Game of Thrones generally strayed away from providing their beloved characters with any kind of plot armor. However, two characters did get this treatment, thanks to George R.R. Martin’s wife. After crossing paths back in the ’80s, Martin eventually tied the knot with his longtime partner Parris McBride in 2011, and they still seem pretty fond of each other.
And while problems never arose in their bond, there was one time when Mcbride threatened to part ways with her longtime partner if he dared to kill off Sansa Stark and Arya Stark.
Fans Can Thank George R.R. Martin’s Wife Parris McBride for the Well-being of Two Fan-Favorites
Sansa and Arya Stark are some of the few characters who manage to escape the impending doom that many characters had to face following George R.R. Martin‘s willingness to kill whenever he wants. However, things might’ve been drastically different for the two if it wasn’t for the author’s wife, who, per Maisie Williams, threatened to end her decades-long bond if Martin dared to off those characters. Williams told Cosmopolitan:
“His wife did actually say that if he ever kills off Arya or Sansa, she’s going to leave him,” Williams recalled. “I’ll just keep smiling, and say ‘if you want to stay with your wife, you’ve got to keep me alive!'”
Fortunately, both went on to become some of the strongest suits of the books and the show and even though Sansa didn’t start on a high note, throughout the seasons, she cemented herself as a fan-favorite.
Maisie Williams’ Determination to Follow the Books Pushed Her to Learn Sword Fighting by Using Her Left Hand
With everyone wanting the show to be as close as to the books possible, Maisie Williams made the hard decision to train her left hand for sword fighting to be truthful to the source material. She was quoted saying (via Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones),
“I found the sword fighting difficult because of the left-handed business. I’d just got the part, and I remember my mum was out in the garden reading the book. She says, ‘By the way, Arya’s left-handed.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that’s going to be hard’ [Maisie is right-handed]. And she said, ‘Well, I don’t think they’ll make you do it left-handed.’ And I said, ‘But it’d be cool if I did.'” She continued, “We heard about all the people on the Internet wanting the show to be like the books, so I thought I would try it and see how it goes.”
Following her dedication to her craft followed by McBride’s emotional extortion toward the author, Arya Stark remained one of the show’s best characters from the pilot to the finale.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on Max.
