20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About George RR Martin

7. The Red Wedding Was Inspired By Real Life

Why, why did George R.R. Martin write the Red Wedding? The author has killed off any number of beloved characters over the course of A Song Of Ice And Fire, but none has upset readers more than the infamous scene that sees the sudden and violent demise of Robb Stark, his new wife Queen Talisa, and Stark's mother, Lady Catelyn as revenge for a perceived political slight. Martin received countless letters and emails from distraught fans about the scene when A Storm Of Swords was published, and even more so when it was adapted for the Game Of Thrones TV show. He's admitted that it was a difficult scene to write, but doesn't regret it - he planned for Robb and Catelyn to die from the start €“ and has revealed some information about its inception. Game Of Thrones is full of upsetting moments of ultra-violence, safely couched in the realm of fiction. But Martin took a lot of inspiration from real history, mainly for the Middle Ages of Great Britain. And it's there The Red Wedding kind of really happened - it's a conflation of two events from Scottish history: one where a family mercilessly killed another when offered an overnight stay.