The Lord Of Winterfell Would Always Be

Turtles Have Always Been My Sigil, I Suppose. When I Was A Kid, Growing Up In Bayonne, Nj, I Lived In A Federal Housing Project, And We Were Not Allowed To Have A Dog Or Cats. The Only Pets I Could Have Were Turtles. So, I Had An Entire Toy Castle Filled With Dime-store Turtles. I Gave Them All Names, And Since They Were Living In A Toy Castle, I Decided They Were All Knights And Kingsand I Made Up Stories About How They Killed Each Other And Betrayed Each Other And Fought For The Kingdom. So, Game Of Thrones, Actually Began With Turtles. I Decided Later To Recast It With Actual Human Beings.

I Love Fantasy. I Grew Up Reading Fantasy. But, I Wanted To Put A Somewhat Different Spin On It. The Whole Trope Of Absolute Good Versus Absolute Evil, Which Was Wonderful In The Hands Of J.r. Tolkien, Became Cliche And Rote In The Hands Of The Many Tolkien Imitators That Followed.

All Fiction, If It's Successful, Is Going To Appeal To The Emotions. Emotion Is Really What Fiction Is All About. That's Not To Say Fiction Can't Be Thoughtful, Or Present Some Interesting Or Provocative Ideas To Make Us Think. But If You Want To Present An Intellectual Argument, Nonfiction Is A Better Tool. You Can Drive A Nail With A Shoe But A Hammer Is A Better Tool For That. But Fiction Is About Emotional Resonance, About Making Us Feel Things On A Primal And Visceral Level.

Now I Understand Why King Stannis Let The Wildlings Through The Wall. He Means For Us To Eat Them.

We Were King’s Men, Knights, And Heroes . . . But Some Knights Are Dark And Full Of Terror, My Lady. War Makes Monsters Of Us All.” “are You Saying You Are Monsters?” “i Am Saying We Are Human. You Are Not The Only One With Wounds, Lady Brienne