- The writer experienced a significantly disappointing or underwhelming year.
George R.R. Martin, aged 75, has had a rough ride this year. The creator of the "Game of Thrones" universe shared his thoughts in a blog post about the tradition of Zozobra, a massive 15-meter puppet that's set ablaze annually in September during a festival in Santa Fe for spiritual cleansing. The event aims to banish "bad fortune, sadness, melancholy, and disappointment of the past year," according to Martin's writing. And with the events of 202X, he emphasized, "we could use that, more than ever."
Martin's Hardships
Martin attributed his struggles to politics: "It wasn't a fantastic year for anybody, with war everywhere and a surge of fascism..." But for him, personally, it was also "a pretty crappy year," he penned. "One filled with stress, anger, disputes, and losses."
He even hinted at addressing these issues later on. Seemingly, this would include the "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon": "I'm not exactly thrilled about the other blogs I need to write about 'House of the Dragon'... but I gotta do it, and I will. But not now."
The show, like "Game of Thrones," is adapted from Martin's novels, specifically his 2018 release "Fire & Blood". Martin also acts as a co-creator and executive producer. However, the extent of his control and decisions in the show remains unclear.
Martin's Opinion on "House of the Dragon"
Martin previously voiced his thoughts on the series during its second season's broadcast in his blog. And surprisingly, not all were negative. In a post from July, he commended the team for the outstanding computer-animated scene in the fourth episode - he believed it was unrivaled as the best dragon battle scene. Conversely, he criticized the series for illustrating dragons with four legs instead of the traditional two.
Despite his personal struggles with depression due to the tumultuous year, George R.R. Martin praised the fourth episode's dragon battle scene in "House of the Dragon," calling it the best he had seen, yet expressed dissatisfaction with the dragon's depiction having four legs instead of two.
The challenging year had taken a toll on Martin, leading him to express his struggles with stress, anger, disputes, and losses in his blog post.
