George RR Martin on Whether the Gods are Real in Game of Thrones

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Author George R. R. Martin Interview on the Gods of Westeros and more

[alexeiharp]

"What do we say to the God of writing?"
GRRM :"Not today."

[boredomgo]

Only one of the gods is actually real -- Tomorra, the God of Procrastination.

[educatedlaziness]

The impression I got was that the new gods were figures from a Legend that were Deified over time, while the old gods, the many faced God, and the Lord of Light were clearly present, but more mysterious, unknowable entities

[samgilley]

I do respect George for leaving so many things open to interpretation. It really adds depth to the world.

[lordsemen]

Fans : About the last two books...

George: you see there are two kinds of writers

[the_monkeypox_commander]

Resurrecting Dondarian, especially after being damn near chopped in half, would probably make me a believer

[playermartin]

Thanks for providing me with a healthy dose of escapism

[The.Nasty.]

Wow, that bit about existential loneliness is super deep.

George is right, we almost never reveal our complete selves to anyone.

We show people the side of us we want them to see, so nobody ever really fully understands you as a complete being.

[iwantsomecookies]

Beric Dondarrion: I’ve come back from death 5 times, each time leaving a part of my soul behind me in the infinite void..
Lem Lemoncloak: *bullshit*

[EricinAmerica]

I dunno, Ive never seen a sorceress give birth to a shadow baby in real life, or a drunk priest resurrect a man six different times...

[Mohammed-bdql]

Lord of light seems the most worship worthy in the GoT universe, he literally brings people back from the dead.

[nikgokuhil]

I like how George is sincere with his answers. He rarely gives short and superficial replies, he knows what is his answer to the question but he also knows that he needs to tell us where he is coming from and why he came to that answer, because without that even a truthful answer would cause misunderstandings and be dishonest.
He takes his time but he isnt negligent

[mrbad]

Imagine you are sitting talking to George for hours. I swear I'll never be bored

[petewerehere]

I appreciate how he's not afraid to put his simple, concise abstractions of human nature out into the world. It shows that he doesn't care to make things more convoluted than they need to be, or that he's trying to be seen as a genius. He just tries to get a sincere understanding of what's made people tick throughout history and make good stories out of it.

[mecurian]

I think he is genuinely stuck. He has cast the threads of the story so wide, that it is difficult to get to an end.

[Noone-of-your-Business]

7:00 - It was not called _"Dark Age"_ because it was a grim time to be alive (which most likely is also quite exaggerated and too subjective from our modern point of view), but because we have less written information about this time than some periods (and places) of antiquity. Because most of the writing was done in monasteries, there was little documentation of life outside the clerical perspective. "Dark" refers to historical information, not to living circumstances.

[Maladjester]

Heavily paraphrased, but this is one of my favorite moments in the books:
Davos: Your god isn't good. He's not about justice, mercy, healing, any of that. Neither are you.
Melisandre: Good and evil are children's daydreams. Your choice is the furious purifying flame of my god, or the eternal dark at the end of the world.
Davos: But....I I don't have to like it.

[iAmHuGs]

The more I listen to George RR Martin describe the world he imagined, the more I see how vibrant and creative his imagination really is. I feel like the last time I had an imagination even close to this was back when I was young child. Very few people have minds like this these days, especially since technology robs so many of us of our imaginations.

[robertmaybeth]

Some of the gods in GOT seem as real as any character - just based on the things they seem to do. "Lord of light" is the scariest, but also most effective god after all - the results of prayer, don't get more obvious when preists can bring people back from the dead! Also the "Old Gods" from the north, with the gods in the trees etc. also seem to have great power at times. But others, like "the 7" seem to have almost no effect at all, Catelyn Stark for one, prays to them often, over Ned's Old Gods and they never seem to do her much good, ever.

[morgan]

Before I start watching, I know the question very likely won't get the answer I want, because it is George answering and that is the exact reason I came here. Thank you George and man uploading these.