings the Woodland realm and
23:06 lloran while easterlings and haradrim
23:08 are subjugated in subsequent campaigns
23:11 by King elsar so it's not like tolken
23:14 ignored any character arcs or left any
23:16 details unattended in order to finish
23:19 his work nor can it be said that
23:21 tolkien's story is less detailed in
23:23 general compared to Game of Thrones like
23:25 George claimed in 2014 when he said in
23:28 an interview ruling is hard
23:31 this was maybe my answer to tolkin whom
23:33 as much as I admire him I do quibble
23:35 with Lord of the Rings had a very
23:38 medieval philosophy that if the King was
23:41 a good man the land would Prosper we
23:43 look at real history and it's not that
23:45 simple tolkin can say that Aragorn
23:47 became king and reigned for a 100 years
23:50 and he was wise and good but tolkin
23:52 doesn't ask the question what was
23:54 Aragorn's tax policy did he maintain a
23:57 standing army what did he do in times of
23:59 flood and famine
24:01 well George he probably did what a good
24:04 and wise king would do in such
24:06 situations also I don't think George
24:08 gets to ask questions on Aragorn's tax
24:11 policy or economics in general if he
24:13 can't answer them himself this could be
24:15 a long video of its own but the Song of
24:18 Ice and Fire books are full of economic
24:20 inconsistencies and George RR Martin's
24:23 limited knowledge of economic principles
24:25 leads to characters such as Littlefinger
24:26 making economic judgments that are
24:29 questionable at best I don't understand
24:31 why George had to trouble himself with
24:33 economics at all he's a writer and no
24:35 one expects his fantasy Universe to
24:37 include a realistic simulation of a
24:40 fictional economic system tolkien's
24:43 wisdom in choosing to mostly avoid the
24:45 topic of microeconomics seems more and
24:48 more evident but the whole notion that
24:50 George RR Martin can ask nerdy questions
24:53 about Aragorn's tax policy is silly the
24:55 idea that tolken was just vibing whereas
24:58 George was going into meticulous detail
25:00 is contradicted by the fact that
25:02 thousands of pages of Tolan lore all
25:04 hang together perfectly in clockwork
25:07 timing whereas Martin somehow wrote over
25:09 5,000 pages of a story without knowing
25:11 how it would end and what his themes
25:13 were actually what are the overarching
25:16 themes in A Song of Ice and Fire other
25:18 than of course the true morality doesn't
25:20 exist and the people are generally
25:22 horrible the only theme that is present
25:24 throughout the books seems to be the
25:28 vague notion that war is bad okay George
25:29 but you don't show that peace is good
25:32 either peace time for Martin is filled
25:34 with murder incest pushing children out
25:37 of towers inequality unearned privilege
25:39 slavery and oppression is it any
25:41 surprise then that one of the most
25:43 satisfying parts of a Game of Thrones is
25:45 the a plotline of the first book
25:47 describing the collapse of the political
25:49 formula keeping the peace under the
25:51 barathan monarchy this was legitimately
25:53 some of the best fantasy writing ever
25:55 brought to paper from the moment King
25:57 Robert goes out hunting and returns
25:59 mortally wounded it to when open War
26:01 breaks out and the host of The River
26:03 Lords is smashed under the walls of
26:05 river run those parts are what made me
26:07 fall in love with A Song of Ice and Fire
26:09 in the first place there are about a
26:12 dozen other moments like that strewn
26:14 throughout the books George seems to do
26:16 his best work when it comes to giving
26:19 the reader a vivid impression of system
26:21 collapse the absolutely best most
26:23 dramatic moments of A Song of Ice and
26:26 Fire can all be described as that the
26:28 collapse of the barathan regime the red
26:30 wedding and the collapse and Chaos in
26:32 Rob Stark's Camp the collapse of the
26:35 great kalazar after Kal Drogo is
26:37 incapacitated the collapse of the
26:39 slavers regime in slavers Bay including
26:41 the gripping description of the
26:42 collapsing reign of the butcher Tyrant of
26:43 of
26:46 aapor the collapse of Taiwan Lannister's
26:49 regime after his and his brother's
26:51 deaths the battle of the Blackwater and
26:54 the looming collapse of King's Landing
26:56 notice how the rescue of King's Landing
