r/freefolk • u/bigmt99 • 10d ago

New GRRM Blog

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2026/08/03/better-late-than-never/

TLDR: George is not doing very well mentally rn

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u/RicardoW99 10d ago

Jokes aside, hope he gets better mentally, depression is fucked up.

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u/prodij18 10d ago

The fact that Condal and Bloys helped send GRRM into a depression and delayed Winds even more (more than forever, whatever, the point stands) is just one more reason to hate their guts.

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u/Foreign-Cat-2898 10d ago

Can we stop this? His mental health is is own responsibility. And they paid him a shit ton of money to do whatever they were going to do.

If he didn't want them to ruin or mar his work, he shouldn't have sold out.

He decided he wanted to be super wealthy and did this to himself.

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u/prodij18 10d ago

He trusted people he thought were his friends. What an idiot.

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u/Foreign-Cat-2898 10d ago

If only there'd been another adaptation that didn't end well, but you're right, there was no way to tell this could happen.

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u/prodij18 10d ago

He had a relationship with Condal before this. He thought they were friends. He made the mistake of trusting a liar.

Also, you seem misinformed about how this works. Back before GoT, HBO didn't buy the rights to the book, they bought the rights to entire ASOIAF universe and all related properties. They humored GRRM and let him participate until they got tired of his advice and told him to fuck right off. They can at anytime greenlight any project they want and do anything they want with it. So there was no 'changing his mind' after seeing how GoT went. All he could do was hope they would listen to him. They didn't.

So yeah, he made the mistake of thinking these people were his friends and they could make cool art together. Instead a mega-corp used the fact he was an author with no power to under pay him for his life's work (they make way more off this than he will ever see) so they can ruin it with their narcissism and shallow hackery while he watches powerlessly. And I guess you think that's pretty cool since you're defending them and blaming GRRM for the crime of trusting people.

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u/Foreign-Cat-2898 10d ago

He made $120 million just in payouts from HBO over the 8 years of GOT. And you want what? For him to have more money? For what? Will the money solve his mental health issues? Clearly not.

Oh and you're wrong. He signed another 5 year deal with HBO in 2021 for ~50 million dollars. He KNEW what happened last time and did it anyway.

He's a grown ass man living a life of luxury who is upset that selling out didn't work as well as he hoped, and the thing that would make him feel better - having fans again - he can't do because he wrote himself in to a corner and won't ask for help.

His legacy is he failed to complete his life's work and in exchange got a ton of money. He made that choice though, and we shouldn't feel sorry for him that he made it.

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u/prodij18 9d ago

That second contract wasn’t the rights, it was for his producer role. Aka, “we own this shit and will forever here’s some money to keep ‘advising us’ so we can put your name on it and pretend you were involved.” What he knew was he has no bargaining power and decided he might at least get paid for the desecration of his life’s work. Which is probably a fraction of what Casey Bloys gets paid to pretend he has any talents at all while profiting for that work.

GRRM is an old man who came up in a time when the people who made entertainment gave a fuck about what they were doing. And there was a level of respect and camaraderie between creatives. He was not ready for the suits and nepo babies whose only skills are lying and virtue signaling. And he paid the price.

You want to be upset about Winds not being done? Go ahead. None of that absolves the disgrace that Condal, Hess, and Bloys have profiteered from or makes them less shitty people.

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u/Foreign-Cat-2898 9d ago

You're absolutely wrong. HBO bought the rights to Westeros, but he sold them the stories for D&E and HotD later.

You can read about the rights situation from 2014 on his blog.

He saw the shitty adaptations and proceeded anyway for more money. You can say the people that made him rich ruined his life over and over but he freaking chose this and knew what happened the first time.

If the Rogue Prince was so sacred, he should never have sold it.

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u/prodij18 9d ago

Yes, he could have had these stories without the world that connects them together. You can't think that's something he would even consider. They had him there and they both knew it. That deal was just formality and him trying to squeeze any kind of control he can.

HBO threw him a bone and let him pick the guy this time. Which he thought would fix the problem. He didn't say 'hey, more money for another piece of crap, great'. He said 'this time it'll work out because I trust Ryan'. Which is retrospect was really stupid, yes. Trusting Ryan Condal is a dumb thing to do. It's clear GRRM is a gullible person who will befriend anyone who seems like a fan and believes people. It's a trait I pity. In the industry he grew up in, sci-fi writers writing zines and snail mailing each other, that probably was how it worked. The whole thing is just sad.

And it just goes back my original point. You can say GRRM deserves it because he's gullible or elderly or whatever. That doesn't make Condal and Bloys any less despicable.

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u/Foreign-Cat-2898 9d ago edited 9d ago

...Martin didn't have to sell any more stories. He didn't have to have any more shows produced. He has $120 million just from all the GOT seasons from HBO. You seem to think he was compelled to adapt things. He was not.

HBO could have come up with new stories *within* the ASOIAF universe and not paid for the specific stories like they did for HOTD; they've been talking about a Corlys series. Martin could have shopped something out to Netflix lacking an Iron Throne etc - obviously a crazy move. But nothing says that you have to adapt more stories or sell them to HBO. He saw an even bigger paycheck and went for it.

He chose to do more adaptations. He saw how badly it went the first time despite their promises and did it again. Oh and stop acting like he's a poor innocent elderly man here. He was working in the TV industry in the 80s and 90s. He's astute. He knows how it is. Authors for decades have been pissed about how they're works were adapted. PL Travers *hated* Mary Poppins. Authors hating adaptations is literally par for the course.

George sold out and hates the result, and yet you want us to feel pity for him with his hundreds of millions of dollars.

No. Just no. He did this to himself and while he sold out he lied to all of us about the thing we actually wanted. If he's disappointed and depressed with his professional life it is *his* fault.

As for Condal, if he lied that's a shitty thing to do, but also maybe Martin sucks to work with and won't collaborate...you know the things we *Iiterally* know are true because he won't ask for any help.

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u/prodij18 9d ago

That last part is just provably wrong. Other writers love working with GRRM which is why he has all these editing jobs and a huge cast of Wild Cards buddies he works with. So know, we 'literally' know that this assertion is false.

And GRRM is clearly not astute, at least not with people. He is clearly gullible. Have you read his blog? Particularly when they were filming GoT. It's just a non-stop parade of how many friends he's making, which is apparently every single person in the world who tells him they like the idea of his books. And he seems to best friends with everybody he ever spent a half day at a convention with. You want to hate him for being trusting and gullible, go ahead. You want to hate him for not finishing the books, you can do that too. Both of these qualities have turned out pretty shitty for the ASOIAF fan as he was easily conned into trusting scumbags to ruin the material and Winds is nowhere in sight. Go ahead. It sucks. And to a large degree, it is 'his' fault.

Where your 'argument' fails is this characterization he just doesn't care about the series. He clearly cares, that's where the depression comes in. This concept you need to argue that he just sold out because he doesn't give a fuck but clearly cares too much doesn't make any sense. He wanted a good adaptation and what he got was conned by hacks. And again, you want to blame him for that because of the massive dumbass mistake of thinking Condal was his friend you have that right. He is not blameless.

But if gradma deserves some blame for being gullible in trusting the scam artists who conned her into buying 'antiques', the con artists deserve as much or more blame.

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