George R.R. Martin considered giving the Targaryens psionic powers

Probably the most iconic thing to come out of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is the dragons. These massive beasts are incredibly memorable. Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons were some of the most beloved characters on Game of Thrones, and now HBO is making a whole new spinoff based entirely around the Targaryens: House of the Dragon.

But in an early draft of his story, Martin didn’t include dragons at all, as he explained during an interview with filmmaker Kevin Smith a few months back:

“There was a very early stage of me writing Game of Thrones where I thought I would not have literal dragons,” Martin said. In this version, each house would still have a sigil, and the Targaryens would still be identified with dragons, but not because they literally rode the things. “Maybe the Targaryens had some kind of psionic power. They were like pyromancers and they could manifest blasts of flame mentally like in Firestarter or something like that, and that’s why they were identified with dragons but there would be no literal dragons.”

Eventually Martin shared his idea with author Phyllis Eisenstein, who advised him to include actual dragons. “That was a good note,” he said. Agreed.

George R.R. Martin doesn’t consider this “a valid criticism” of A Song of Ice and Fire

Martin also talked a bit about a common criticism he gets about A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s well-known that Martin bases his books off actual medieval history, just with the names changed and everything dialed up to 11. But apparently, some fans take issue with how grounded everything is and want Martin to make his fantasy more fantastical.

“‘Well, you have dragons. If you have dragons, you can change everything else too. Why can’t people fly just by farting?'” Martin said, imitating some of the critiques he gets. “I don’t consider that a valid criticism.”

Agreed, although there might be something to ‘flying by farting’ idea. Spinoff?

George R.R. Martin: Fan fiction is “basically copyright infringement”

The interview is pretty long, and Martin drops a lot of interesting tidbits. Here are a few that have nothing to do with his original plans for the Targaryens:

• One of the “R”s in “George R.R. Martin” stands for his confirmation name. Martin is a lapsed Catholic.
• Martin tells a funny story about a time when he was getting more popular and he starting to inadvertently mix together standard things he would sign in books fans brought him, stuff like “Winter Is Coming” and “Best wishes.” He found himself writing stuff like “Wishes is coming” and “Best winters.”
• Martin again makes his position on fan fiction clear: “If any of you don’t know what fan fiction is, it’s basically copyright infringement.”
• A glimpse inside Martin’s life: “You would probably be seeing me on an episode of Hoarders, if not for the fact that I’ve made a fair amount of money so I can keep buying additional houses to keep my stuff in.”

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