Jump to content

[Book Spoilers] What do your non-book reader friends think?


teemo

Recommended Posts

Reading this thread was almost physically painful. LOL

Luckily for me, all my relatives and friends either don´t know aSoIaF/GoT exist, or they read the books, too. I´m so glad. I wouldn´t be able to take it if they came up with some things I have read here. Seriously, from what I´ve seen I just can´t get why they even watch the show if they don´t know whatˇt going on at all.

I have different problem: My friends read the books in our mother tongue, but I read them in English. Therefore when we talk about them, I don´t know how the names are translated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched the first season without having read the books and I thought the show was great. I understood almost everything but when I started to read the books after that, I realized how much there was going on under the surface.

But now, when the second season started, I catch myself overthinking every single scene and being way too critical. I really try to seperate the books from the show and yet I find the second season also great.

None of my friends is a book reader, but I convinced my boyfriend and a colleague from work to watch the show.

They both were doing pretty well with the first season (didn't catch the small hints of Jon's parentage). But the scenes with Melisandre and burning the Seven in the second season confused them both and I had to explain everything.

My boyfriend knew immediately that the WW took Craster's son and is doing quite well so far. I have to explain some small things, but I think that is just me and I'm doing it without him even asking :)

My colleague on the other hand, asked me a bunch of questions about the second season. I had to explain all about the Seven and the new God - The Lord ot Light (can't spell the name), also about Maester Cressen and Davos and his fingers. He thought that in the scene with Davos and S. Saan, Davos was Stannis and the son of Davos was Renly. So I had to explain all that too. He also didn't get that the WW took the baby. But apart from that, he loves the show and we are discussing it every day at work :)

I enjoy being the wiki for non-book readers. Can't wait to see the third episode tonight (I'm a bit late but couldn't catch the show yestarday).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well people who have seen the a good bit of the 1st season are annoyed about Sean Bean being killed yet again but enjoy it. A friend of mine who has no interest in fantasy at all watched a couple minutes of a season 1 episode and a few adds was very confused for instance he seemed to think that Tyrion was hitting on Cersei. He only knew a couple of people in the cast like Sean Bean and John Boy Power

He also described a scene to me which i can't really remember so i was wondering if yous know what scene it was. He said that there were two people walking in a city one was in his mid 20s and the other was around 50 and looked a little like Liam Neeson they went into a building but were then attacked and thats all he told me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read the books but my husband hasn't. I find it fascinating to watch the shows with him and note his reactions! It's worth mentionning that we like and watch weird stuff, so my husband doesn't have too much difficulty not having everything spelled out. However, he's awful with remembering names.. Also, we went throught season I again quite recently, so he still has everything fresh in mind.

- As soon as Gilly refused to say what happens to baby boys, my husband said "he sacrifices them to the White Walkers! Or maybe they eat them..."

- When we saw Craster leave into the woods with the baby, he went "White Walkers it is! So THAT's why they're safe in the woods and don't get attacked!"

- He understood the burning scene was something deeply meaningful, but he didn't understand what they were burning. I had to point out they were burning seven statues, with emphasis on "seven" and he went ".....?.... OOOOOohhhhhhhhh! Seven statues like in "by the seven gods"?

- He didn't remember who Stannis was at all. But caught up quickly when he talked about "his beloved brother Robert". He was also stunned by Stannis's "a lie! Take it out" and insistence on calling SER Jaime the KINGSLAYER. His jaw dropped and he went "he's... he's... he doesn't mess around, does he? He can't be king! THAT'S who Ned wanted as king?!?"

- He understood Theon's storyline perfectly and was really impressed by how dramatic it all was.

- He loved Yara! I did too! Before she even opened her mouth, he said she was a badass pirate. On their way to Pyke, he kept asking when was she going to make Theon eat his own boots. Later on, he kept saying how awesome she was.

in season 1, he told me the "whore gate" scene with littlefinger telling ros how to have sex with a patron sent the signal loud and clear that littlefinger was going to "screw" ned. he also said that tywin being shown dressing his own kill - which he noted was a stag - was a sign that tywin was a no nonesense kind of guy that didn't mind getting his hands dirty by doing the tough jobs himself.

[..]

but he has some wrong ideas, not because he isn't reading them well but that there isn't enough backstory or time spent on them. he thinks melisandre is a religious fanatic (with no power) because she was introduced burning religious statues.

He's pretty observant!

My husband got the whore gate's meaning too. Actually, he was mostly laughing and suddenly went "wait.. WHAT? He's talking about Catelyn! Oh no, he's going to betray Ned!"

He also found Tywin very impressing and got the same no-screwing-around vibe. He commented something like "so... that's why the Lannisters are all screwed up..."

About Melisandre, I read the books and I too see her as a religious fanatic. However, with the cup scene, my husband turned to me and said "sooooo... can't be killed with poison, uh?".

There is one thing my brother did get confused by in season one. He thought Cersei was sleeping with Ser Loras. He missed that he had fled the city with Renly Baratheon and didn't catch on that Lancel is a different character.

Yeah, my husband mixed them up too at first. He went "what? he's not gay? *pause, rewind, squint at the screen* Oh, that's the funny-hat guy... "

I think it's mostly because they have the same wig and because of the lighting in Lancel's scene with Cercei, he doesn't look as blond as in his other scenes. Plus his usual silly hat is kind of distinctive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I only have one friend who watches the series. She only started because I raved about it and the books, and her boyfriend started reading the series. He didn't want to watch futher than he had read so it was slow-going for my friend at first. Eventually they just wanted to know what happened and watched both seasons in a very short amount of time. Now he doesn't feel a desire to read further, which is the same situation as another friend's boyfriend. I'll force them to do it though.

Anyway, my friend LOVES it. She kept telling me the parts that she was at, doting upon the Dany/Drogo relationship then being heartbroken at its turn-out. She hasn't told me any theories that she has. I've told her some non-spoiler theories that I've read on here and I've told her some vague things about Dany's future so that she'd be somewhat happy. She's still devastated about Drogo.

Edit: Also, I began watching the series before I knew about the books, then I read them. However, prior to the book-readin', when Ned went to see Gendry, I thought that Gendry was the trueborn son of Robert and Cersei, but Cersei had faked his death (he was the "black-haired beauty" that she mentioned when speaking with Catelyn in Bran's bedroom). I thought this because Gendry said that his mother had "yellow hair". But I guess the "she worked in a tavern" and "she used to sing to me" doesn't work into that theory.

Although I've read the books and know the whole story, there's still a little part of me that thinks that... against all logic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

My parents watched both seasons over the weekend and they haven't and definitely will not read the books. They love it! My Dad has actually been pretty spot on with some of his guesses. He's guessed that Shae and Tywin will betray Tyrion and that Robb is going to die. He's also onto the fact that Arya's story will get really interesting. He also seems to think Sansa is the one to watch, which I'm only on Book 4 so I don't know yet but I think he may be onto something about it. He hasn't picked up on Littlefinger though - I think that will be good surprise for him. He's definitely a big Dany fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am the only person I know who watches the show or reads the books. I have literally nobody to talk to about either one.

When it's time for season 3 to air, I'm going to get on Facebook and spam messages like "Game of Thrones season 3 starts tonight!", maybe some of my friends or family will take note.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...