Not finishing A Song of Ice and Fire is the ultimate subversion of expectations

 

A Song of Ice and Fire could have been one of the greatest stories ever told. It found its way onto television via HBO and the world got to witness great story telling in the form of Game of Thrones. For four seasons the world was captivated by the world that George RR Martin had built. We felt like we knew the characters on our screens. We cried for Rob at the Red Wedding and grieved when Ned Stark got beheaded. We felt a mixture of joy and sadness when the wicked Joffrey choked to death. And when David Benioff and Dan Weiss ran out of book material the show became a parody of itself and lost its way. Game of Thrones became all about "subverting expectations" just like George Martin had done to the fantasy genre. George Martin did not want to have heroes in white and villains in black. He wanted morally ambiguous characters where good does not triumph over evil. And thus Game of Thrones became a caricature of that staple. From season 5 to the horrid finale it was all about giving viewers something they did not expect. So we got to see the rape of Sansa, Jaime and Cersei dying under a ton of bricks, Jon killing Daenerys and ultimately Bran becoming king of the Seven kingdoms. I cant blame Dan and David for making a mess of the series when the writer of the story himself is failing to finish the books.

Perhaps George Martin is a fraud and an overrated writer. Maybe he was just a glorified screenwriter who got lucky and stumbled into a great story. Or it could be that George is just a lazy son of a bitch. All he wanted was the fame and money and now that he has it, he does not care about the fans or his magnum opus. Maybe George wrote himself into a corner by adding a host of unnecessary plots and characters and now he has dug himself into a hole and is entangled in plots he cannot unravel. Whatever the reason for his failure to finish the books maybe the fault ultimately lies with the publisher and editor. Why didn't the editor tell George to cut out all the characters and plots and stick to the story? Maybe the publisher should have insisted on George finishing the story or they would give it to someone else to finish it. 

If I was George RR Martin, I would give up on trying to break the norms and attempting to reconstruct the fantasy genre. I would have Jon Snow defeat the Night King, marry Daenerys Targaryen, sit on the Iron Throne and live happily ever after. Everyone likes a happy ending.  But George Martin does not want to do that. He want to recreate the wheel. He wants to subvert expectations.  Unfortunately, that will lead to him not finishing A Song of Ice and Fire which would be the ultimate subversion of expectations.