Difference between book readers and show watchers...?

[HouseHarrison]

Show Watchers:

*Think Dany is called Khaleesi

*Think the characters will get happy endings

*Think Khaleesi will arrive in Westeros anytime now

*Know most characters by face, not name

*Miss 50% of what's presented to them

*Think Cersei can be sympathized with

*Think The White Walkers will attack very soon

*Have no idea what R'hollor is

*Think Tyrion is Christ in Westerosi form

*Think Stannis is insane

*Think Jamie is a rapist

*Are unaware that Jorah is related to "that old Nights Watch Guy who died"

*Know nothing of the First Men, Andals, Ghiscari, Valyrians, or Free Cities. "Robert's Rebellion" was just some war where the Mad King died. The world of Ice and Fire is completely lost on them. The world is King's Landing, the Wall, and whatever nameless place Dany is. Not that where she is matters because soon she'll be in Westeros

#BookMasterRace

[Zebra of KotOR]

The only show watcher I know is my little sister so it's ok for me to act high and mighty to the lowly show watcher. I am shore the show is good but I can't stand the changes made to Robb and Daenerys. I stopped second season and now that I know Theon killed Ser Rodrik in the show I know I made the right decision.

[Angmar]

I see two sides.

I don't know, but at least the "annoying" Unsullied that so many people bitch about are only people i see on internet, the ones saying "omg Khaleesi will save the Starks and kill the Lannisters with Tyrion" making a thousand memes about Hodor and the brothels, and whining about how "nobody cares about Bran".

The ones I know are more receptive and thoughtful, and get a full picture of the story. They don't believe a happy ending will come, they don't think about Dany getting the Throne, they think more about the situations at hand like the game and the manipulations, and the characters' relationships whether good or bad (Sansa with the Hound is a popular subject, as is Tyrion with Shae)...

Not too far away from the typical analysis and essays made around here (only with the show info, of course).

I like both show and books, however I do miss the rich details of the books in the show, like the history, mythology, religion, etc etc. World building is a great aspect of fantasy literature, and I think GRRM nails it. His world feels so real as compared to other fantasy worlds.

[Hodor the Articulate]

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.

To be fair, I see a lot of this on here, too. Except, replace "Daenerys" with "Stannis" for the fist one.

[Drake Heath]

Stannis doesn't have/need dragons and he is in Westeros already.

[Pib_Juju]

My SO hasn't read the series, and it's sometimes painful to watch the show together. I geek out over little things like when Ser Jorah told Viserys, "here I stand", and there's just no way to explain why that's awesome without sounding like a complete dork, lol.

[BitsOfBrains]

There is simply no way to take the intricacies and twisted web of relationships Gurm built and present them in TV form. Simply can't be done. You basically get the cliff notes.

Its like when they take books of the bible with deep historic, cultural, linguistic, and thematic nuances and turn them into a cartoon starring vegetables.

Yeah you get the basic gist of the story, but so very much is lost in translation.

[V Targaryen]

My dad is really into the show, and he hasn't read the books yet. My sister watches with me, but hasn't read either but she is a very slow reader and knows a lot due to what I talk about. My dad is probably the only Unsullied I know in person. though I do expect him to pick up the books sometime.

The night before season 4 premiered he came over late because he was watching the Game of Thrones marathon. While we were eating, I asked him what he expected to happen this season. The first thing out of his mouth was "I think Khaleesi will arrive in King's Landing this season." I'm like "OK..." and trying not to cringe. I've seen people call Dany that online but never in person. I felt ashamed. Then I tried not to die laughing when my sister snorted and said "Good luck with that! She just sits there... and sits there... and sits there... and pees.... and sits there...." Her words exactly.

Other than that, I was sitting there poker faced and trying not to spoil anything later (Though I did give away Stannis going to the Wall by accident) and he's talking about Hodor with my sister, and how he thinks Bran will take the Throne. My sister also blurts out "Is Bloodraven in this season? What about Quentyn? Aren't they going to get to Rhaegar?" I told her Bloodraven has been cast, nothing about Quentyn, and they will eventually have to get to Rhaegar's story. My dad's got this look on his face like "I don't know what you're talking about but say more."

