More highlights in 2017 GRRM Russian interviews (Spoilers Main)
Thanks to the wonderful post of u/chionehahhima, I've read all the interviews with the aid of google translator. Here're some other highlights that I noticed (I tried to correct most mistakes in the google translation, sorry if any still remains):
Q: Which house would you serve were you live in Westeros?
A: Okay, let's fantasize. Probably, I would belong to the Stark house, because, you know, I've lived with them for so long. Or, perhaps, I would be a Dornishman. After all, Dorne have a lot of spicy dishes, and I like it - I'm from New Mexico, and there are sharp peppers and much more. And there are hot women in Dorne, which is also good. So, perhaps I would like to become a Dornishman - I would live in the deserts, in the valleys of the Dornish rivers. But I think in my heart I'm still Stark.
Q: Do you regret that someone did not show as a POV?
A: Sometimes, yes. Although, I think that I have more than enough narratives (laughs) . Maybe even a little more than I need at this stage, and I need to kill a few characters. But I still regret most of all that I did not let Robb Stark be the main character in the early books. His death had already made a huge impression, but it could have had an even greater impact if throughout the whole history we saw a little more events with his eyes. Especially if they knew what happened to him in the westerlands, where he led his army and where he was wounded in the battle. He went out Jeyne Westerling, to whom he eventually married - and this, in turn, triggered a chain of events that led to the Red wedding. Of course, I'm here talking about the book, in the series everything goes a little differently. In the books, we learn about Robb, along with Cat in the chapters told from her POV. Robb came back and presented his new wife to his mother; we do not know what happened there, so for us it's like a bolt from the blue. And this is a very good scene, but if I gave Robb his own point of view, then the text could be even better. (Note: GRRM discussed Robb as POV in [FIL Guadalajara] (http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/15383) 8 months ago.)
Q: What is your personal response to the riddle of Varys about the nature of power?
A: I think Varys gave an answer. Power is what we think about it. Power is a shadow on the wall.
Q: If you describe ASOIAF in one word, then what kind of word will this be? Family, power, dragons, something else?
A: I think, power. Yes, power. My books are a conversation about authority and power. About how we receive it and how we manage it.
Q: To what extent should a fantasy writer devise physics, chemistry, biology of his world?
A: There is no instruction, everyone decides where the boundary lies. The exaggeration point is formed intuitively. Sometimes it's better not to delve into details - when you describe something vaguely, you're always right, and when you get into details, someone will say that you are wrong here and there. When you compose a fantasy, you need to be right about everything, otherwise the readers will ask you. I am convinced that I have made a mistake somewhere, although all the time I tried to either define everything clearly or leave the intended ambiguity. It is not allowed to destroy the illusion of probability. Although, of course, illusion remains an illusion. Let's take dragons. As you know, I wrote science fiction for many years and, let's say, fantasy with a science fiction backing. When I created my dragons, I thought about them carefully and made a few decisions that are more suited to SF than to fantasy. My dragons - two-legged, the other pair of limbs developed into their wings. From the heraldic point of view, they, generally speaking, are not dragons, but wyverns. On the other hand, all the best dragons are two-legged - say Smog in Peter Jackson's films or Vermithrax Pejorative of Dragonslayer. The two-legged dragon looks right, and the four-legged one looks stupid, it usually has wings on top, and it's not very clear how they are related to the body - does it have extra muscles? The wings of this dragon seem small, yet the two-legged can have wings with a huge scope. In addition, in our world - at least on the planet Earth - there are no animals with six limbs if we exclude insects. Birds and bats have two wings and two legs. In pterodactyls - animals that are closest to dragons, as we imagine them - there were also two wings in front and two legs behind. That's why I decided to make my dragons the same - that they seemed a little more real.
Then I started thinking about the fire. How to justify the animal's ability to exhale from the depths of the body? This can not be done, though Anne McCaffrey made a decent attempt in her Dragonriders of Pern novels. I decided that the fire must be accepted for faith. They are dragons, they breathe fire. How does it affect them? From this I took a reference point. Some sources describing dragons say that their interior is indifferent, in my opinion it is meaningless. On the contrary, my dragons are not cold. Inside them, fire burns constantly - smoke comes out of their nostrils. If you pierce the dragon's skin with a spear or arrow, boiling blood will come out. In this aspect, I tried to be realistic.
(Note: GRRM discussed his SF approach of dragons and named Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern best SF dragons in Eastercon in 2012.)
Q: Who is more cunning - Varys or Littlefinger?
A: Hmm. Probably Littlefinger.
(Note: GRRM discussed Littlefinger knew more about Varys than Varys about him in [FIL Guadalajara] (http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/15383) 8 months ago.)
Q: Which character's death was most important?
A: The death of Ned Stark is important. Before the events in Ice&Fire, the death of Rhaegar Targaryen is very important.
#St. Petersburg Q&A. Summary 1, Summary 2
Q: How old was Daenerys when she left the house with the red door, was it located close to the palace of the Sealord of Braavos?
A: That's a interesting question. But I don't think I'm going to answer it. There's a certain revelation about the red door that will come into the books that I have yet to write. So we'll keep an eye to it.
(Note: from the app we know Dany was 5 years old when Willem Darry got sick.)
Q: Will Jorah ever get out of the friendzone?
A: I would not bet on it.
Q: What inspired you to create Ramsay Snow?
A: I needed something to bite Theon in the ass. Ramsay was created for Theon’s storyline, and he was first presented as a prisoner and a servant and then rises to a high position while Theon becomes his prisoner and servant.
Long discussion on the historical prototypes of Littlefinger. George rejected the assumptions of those present and said that it was more likely to draw parallels with a certain figure from the time of Henry VIII Tudor, but the name flew from his mind. Then someone joked: "Google it!" And George Martin actually took his phone to use the search engine, and then triumphantly informed us that he had in mind Thomas Cromwell, who, too, although he was a man of extremely low background, made a brilliant political career. Then the writer, not without some vampirism, reminded us of the brutal execution of Cromwell, when an inexperienced butcher cut off his head only from the attempt of an attempt, and laughed at my remark that it seems that some of the characters in his own books happened the same.
##PS. It is mentioned they had a complete audio recording of the St. Petersburg Q&A in the Russian fansite 7kingdoms.ru. I registered, but still lack the permission to view the content. Could anyone familiar with the site or Russian language help me to get the recording?
##Update: thanks to u/BaelBard, I got part of the audio recording of the St. Petersburg Q&A. See the major update on the house with the red door. More will be updated once I finished the recording.
Posted Mar 19, 2018, 5:02 PM UTC · edited