George R.R. Martin on direwolves, charity, and killing off characters
Wolves were the subject of discussion, in more ways than one, at a recent event George R.R. Martin hosted at Jean Cocteau Cinema in New Mexico. Martin was hosting an event to present the checks for his Prizeo charity recipients. During the event, he spoke about the importance of charity, the thought process behind the high body count of A Song of Ice and Fire, the special Prizeo donation prize of becoming a killed-off character in the upcoming books, and a few choice words about direwolves. (Spoilers for the books ahead!)
At the event, where Martin presented his Prizeo receipients (The Food Bank of New Mexico and the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary) with their checks, he was interviewed by Mashable about a wide variety of subjects. Martin, naturally, is enthusiastic about his chosen charities, with the Food Depot able to provide 700,00 meals to New Mexico citizens and the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary hopefully able to build a larger habitat for the rescue wolves and wolfdogs in their care. (Here’s one such creature, named “Akela”.)
The key A Song of Ice and Fire quote is at the end, after he talks a little about how he came up with the direwolves as the sigil for House Stark. He then discussed more wolf stuff that readers may know about but could be new to viewers: “Arya’s wolf, Nymeria, in particular, will play an important role. ‘You know, I don’t like to give things away.’ says Martin, a grin spreading across his face. ‘But you don’t hang a giant wolf pack on the wall unless you intend to use it.'” Whoa. We really haven’t seen the last of Nymeria, then.
Mashable also talked to Martin about his tendency to, uh, kill off characters, and he’s got a pretty fantastic response to that as well:
“In a lot of the more traditional fantasies, you look at the end and hundreds of thousands of people have died but they’re like, extras,” he says. “They’re bit players, they’re nameless characters who rush in and then later they say, ‘Oh yes, 10,000 men died in this battle.’ But none of the six guys that you care about died. That’s where I try to shake things up a little. If you’re going to put your characters in peril, there should be fear.”
This strongly reminds me of the various messengers in Shakespeare’s plays, prattling on about epic off-stage battles where countless people die, none of whom are of any import to the drama at hand. Of course, the top three donors to the Prizeo won the honor of being written into The Winds of Winter only to be killed off (incidentally, Mashable had the most direct headline on this when it was first repoted), and as there are two major battles coming up in the books, it’s unlikely the bloodshed of the series will subside anytime soon.
But hey, more direwolf action! If you want a quick refresher on where the direwolves are in Game of Thrones, or if you’re interested in how the direwolf depictions differ in the show compared to the books, this video from Youtube channel Emergency Awesome has you covered.
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