A Song of Ice and Fire fandom

The convention's programming has included a Tourney of Champions since 2013, featuring "LARP"-based duels, melees, jousts, and archery contests.

A mock election has been held each year since 2013 allowing attendees to campaign for and vote for characters from A Song of Ice and Fire.

A donation-based voting format was incorporated beginning in 2017, with all proceeds going to Santa Fe's Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, a favorite charity of Martin.

[6] Sweden-based fans Elio M. García Jr. and Linda Antonsson run one of the main Ice and Fire fansites, Westeros.org, which they established in 1999.

While Martin calls the majority of his fans "great", and enjoys interacting with them,[20] some of them turned against him due to the six years it took to release A Dance with Dragons.

[7] A movement of disaffected fans called GRRuMblers formed in 2009, creating sites such as Finish the Book, George and Is Winter Coming?.

"[7] When fans' vocal impatience for A Dance with Dragons peaked in 2009, Martin issued an angry statement called "To My Detractors"[19] on his blog to stem a rising tide of anger.

[7] His fan mail occasionally includes photos of children and pets named after his characters,[1] which Martin displays on his website.

[7] Martin does not read message boards anymore, so as not influence his writing by fans foreseeing twists and interpreting characters differently from how he intended.

[32] Other celebrity fans include actors Laurence Fishburne, Richard Dreyfuss, June Squibb, Amanda Peet, Zach Braff, Patton Oswalt, Elijah Wood, Mindy Kaling, Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Kerry Washington, Dylan McDermott and Jennifer Lawrence.

[33][34][35] Singers T-Pain, Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg, Ed Sheeran, Madonna and Joe Jonas (who was married to Sophie Turner, who played Sansa Stark on the show), and comedians Kevin Smith, Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari.

The book was edited by Gil Kidron of Game of Thrones Academy, and included essays from other prominent YouTube fan channels such as History of Westeros, Ideas of Ice & Fire, Gray Area, Secrets of the Citadel, Smokescreen, and Civilization Ex.