George RR Martin reveals how pet turtles influenced Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones season 8 is one of the most anticipated seasons of all time. With characters like Jon Snow, Arya Stark, and Tyrion Lannister, the final season of the award-winning show is finally coming to an end and fans are excited for the episodes to come.

Over the years, Game of Thrones has turned out to become more than a series of books or a television show. Somehow, it has reunited everyone from all the corners of the world. The entire credit goes to the series' author, George RR Martin, who recently published a prequel to Game of Thrones and is busy doing several interviews.

During his recent appearance on Stephen Colbert's show, Martin talked about how his pet turtles inspired his first fantasy saga and how years later, he finally wrote Game of Thrones.

Martin talked about his childhood and how he was not allowed to have dogs or cats as pets.

"The only pets I was allowed to have were turtles — little dime store turtles," Martin explained. "I had a toy castle. I could fit two turtle bowls in the castle. But the thing is about those little dime store turtles is they die very soon."

Martin went on to say that he was doing everything right for his turtles but he simply could not figure out why they were dying. It was then he decided that they all were competing for the turtle throne.

"They were competing for who would be the turtle king. That was my first fantasy: Turtle Castle. It preceded Game of Thrones by many years."

It was not long ago when Martin talked about the influence J.R.R. Tolkien's epic saga, Lord of the Rings had over him. During one of his earlier appearances on PBS show, The Great American Read, he cited Tolkien's decision to kill off the LOTR's wizard, Gandalf the Grey, as an influence that even he can kill off fan-favorite characters.

During Martin's conversation, he weighed in on Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and with the admiration, he said that he was only 13 years old when he first read the book and Gandalf's death had a huge impact over him.

"Tolkien just broke that rule, and I'll love him forever for it. Because the minute you kill Gandalf, the suspense of everything that follows is a thousand times greater. Because now anybody could die. And, of course, that's had a profound effect on my own willingness to kill characters at the drop of a hat," he further said.

Meanwhile, George RR Martin recently talked about Game of Thrones prequel and what fans can expect from the new HBO's epic fantasy drama series.