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Has A Song of Ice and Fire influenced your life in any way?


Roose Trollton.

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Did the ASOIAF novels leave a little mark on your way of thinking, personality and so forth?

I first read the five novels when I was about 13: that age when you get the first taste of  the dilemmas of adult life, even if in a very silly and immature way: who  are the most popular guys in school and why, who are the most desired girls,  the bullies who prey on the weak, the conflicts between the rich kids who are favored by the school staff and the poorer kids who have to have to learn how to survive (yeah, my school had that) among others.

In a way, many of these juvenile problems are, deep down, dilemmas that permeate every human life, including those of the ASOIAF characters: how the human mind works, our desire for love and glory, envy and admirations, cowardice and honor; how values are fragile when in face of gold, glory and desire, but how they are what makes us more  than animals; the pitiful and even comical nature of human existence.

ASOIAF talks about all of that, and some of those lessons can be applied from a fantasy world to our everyday lives. Being an extremely entertaining fantasy book series, those lessons had an everlasting effect in my 13 year old self. Basically, they made me more a bit more self conscious about false friendships and wrong choices, how you gotta learn to be pragmatic and grounded, make true friends, value the gold that does not glitter ( hanging out with the "uncool" kids who always were nice to you instead of trying to befriend the "cool kids" who were just cunts ready to laugh at you ), that simple stuff.

So, has anyone been influenced by some of ASOIAF? Care to share your experiences?

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I've had problems with depression my whole life, and whenever I have another relapse, Martin's books help me to get through with these episodes. Im very grateful to him because of it. The first time I read ASOIAF was when I was in a library in Portugal in 2003 (I was 15) and since then they are my favorite books of all time. 

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56 minutes ago, Roose Trollton. said:

Did the ASOIAF novels leave a little mark on your way of thinking, personality and so forth?

I first read the five novels when I was about 13: that age when you get the first taste of  the dilemmas of adult life, even if in a very silly and immature way: who  are the most popular guys in school and why, who are the most desired girls,  the bullies who prey on the weak, the conflicts between the rich kids who are favored by the school staff and the poorer kids who have to have to learn how to survive (yeah, my school had that) among others.

In a way, many of these juvenile problems are, deep down, dilemmas that permeate every human life, including those of the ASOIAF characters: how the human mind works, our desire for love and glory, envy and admirations, cowardice and honor; how values are fragile when in face of gold, glory and desire, but how they are what makes us more  than animals; the pitiful and even comical nature of human existence.

ASOIAF talks about all of that, and some of those lessons can be applied from a fantasy world to our everyday lives. Being an extremely entertaining fantasy book series, those lessons had an everlasting effect in my 13 year old self. Basically, they made me more a bit more self conscious about false friendships and wrong choices, how you gotta learn to be pragmatic and grounded, make true friends, value the gold that does not glitter ( hanging out with the "uncool" kids who always were nice to you instead of trying to befriend the "cool kids" who were just cunts ready to laugh at you ), that simple stuff.

So, has anyone been influenced by some of ASOIAF? Care to share your experiences?

It made me reread Tolikien and like Silmarillion, even the ending among other things, and made me start reading again. To have more appreciation for the grayer characters and there are even some philosophy you can apply to life.

In real life subterfuge of political leaders, Red Wedding,  and similar conspiracies  inspired me , it's a long story:

Since we I live in country where legal system is far from perfect, we had to remove person who was renting our industrial property from our object. 

He was late 4 months with rent and paying electricity and other bills and made damage on water supply and one of the machines among other things. 

If we went to the court costs would have bankrupt us while we fought legal battle ( he had a pattern of abusing that option from earlier period) , so we had to ask old employee to give us key and during night we changed the locks ,and waited him and his workers to get there, and said to him we won't leave until he pays, he left but we took his things until he paid his debts , but he never did though he tried to scare us into returning it.

Since he had owed lot of people money including state we never would have got what he owed us , so we returned the proper owners their things in compensation of 20% per item. All of the companies accepted the deal without the court.

At the end it has proven as good decision , since his workers, and other companies never managed to get a dime and that person just created new company using different person as a founder.

It was difficult decision, that maybe morally and legally isn't best choice, but without inspiration from the book It would have been done differently, more timidly I would say. 

 

 

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Since buying the ASOIAF audiobooks, I have gotten out of the house more often. I've always been somewhat disinterested in having a social life, so leaving the house has always seemed pointless. (obviously apart from the essentials such as buying food, going to work, etc.) When I got the audiobooks I found myself going on long walks and getting more fresh air. 

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@Roose Trollton. I envy you reading the books at that time in your life. I still cherish the books I read in my formative years, and asoiaf would have been a total blaster.

@Marcelowww I see you, and feel you. And thank you for sharing.

@King Aegon I TargaryenTargaryenTarTargarTargaryenTargaryenTarTargar

Glad you didn't give up entirely on a social life - I don't know you, but I like your comments, and I would definitely buy you a beer any time.

