The general population may know Game of Thrones as an HBO TV show that most people pirated online. But the franchise actually started as a series of novels by George R.R. Martin. Recently, the acclaimed writer took to his blog to reveal that he is using his time spent indoors to avoid the Coronavirus in finishing the final novel in the GoT series:

For those of you who may be concerned for me personally... yes, I am aware that I am very much in the most vulnerable population, given my age and physical condition. But I feel fine at the moment, and we are taking all sensible precautions. I am off by myself in a remote isolated location, attended by one of my staff, and I'm not going in to town or seeing anyone. Truth be told, I am spending more time in Westeros than in the real world, writing every day. Things are pretty grim in the Seven Kingdoms... but maybe not as grim as they may become here.

Martin's words will be welcomed by legions of Game of Thrones fans who have been waiting with bated breath for him to write the conclusion to his epic tale of the land of the Seven Kingdoms filled with dragons and Dothraki and danger most foul. The 71-year old author has been notoriously slow in finishing "The Winds of Winter". the sixth and final book in the Game of Thrones mythology, leading to widespread anxiety among fans that the book may never see the light of day.

Even fans of GoT who only know the series through the show might be curious to read how the story's original author will finish things, considering the widespread dissatisfaction which greeted the grand finale of the show. Many viewers were outraged at what they saw as the show's writers dropping the ball when it came to resolving the narrative arcs for many of the main characters. Daenerys turned into a villain and was stabbed to death by Jon Snow, who went back to the Night Watch instead of becoming king. Tyrion was branded a traitor and imprisoned, while Arya became a wanderer and Bran, the character who had arguably the least to do with the plot of the series, became the King of the Seven Kingdoms.

There was a huge outcry against the show's finale, and petitions were even drawn up demanding the showrunners remake the final season and fix the innumerable 'mistakes' that fans deemed the writers made with respect to the plot and characters.

Naturally, remaking the entire last season being an impossible demand, fans can look forward to R. R. Martin finally finishing his book and giving us the official version of what really happened in Westeros with the arrival of Daenerys Targaryen, the undead army of the Night King, and the various plot threads that the novels have been patiently building from the start. Unfortunately, as Martin himself points out, the real-life predicament brought about by the Coronavirus is unlikely to be solved as neatly as whatever he has in mind for his novel.