George R.R. Martin, the Man Who Already Knows the Ending of Game of Thrones, Doesn’t Get the Concept of “Spoilers”

Easy for you to say, George, easy for you to say…

Speaking with folks on the red carpet in San Francisco, The Verge got on the topic of spoilers with George R.R. Martin. Perhaps because of the recent revelation that the HBO series would indeed wind up spoiling some of his plots from A Song of Ice and Fire before fans can read the rest of the books.

Here’s how Martin discussed it with The Verge:

“This whole concept of spoilers is one that I’ve never gotten,” he says. “Yes, there’s a pleasure when you’re reading a book, or watching a television show — What will happen next? Who will win? Who will lose? But that is by no means the only reason to watch a movie or a television show. It’s not the only reason to read a book.”

I thought Martin had made his point, but he was just warming up. “I read a lot of historical fiction, you know? I know who won the Civil War — it’s not a spoiler to me. But I can still enjoy Gettysburg, even though I know how the battle came out. I can still enjoy historical fiction about the Wars of the Roses, even though I know who won the Wars of the Roses. And for that matter, I still enjoy watching Citizen Kane every few years even though I know ‘Rosebud’ is the sled. So there — I just gave a terrible spoiler to all the people who haven’t seen Citizen Kane. Rosebud is the sled, but nonetheless, you should still watch Citizen Kane, because it’s incredible!” Martin laughed a deep, satisfied laugh, and continued down the black carpet.

I find it odd Martin would compare fiction to non-fiction in this particular discussion. Of course you can’t have spoilers for history! I totally respect those who don’t care about spoilers in general, even if it makes zero sense to me personally (and apparently increases enjoyment of a thing for some people), but not understanding why people wouldn’t want to know details or the ending of a piece of fiction they’ve been devoting themselves to years? Come on.

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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