Source
r/circlebroke•
Mutual

/r/gameofthrones further confirms that given time, reddit will inevitably run any half decent joke into the ground.

Let me start off by saying this; I love everything George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The books, the short stories, graphic novels, the HBO series. Heck, I even found some good in those terrible video game cash-ins they made. Despite all this, r/gameofthrones has me consistently rolling my eyes and face palming at how repetitive and just unfunny it can be.

Currently, the two top posts on the subreddit's front page are a variation of the "LOLGRRM kills everyone, AMIRITE?!" joke. For those of you who may not be fans of the series, the overall premise behind this joke is true. The author really does kill a whole bunch of people. Good guys, bad guys, main characters, minor characters, characters who seem destined for greatness, heroes, villains- No one is safe.

"But Mutual," you may be thinking, "If it's true then why is this such a big deal? After all, it's only two posts!" If only that were true. This joke has become a perpetual in-joke throughout the sub. A way for fans to sort of congratulate one another for reading a series where all the characters seem vulnerable, regardless of their "status", if you will, as a character.

Some more examples-

I know this is a pretty specific circlejerk, but it still bothers me quite a bit.

Posted Aug 16, 2012, 7:24 PM UTC

57100
[deleted]•

Nothing will ruin something that you love faster than interacting with large groups of other people who also love that thing.

66
[deleted]•

[deleted]

20
[deleted]•

r/asoiaf is like r/gameofthrones's mature, professional older brother. They ONLY allow material directly related to the book (and the show, maybe). The front page is almost entirely discussion, along with news. No memes, no dumb jokes, nothing of low value.

26
[deleted]•

I have to agree. For the most part it's speculation, and you cannot really participate if you haven't read the novels. I'm not saying that the people who have read the books are better/smarter or anything like, but they can discuss the series in more depth. r/GoT is full of memes and dead horse whipping, and this is true in some instances of r/asoiaf (there are certain speculation threads brought up all the time), but the mods are generally good and do moderate, to the extent that I have only seen one highly voted meme thread, and a lot of comments were decrying it for being a meme. r/asoiaf is really a much better place to look for discussion rather than just the jerking around which is found in the other subreddit. Don't go there however unless you have finished the series. There are tons of spoilers floating around.

8
MutualOP•

I always recommend Tower of the Hand for those who can't yet browse r/asoiaf without spoiling the series for themselves. You can set the scope of the site based on what books you've read up to and what episodes of the show you've seen.

2
Ozymil•

As of late, r/asoiaf has hit somewhat of a lull with overly wild speculation and egregiously repeated topics. Understandably, it's been a couple years since DWD came out so there's only so much you can discuss by now. Here's hoping it'll jump back to life when WoW comes out.

4
TheWholeThing•

Just wait until it's been six years like before DWD came out... the SA game of thrones thread kind of imploded on itself.

4
alphabeat•

Everything there seems to be ADWD spoilers. I really need to catch up!

1
GodOfAtheism•

And that's exactly why I stay the fuck away from the vast majority of anime forums. Even r/anime is kind of a shithole, though I'll poke my head in here and there.

8
[deleted]•

Don't forget /a/. Seriously, fuck that place.

2
RoboticParadox•

If I ever see the phrase "it is known" again, I might just snap.

22
Arthur_Dayne•

Or "sweet summer child".

16
RoboticParadox•

Seems ironic coming from you...

Also, anything involving the word "Hodor". Sweet baby jesus.

14
[deleted]•

HODOR HODOR HOD HO-Shut the fuck up-DOR HODOR

3
moonmeh•

tbh I vastly prefer those hodor chains compared to the elitist "oh you sweet summer child" circlejerks

2
RoboticParadox•

Or the DAE THINK GRRM IS GONNA DIE BEFORE THE SERIES IS FINISHED jerks that always accompany that exact comment.

2
adreamofhodor•

Fuck.

1
RoboticParadox•

Yours isn't a problem because you presumably don't go out of your way to post HODOR HODOR HODOR in completely unrelated threads.

1
Hallo457•

Can't have a sweet summer child when "Winter is coming."

Gaaaaaaaaah.

2
[deleted]•

You know nothing, John Snow.

Just wait for that one to start. It will....

2
[deleted]•

Anyone addressing another person as "Ser" makes me want to shoot someone.

4
Hetzer•

Upsworded you like a ser, good ser

2
TheWholeThing•

I got sick of the stupid little phrases Martin picks for each book and uses about 100,000 times while reading the book, why do these nerds feel the need to keep saying them!

1
[deleted]•

r/asoiaf is quite a bit better. Less memes, more discussion.

21
i_like_jam•

r/asoiaf shows you what a community around a book/tv/etc series SHOULD be like. Honestly, is there any other one out there like it? I somehow doubt there are... it really helps r/asoiaf that there is another subreddit where all the shit that would otherwise be relevant is posted.

9
[deleted]•

Yeah, having a subreddit 3x larger that's devoted to the show and general stuff really helps act as a filter.

2
andrasi•

Also the name of the subreddit too, pretty hard to find asoiaf unless you already know about it while r/gameofthrones usually has at least one thread in the frontpage of all

1
pururin•

"DAE better than everyone for reading books? ARen't we just the smartest folk around? Those TV-babies know nothing! (only readers will get this ref)

-15
StickerBrush•

I...don't see posts like that on r/asoiaf.

18
[deleted]•

Ironically 'You know nothing' is one of the jokes which has been so worn down even r/gameofthrones calls it out.

9
Takingbackmemes•

IT IS KNOWN LOL LOL

1
pururin•

Err... I guess I have to explain my comment a bit: I was at about an [8] when I wrote that, and having never heard of that subreddit before, I created a mental image of r/GoT/ with the snobbiest book elitists. I didn't mean for it to reflect the actual subreddit.

Also, I admin I laughed at the comment after I wrote it.

-2
StickerBrush•

Minor ASOIAF spoilers!

Yeah, I hate this too. Especially because not that many main characters die. Yeah, a lot of people kick the bucket but...there have been what, 3 total POV character deaths?

What GRRM does WAY more often is the "This character is dead! ...just kidding they're totally okay." It happens like three times/book.

13
MutualOP•

[PRETTY SERIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD]

Honestly, with the exception of Ned, none of the POV deaths really got to me. Catelyn? Meh, I liked her, but whatever. Quentyn? There was no way such a stereotypical good guy was making it to the end of that book.

But, a lot of minor or secondary deaths got to me. I had to take a break after Robb's death, and was pretty bummed out when Jon finds Ygritte dying after the battle at Castle Black. Oberyn Martell's death crushed me. Heck, even Lady and Nimble Dick's deaths left me feeling pretty down.

GRRM is also pretty good at tugging my heartstrings when it comes to non-deaths, too. Arya chasing Nymeria away got to me, and the whole Reek thing was just awful. Even if he was a big dick in ACOK.

11
SweetdaddyReginald•

[Major ACOK/Season 2 spoilers below]

The one that really got to me was Maester Luwin.

5
MutualOP•

Luwin didn't get to me so much in the books. But that actor knocked it out of the park. I mean, I knew it was going to happen, and yet I still had tears in my eyes.

7
SweetdaddyReginald•

I completely agree, maybe I should make a "DAE think Maester Luwin didn't get enough love?" post on r/gameofthrones? I kid, I kid...

I did think I'd be prepared for it happening on the show, but by the time he refuses milk of the poppy and nods to Osha's dagger it was hard to see again.

7
[deleted]•

The one that was kind of ehhh to me in the books was Syrio. But in the show, he killed it. That death got me, the actor just brought so much life into what could have been a stereotypical teacher archetype.

3
Figgots•

Once GRRM starts something he'll beat it like a dead horse and repeat it until he gets bored. For awhile he was obsessed with people shitting themselves.

7
StickerBrush•

Books 2 and 3 were full of people shitting themselves, book 4 was all the intricate ways people can eat things.

3
Figgots•

I love him, but god damn he is not a technical writer. I have to force myself to keep reading just to see what happens. He's amazing at crafting a story and a world, but he's just not a writer.

2
StickerBrush•

Eh, he's a good writer, just in need of an editor to tell him what to and not to do.

For example: We didn't need Quintin POV chapters in ADWD. We already knew what was happening based on what other characters were dong.

5
BritishHobo•

I keep thinking this. I've not read book 5 yet, so maybe there's a massive bloodbath at the end, but so far there's been... of the main characters...

HUGE SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1-4

^Ned, ^Robb, ^maybe ^Joffrey, ^at ^a ^push ^Catelyn, ^and ^she ^comes ^back. Them aside, there's a couple of fake-outs. And that's it. Is it just absurd hyperbole?

