George R.R. Martin hopes 'House of the Dragon' is more successful than Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings' series

• George R.R. Martin says he's "competitive" about the success of the "House of the Dragon."
• The "Game of Thrones" author hopes it wins more Emmys than Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" show.

"Game of Thrones" creator George R.R. Martin admitted that he is "competitive" about the success of "House of the Dragon," the prequel series to the hit HBO fantasy drama, which will launch later this year around the same time as Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" prequel series.

The new series, about Daenerys Targaryen's (Emilia Clarke) ancestors, premieres on August 21 on HBO. Less than two weeks later, Amazon's first "Lord of the Rings" series, "The Rings of Power" is set to premiere on their platform, Amazon Prime. Due to the fact that they are both big-budget fantasy series based on popular books, there will undoubtedly be comparisons between the two shows when they premiere.

On Sunday, during the Santa Fe Literary Festival, Martin spoke to The Independent about the impending battle for viewers.

"I know a lot of articles, the minute the dates were announced, it's: 'Oh, the battle for fantasy supremacy. It's 'Rings of Power' versus 'House of Dragon,' who will win?' I don't know why they always have to do that," the author said.

He added: "I hope both shows succeed. I'm competitive enough. I hope we succeed more. If they win six Emmys, and I hope they do, I hope we win seven. But nonetheless, it's good for fantasy. I love fantasy. I love science fiction. I want more shows on television."

Martin noted that "The Rings of Power" isn't drawing upon J.R.R. Tolkien's better-known stories from Middle Earth, such as "The Hobbit." Amazon's show will primarily adapt the appendices from Tolkien's books.

"It's kind of a weird deal, as you know. Amazon bought Tolkien, but they didn't actually get any of the books," said Martin. "I don't think they got 'Farmer Giles of Ham' or 'Leaf by Niggle,' but they got the appendices, I guess, and they're constructing a Second Age story about that. There's a lot of myth about that, so it'll be interesting to see what they did."

In December, Martin said that he's seen the "rough cut" of the first episode of "House of the Dragon" and he "loved it."

He wrote on his blog: "It's dark, it's powerful, it's visceral… just the way I like my epic fantasy."