Thread by @IWTKQuiz

A Game of Thrones - the first book in GRR Martin’s epic saga A song of Ice and Fire - came out in August 1996.

@GRRMspeaking originally planned this as a trilogy, but the scope of the work forced him to expand it to a 7 book series. The last two books are yet to be published.

The series was a reaction to Tolkien inspired fantasy tropes.

Martin wanted to ask “was Aragorn a good king? What were his tax laws like? Does a good warrior make a good king?”

Here is the original letter that GRRM wrote to the publisher outlining the series (all image credits to @Waterstones)

If you are not interested in reading typed letters from 30 years back, the good folks @businessinsider have transcribed the letter here:

insider.com/game-of-throne…

While the books and the hit HBO show have a ridiculous following. The series is particularly (in)famous for fan theories. Some of the fan theories are, well, ummm, I.N.S.A.N.E

Exhibit 1) All the Brandon Stark’s or as the redditor observant_hobo calls it “All-Bran Serial” theory.

This is based on one of the several stories that Old Nan tells Brandon Stark: reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comme…

Exhibit 2) Jojen Paste Theory: This is about Jojen Reed who unfortunately occupies a minor place in the shows, but is fairly important in the books. This theory involves blood sacrifice, a paste that Brandon Stark consumes and more!

watchersonthewall.com/theories-ice-f….

Exhibit 3) Lord Varys is a mermaid. Yes you read that right. We cannot even explain this so please read wikiofthrones.com/6568/game-of-t…

Exhibit 4) The Bolt-On Theory ie. Roose Bolton is an immortal skin shifting vampire! The crux of the theory is that the Boltons are vampire Lords and that there has only been one Bolton patriarch.

One of the primary reasons cited is the frequent leeching that Roose Bolton undergoes in the books to remove bad blood. #ok But if this floats your boat these two reddit threads indulge in paralysis by analysis!

reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comme…

For many such fan theories and some amazing discussions head over to reddit.com/r/pureasoiaf where ONLY the books are discussed and reddit.com/r/asoiaf where the books, the show, and everything in between are discussed.

While a lot of ink/youtube snark has been directed towards GRRM for not finishing A song of Ice and Fire.

We would like to point you to @neilhimself’s immortal words “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.”

We agree with you wholeheartedly @neilhimself.

Read the full article here:
journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitl…

Finally, the entire series has spawned an industry of nerd-related collectibles and spin-offs: these include coins, limited edition books, box sets, maps, signed original art, art prints, video games, board games, annual calendar, cookbooks etc all set in the world of ASOIAF.

Here is a peek into the @SubPress signed limited edition (limited to 500 copies) of A Game of Thrones that we are EXCITED to own.

You can say, we put this 🧵only to show these off.

Some of the content in these were based on discussions with Satyajit Chetri, who was a panelist on our Hollywood quiz (link here). Do read his blogpost on his favourite unfinished book series.

beatzo.net/blog/2019/12/m…