The 70-year-old is currently writing The Winds of Winter but with his new book Fire and Blood, a history of House Targaryen, being released next month, he’s been giving a few interviews. And during a Q&A session with the New York Times, Martin has confirmed that his Game of Thrones books are a metaphor for understanding climate change. He said: “It’s kind of ironic because I started writing Game of Thrones all the way back in 1991, long before anybody was talking about climate change. “But there is — in a very broad sense — there’s a certain parallel there.”

Martin continued: “And the people in Westeros are fighting their individual battles over power and status and wealth. “And those are so distracting them that they’re ignoring the threat of ‘winter is coming,’ which has the potential to destroy all of them and to destroy their world. “And there is a great parallel there too, I think, what I see this planet doing here, where we’re fighting our own battles. “We’re fighting over issues, important issues, mind you — foreign policy, domestic policy, civil rights, social responsibility, social justice.”

Game of Thrones: George RR Martin reveals what Night King’s White Walkers REALLY represent

Winter's Coming

The author added: “All of these things are important. But while we’re tearing ourselves apart over this and expending so much energy, there exists this threat of climate change, which, to my mind, is conclusively proved by most of the data and 99.9 per cent of the scientific community. “And it really has the potential to destroy our world. And we’re ignoring that while we worry about the next election and issues that people are concerned about, like jobs. “Jobs are a very important issue, of course. All of these things are important issues. “But none of them are important if, like, we’re dead and our cities are under the ocean.”

George RR Martin is writing The Winds of Winter which may release next year