Arya Stark Is Sick of Snobby Game of Thrones Book Readers
There are two competing schools of thought when it comes to Game of Thrones spoilers. One holds that anything that hasn't appeared on HBO is a spoiler that should be kept tightly under wraps. The other argues the books have been available for years, and viewers who don't want to be surprised by unaired plot details have a responsibility to read them.
Maisie Williams, the actress who plays Arya Stark, would like the elitist "book readers" in the latter camp to kindly shut the hell up.
"I'm so sick of going on the internet and seeing all the book readers being snobby, spoiling it for other people, then saying, 'Well, it's not a spoiler. The books have been out for years,'" she told TVLine.
"Like, couldn't you just stop being mad for a second and let other people enjoy the show? They feel they have a claim on the series because they read the books first, and I understand that, but they don't need to be mean about it."
She's right: Whether old-school A Song of Ice and Fire fans like it or not, George R.R. Martin's novels are now a hugely popular HBO series with a fandom of its own. Intentionally ruining things for newcomers–many of whom became "book readers" because of the show—just to assert that you were there first is an elementary-school pissing contest at best, malicious trolling at worst.
Besides, as the show's plot begins to diverge from the novels in bigger and more interesting ways, even diligent book readers can now be spoiled.
"Book readers think they know what's coming, then we change it and it's really funny to watch their reactions," Williams told TVline. "They're always like, 'That's not what happened in the books, so the show's really bad now.' But really, they just feel insecure because they're used to knowing what's coming next."
