'Game Of Thrones' Comic-Con 2016: George R. R. Martin Impostor Forces GRRM To Deny Attending

If you’re a portly, bearded fellow with a limited cosplay budget and a love for Game of Thrones then maybe the Daenerys costume ain’t for you. Thank the Seven for George R.R. Martin (GRRM), author of the Game of Thrones series and its upcoming entry, The Winds of Winter. While it’s unusual for fans to cosplay as creators over characters, Martin’s distinct look — suspenders, beard, Greek fisherman’s cap — has produced an army of imitators. So much so that GRRM himself has had to clarify exactly where he begins and the doppelgangers end.

In a post to his LiveJournal, titled “Not in San Diego,” Martin clarifies that he was not at Comic-Con 2016:

“I hope that everyone in San Diego is having fun at Comicon. HBO has a big presence there, I know, and a lot of our cast are on hand for the Game of Thrones panel and the usual endless rounds of signings and interviews… Make me wish I could be there as well.

But I’m not.”

After hearing multiple reports from friends that he’d been sighted at Comic-Con, GRRM felt the need to step in and let the world know that he was nowhere near San Diego. “It’s not me,” Martin wrote. “Really. It’s not. It’s some other old fat guy in a Greek sailor’s cap and a pair of suspenders, maybe. Who may or may not be consciously cosplaying as me.”

That last sentence may be the best part: GRRM’s look is nerdcore enough to be a Comic-Con attendee “type.”

“You have no idea how weird it feels to be typing that sentence,” Martin wrote. “Fans dressing up as my characters, hey, hot damn! Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that anyone would ever want to dress up as me .”

So what was GRRM up to while his cosplay clones were tearing it up at Comic-Con? No, not working on The Winds of Winter (though presumably a bit of that). Martin wasn’t able to attend because of an event at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, the movie theater he owns in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s become known as a destination for author events and Martin was busy prepping for an event featuring nineteen writers from the Wild Cards sci-fi/superhero anthologies Martin edits with Star Trek: The Next Generation writer Melinda M. Snodgrass.

So does GRRM’s post spell the end for George R.R. Martin cosplayers? According to Martin, fans should free to continue dressing as him. “I do not disapprove of fans cosplaying as me. I do find it surreal, but hey, what the hell, have fun… as long as they don’t actually pretend to be me.”