As for me, I think the biggest influence has been restoring my faith in the quality of hugely successful fantasy book series, many of which are total shite. I do also occasionally imagine that I'm Jon Snow, depending on how bad the day has been/how much I've had to drink. 

 

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13 minutes ago, Bastard of Bournemouth said:

Glad you didn't give up entirely on a social life - I don't know you, but I like your comments, and I would definitely buy you a beer any time.

I appreciate it. Don't worry though, I don't have any serious problems like depression or anything, I'm just not a social butterfly.  =)

17 minutes ago, Bastard of Bournemouth said:

As for me, I think the biggest influence has been restoring my faith in the quality of hugely successful fantasy book series, many of which are total shite. I do also occasionally imagine that I'm Jon Snow, depending on how bad the day has been/how much I've had to drink.

I hear you, there really aren't alot of fantasy novels I really like. After finishing ASOIAF, I moved onto some of GRRM's other works. I'm currently reading Necronomicon, which is a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories.  

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These books distract me away from porn.   Lovecraft also works as a safe harbor when one needs a respite from sailing on an ocean of lust.   Chess as well cuts through the haze and delivers you into a clear minded state.  Certain well told vampire stories with an involved mythos about more than just feeding can also put me in a contemplative frame of mind, start me thinking about what this species could be, given time and a redirect to our culture to cull out some of our pettiness and chaos so we might be worthy and capable of attaining the stars.  But then at that point it's usually back to porn.

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Like others I find the books (and the audiobooks) to be a great help when coping with depression. Comforting, almost like a safe harbor, a home. There is so much in them to unpack and marvel at that they can even distract me from anxiety and excessive worry. They also keep renewing my faith in stories, in art. They mean so much to me.

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I think the characters have taught me that there's more than one way to show strength.

Cat, for example.  I know she is unpopular amongst some, but I admire how she is a strong woman, whilst also being a wife and a mother; she doesn't have to rebel against these conventions to be strong.

I would have always said I was a Brienne type, but now I can totally relate to Cat in a way I have never related to any other wife/mother figure.

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yes indeed:

i've saved some money!

i haven't bought any other non-GRRM recreational reading material since starting GOT a bunch of years ago.
although i have  bought all the paperbacks twice (dance in hardcover) the world book, kotsk, f&b, the kindle box set & a couple of kindles in order to read & read & re-read & re-read

thanks GRRM!

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12 hours ago, Marcelowww said:

I've had problems with depression my whole life, and whenever I have another relapse, Martin's books help me to get through with these episodes. 

I'm not sure it would work for me. ASOIAF is a depressing series by its nature, and I need to be in a good mood in order to enjoy it.

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10 hours ago, King Aegon I Targaryen said:

I appreciate it. Don't worry though, I don't have any serious problems like depression or anything, I'm just not a social butterfly.  =)

I hear you, there really aren't alot of fantasy novels I really like. After finishing ASOIAF, I moved onto some of GRRM's other works. I'm currently reading Necronomicon, which is a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories.  

To my shame I have never read any Lovecraft. I will bump it up 'the list'.

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On 12/30/2018 at 2:15 PM, Roose Trollton. said:

Did the ASOIAF novels leave a little mark on your way of thinking, personality and so forth?

No.

On 12/30/2018 at 2:15 PM, Roose Trollton. said:

So, has anyone been influenced by some of ASOIAF? Care to share your experiences?

No, my life has not been influenced by ASOIAF.

l.

 

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On ‎12‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 11:18 AM, King Aegon I Targaryen said:

Since buying the ASOIAF audiobooks, I have gotten out of the house more often. I've always been somewhat disinterested in having a social life, so leaving the house has always seemed pointless. (obviously apart from the essentials such as buying food, going to work, etc.) When I got the audiobooks I found myself going on long walks and getting more fresh air. 

I'm that way too. Not much of a conversationalist, and I don't seem to have much empathy for the piddly little problems of people who live in a world of unimaginable wealth and luxury, like virtually everyone in the western (and now eastern) world.

Have you ever considered a career in writing? There are all kinds of ways to do it -- blogs, marcom, journalism, and stories/books -- and it's a great way to keep to yourself because you need long periods of silence and solitude. You probably won't make a whole lot of money at it, but with a little perseverance you can scratch out a living, particularly since you don't have to live in a high-cost area.

Food for thought.

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31 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

I'm that way too. Not much of a conversationalist, and I don't seem to have much empathy for the piddly little problems of people who live in a world of unimaginable wealth and luxury, like virtually everyone in the western (and now eastern) world.

Have you ever considered a career in writing? There are all kinds of ways to do it -- blogs, marcom, journalism, and stories/books -- and it's a great way to keep to yourself because you need long periods of silence and solitude. You probably won't make a whole lot of money at it, but with a little perseverance you can scratch out a living, particularly since you don't have to live in a high-cost area.

Food for thought.

A career in writing does sound interesting. To be completely honest, I never really thought about it. I think I'll look into it. 

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