Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin writes about appreciating both flawed fictional characters and flawed historical figures in new blog post.
A Song of Ice and Fire George R.R. Martin is getting philosophical over on his Not a Blog, where he wrote a blog post about appreciating flawed fictional characters as well as flawed historical figures, compared Shakespeare and Gandhi, and put out a call for “more empathy, less anger.”
It’s a lot, but let’s focus on how he relates this to the characters he created for A Song of Ice and Fire: “Dwelling where I am now, deep in the heart of Westeros, I find myself surrounded by my characters, the children of my mind and heart and soul,” he wrote. “They are real to me, as I write them, and I struggle to make them real to my readers as well. All of them are flawed, from the best to the worst. They do heroic things, they do selfish things. Some are strong and some are weak, some smart and some stupid. The smartest may do stupid things. The bravest may have moments when their courage fails. Great harms may be done from the noblest motives, great good from motives vile and venal. Life is like that, and art should reflect that, if it is to remain true. Ours is a world of contradiction and unintended consequences.”
"Boromir is my favorite member of the Fellowship. The tragic hero. Shakespeare’s Brutus speaks to me as well (more so than the real one); the noblest Roman of them all, whose nobility — and gullibility — lead him to commit a vile crime. Captain Ahab, Wolf Larsen, Gatsby, Falstaff and Hotspur and Prince Hal (those plays are full of flawed characters, each with his own failings), Ebeneezer Scrooge and Sydney Carton, Gully Foyle, Roger’s Sam, Dr. Doom and Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Moreau, Morbius of Altair IV, Huckleberry Finn, Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain (but not Sir Galahad, so perfect, so empty) and Guinevere and Arthur and even Mordred, that little shit.. oh, the list is long. And when my reading turns to history, biography, memoirs, my response is much the same."
One of my favorite things about Martin’s books is the complexity of the characters, so I’m not surprised to see him extolling the grayer hues of the human condition. It’s also nice to hear him reiterate that he’s in the thick of writing The Winds of Winter, something he’s been doing more frequently of late.
That said, if you’re like me, you might be wondering what brought this on. Why the sudden thought-storm about humanity’s flawed nature?
Well, we don’t know, and it could be anything; maybe he wrote a particular juicy chapter of Winds and was inspired. But I can’t read this and not think of Martin getting into hot water over hosting the Hugo Awards a few weeks back. Many nominees and fans dinged him for, among other things, mispronouncing names and waxing lyrical about science fiction figures like John W. Campbell, who was A) an influential sci-fi writer and editor, and; B) an unrepentant bigot.
Basically, Martin was cancelled, and although he did respond directly, if I had to guess, I’d say this blog post was him further working through the fallout of that experience.
But again, we don’t know for sure. What do you make of the post, and the message Martin is trying to convey?
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