The battle between Good and Evil is a theme of much of fantasy. But I think the battle between Good and Evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make. It’s not like evil dresses up in black clothing and you know, they’re really ugly. These are some of the things that Tolkien did; he made them work fabulously, but in the hands of his imitators, they become total clichés. I mean the orc-like creatures who always do dress in black and... they’re really ugly and they’ve got facial deformities or something. You can tell that if somebody’s ugly, he must be evil. And then Tolkien’s heroes are all very attractive people and all that, of course, again this became cliché in the hands of the Tolkien imitators.
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About George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin was a 21st-century American writer and television producer. George Raymond Richard Martin, also known by the initials G.R.R.M., is an American author, television writer, and television producer. Martin is best known as the author of the epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which have been adapted by HBO into the Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present); Martin also wrote a related series of novellas, Tales of Dunk and Egg, which are being adapted by HBO as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026–present). Read more on Wikipedia →