Did the show subconsciously or otherwise influence your opinion/project itself onto the books for you?

[Dr. Pepper]

I had heard of ASOIAF before the show aired, but I usually make it a habit to never start unfinished series because I'm too impatient. I ran across the show one day and saw a couple of episodes before I realized what books it was based on. So of course I broke my rule and acquired them as quickly as possible.

The first season actors really influenced how I picture the characters in the books, and sometimes that is quite limiting. It's hard to think of Tyrion as this ugly, grotesque little creature when he's portrayed onscreen by a pretty dashing actor. It was at first difficult to take Dany seriously (in AGot, not later novels) because I couldn't get the atrocious actress, Emilian Clarke, out of my head. I think Clarke might have heavily influenced my initial reading of Dany because all I could see was the actress painfully overacting her script. Show Theon definitely encouraged me to take a second, third and fourth look at book Theon. The second season veered so much further from the books that I haven't really found myself any more influenced by actor portrayals, save with Davos and Balon who were nearly exactly as I imagined. The other characters ages and appearances and arcs have changed so drastically that it's made it much easier to separate book from show. I don't even consider show Marg or show Shae to be the same characters as in the books.

One thing the show didn't really influence much was the castles. Show structures seems so puny and insignificant (save for the wall) that it makes me laugh anytime we see one. Winterfell was practically a tiny little McHouse. Same with Harrenhal. It was so disappointing.

Actually the Show kind of ruined the Wall for me, if you think about it. I mean the height is just enormously overkill. When even GRRM admits this fact it's indisputable.

The show ruined the wall for me, also. I don't have a good grasp of imagining height, so my imagining was probably more like 100 feet rather than 700. Then I saw the show wall and was totally baffled at the believability in fighting from a structure that tall. Totally ruined it for a bit, so I went back to just imagining the meagre 100 feet.

[Matt Sand]

I regret having watched the show (I've only seen series 1, and probably won't watch 2) because of the way it's crystallised the appearance of characters in my mind when previously they were fluid.

The only ones where appearance really beats what I could have imagined are Joffrey (for the supercillious smirk) and Cersei (for the pitying fake sincerity when she talks to Sansa).

[Castel]

Nope. Had little to no effect. I don't really visualize people when reading. If you show me an actor playing a character I can call how close I think they are based on descriptions but I rarely have a mental image of them before that at all.

[TheWizard]

I watched the first half of season 1 while house sitting my girlfriends house(didn't have hbo). I saw the book one day and was hooked. Read them one after another. The show changes my view on the characters but i imagine them with classic features like the targs purple eyes and Illirios yellow beard. I dont mind the show changing my view tho. Its hard to put a exact figure on every damn person :P

When I read my head basically plays a show and in a weird way its like Im seeing it. Im not sure if that makes sense but its what it feels like

[Rheagar Prime]

yup i watched the series b4 reading and i must say when reading the books i became angry most of the characters i liked in the series i started to hate. Jorah was one liked him in the series hated him in the books, Cat was a bigger bitch than i thought. The reader who introduced me to the books told me i would hate her when reading the books and i did sadly same with tyrion i was shell shocked how much i hated the book version (he was more of an ass than i thought). Robert was the nail on the head i loved mark addy's interpretation of him the quotes and scenes with cersei just epic then i saw him for what he was.

The guys who play varys and LF for me was how i pictured them as was sean as ned. I must say i do prefer book renly but i do love the guy that plays Tywin he is epic and arya and sansa as well. I think the series is well done, but i try my best to keep them separate at times.

[Fatmo]

I actually have gone to great lengths to avoid watching the show because I don't want to ruin by basic feel for the books.

I have accidentally seen a few split seconds though. I think the only character I really got a good look at was Jon Snow, but I really only saw a few seconds. Not enough to cause much lasting damage.

It's kind of an experiment on my part. I had a similar situation when the Lord of the Rings movie first came out. I'd never read that book, but decided to give it a shot since everyone was all hyped up about it. I remember getting to the point in the books just past when they encountered the Balrog in Moria. That was the point where I happened to go to the theatre and see the first movie. I kind of regret doing that now, since I never got the chance to see things for myself in my own mind and instead when I think about those books I can only visualize the movies. Looking back, my favorite part of those books was that stuff with the mines and the Balrog, perhaps because I read it first.

I also started reading these books after hearing about the series, but I made the choice to not watch it until I finished at least the first book just in case I liked the book enough to not want to see the show. Turns out I did, and I ended up reading all five books and decided to not watch the show. I'm happy with my decision so far, but perhaps if I get board re reading or waiting for the next book or whatever I will watch however much of the show has been finished when I make the choice to watch it. I hear it's awesome from everyone I know, but I'm not watching yet.

[Jolene Brown]

I got into the books after watching the show and I'm surprised by how little it's influenced me. I never picture the actors from the show when reading, except on very rare occasions, like Bran, where the actor is just 100% perfect. What does surprise me is how much reading the books has turned me off the show, which is frustrating because I love the actors and their acting. I just can't bear seeing them doing/saying things that feel "wrong," to the point where it's become almost physically painful to me. I sort of wish I had waited until the show was done and all the books were out before I had started reading, but it's too late to go back now!

[Aemrys]

The appearances the show has influenced on me are: All Starks, Cersei, Half-Jaime, Half-Tyrion, Varys, LF, Half-Joff, Dany, Jorah. I think that covers them all, but it's a pretty big list...

