While Game Of Thrones season four has aired what has been described as one of the "most satisfying" episodes with the Purple Wedding, some of us are still reeling from season three's Red Wedding, which saw the brutal murder of the Robb Stark and his family and army. Now author George R.R. Martin has revealed how hard it was for him to write that chapter.
The horrifying scene appears in 2000's Swords of Swords, and Martin admits that it was "tremendously hard to write" but that it had been necessary.
Robb Stark (Richard Madden) and his wife Talisa (Oona Chaplin) (HBO)
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, 65-year-old admitted to actually skipping the entire grisly scene and finishing the book before returning to the slaughter, which changes the fate for so many characters in the book.
While Martin admits that HBO "turned it up by 11" in its TV series by adding (and starting with) Robb's pregnant wife, the author does say that he had to 'force' himself to write it.
"The TV Red Wedding is even worse than the book," Martin said, "We get a pregnant woman stabbed repeatedly in the belly."
Over the horrific deaths of Catelyn and Robb Stark, he continued: "The more I write about a character, the more affection I feel. Which doesn't mean I won't kill them."
Of the already tense wedding of Catelyn's brother Edmure to a Frey, and the horrific outcome, he said: "I skipped over [writing] it until I finished the entirety of Storm of Swords, then I went back and forced myself to write that chapter. I loved those characters. But I knew it had to be done."
But, while Martin may have suffered fan anguish when the shocking episode aired last year, he's already had an earful from outraged fans who ready the book when it first came out.
"Some people were so horrified that they said they will not read any more of my work," he revealed.
Recalling one particular letter, Martin said: "She wrote to me: 'I work hard all day, I'm divorced, I have a couple of children. My life is very hard, and my one pleasure is I come home and I read fantast, and I escape to other worlds. Then I read your book, and God, it was f--king horrifying. I don't read for this. This is a nightmare. Why would you do this to me?'" So what did the author reply with? "And basically said, 'I'm sorry, I do understand where you're coming from."
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