"Winter is Coming." At least that's what we have been told for the last four years from "Game of Thrones" architect George R.R. Martin.
If there is anything that fans of the HBO series have learned, it is that we cannot get too attached to any character. The reason? The characters in the "Game of Thrones" canon are all expendable, and that definitely goes for the characters that make up the final two "Song of Ice and Fire" books that Martin is hard at work on.
At an event at the Freemason's Hall in London on Tuesday (via BuzzFeed), Martin told the crowd, "I have a large number of important characters who I switch between to tell the entirety of the story, and that limits who I can kill." He continued, "The viewpoint characters are meeting up with each other and being in the same point at the same time, which gives me a lot more flexibility for killing people."
As the show continues to gain viewers and hardcore followers that tune in religiously on Sunday nights, Martin seems to have bigger plans for the characters that make up Westeros. If the show has taught us anything, it is that no one is safe no matter how big or small the character. While fans await just who Martin will off in the coming season, the anxiety awaits as fans wait for the next book's release. Because of the difference between the books and the TV show, fans of both are excited at the surprises that Martin holds for his minions of fans.
"Sometimes there’s only one character who’s my eye in a particular location, and if I kill that character everything going on in that particular subplot is going to be lost. The way my books are structured, everyone was together, then they all went their separate ways and the story deltas out like that," said the author.
The passion and love for the characters that Martin has crafted does not seem to come into account when it is time for the axe. It is more like the popular and beloved or hated the character, the more they are in danger of being "x'd" out of the books and then visually on the show. For those that do not read the books, fans of the show are in the dark on just who is going to perish season to season.