Long story over with, Unsullied are cute. And kind of dumb (no offense meant!) in the whole scheme of things. But it is kind of fun talking to them, even if they have this "Dany will save us all" mentality.

[The King of the Night]

I have some friends that are unsullied and they have theorized that Jon is Roberts bastard. I did absolutely nothing to dissuade them and i love it. I do have to give them some credit for digging a little deeper than the next death, though perhaps not because they also thought Joffrey was an only child.

But what makes me really mad about the show, is the small details that should not be thwarted by budget. Eye color and the armor of the kingsguard drives me crazy. White plate and white cloaks. they are all but indistinguishable from Gold cloaks in the show. And would it kill D&D to get some color contacts for the gods' sake.

[Pib_Juju]

She just sits there... and sits there... and sits there... and pees.... and sits there...."

lol, pretty much.

[AryaBaratheon]

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.

THIS! That BS they called the Half-Blood Prince movie... Oh, yeah, just add a scene where the DE's burn the Burrow to the ground and skip any and all character growth... Holy shit I was livid.

Ok, sorry for my throwback rant! Back to obsessing over ASOIAF....

[Darkbringer]

I enjoy talking to the Unsullied, I like to hear their different theories and opinions. I also like to try to (without spoilers) steer them to consider the nuances of morality in the series. I have never heard , for instance, an Unsullied muse on how many innocents were killed at Astapor, while this is a popular and contentious topic here. The series tries to hint at these nuances, but TV is more often than not a cruder medium. So here's my good and bad feelings about unsullied:

Good

1. Circei is somewhat sympathetic to some of them, especially some girls(just my experience) TV Circei is deeper and more complex, even though I loathe both versions.

2. They have lots of theories that just can't be true. I enjoy Unsullied crackpots much more than those who should know better.

3. Sympathy for Jorah. He's a better guy on the show, which should annoy me, but I've always been team Jorah.

Bad.

1. They almost all support Dany, and can't shut up about Dragons. This may change this season, as the Dragons become more unpredictable.

2. Almost none like Stannis, even as a villain, which he ain't. Even if you don't like him, Stan deserved a better treatment.

3. Tyrions dark side is a mystery to them. This may change after this season, but it still irks me.

4. They tend to see the greyness of characters as inconsistent writing, as opposed to rich complexity. This may be a result of the cartoonish morality of TV, or the fault of D&D.

[Asha's Suckling Babe]

2. Almost none like Stannis, even as a villain, which he ain't. Even if you don't like him, Stan deserved a better treatment.

3. Tyrions dark side is a mystery to them. This may change after this season, but it still irks me.

They have changed these two so much that regardless of what they do from now on, these characters will never resemble their book counterparts. It's annoying trying to explain to people why I like Stannis or dislike Tyrion. To them it sounds like I'm just nitpicking about some changes.

4. They tend to see the greyness of characters as inconsirstent writing, as opposed to rich complexity. This may be a result of the cartoonish morality of TV, or the fault of D&D.

Interesting, I have not heard this before, I always feel like my show-only friends are completely blind to some obvious inconsistencies. Probably the fact that their favorites (Arya, Tyrion, Dany) are quite static characters in the show plays a role. Which characters have your friends seen as inconsistent?

[A Man Has Said]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but one HUGE difference between the Unsullied and readers of the books is back story.

On TV there is hardly any. When there is something, it's just a line of dialogue about something in the past.

People don't remember events that are only described to them as well as events they witness onscreen.

-The Unsullied have no idea who Rhaegar is, since he's only been mentioned once, recently, by Oberyn Martell.

So, if they were really paying attention to a line of dialogue that doesn't outwardly have any significance,

they know that Rhaegar ran away from his wife for 'another woman,' (unnamed, if I recall the line correctly)

and that it somehow led to the death of Elia Martell at The Mountain's hands, on Tywin Lannister's orders.

-The Unsullied have no idea who Lyanna is, since she was only mentioned the once in the first season.

The ones who paid attention might recall her as Ned's sister, and a woman who Robert loved, but who died.

