I will just keep it here.. A valid point according to me

Long time no see Ranger. Glad to see you again. And yeah- agreed with xvarnah that art is art and opinions are opinions. As to the GOT ending- he didn’t write the last season, but he’s said this an similar things before- essentially taking the stand that his writing isn’t “fan service” but story craft; usually in response to people who try and tell him things they want to see, or characters they don’t want him to kill etc.

Good to be back mate. Right this isnt the first time George has faced criticism when you write a story like Martin's someone will complain. Im sure thats why he said its not fan service.

Not a fan service ? But they're selling a product. People paid to watch it from HBO. I think if you pay for something that it's ok to have certain expiations of quality. I think that their PR folks should have come out and admitted that the whole production had some flaws. I personal still enjoyed it , even though I thought that it could have better, a lot better. I was glad nothing came out of the online petition to redo the last season. It is their product to do with as they wish, but it does seem that they took a kind of "fuck off" stance to any criticism .

@popsy- I get where you’re coming from and agree in many ways. To be clear- the books and show are desperate entities with separate owners and only the books are written by Martin- who is several books behind the show and hasn’t written those chapters or an ending yet. “Art” is tough to pin down. Martin in his writing takes a classic “artists” stance that I appreciate. Picture an old work worker in his workshop at home. A real old timer. They’re going to make whatever they feel like making in a moment, a table or whatever. They’ll make it the best they know how to make it. If they take it to town and you want to buy it, they’ll sell it to you, but they didn’t make a table for you, they made the best table they could and had pride in their work so figured someone else would like it too, and anyone who didn’t didn’t have to.

Now, this old craftsman MIGHT or might not take commissions. It all depends. I’ve met guys like that who only make what they want when they want. They sure don’t mind the money, but they aren’t in it for that, they’re in it because something in them makes them enjoy it, so they do what they enjoy and make a little money for it. Some will take commissions, but the “real craftsman” won’t do a job they don’t believe in. They don’t care if you ask them for shit and are willing to pay out the nose. If they think it’s shot they won’t do it, because their name is on it and they don’t want people seeing that as their work. A lot of body guys I know are like this. They’ll turn down an easy $1000 on a shitty paint job a kid asks for that would take an hour and a couple hundred dollars supplies to do because even if the kid swears they’re fine with it- the craftsman isn’t.

So from all I’ve seen, Martin takes that approach in his books. He doesn’t care who you want to see live or get a happy ending or hook up- if he looks at the story and says that doesn’t make sense or is bad writing- he won’t do it. He knows what he wants it to look like and he’s going to make that, and you can buy it or not buy it. But the HBO show IS more consumer art. It’s made to make money with craftsmanship the second concern. If they could have the show be as popular and do it for $50 with sock puppets the network would. I won’t say they aren’t trying to make art- but they certainly are trying to make money, and they are aware they need to make money if they want to make more shows.

So there’s this weird intersection in fiction. Each fan invests time and money and emotionally into the work and characters and story. It can often lean a lot to a fan how a story goes. So is there a moral responsibility from a creator in return for that? And how far does it go? And what about the creators investment in something they imagined, they researched and they spent months or years researching and writing before another human even saw it? If they wrote and researched and edited for a year, and spent a year trying to get published and it took another year to finalize it all and get on shelves- they’ve been invested in and imagined an ending for at least 3 years longer than any fan.

Of course- I like some good fan service- even in the form of “non cannon” side art or stories that just nod a bit and show fans they are appreciated, that gives people at least a bit of what they want. But, in the end there are so many different opinions and tastes that you’ll never be able to please everyone. There will always be someone who would change something, or would want a happier ending or a more cynical ending or etc. there’s a lot of trust in art from artist and fan alike. I respect Martins stance but I do agree that HBO has some duty or another to at least show their best effort in trying to end a show like this. The fact so many felt the last season felt rushed and disjointed shows HBO didn’t put the amount of effort into it that they should have to respect fans. Even if fans disliked the ending- of it was well crafted and thought out that would be an improvement.