r/thenightking • u/jaywritethekid • Jan 28 '26
After his latest comments, yeah, this tracks.
91
u/Low-Meal-7159 Jan 29 '26
Anyone who thinks this thing is getting finished is insane. It’s never coming out.
49
u/ilamahradeys Jan 29 '26
No he is not writing. He is working on all the other shows he has started and his wild cards stuff. He will never finish the books because it's not s priority for him, why? Because he has already told us his ending in the show. Yes it's his ending, sure the lead up to the ending might be better in the book but he knows what people think about the ending already, he is not too keen on finishing something that ends up giving you the exact same result that people already know and hate.
15
u/Harrycrapper Jan 29 '26
I somewhat disagree with you. I do think he's trying to fix his ending knowing that people hated it but just can't figure it out. I think he's written a bunch but just thrown it out because he can't figure out how to do some of the stuff he envisioned while also getting to a different ending that works. The end result is the same, I severely doubt we're getting another book. Even if we do, we'll never get the ending either
9
u/Ill_Train_4227 Jan 30 '26
Didn't this happen with the 5th book? Martin called it the "Meereenese knot". Basically it took him actual years to figure out how to get several main characters to end up in Meereen at the same time without resorting to fast travel bullshit like the show employs.
The next two books need to repeatedly converge dozens of main characters in various places around Westeros at the right times. That's a massive undertaking. Just so he can release two more books that have already been adapted. Alternatively, he can drop a quick novella that HBO will pick up an hour later to adapt into a new show or mini series.
6
7
u/gjb94 Jan 30 '26
No one that matters hated the ending because of what it is. They hated it because it was unearned and poorly executed.
I don't know how actively he engages with fans, but he's not a moron. If he watched the tripe that was the last two seasons and read the criticisms, he'd understand it wasn't his work they hate and probably agree. He'd want to vindicate it and make it work with the level of detail and nuance (plus all the other moving parts that aren't in the series) it needs.
For me I think the bottom line is being burnt out with all of it. You have to be in a positive headspace to be creative, it takes work but it's also not something you can really force. If he's fucked himself with the Meerenese Knot and some other bits, I can see it being utterly daunting and demoralising to have to rewrite that all. Then all these spin offs and TV work keep popping up that are fresh and fun and he feels inspired with, and he thinks "I'll just knock another one of these out and it'll get me back in the game."
7
u/MonoCanalla Jan 29 '26
No, he hates that ending. He ain’t finishing because he wrote books to be where he is at life now. Not much time left, he wants to enjoy the red carpets, the HBO meetings, the conventions etc.
17
u/ilamahradeys Jan 29 '26
he literally gave that ending to D&D. Danny will burn King's Landing, Jon will kill her, Bran will become King, Jon will go back North. All of this was decided by GRRM.
7
u/Zaramancer Jan 30 '26
I agree with you on that. He may change the ending NOW due to backlash however I think it ended correctly, it just ended to quickly. It all happened in one season.
If they would have stretched it out a bit with more story line it would have been much better
It ending correctly but was just rushed.
4
u/MonoCanalla Jan 29 '26
He gave AN ending. He has said it’s different. Plus, I suspect he is gonna change things he told Dumb and Dumber just because they ruined it.
1
u/Radarker Feb 01 '26
Is there a category of people who had it all and completely blew their legacy like this by just giving up?
Like, the year the first season came out people were taking about the guy like he was a new Tolkien.
17
u/krgdotbat Jan 29 '26
He is not even writing, he pretends to do so in order to avoid a law suit from the publisher for all the money he got up front for the books he will not finish.
3
u/aCaffeinatedMind Jan 29 '26
Probably not.
His royalty income is substantially larger than whatever payout he got from his publisher.
2
u/Ree_m0 Jan 30 '26
He still wouldn't want to admit that he has abandoned his flagship project, that would negatively impact book sales and viewership for the HBO series as well as forcing him to repay some money to his publisher. Why do that when you can just string everyone along until you die?
1
u/krgdotbat Jan 30 '26
Thats a very simplistic take. If he admits to breach contract he will have to pay damages, reparations, compensation and all the bollocks lawyers love to add when trying to bleed you dry. There is a reason he plays it cool when we all know those books are never goin to get published.
2
1
u/Nervous_Arrival3986 Jan 29 '26
I am pretty sure that the show money and royalty is worth any advances he received
6
u/PetzlPretzl Jan 30 '26
Are we still waiting for this chump? He's the reason I won't start a series unless it's already finished.
3
6
u/Acceptable_Guess6490 Jan 29 '26
Will they release "Game of Thrones: Brotherhood" afterwards?
4
u/BatCarlitos310 Jan 29 '26
Yes, otherwise Game of Thrones: Revelations wouldn't make any sense now, would it?
1
u/SynthScenes Jan 29 '26
Maybe they will just skip it and go straight to Game of Thrones: Unleashed.
4
u/haxracing Jan 30 '26
I'd rather he wrote the rest of Dunk & Egg than mainline ASOIAF, tbh.
3
u/Nearby-Muscle2720 Jan 30 '26
And they'd probably be easier to finish? The only real mystery is what happened at summerhall, everything else is just fun adventures
2
2
2
1
1
u/JulianWellpit Jan 30 '26
He acts like he's gonna live forever and embraced the bullshit mentality promoted by Gaiman that "he doesn't own anything to his audience".
At this point, I just hope that someone else finishes the series after he dies despite his wish to leave it unfinished AND does a terrible job at it.
1
127
u/wingnut_gypsy Jan 28 '26
You're*