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@Umlaut Too fat, too old, too lazy, and most of all he realized he wrote himself into a corner. He can't bring the thing to a satisfying conclusion without betraying his initial vision. You can't really make a story people will end up being happy with if you're a perverted, bitter materialist with a hate boner for Christianity and Tolkien.

He set out to make a story that refuted ideas like honor, bravery, objective good and evil, a story with "real" politics and "real" people, where the only thing is power and people striving for it. The result was a story about awful people doing awful things, where everyone dies or is fucked over, but people stupid enough to try and be honorable die and are fucked first and hardest. No karma, no real justice, no possibility of grace. You can't make and conclude a fantasy story where all the characters are shitty people and no one pays for being shitty in a way that makes the reader happy with it. Fantasy readers want adventure and wonder and drama, sure, but they also either want a hero, or at least see the bad guy pay for being bad.

I think Rape Rape Martin realized this by the time he finished the last book he wrote, and it was really driven home by seeing what the TV people did with the story. His world only has villains and fools, both of whom drown in blood, and you can't end on a satisfying note with those.

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