26:58 happens either almost or entirely off
27:00 screen in just a couple of paragraphs
27:02 and teron is only told afterwards about
27:04 how renley appeared on the battlefield
27:06 like a ghost of the late King robbert
27:07 wearing his
27:10 armor the Battle of marine and the
27:12 impending collapse of the slavers Camp
27:15 George has devoted hundreds of pages so
27:17 far to this still ongoing battle he
27:19 seems to Relish in describing the
27:21 manifestations of collapse plaguing The
27:24 Siege Camp the disorganization the poor
27:26 command structure the turncoat
27:28 mercenaries or how the leaders are old
27:30 vicious men who Inspire anything but
27:32 desire to follow them into
27:35 battle aside from these descriptions of
27:37 collapse there are some 4,000 more pages
27:39 filled with attempts to tie together a
27:41 story to tie it together without
27:44 introducing an unrealistic ur's eyes
27:46 Grand narrative that would force the
27:49 characters to adhere willingly or not to
27:52 some overarching plan in fact men who
27:54 believe in Divine prophecy and all
27:56 encompassing Grand narratives are
27:58 discredited by the story
28:00 littlefinger's obsession with red-haired
28:02 women stemming from his belief in a
28:06 piece of prophetic rme is unmasked as
28:08 his or perhaps the author's barely
28:11 disguised fetish melisandre's attempts
28:14 to manifest aor a high in King Stannis
28:17 are destroyed at the Blackwater but
28:19 without adhering to one narrative that
28:22 moves all characters Great and Small a
28:23 complete conclusion for his story with
28:26 this many moving pieces just seems
28:28 implausible in fact the the only theme
28:30 that seems to be consistently present
28:32 throughout Martin's books is that
28:35 expectations and existing tropes tolkin
28:38 tropes must be subverted and that is of
28:40 course because his work is and always
28:44 was first and foremost a response to
28:47 tolken George RR Martin is writing in
28:50 another man's genre when tolkin
28:51 published The Hobbit and The Lord of the
28:54 Rings he established modern fantasy as
28:57 we know it that's completely fine it
28:58 doesn't mean that you can't write an
29:01 original fantasy story but in George's
29:04 case he himself seems to Define his
29:06 fictional Universe by how it is
29:09 different from Middle Earth he keeps
29:11 drawing comparisons to it in interviews
29:15 for example in 2014 he said the war that
29:17 tolken wrote about was a war for the
29:19 fate of civilization and the future of
29:22 humanity and that's become the template
29:24 I'm not sure that it's a good template
29:26 though the Tolkien model LED generations
29:28 of fantasy writers to produce these
29:31 endless series of dark Lords and their
29:33 evil minions who are all very ugly and
29:36 wear black clothes but the vast majority
29:39 of Wars throughout history are not like
29:41 that okay George let's see your
29:43 alternative a world that is built on the
29:46 attempt to prove tolken wrong we have a
29:48 look at Westeros and it seems like he
29:50 took a setup from Tolen tried to subvert
29:53 its archetypes and made a mockery of it
29:55 it is a world without clear delineations
29:57 between good and evil a world where
30:00 every every expectation and Trope set up
30:03 by tolkin is subverted a world where you
30:05 can't finish a story in a satisfying way
30:07 because that would mean giving into the
30:09 tropes and stereotypes of tolanes
30:12 fantasy the reason Lord of the Rings has
30:14 a conclusion for each of its story arcs
30:16 down to build the pony is because there
30:18 is a grand narrative Arc moving the
30:21 history of Middle Earth readers of the
30:23 silmarilian know that tolkien's whole
30:26 universe exists by design of eru
30:28 iluvatar and follows the Great plan
30:31 declared in the music of the inor this
30:33 is the master Trope the father Trope to
30:36 all those others subverted by George or
30:38 our Martin the Trope guiding not only
30:40 the Lord of the Rings but every great
30:44 story starting with our Bible so far the
30:46 story of a song of F and fire does not
30:49 adhere to one grand narrative in fact
30:51 you can much easier argue the opposite
30:53 at the end of A Dance with Dragons the
30:55 state of the plot is a gigantic
30:58 constellation of lose knots in possible
31:00 to tie up through Gardener writing such
31:03 a story can be tied up only by design by
