George R.R. Martin Talks About How LORD OF THE RINGS Will Impact His GAME OF THRONES Ending

Author George R.R. Martin is hard at work trying to finish The Winds of Winter, the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire saga that's the basis for HBO's hit show Game of Thrones. With the show finally about to overtake what he's written in the books so far, fans are naturally wondering about the ending to the whole story, which began back in 1996. In a new interview with The Observer, Martin was asked about the ending of his novel series and whether or not it will end with some kind of "horrible apocalypse," and he talked about his intentions for bringing the story to a close:

I haven’t written the ending yet, so I don’t know, but no. That’s certainly not my intent. I’ve said before that the tone of the ending that I’m going for is bittersweet. I mean, it’s no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended Lord of the Rings. It ends with victory, but it’s a bittersweet victory. Frodo is never whole again, and he goes away to the Undying Lands, and the other people live their lives. And the scouring of the Shire—brilliant piece of work, which I didn’t understand when I was 13 years old: “Why is this here? The story’s over?” But every time I read it I understand the brilliance of that segment more and more. All I can say is that’s the kind of tone I will be aiming for. Whether I achieve it or not, that will be up to people like you and my readers to judge.

I want to be clear that Martin is just talking about the ending of A Song of Ice and Fire, not necessarily the ending of HBO's Game of Thrones, though there's a chance they could be one and the same. He's reportedly told showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss the broad strokes of how the books will end so they can move toward an ending with their show, but I'm wondering if he's going to save the "real" ending for his books. I can't imagine the ending we'll see on TV will be exactly the same as how it plays in the books, just because the TV ending will likely come much earlier than the ending of the novels, even taking into account the potential for more seasons that would give him more time to finish the final book. Time will tell, I suppose, but in the meantime, do you think the show and the books will end the same way?

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