Who Will Claim the Iron Throne? Texas A&M Has Answers

The HBO series Game of Thrones has fixated audiences for seven seasons by dangling the proposition of who will claim the Iron Throne. Will the Night King prevail and leave Westeros in ruins? With so many questions and fan theories percolating in the blogosphere, the folks at Texas A&M University may have answers stored in their archives. 

Game of Thrones is based on the fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice, written by George R.R. Martin, whose collection of papers, handwritten notes, manuscripts, and other documents are housed at A&M's Cushing Library. The author first visited the university in the 1970s as a participant of AggieCon, the school's annual student-run science-fiction and fantasy convention. Martin remembered the school's appreciation for sci-fi in1993 when he chose the Cushing Library's Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection as the repository for his personal collection of letters and other material. "When I was drowning in papers here, I thought of putting it all on deposit in a library somewhere. I remembered Texas A&M and the great facilities you have there," said Martin in 1993 to the Texas A&M Today. (See the newspaper's 2013 Q&A with Martin here.)

University Chancellor John Sharp recently encouraged students, faculty, and the general public to scour the Martin archives for clues as to how the series will end.
                                                                                                                                                                 "The papers and handwritten notes by George R.R. Martin possibly could contain clues about upcoming storylines, and anyone is welcome to search for themselves," Chancellor Sharp said. "Whether you're developing fan theories or just want to take the opportunity to see Martin's fantasy writing in its rawest form, A&M's library staff is happy to show off a true treasure of modern literature."

The library also put together this video about Martin's collection where Chancellor Sharp speaks with Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection curator Jeremy Brett about the collection's contents. 

Game of Thrones airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO. The season seven finale is August 27.