31:05 making the chaotic Universe of A Song of
31:08 Ice and Fire Bend to a grand plan
31:10 ordained from outside by the author who
31:13 would be taking on the role of God but
31:15 by taking on the rule of God whose will
31:17 is bending the universe to one scheme
31:20 George RR Martin must bow to the master
31:22 Trope after spending five books trying
31:24 to subvert all others his Rebellion
31:27 against tolkin must come to an end if
31:30 he's to finish his magnum opus he must
31:32 somehow align the current cacophony of
31:35 characters to a common tune he has to
31:37 introduce God whose omnipotent hand
31:40 guides all according to one infinite
31:43 plan but how to do so without ruining
31:46 the World building George can't just say
31:48 that actually the faith of the seven was
31:50 real all along he can't do that because
31:52 the notion that the official religion is
31:54 nothing but belief and Superstition is
31:57 too prominent already the readers won't
31:59 understand no indeed there is only one
32:02 way to tie all knots together only one
32:05 way to resolve all story arcs in a
32:08 conclusive manner only one constant plot
32:10 device that has been in the story from
32:12 the very beginning and drives something
32:14 like a grand narrative throughout A Song
32:17 of Ice and Fire no it's not the
32:20 targaryan restoration the reader May
32:22 sympathize with danys but if she were to
32:24 reclaim her grandfather's throne in
32:27 King's Landing the whole story would
32:29 just be reset to the beginning with
32:31 targaryens ruling over the continent
32:34 again the wheel would be the opposite of
32:36 broken it would have been mended and
32:38 would continue to roll on as if Robert's
32:41 Rebellion had never happened I suppose
32:43 this would be a fitting way to end a
32:44 story the main point of which seems to
32:46 be to undermine and subvert tolken
32:49 tropes to say that everything is
32:51 actually pointless conflict is bad and
32:53 it's all just Petty squabbles of
32:55 carbon-based life forms among the dirt
32:58 of their home planet it would be as
33:00 fitting a way to finish the books as
33:02 just giving up and not finishing them at
33:04 all and Rob the readers of satisfaction
33:08 one final time but there actually is a
33:11 better way a way to give meaning to the
33:14 story to tie its many strands together
33:17 with a common narrative Arc It Is by
33:19 using the plot device that has been
33:21 lurking at the edges of the known world
33:23 since the very first chapter of a Game
33:26 of Thrones the only way to Give A Song
33:29 of Ice and Fire is satisfying conclusion
33:31 is to have the others
33:33 win yes with the victory of the white
33:35 walkers suddenly everything makes sense
33:38 and fits perfectly together one the main
33:41 plot Arc gets resolved for the first
33:43 five books the main plot which The Story
33:45 begins with has been nothing but a
33:47 nervous wait for the others to finally
33:50 reach the wall it would be so silly if
33:52 all that buildup was wasted like in the
33:55 show where the others breach the wall
33:56 and get defeated as soon as they
33:58 encounter the first maj human
34:02 Fortress Two George RR Martin gets to
34:05 subvert expectations one more time
34:07 everybody expects the story to have a
34:10 happy ending imagine the satisfaction on
34:12 his face when he gets to pull off
34:14 something like the net Stark execution
34:18 but for the whole book series three if
34:20 George had slowly killed off every named
34:23 character from the TV show the final two
34:24 seasons would not only have worked
34:26 better but they would have been probably
34:28 the best versions of the themselves
34:30 imaginable because the entire concept of
34:32 Game of Thrones was that the fictional
34:35 world is living harsh and realistic
34:38 unforgiving and that the comfort of plot
34:42 armor does not exist four most
34:45 importantly if the others win the story
34:47 gets meaning and the meaning is that if
34:49 you behave like the characters and
34:51 society as a whole do in A Song of Ice
34:54 and Fire then God or the narrative if
34:56 you prefer will send White Walkers as punishment
34:58 punishment
35:01 five it's simply a fact that George does
35:03 his best work when writing about system
35:05 collapse just imagine how well written
35:08 how tragic how Vivid the description of
