Game of Thrones Creator George R.R. Martin Comments on Controversial Sansa Stark Scene

The latest episode of HBO's Game of Thrones, entitled "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," ended with a controversial scene featuring Sansa Stark and Ramsay Bolton that has outraged some fans. Now, the man behind the books that inspired the series, George R.R. Martin, has offered his thoughts.

The scene in question occurs on Sansa and Ramsay's wedding night. The sadistic Bolton forces Theon Greyjoy aka Reek to watch as he defiles the woman who was basically like a sister to Theon. This scene is actually far more graphic in the book (and it doesn't even happen to Sansa), but it has still upset many fans. Martin went on his blog to respond:

"How many children did Scarlett O'Hara have? Three, in the novel. One, in the movie. None, in real life: she was a fictional character, she never existed. The show is the show, the books are the books; two different tellings of the same story.

"There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes. HBO is more than forty hours into the impossible and demanding task of adapting my lengthy (extremely) and complex (exceedingly) novels, with their layers of plots and subplots, their twists and contradictions and unreliable narrators, viewpoint shifts and ambiguities, and a cast of characters in the hundreds.

"Prose and television have different strengths, different weaknesses, different requirements. David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] and Bryan [Cogman] and HBO are trying to make the best television series that they can. And over here I am trying to write the best novels that I can."

Do you agree with Martin's comments? What were your thoughts on the scene? Let us know in the comments section.