George R.R. Martin promotes new book in New York City

There were Tyrell tee-shirts. There were women holding action figures. There were people who reportedly drove over 10 hours. And there was a lot of excitement at the 92Y last night, as dozens of fans gathered in New York City to witness what has been announced as George R.R. Martin’s only US appearance this year. The chance to hear one of my favorite authors read live, not to mention a book signing, and all conveniently located in my city? There was no way I wasn’t going to make it out for this event. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

Although Martin was there to read exclusively from his new book The World of Ice and Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones, he did make reference to some secrets that could be revealed in our favorite series. Make no mistake, however, a large portion of the night was spent talking about The World of Ice and Fire, discussing the development behind the book and getting a peek at some of the gorgeous art gracing the pages of Martin’s new tome.

Martin and moderator Laura Miller, who talked about visiting Martin at his home in Santa Fe, spoke at length about Martin’s dedication to his fantasy world. “All around the house you can find scenes of battles…his head is full of people. Lots and lots and lots of people,” Miller joked, also noting how there’s no shortage of models and figures and shelves of jousting knights. This led into a conversation about how The World of Ice and Fire came into being, with Martin giving credit where credit is due: the fans, many of whom wrote in over the years wanting to know more about the histories of their favorite families.

Martin called out two fans in particular: Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson from Sweden (and founders of Westeros.org), who started writing to the author in the mid-90’s when the books first began gaining steam. Enthused by their “obsessive knowledge,” Martin started to entertain the idea of a book based on the history of his world, much like Tolkien — who, Martin claimed, developed modern epic fantasy with his creation of not just Middle Earth, but with his genealogies, appendices and histories that made the world as complex as the real worlds of Sweden or Ireland or England.

With help from Elio and Linda, Martin began the arduous task of compiling backstories, ages, dates, names and every single piece of history that could be culled from A Song of Ice and Fire. While Elio and Linda did most of the research and provided him with approximately 70,000 words worth of text, Martin said that he “wrote about 3,000 words of sidebar,” before noting that the book is like a gift to fans with its geographical history and background of civilizations.

Assisted by photographs of the gorgeous art that appears in his book, Martin talked about certain events of characters that were instrumental to his series, or that he truly loved — including Aegon the Conqueror on the back of a dragon, the Battle of the Trident with Robert Baratheon fighting Prince Rhaegar (ultimately one of the key scenes that leads into the events of Game of Thrones, as the Mad King Aerys is slain by Jaime Lannister not long after), the Iron Throne, the Wall, and the Red Keep. He humorously brought up questions he’s received from readers, such as: could Drogon beat The Hobbit‘s Smaug in battle? (The short answer: no, because Drogon is a very young dragon and Smaug is gigantic. And talks.) Through each of the photos, Martin talked intensely about the histories surrounding each event or landmark, his influences and his thoughts when he was creating them in his head.

The night wasn’t without some personal, fun insights into Martin’s head that transcended his creative ideas. When asked where in Westeros he would like to live, he threw out Casterly Rock (because of the gold) and Dorne (spicy food “and great spicy women”) before admitting he would rather just stay in Santa Fe, because of modern medicine and the NFL on Sunday (of course.) He also talked about how it feels to see his locations come alive on the HBO series versus what he’s originally imagined…and noted that while it’s often not easy when things are different, sometimes they’re better than he originally thought, like the Moon Door.

About halfway through the night, Miller collected some question cards from both the online and in-person audience, and let Martin take the reigns. Perhaps surprisingly (or not surprisingly, as not every question was asked) there was little about specific Game of Thrones plotlines. Instead, readers were interested in more hard-hitting questions, such as who the inspiration was for Stannis (Tiberius Caesar as portrayed by George Baker in The BBC’s I, Claudius) and how culture, ethnicity and religion play a role in Martin’s characters (according to Martin, there’s no specific thought to separate ethnicity from religion in Westeros…and ultimately, it doesn’t matter.) Of course, there were some lighter questions thrown in, such as what the author would use for his own house and sigil. Martin admitted he once designed a shield for himself in the early days of the book, and in the sigil, he put some references to some of his previous works. But that, of course, was then. So what would he put now?

“Deadlines,” Martin deadpanned, to the delight of the audience.

One question that did make the famous writer squirm: if birthing a dragon requires a human sacrifice. “There are clues in the books,” Martin hedged after hesitating. “So I think I’m going to dodge that one right now.” And that question wasn’t the only response to illicit secretive murmuring. When asked how he decided on the name of Hodor, Martin responded, “I don’t know, you have to keep reading.” Hmmm.

It was both interesting and insightful to be in the presence of the renowned author, and especially one that rarely gets to speak so candidly like this about his work. The atmosphere was energized and the enthusiasm was clear, but perhaps the tone of the night can be best summed up by the question Miller posed to Martin after talking about Ned Stark: “Do you miss characters when they’re gone?”

“I do miss them,” Martin replied. “Some of them…as I said in the book, ‘all men must die.”’

• Published on 10/27/2014 at 8:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/27/2014 at 8:00 AM CDT