NEW MEXICO – In a statement given to reporters ahead of the seventh season finale of hit HBO show Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin (author of the unfinished book series it is based upon) expressed great excitement at the prospect of finally finding out how the story ends.

Martin, who has drawn criticism over the past couple of years for failing to release the next book in the series, praised showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for “really picking up the pace, and snuffing out a bunch of characters that I really had no idea what to do with.”

He admitted that introducing a new point-of-view character literally every time he was hit with writer’s block had put him in an untenable, paralyzing position, and applauded the TV series for deftly murdering them all, sometimes in large groups.

“Until they did that, I really had no idea how to resolve this thing,” he said. “Now I’m pretty sure it has something to do with…violence? Dragons? I guess?”

Martin concluded by reiterating that he is “super stoked” to see how the show wraps up the war with the white walkers, and is really hoping there’s “time for them to explain this whole fire and ice metaphor.”

“I mean, I think I know what it means,” he added tentatively, “but if they don’t really spell it out for me, shit, this book may never come out.”