The thing about the Starks is that I simply prefer to picture them as older. The Robb in my head that leads a host at 15, I just can't take seriously. I think of him and think of my little cousin, or myself when I was around that age, and I see a small kid. Picturing a younger version of TV Robb, that has a smaller build and generally looks like a kid, but with a wanna-be beard makes me laugh in my head. For that reason I simply choose to make him older in my head, to make everything more believable. The same goes for Jon, although I picture him with another voice and in aCoK with a slightly different attitude. Cat was actually close to what I had pictured, as such she IS Cat to me. However I can imagine that they won't match my image of Lady Stoneheart, and I doubt they will convert me to their version of SH no matter what. Another Stark who just IS his character is Bran. I just love his acting and his appearance is Bran to me. Although he's getting kind of big, haha.

All the Half-X are Half because I picture them to some extent like they are in the show because of their influence, but not fully. Jaime I picture with longer, more blond hair. However I sometimes picture both him and Cersei as more beautiful/younger. Joff should grow out his hair... I don't see any reason why they didn't make him have longer, curly hair, unless the actor simply looks stupid with it. Regardless I picture him with longer, curly hair in my head and he looks fine. Tyrion is the most complex for me, since we are constantly reminded of his grotesque features, walking methods etc. On top of that he's losing 3/4 of his nose and two eyes that don't match. While Peter Dinklage IS Tyrion to me, he keeps on being morphed into the book-grotesque-Tyrion, which is a kind of funny process. I just can't control my imagination for Tyrion because of the show. Dany and Jorah I simply converted to their Show image. Dany because I prefer her older, and Jorah because I just don't want this huge person full of black hair on his hands and everywhere. He looks too weird in the books, but like Tyrion he keeps messing with my imagination.

[EgoistMusketeer]

I like Davos much much more after watching season 2. that is all

[RhaenysBee]

Yes. Sadly it was Season 2 that drew my attention to how very long the books are and how much marginal crap is going on instead of focusing on getting to the climax or finish of the story. Five books passed and we are scarcely one step closer to the end. Five books passed and we have no idea WHAT is going on. Characters die, new characters come, they die to. Characters get stupid and I don't see the end of it. And with only 2 books left it'd be high time to show a sign of that end.

Game of Thrones was a step forward, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, Feast for Crows were steps sideways and Dance with Dragons was a step backward. I would really love to GET ON with the story.

[Night Gathers]

The hard thing is when lines from the books appear on the show, and then when you read the lines in the book. You instantly picture the scene which appeared during the show, even hear the same voices. Even though you didn't have that scene or setting before the line came along. Then trying to force back the scene you had from your own imagination, and it goes well and all, but then a line from the show appears after a few lines and the setting is back on screen once again.

[WillWork4NinjaPowers]

If I had read all of the books after I had seen the series,then yes, I may have been influenced. When I read Dance, I did see the show characters, for a few of them at least.

[Maxpey]

Iain Glen is way too sexy for Jorah. I really liked Jorah on first read through the series because of this. Second time... not so much.

To remove things one level further, Iain Glen is not how I pictured Jorah because to me he will always be Sir Richard from Downton Abbey.

[Sijjvra]

A bit. Admittedly, Mark Addy's portrayal of Robert was fantastic, even though I dislike Robert as a character. It brought a bit of depth to a character that was pretty predictable and flat in the books. His dialogue with Cersei during that private breakfast was amazing and a bit heartbreaking.

Iain Glen's Jorah is also far more interesting than book Jorah. Book Jorah was always gruff, way posessive and surly. Iain Glen brings a dignity to Jorah that is lacking in the books, and knowing what happens later, that dignity makes the story a bit more tragic. I guess it doesn't hurt that Glen's also kind of a stud :cool4:

Show-Bronn is just -awesome-. A lot of people like him in the books (including myself, just for his dark humor and cockiness) but Jerome Flynn has made Bronn almost like a main character rather than non-POV background character we can forget about from chapter to chapter. He's got the cocksure attitude, the humor, the ruthlessness and the badass skills PLUS he's got a sort of rough charisma that just lends so well to Bronn's character.

Yoren in the show was also wonderful and added a whole new complexity and motive to a character we didn't know much about in the books, besides he was smelly and had a black beard. Maester Luwin, too, became more "real" - his death scene was really gut wrenching.

There are a lot of actors and actresses that are doing a great job, but the above - probably because they were more minor characters in the book but not so much in the show- really stick out to me. Still, I'm re-reading ASOS to get ready for season 3, and I can't say I picture any of the actors specifically. I mentally add some of the complexities to some of the characters shown in the show, but my mental images of characters in the book are still different than the show. That's ok, they can be seperate entities and both still be great. The show is an -adaptation- after all, not an exact word-for-word copy.

[Ser Latecomer]

The scene where Old Nan tells stories to bed-ridden Bran... I get goosebumps reading it now because the scene from the show was so perfectly read and matches nearly word-for-word the book dialogue.

The actor who plays Bran is so perfectly cast, that even the awesome lines/scenes that were left out of the show I can picture perfectly. I nearly cried on my last re-read when he sees Winterfell burning as they leave, and thinks (paraphrasing here, sorry) It's not dead, it's just broken. Just like me, I'm not dead either. Even though that line did not make the show, I can picture it perfectly. :crying: