Difference between book readers and show watchers...?

[TheBreadWedding]

Hey everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster! I got into the series about a year ago when my brother would not stop pestering me about watching the show, and i reluctantly began watching season 1... probably took me like 3 days before I had seasons 1 and 2 finished, could not get enough! After the finale of season 3, after a few months I couldnt stand the year long wait before the show came back on so my brother suggested I read the books. And I can say that they are absolutely my new obsession. And then when I came on to the forum I learned so many different details, plot points, and potential theories that I missed, which even furthered my obsession! LOL The forums have given me a detailed picture of the story that I would have otherwise never obtained.

That being said, as the show gets more and more popular, and with the show veering off on some of the details of the books (yes i understand that sometimes this has to happen), I found myself becoming completely annoyed with the Unsullied population (absolutely love this nickname btw!). Most of the people I work with have gotten into the show like myself within the past year especially with the red wedding popularity explosion, although i would say many if not all haven't read the books. Everytime they discuss the series it seems like they completely miss the point of the story. It either all revolves around:

"oh I love daenerys, i cant wait til the dragons show up in westeros cause she is the rightful heir"

"I cant wait for ___ or ___ to die"

"I want ____ or ____ to end up on the iron throne"

It blows my mind at the absolute ineptitude regarding the story. Granted, the show probably doesn't help too much, but even so, when I was a member of the Unsullied I didn't solely see the show as "oh who's gonna be on the iron throne" or "joffrey or cersei or ____ just needs to die already, i cant wait til they die". Like not one person I hear talking about the show even registers that the fucking whitewalkers/others are on their way and that who is on the iron throne will actually matter, along with 100's of other things they completely disregard.

Sorry if this just feels like I'm venting or a pointless rant! HAHA Just wanted to see if anyone else had these issues or feelings about when people they are around discuss the series. Personally I just want to say its fantastic that there are others like me out there that find the series encapsulating and obsessive. Thats all, looking forward to interacting with everyone!

[joluoto2]

The difference is: one group appreciate fine litterature, the other don't.

[TheBreadWedding]

I guess thats one way of looking at at! LOL

[Panos Targaryen]

Same here. The Unsullied piss me off most times, they don't seem to comprehend anything about the story beyond the most "on the surface" things like you said. For example, one asked me who's going to become king now that Joffrey's dead, and when I answered they had no idea who Tommen was, or even if Joffrey had a brother at all. I mean, dude, there was a whole scene at season 2 with Cersei and Tommen talking, and a scene with Joffrey giving Tommen crap about crying. How can you forget that? And that's nothing compared to some other pieces of idiocy I've heard from Unsullied.

Or calling Daenerys "Khaleesi". That's beyond retarded.

[Waylin Stark]

Yeah, my Unsullied friends love the show a lot, but it feels really shallow that they mainly discuss the events and not the characters, their motivations and nature, and the overall human nature which the series depicts very well.

Also the numerous plots and schemes which screw your mind, the countless alliances formed and broken, the in depth view of many people, the rich history and lore, the foreshadowing and speculation, and the theories and analyses. All these are missing from the show.

As a watcher of many shows, I can appreciate TV as a medium of storytelling.

GoT is really well done, and not just because of its source material.

Unfortunately, it doesn't depict it perfectly.

[The Abominable SnowOther]

welcome to the boards and the misery that accompanies it :cheers:

And YAH!

The Others are coming. It is known

[Lointain]

For one group is Khaleesi.

For one group is Daenerys.

For one group is Yara.

For one group is Asha.

For one group is Jeyne.

For one group is Talisa.

For one group is Tywin with Arya in Harrenhal.

For one group is Roose with Arya in Harrenhal.

For one group Theon kills Rodrik.

For one group Ramsay kills Rodrik.

For one group the Ironborn betray Theon in Winterfell.

For one groiup the Ironborn fight til death in Winterfell

For one group Locke cut the hand of Jaime.

For one group Zollo cut the hand of Jaime.

Etc.

[Panos Targaryen]

For one group is Khaleesi.

For one group is Daenerys.

For one group is Yara.

For one group is Asha.

For one group is Jeyne.

For one group is Talisa.

For one group is Tywin with Arya in Harrenhal.

For one group is Roose with Arya in Harrenhal.

For one group Theon kills Rodrik.

For one group Ramsay kills Rodrik.

For one group the Ironborn betray Theon in Winterfell.

For one groiup the Ironborn fight til death in Winterfell

For one group Locke cut the hand of Jaime.

For one group Zollo cut the hand of Jaime.

Etc.

Where did this happen? I thought they betrayed him in both mediums.

[TheBreadWedding]

I definitely agree that most of the unsullied only notice the surface events and rather ignore the changes in character. I mean not one ever notices the changes that Tyrion goes through (and will go through, praying that they keep his whole story in essos in the show). Most of the unsullied also tend to put aside the fact that littlefinger and varys are basically playing everyone of the noble houses. The unsullied only see them as sub characters for some reason instead of basically the dice rollers and game changers that they are.

