A song of ice and statistics, covering both the books and the HBO show. No specific spoilers, but you should probably just watch/read the series at this point.

[joshsundquist]

"The Rains of Castamere," House Lannister's favorite revenge ballad from A Song of Ice and Fire, comes to life courtesy of indie rockers The National.

The lyrics are ripped from the pages of George R.R. Martin's novels, but the arrangement is all new. The track is due to appear on the Game of Thrones season 2 soundtrack.

This collaboration has Hipster Cersei Lannister's fingerprints all over it.

[toplessrobot.]

Here's the first pic from "Blackwater," the penultimate episode of this season of Game of Thrones. The ep is notable for several reasons, including featuring one of the most important battles in the series and being the only season 2 episode written by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.

Without spoiling anything about the battle itself, producer David Benioff promised that "flaming arrows at night look gorgeous."

"Blackwater" airs May 27.

[blastr.]

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin stopped by CTV's Canada AM this morning to talk about the final two books of his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, revealing that even when he finishes the seventh novel, he won't be ready to stop writing about Westeros altogether.

"It will be very hard to say goodbye to these characters, (but) I don't know if I will necessarily say goodbye to the world," Martin said. "Even when I finish this story, I think there will be other stories to tell set in the world of Westeros."

He says he's currently 200 pages into book six, The Winds of Winter, and hopes to finish within two or three years.

Martin, who took six years to write A Dance With Dragons, has said before that he's now learned to be wary about giving timelines.

And with most of Winds and all of A Dream of Spring to write before the series concludes, the HBO adaptation of Martin's books could actually catch up with him.

"There's always the fear . . . will I fumble the ball at the end, will I make a mistake?" Martin said.

As for the show, Martin says "there is no feeling quite like" seeing his characters come alive, even if they're never going to be exactly the way he imagines them.

Game of Thrones returns April 1st.

[ctv]