Most would think based on the TV show that her only part in things was to explain why Robert and Cersei didn't get along,

(there is some dialogue disclosing the fact that Robert called out her name when bedding Cersei on their wedding night.)

-Only the Unsullied who REALLY pay attention or were clued in by their reader friends know anything at all about Robert's Rebellion.

So few of them know much about Mad King Aerys beside the fact that he was the King slain by the Kingslayer.

Fewer still would know about the fate of Ned's father Rickon Stark or brother Brandon.

-The Tower of Joy fight has never been mentioned, let alone depicted. Not a peep.

MOST SIGNIFICANTLY, (as far as this forum's theories are concerned) and related to all of the above;

there's not one clue to indicate that R+L=J is true.

If D&D try to introduce that into the latter seasons, it's going to feel like a real Ass Pull.

[Guest Thorrand]

My SO doesn't read the books either. Doesn't make her any less interested in the show. Calling non readers insullied I just a way to try and make yourselves feel superior. Not everyone likes reading fantasy. Soon the show watchers will know the ending before pure book readers do. Then th show watchers can consider them uninformed.

[Florina Laufeyson]

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

Seriously. :cheers:

Im so sick of this whole Book Master Race crap. Instead of being a total shit about your book superiority, why not answer the questions the unsullied fans ask and not in a condescending manner? Yes i have to correct my friends when they get the names mixed up or cant pronounce them properly. Sometimes i have to remind them of a particular story element that was mentioned in season 2 and they forgot about it. Yes, i have to explain Rhaegar Targaryen's existence and how he helped shape the current story. I even have to tell some people the names of Dany's dragons.

Does this annoy me?

Not at all.

I like talking to people about my favorite series. I like hearing what they have to say about it. I like hearing who they root for and who they want to see choke. I love hearing my friend gush about Sansa. I love how my mum comes up with really good theories that i kinda wish were what GRRM wrote. I loved how my friend who's barely peeked at the books, puzzled out R+L=J all on his own. I love watching people's reactions to stuff like the Red and Purple Weddings. I love it when i walk in the mall and i overhear a couple of regular joes talking about the show. Its awesome. If people cant appreciate the unsullied fans, than yeah...Im judging you.

[Audrey Arryn]

Seriously. :cheers:

Im so sick of this whole Book Master Race crap. Instead of being a total shit about your book superiority, why not answer the questions the unsullied fans ask and not in a condescending manner? Yes i have to correct my friends when they get the names mixed up or cant pronounce them properly. Sometimes i have to remind them of a particular story element that was mentioned in season 2 and they forgot about it. Yes, i have to explain Rhaegar Targaryen's existence and how he helped shape the current story. I even have to tell some people the names of Dany's dragons.

Does this annoy me?

Not at all.

I like talking to people about my favorite series. I like hearing what they have to say about it. I like hearing who they root for and who they want to see choke. I love hearing my friend gush about Sansa. I love how my mum comes up with really good theories that i kinda wish were what GRRM wrote. I loved how my friend who's barely peeked at the books, puzzled out R+L=J all on his own. I love watching people's reactions to stuff like the Red and Purple Weddings. I love it when i walk in the mall and i overhear a couple of regular joes talking about the show. Its awesome. If people cant appreciate the unsullied fans, than yeah...Im judging you.

:agree:

[Audrey Arryn]

I was a show watcher before reading the books so I'm not going to bash any show watchers.

[Florina Laufeyson]

I was a show watcher before reading the books so I'm not going to bash any show watchers.

Yeah and often times the unsullied come around to reading the books. Its so great to see some random girl reading ASoS on the MUNI or hear someone actually mention Stannis in passing. I know some people who are trying to read the books with the corresponding seasons. Like one guy i know put off finishing ASoS until after this season. Thats when i began to warn him and others trying to do the same thing, that things are becoming more jumbled timeline wise in the show. They are likely to be spoiled by something in season 5 (like Aegon) before even beginning to read AFFC. They are starting to get wise though or just not give a fuck. Har

[E-Ro]

I actually think the show watchers only should be our servants. the glorious book reading race was meant to rule