George R. R. Martin often speaks about his preference of "grey", "complex" characters, which are neither entirely good nor entirely evil. He often speaks about this as in negation of Tolkien, whom he says he admires greatly, but "does quibble with". I've seen such remarks in numerous interviews/book introductions, so I can't link to all of them, but this video is a rather good example of this:

In particular, his last remark, about the battle between good and evil within the human heart, is implied (by the context) to be something he thinks is mostly absent in Tolkien.

I can fathom saying that after only reading The Lord of the Rings, but it is more difficult for me to imagine saying this after reading The Silmarillion (consider, say, Fëanor's sons).

This makes me wonder if he's read The Silmarillion (or other works of Tolkien from the First Age). It came out when he was nearly 30, so perhaps by this point he felt he "grew out" of Tolkien. That is, my questions are:

1. Has he ever said whether or not he's read it?
2. Has he ever mentioned plot elements from it in interviews?
3. Has he ever said something about Tolkien lore that is bluntly contradicted by it?

Of course, if the answer to all of these questions is no, then we can only speculate. But perhaps that is not the case.

I was wondering if G. R. R. Martin has read The Silmarillion. Obviously, we can't know for sure, so my questions are these:

1. Has he ever said whether or not he's read it?
2. Has he ever mentioned plot elements from it in interviews?

George R. R. Martin often speaks about his preference of "grey", "complex" characters, which are neither entirely good nor entirely evil. He often speaks about this as in negation of Tolkien, whom he says he admires greatly, but "does quibble with". I've seen such remarks in numerous interviews/book introductions, so I can't link to all of them, but this video is a rather good example of this:

In particular, his last remark, about the battle between good and evil within the human heart, is implied (by the context) to be something he thinks is mostly absent in Tolkien.

I can fathom saying that after only reading The Lord of the Rings, but it is more difficult for me to imagine saying this after reading The Silmarillion (consider, say, Fëanor's sons).

This makes me wonder if he's read The Silmarillion (or other works of Tolkien from the First Age). It came out when he was nearly 30, so perhaps by this point he felt he "grew out" of Tolkien. I guess this question mostly breaks down to:

1. Has he ever said whether or not he's read it?
2. Has he ever mentioned plot elements from it in interviews?
3. Has he ever said something about Tolkien lore that is bluntly contradicted by it?

Of course, if the answer to all of these questions is no, then we can only speculate. But perhaps that is not the case.

George R. R. Martin often speaks about his preference of "grey", "complex" characters, which are neither entirely good nor entirely evil. He often speaks about this as in negation of Tolkien, whom he says he admires greatly, but "does quibble with". I've seen such remarks in numerous interviews/book introductions, so I can't link to all of them, but this video is a rather good example of this:

In particular, his last remark, about the battle between good and evil within the human heart, is implied (by the context) to be something he thinks is mostly absent in Tolkien.

I can fathom saying that after only reading The Lord of the Rings, but it is more difficult for me to imagine saying this after reading The Silmarillion (consider, say, Fëanor's sons).

This makes me wonder if he's read The Silmarillion (or other works of Tolkien from the First Age). It came out when he was nearly 30, so perhaps by this point he felt he "grew out" of Tolkien. That is, my questions are:

1. Has he ever said whether or not he's read it?
2. Has he ever mentioned plot elements from it in interviews?
3. Has he ever said something about Tolkien lore that is bluntly contradicted by it?

Of course, if the answer to all of these questions is no, then we can only speculate. But perhaps that is not the case.