I Read and Watched Game of Thrones at the Same Time

The Birth of an Idea

In December of 2019, I graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Creative Advertising. I didn't have a job lined up, but with no student loans, I didn't feel any sense of urgency to get a job. So I spent a couple of months at home, casually applying to dream jobs before moving in with my girlfriend in Seattle.

2 months later, I found myself stranded in my girlfriend's apartment amidst of the largest pandemic in human history. I've applied to over 100 jobs - nobody is hiring.

At this point, I decided to change what I was spending my time doing. I wasn't going to find a job; it was time to accept that. So I chose to focus my energy elsewhere - somewhere that I had begun to neglect throughout college and early after graduating. Reading.

I had always wanted to read the Game of Thrones series, but never really had the time to do it. Even the TV series had somehow slipped past me. I always wanted to watch it, but I never really got around to it. And so, an extremely unique opportunity stood before me. How many people still had the opportunity to both read and watch one of the greatest series of all time?

The Plan

My plan was as follows: I was going to read (roughly) one episode's equivalent of the book and then watch the TV episode that corresponds to what I read. I had read books and watched the movies associated with them in the past, but never at the same time like this.

I was only planning to do this for season one. From what I had heard, the series diverged after that. That being said, I did attempt to continue this into book two and season two, but the differences in timing and plot line were overwhelming and it was ruining the experience for me.

Something that was important to me was the idea of keeping the book and show separate. To me, the most important part of reading is the idea of your imagination driving the story. Keeping the two apart was somewhat simple, as the book and series lined up almost precisely for the first season, so there weren't many overwhelming differences.

Executing the Plan

At this point, I have to warn you: there will be spoilers throughout. I don't know why you'd be reading this if you haven't at least watched or read part of Game of Thrones, but if you haven't, stop here.

The first thing I noticed when I began my journey was the small differences that I had never noticed in any show. Since I had the plotline and character traits fresh in my mind, I didn't have to focus so much on the dialogue and storyline. I focused much more on the setting of each scene, the appearance of each character, and the way each character carried themself. It became more of a cinematic experience rather than a story-driven one.

In the book, I was able to learn certain details about each character that they couldn't specifically tell you in the show. I would notice the creater's of the show throwing in lines or actions to try to help the viewer undertand each character better. These were unneccesary in the book because you knew more about each character. The book allowed you to get into the head of Ned Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Daenaerys Targaryen, or any of the other main protagonists. There were details that I learned in the books that I would have surely missed if I had only watched the show. In fact, in some ways, reading the book enhanced my experience of watching the show. It was a more relaxed version of watching a normally dramatic series because I knew what was going to happen before it happened.

One character who's mindset it helped me get into was Sansa Stark. From the show alone, I'm certain that I wouldn't be able to fully understand Sansa in any way. As a person, I'm nothing like her. But the book takes you through their thoughts, helps you understand how each character's brain works. This lead me to the understanding that Sansa was high-born in every way. She looked down upon anybody below her and her sole purpose in life was the be a "proper lady". Now, I'm sure I would have figured this out eventually, but it made Sansa's actions more understandable and I actually had a stronger appreciation for her character than I likely would have.

Major Differences Between the Book and the Series

*Note: This part is comprised entirely of me nitpicking at differences between the characters in the show vs. the book, so if you don't want to read that, go on ahead to the next section.

Age Differences

Now, among the vast similarities, there were plenty of differences between the show and the book. Most notably, age was an issue throughout. Many of the characters that are young teenagers in the book are well into their twenties in the show.

This is most prevalent with Daenaerys Targaryen. Her character is thirteen in the book, but appears much older in the series. Obviously, there are certain sex scenes and overall pieces of the story that would not be okay if she was played by a 13 year old girl. For starters, she gets married to Khal Drogo, a fully grown man. This is no fault of the producers of the show, as they didn't really have much of an option here. Emilia Clarke did a great job portraying Dany and made sure her character still felt young.

Other characters that appeared much older are Jon Snow and Robb Stark. The characters themselves didn't change much despite the age discrepency, but the relationships did. I felt like the relationships between these two and their younger siblings was something that took a hit in the show. Jon and Robb seemed like adults while Arya, Bran, and Rickon seem like children. This wasn't so much an issue, but rather something that exaggarated further than I thought was necessary as I watched the series.

Matching Actors to Characters

Another problem that the show encountered on a couple occasions was fully matching the character to their description in the book. Most notably, I saw this in Arya Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, and Tyrion Lannister. Both of these characters were extremely well cast, especially Joffrey Baratheon, but there were certain sacrifices the show had to make when matching an actor to a character.

We'll start with Joffrey, since this was the most annoying flaw in my eyes. King Joffrey is obviously supposed to be a strongly disliked character. This stays true in the book; he's compulsive, ignorant, and selfish. But one positive trait he was given in the book was his good looks. In terms of appearance, this was a swing and a miss for the show, as Joffrey's actor isn't particularly good looking. Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister, and any other Lannisters are all a good looking, consistent with their family in the novels. But the most important trait about Joffrey had to be there; he had have an annoying look about him. If you've seen the show, you know exactly what I'm talking about. He has a constant look of entitlement and just an annoying face. In this category, they did extremely well, his character is easy to dislike.

The issue comes here: Joffrey was supposed to be extremely good looking. To a certain point, they maintain that he is good looking in the show, despite him being an average looking guy. Had I not read the book at the same time, I probably wouldn't have cared about this, but it did bother me quite a bit. In season two, they even hint that he's not quite as good looking as other Lannisters when Cersei says "He looks like Jaime... in the right lighting."

When it comes to Tyrion Lannister, his character was perfectly cast in almost every way, but opposite to his nephew Joffrey, Tyrion was cast to be too good looking. In the book, they repeatedly reference how ugly Tyrion is. He's supposed to have mismatched eyes and just an overall ugly face, but this isnt reflected very well in the show. That being said, Tyrion is my favorite character and I think Peter Dinklage did an excellent job portraying him.

The last and most noticeable casting flaw was in Arya Stark. Once again, Maisie Williams does an excellent job as Arya Stark, but her physical appearance caused some issues for me with the storyline. Throughout the series, Arya is continuously confused for a boy and even poses as one at the end of the season and well into season two. The issue here is that the actress playing her is a little too old for the role. It works for most parts of the show, but when it comes to her pretending to be a boy, she very clearly is not.

Conclusion

The conclusion to this little experiment is simple: don't do it. This wasn't a bad experience, it was just not worth my time in the way that I did it. It took two potentially great experiences and blended them together, creating one single overwhelming experience. I'd actually highly recommend reading the book then watching the series, just not at the same time. Give it a good break in between so that the plotline doesn't lose it's spark. Reading the book gives you a good foundation and allows for a more relaxed viewing of the show.

If you do decide to do this, despite me telling you not to, make sure you read the book first. On a couple occasions, I got ahead of myself in the show and it became extremely difficult to focus back on the book when I already knew what was happening. I would find myself reading and entire page and realizing that I didn't digest anything that I just read.

Ever since I stopped reading the book before each episode, I've found more enjoyment in the show in the form of binge watching. There's something much more exciting about watching each episode back to back, rather than essentially experiencing the same thing twice. Over and over.