A Song of Ice and Fire first came into the public consciousness in 1996 with the release of the first book in the series, A Game of Thrones. Since then, the series has spawned four sequel novels, multiple short stories and novellas set within the world, guidebooks, a highly successful TV adaptation, and two additional spinoff series. It's safe to say that fans have been loving Westeros since the 90s, learning everything they possibly can about it in the process.
But how well do fans know the man who created it all? George R.R. Martin, a modern titan of fantasy fiction, is responsible for developing the world fans have been exploring for decades. In honor of his life's work, here's five facts about Martin himself so you can get to know him as well as you know his characters.
1. He's a big football fan, and he's worked it into his books
Like many Americans, Martin is a HUGE fan of football. Having been born in New Jersey, not too far from NYC, he remains as devoted to his two favorite teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets, as Melisandre is to the Lord of Light. Many football related posts populate his famous Not a Blog as he updates readers on his thoughts about each NFL season.
In addition to simply loving the sport, Martin's love of of football has influenced A Song of Ice and Fire. He has compared some of the series' villains, such as the ultra wealthy House Lannister, to his least favorite teams, the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots. Martin has even gone so far as to name a character Ser Patrek after a friend of his who roots for the Cowboys — Patrick St. Denis of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist — before brutally killing Ser Patrek off when a giant rips him apart after Martin's team ended up with a worse record that season.
2. He'll always have Parris
Back in 2011, Martin married Parris McBride. The two have lived together long before their marriage, since 1981. They currently reside in Santa Fe, New Mexico, supporting several local businesses and charities.
There has been a long lasting, humorous fan rumor involving Parris' influence over the series. Allegedly, Parris has threatened to leave George if he ever kills off her favorite character, Arya Stark. If this is true, this likely means Arya is safe. Ironically, after the Red Wedding took out half the family, a marriage may have just saved a Stark's life.
3. He put the 'vision' in 'television'
While Martin is now synonymous with A Song of Ice and Fire, before his magnum opus took the world by storm, he was best known as a TV writer. Before Game of Thrones swept the Emmys year after year, Martin actually earned his first nominations back in the late 80s for his work on Beauty and the Beast — not the Disney film, but the modern day retelling of the classic fairy tale starring Ron Pearlman. There, he met actor Roy Dotrice, who would go on to narrate the A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks.
Martin ultimately left television to return to writing novels after ten years, growing frustrated that the writers lacked control over the story in favor of the networks themselves. Ironically, Martin's work would one day change the face of television forever.
4. A place in comic con history
As a lifelong collector of comic books and fan of all things nerdy, Martin cemented his place in geek history long before A Song of Ice and Fire hit the shelves. Back in 1964, Martin became the first person to sign up for the inaugural New York Comic Con. The event has since become a massive success, and an annual tradition, bringing fans from around the world together.
Appropriately, New York Comic Con has featured several Game of Thrones related guests throughout the years. Martin himself attended a panel at last year's convention to promote the then upcoming first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, along with showrunner Ira Parker and series stars Peter Claffey (Ser Duncan the Tall/"Dunk") and Dexter Sol Ansell (Prince Aegon Targaryen/"Egg"). As a guest at the very tradition he helped start, Martin earned a full circle moment.
5. George the Gardener
Martin famously believes that there are two types of writers: The architects and the gardeners. As he puts it, the architects have every detail planned out when they begin writing process. An architect knows exactly what story they want to tell and how they want to tell it before they even write their first page.
The gardeners, meanwhile, are more adaptable, planting the seeds of their stories and tending to whatever comes from those initial seeds. Martin considers himself a gardener, often having to change his work midway through his writing process because his ideas grew into something unexpected. While this accounts for some of his infamously slow writing speed, it also accounts for the high quality, thoughtfulness, and maturity of his work. Despite the wait for The Winds of Winter, this writer fully trusts that Martin will eventually deliver a fantastic sixth book because he writes true to his own style.
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