[Lointain]

Where did this happen? I thought they betrayed him in both mediums.

In the books, after Ramsay and the men of the Dreadfort kill Ser Rodrik Cassel and Cley Cerwyn near Winterfell, Theon open the gates to Ramsay.

Then Ramsay betray Theon, knockout him and order the Bolton soldiers to kill all men of Theon.

The Ironborn - i think Theon had a dozen of them, being the others joined Asha earlier -fought til death, killing several northeners before are killed.

The Ironborn in the books are no traitors.

[RandomSmallfolk]

As in any text to visual adaptation, the folks who see the story for the first time through the visual adaptation are seeing the director/producers adaptation of the text and not the true text itself. Some translate it better than other sbut that really is the difference.

So the "unsullied" are viewing the story through the filter of D&D's interpretation whihc by default makes then see things differently.

[Garth Greyfeather]

I feel resentment towards the show watchers who never read the books.Mostly because the show barely does the books justice in the terms of the finer points.And they are completely oblivious to it.Some of my favorite characters are Jaime (after hand loss) which the show has yet properly convey his new outlook and behavior in my opinion.And Stannis, god damn they have ruined Stannis for me.Don't even get me started on Arya.

On the other hand i feel like a complete hypocrite.Game of thrones was the first time i ever read a book/series before a movie or tv adaptation came of it.That was back in 2009 i think, when i picked up GoT and quickly got sucked in to the series.A year or two later i find out they're making a show and i'm ecstatic.Only to now be let down.

I now know how LOTR fans felt, or, Harry potter fans.i haven't read those either but i imagine they are better then the movies in every way.

[titanx5]

Welcome!

I was in the exact boat as you, except I watched s1 all in one go, and then had to wait a whole year before 2, and 3. And then decided to read the books. I really get annoyed with the unsullied you cant even get the characters names right "I love Khaleesi", "I love the Imp", and had a argument with some that those are not their names. Also only show watchers dont know a lot of the characters or the reasons behind each character. Also people on this forum can really blow your mind of things you miss in the books

[TheBreadWedding]

Ya i definitely felt the same way with the harry potter films, fucking refuse to watch the movies again after the first time in theaters. It definitely is the same feeling for me. Although it was a definite different read for me as I watched the show prior to reading the books and then when you see all the intricacies of the characters theyre definitely lost in the traslation. Ya i cant even imagine what theyre gonna do to arya. she is nowhere near close enough to where her character needs to be in bravos. Just in this last episode alone when theyre eating with the commoners and she is acting all polite and proper where nowhere in the books does that relate to being arya.

[King of Winters]

Welcome to the Forum TheBreadWedding :cheers:

A big difference is that none of my Unsullied friends can remember the names of the characters, but what makes it worse is one calls Dany Khaleesi instead of her actual name, which she can't remember.

[TheBreadWedding]

@Garth, ya i definitely agree. whenever I hear tryion called the imp im like do you really think thats what you should be calling him? LOL i mean honestly in real life terms thats probably a pretty distasteful thing to call a dwarf/midget. and ya that forums definitely opened my eyes to all the potential theories for the future. my favorites so far are the patchface theories and the idea of varys being a merman! LMAO although they arent the most plausible i think theyre easily the two that if put in the story would flip everything on its head and just make it incredibly fascinating

[Valerius]

It blows my mind at the absolute ineptitude regarding the story. Granted, the show probably doesn't help too much, but even so, when I was a member of the Unsullied I didn't solely see the show as "oh who's gonna be on the iron throne" or "joffrey or cersei or ____ just needs to die already, i cant wait til they die". Like not one person I hear talking about the show even registers that the fucking whitewalkers/others are on their way and that who is on the iron throne will actually matter, along with 100's of other things they completely disregard.

For one group its called "Game of Thrones"

For the other group its called "A Song of Ice and Fire"

Though, frankly, as a bookreader, I care more about the throne myself. I worry about main characters dying, but I'm not worried about White Walkers taking over Westeros. That's just not going to happen.

[Kienn]

One group generalizes about groups of people based on arbitrary categories.

[The 19th Dragon]

Welcome. :cheers:

I personally enjoy interacting with the Unsullied. All the better to act smug and superior, aye?

Very much that, I have my Unsullied friends sending me "live comments" and questions by sms, it's pretty fun to do

And also I tend to see the show and the books as separate identities, I try to what the Screenwriters and crew try to convey through the screen

of course there are times when I hate changes/omissions that they make but seriously it could be far worse cough cough.. Eragon... Cough

the show is pretty good in it's own right

[Rhaenys Reborn]

"Khaleesi" beats everything.

I just kinda don't understand people who are theoretically hooked by the story, but refuse to go and find out the details (aka read the books).

But then again, I don't even understand people who use audiobooks, so perhaps I shouldn't be in this thread...