George R.R. Martin reveals inspiration behind The Red Wedding

It must be great to discuss one’s work with the audience, isn’t it? Especially if it is so great that people want to hear about it again and again. Well, if you are George R.R. Martin, then that is pretty much your day to day activity. Martin has arguably laid the base for the most iconic TV show of all time. His work for Game of Thrones has been discussed, dissected and spoken about so many times that it makes it imperative to hear from the great man himself about his thought process. Recently he talked about why he did what he did in with one of the biggest twists in Game of Thrones . Read on!

As per the latest on Winter is Coming, on his latest Edinburgh tour, Martin talked about ‘The Red Wedding‘ episode of Game of Thrones. As per Martin, he was inspired by the betrayals and bloody nature of Scottish history while writing the episode. Martin said:

“Scottish history is amazingly bloody and dark and twisted and full of betrayals and battles, so it’s been a great source of inspiration.”

He spoke particularly about two incidents that really gave him the idea for The Red Wedding. He said:

“The Red Wedding, which is perhaps the most infamous scene in my book, was inspired in large part by two events in Scottish history – the Black Dinner here in Edinburgh, when the Earl of Douglas and his brother were murdered at a dinner given by the King, and the Glencoe Massacre, when the Campbells slaughtered the MacDonalds. I combined the two of those and threw in a wedding and you get the Red Wedding.”

While many including Richard Madden had spoken about the episode, it was fascinating to hear it from Martin himself. Did you know about the bloody history of Scotland? Let us know in the comments below!