One of the things George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series is known for, is the tendency of the author to constantly kill off characters of all kinds. Nobody is really safe, from minor one-off characters to major ones that have been in the story since the beginning, and fans have already gotten used to this idea. It’s part of the charm of the series for many, but it looks like the newest entry in the line – “Winds of Winter” – could change that to some extent.
Work on the book has been coming along slowly but steadily, according to the various bits of information we occasionally get from Martin or his publisher. It seems like the author is having trouble putting everything together and he’s taken quite a long time to finish this book, leading some fans to believe that he’s preparing something more special this time.
But the reality seems to be that the author has simply hit a brick wall, and writer’s block has gotten to him. We can understand him too, considering the huge amount of attention that’s currently focused on him and his work, and Martin probably feels pressured to make sure that “Winds of Winter” is his best book to date.
Will toning down the violence in the new book really work in his favor though? As we pointed out above, fans of his series have gotten used to the idea of characters dying all the time, and at this point it’s pretty much expected that we’re going to see some important blood spilled. Nobody is safe, and that’s part of what makes reading Martin’s books so exciting, but the author might have gotten too attached to some of his characters for his own good.
The rumors do say that the new book will still be as dark and serious as the ones before it, on the other hand, so the lesser amounts of violence might be compensated with something else. Martin is quite skilled when it comes to putting his characters in difficult situations even without any physical component, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the new book focuses more on the emotional/psychological aspect of harming someone.
Those who’ve already seen the new season of “Game of Thrones” probably shouldn’t worry either, as the show had to take some detours from the original plot of the book. In the end, there are plenty of differences between the two and it’s worth going through both works for those who want to get the full picture. In the least, it’s implied that there will be some scenes exclusive to the book, and vice versa, and they could help add some context to things that we’ve already seen before. This could be part of the reason behind the delay of the new book too, as Martin might be going through the plot and making adjustments to integrate it with the TV show’s storyline in a better way.
There are some rumors claiming that the decision behind the lower death count in the new story was actually not made by Martin himself, but rather by the producers of “Game of Thrones”. This has been discussed by the community for some time, and even though it makes sense from a business perspective, it’s questionable how much they would be willing to go against one of the core features of their show.