George R.R. Martin weighs in on Game of Thrones vs Lord of the Rings

George R.R. Martin may be spending most of his time working on The Winds of Winter, but he’s always got time to give an opinion on the state of fantasy TV. The first-ever Santa Fe Literary Festival took place over the weekend, and since Martin is one of the city’s most celebrated residents, naturally he made an appearance.

Martin spoke to The Independent ahead of the Festival on Sunday, and got to talking about the supposed “rivalry” between HBO’s House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones successor show based on Martin’s book Fire & Blood; and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings prequel show The Rings of Power, which is based on the appendices of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels.

“It’s kind of a weird deal, as you know. Amazon bought Tolkien, but they didn’t actually get any of the books,” Martin explained. “They didn’t get Lord of the Rings, they didn’t get The Hobbit, they didn’t even get The Silmarillion. I don’t think they got Farmer Giles of Ham or Leaf by Niggle, but they got the appendices, I guess, and they’re constructing a Second Age story about that. There’s a lot of myth about that, so it’ll be interesting to see what they did.”

Martin is indeed correct about this; Amazon does not have the rights to produce a TV show based on any of Tolkien’s actual novels, not even Farmer Giles of Ham, a comedic medieval fable Tolkien wrote about a farmer named Giles who rises to prominence after meeting a tricky dragon named Chrysophylax. Now that would be a deep cut show. Where’s our Farm Giles of Ham universe, Amazon?

“If [The Rings of Power wins] six Emmys, and I hope they do, I hope [House of the Dragon wins] seven”

Ever since it was announced that House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power would be premiering within a few weeks of each other, the internet has been aswirl with various takes on the rivalry between the shows. (We’re no exception; we did a whole podcast episode about it.) Martin has some thoughts, as well.

“I know a lot of articles, the minute the dates were announced, it’s: ‘Oh, the battle for fantasy supremacy. It’s Rings of Power versus House of Dragon, who will win?’ I don’t know why they always have to do that,” Martin said.

Despite wondering about why the media has to pit the shows against each other, Martin does hope that House of the Dragon wins the rumble. “I hope both shows succeed. I’m competitive enough. I hope we succeed more. If they win six Emmys, and I hope they do, I hope we win seven. But nonetheless, it’s good for fantasy. I love fantasy. I love science fiction. I want more shows on television.”

Hear hear.

House of the Dragon premieres August 21 on HBO and HBO Max. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power drops September 2 on Amazon. Who will emerge victorious? In the game of television, you win or you get cancelled.

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