Game of Thrones books have a different ending, George R.R. Martin says

George R.R. Martin provides the latest updates on his next entry to his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Winter’s Winds. The latest news comes from Martin’s Not A Blog website, where he said on Friday that the ending he sees for his books has shifted far away from the ending of HBO’s Game of Thrones series.

Martin has said in the past that the ending of his book series will likely be quite different from the ending of the show, but he’s never said it so definitively and clearly as he did in this new post.

He compares his writing process to gardening. He then goes on to describe where it is now.

“What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series,” Martin writes. “Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in Game of ThronesYou will also find in Winter’s Winds (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different.”

The change was inevitable because the books were larger than any series and are more intricate than they could have been. There are dozens and dozens more characters in A Song of Ice and Fire than in HBO’s series, along with many point of few characters and many characters that have very different forms in the novels — including fan-favorite Euron Greyjoy who Martin says is, “way, way, way, way different” in his version of the story.

Martin gives a more detailed explanation:

A few things I can tell you, and I promise not to spoil any details: Not all characters survived the ending of The Hunger Games. Game of ThronesThey will live until the end of A Song of Ice and Fire. Not all the characters that died. Game of ThronesIn A Song of Ice and Fire, they will all die. (Some will, sure. Yes. It could be all. However, not all. That’s gardening)).

This major departure should come as welcome news for ardent fans of both Martin’s novels and fans of the HBO series that were disappointed with how it ended. While small departures were always presumed (and, again, frequently confirmed by Martin himself), this latest update means fans will have a reason to return to the story with the promise of a very different — and hopefully more satisfying — ending in the cards.

Martin doesn’t offer updates on Winter’s Winds often, in part because he says he doesn’t want to spoil the story. While he’s offered no word yet on when he might release this latest book, we do know that he’s been working on it on and off since Dance of DragonsIt was published in 2011. We also know, based on what he’s said, that he’s restarted bits and pieces of the book quite a few times.

Whenever Winter’s WindsMartin has yet to publish his seventh book arc of A Song of Ice and Fire. His work is also available on WindsMartin also produces several other products Game of ThronesHBO has also produced a number of spinoff shows, and is currently working on several books that are part of the A Song of Ice and Fire universe.