35:10 a final total collapse of westerosi
35:14 society would be six there is that rule
35:16 in The Lord of the Rings universe and
35:19 perhaps in reality as well that evil
35:21 cannot create but only corrupt and
35:24 subvert that which good has created
35:27 Martin would escape this rule his story
35:29 would no longer be just a subversion of
35:31 tolkien's tropes but would now stand
35:34 firmly on its own it would have its own
35:36 message about Humanity's corruption and its
35:37 its
35:40 consequences seven even the children of
35:42 the forest gain their meaning in the
35:45 show they create the first white walkers
35:47 but are otherwise just victims of human
35:49 aggression who Harbor vague feelings of
35:51 ethnic resentment they are like some
35:53 kind of subverted version of tolkin
35:56 elves that which Galadriel foresees the
35:58 elves will become once the power of the
36:00 three rings will depart from Middle
36:02 Earth and they will diminish into a
36:04 rustic fol of Dell and Cave dwindling
36:07 slowly to forget and be forgotten
36:09 gradually disappearing from human
36:13 Ken instead the children of the forest
36:15 could be the instruments of God perhaps
36:17 somewhat echoing tolan's elves whose
36:20 fate is tied to that of Arda and to the
36:22 will of eru
36:24 iluvatar When the Children of the forest
36:26 create the others in the show it could
36:28 be framed as them doing the all Maker's
36:30 bidding by creating the Divine
36:32 punishment like the Deluge in the
36:35 Bible so if the white walkers win then
36:38 must everyone die no I wouldn't go so
36:41 far a proper ending would be one of
36:44 reconciliation one where earing Humanity
36:47 redeems itself through repentance for
36:50 example like this first the oil maker
36:53 reveals himself through bran perhaps as
36:55 some form of Overlord of the wewood net
36:57 and appoints bran as his represent itive
37:00 and adopted son blood Raven was supposed
37:03 to be this originally but circumstances
37:05 dictated that it is bran now because he
37:07 is not stuck Beyond the Wall grown into
37:10 a tree meanwhile the white walkers do
37:12 not care for the petty intrigues of the
37:14 venerable great houses of westos their
37:16 steady Advance is like a tide that
37:19 cannot be turned back the last great
37:22 hope of Westeros is Daenerys Azor a high
37:24 reborn returning with three fire
37:27 breathing dragons to rescue her home the
37:29 prophecies spoke of a prince that was
37:32 promised but it's actually a princess in
37:34 yet another subversion of sexist
37:37 expectations she falls not from a blade
37:40 of a white walker but to Palace Intrigue
37:42 stabbed perhaps by Jon Snow like in the
37:44 show truly the corruption and
37:46 selfishness of the Lords of Westeros
37:50 knows no bounds now picture a battle the
37:52 second Field of Fire where the Marshall
37:54 forces of the Lords of rock and reach
37:57 attempt to stem the undead onslaught AED
38:00 by the last surviving Dragon Chained and
38:02 bound to the ground so as to be
38:04 controllable and used as a gigantic
38:06 flamethrower its heavy chains prevent
38:09 its escape from the cold claws of the undead
38:10 undead
38:13 whites picture the P of King's Landing
38:15 when Queen Cersei thinks she can wipe
38:16 out the White Walker leadership all at
38:19 once by learing them into King's Landing
38:21 and then igniting all the wildf fire
38:24 hidden under the city but the others
38:26 learn of the scheme perhaps being able
38:28 to Eaves drop on Mer's Plans by having
38:30 access to the listening abilities of the
38:34 werewords wood of the red keep King's
38:36 Landing that den of corruption and
38:40 villainy burns for nothing all great
38:42 houses of Westeros fall one by one as
38:45 the second long night descends upon the
38:48 world as a final plot Arc in the story
38:50 bran leads those who would listen to him
38:53 to a refuge revealed to him in a green
38:56 dream by the O maker the arbor that
38:59 southern island off the coast of Oldtown
39:02 Harbert on the fittingly named Arbor the
39:04 repentant remnants of humanity survived
39:07 the long night their hearts and Faith
39:10 sustained by a dream of
39:13 spring anyway I hope that as soon as I
39:16 upload this video George RR Martin just
39:17 happens to make an announcement that he
39:19 overcame his writing difficulties that
39:22 he finished the Winds of Winter and that