SPOILERS END

4
MutualOP•

[EVEN MORE SPOILERS, BOOKS 1-4 FOR YOUR BENEFIT BH]

You forgot Aerys Oakheart, who was a brief POV character in AFFC. Martin does kill a lot of secondary and minor characters, some more important than others. Off the top of my head, I can think of Beric Dondarrion, Nimble Dick, Mandon Moore, Maester Luwin, Robert and Renly Baratheon, Lysa Tully, Janos Slynt, Dontos Hollard, Lady, Grey Wind, Dacey Mormont, Ygritte, Maester Aemon, Qhorin Halfhand, Viserys Targaryen, Khal Drogo, Hoster Tully, Balon Greyjoy, Oberyn Martell, Jeor Mormont, Mirri Mazz Duur, and (possibly) Sandor Clegane.

Like I mentioned above, sometimes these deaths got to me way more than the POV deaths. I'm sure there's more of these "minor" ones, but I haven't gotten around to another re-read of the series yet.

3
StickerBrush•

Yeah it's absurd hyperbole. The biggest bloodbath is ASOS.

I can't think of any major deaths in ADWD to be honest. There aren't really any major deaths in AFFC either though.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

2
Answermancer•

Yeah I've heard people I know talk about how he killed Jon and I was like... really? You buy that? It seemed blatantly obvious that it was a fakeout to me, it leaves you like mid-battle (granted he's badly wounded) and we never see the corpse, or any of the aftermath for that matter.

IMO no way Jon is dead.

2
Takingbackmemes•

I wish Jon was dead. Nigga went full retard.

2
Little_Apple_Blossom•

It's understandable to be annoyed by this. The loud, obnoxious subset of fandoms can be pretty grating after awhile, especially when they turn something into a meme and never shut up about it. Just look at the My Little Pony fandom: some of those people are just nuts with their memes.

12
lolsail•

I have no problem with pony memes, I thought they were meant to be obnoxious. I just don't get the more.. rule 34-ish aspects of the fandom that seem to run rampant

1
hercbeak•

You should see the way some characters of the books are treated. A lot of users on r/gameofthrones like to jerk over the fact that GRRM has created a non-stereotypical cast of complex, flawed, characters of both genders (I'm guilty of that jerk as well; I do like most of the chracters).

This has resulted in a secondary jerk over some very stereotypical "badass" male characters such as Jaime, Jon, Victarion, and Tywin; their flaws (incest, cruelty, etc.) are negated by the fact that they are good with weapons (and/or words). Meanwhile, female characters like Dany, Sansa, and Catelyn are absolutely shat on for their flaws (poor decisions, being 13 years old, etc.). I really, really hate to delve into gender issues, but I'm kind of sick of seeing upvoted discussions that are bordering on misogyny (e.g. "That cunt Sansa is a stupid bitch").

12
MutualOP•

The anti-Sansa sentiment is pretty infuriating. She's definitely one of the stronger characters in the series, despite her missteps in the first book. Here you have a 13 (12?) year old girl who, by all accounts, has a very easy and privileged upbringing. She believes in pretty princesses, happy endings, knights, and chivalry. She's betrothed to the future King of Westeros, which is like, her wildest dream.

Then suddenly, all of that is ripped out from under her. Her King is a cruel bastard, her father is murdered, her wolf killed, and her family wiped off the face of the Earth. To make matters worse, she's all alone and surrounded by enemies in King's Landing. Whenever there's a glimmer of hope with regards to her situation getting better, her enemies do their best to thwart it (Her budding relationship with the Tyrells being ruined by the Lannisters, for one).

Despite all of this, she survives the Lion's den. It's cool that Jaime, Victarion, and the others have survived brutal battles, but I think that what Sansa managed to do as a naive child is equally impressive.

14
[deleted]•

While I don't disagree about the Sansa hate, I think that the sentiment is tempered by the fact that a lot of r/got people haven't read the books. I got into the series through the TV show and to be honest I didn't like Sansa to begin with. However, she has really grown on me during the past few books, to being one of my favorite characters. I think that as the TV series catches up with the books, and we see more of Sansa apart from her moping around and worshiping Joffrey a lot more r/GoT subscribers will grow to like her. It's part of her development, and part of that is showing her as buying into the chivalric ideal, something which would alienate a lot of the Reddit userbase anyway.

2
DaRootbear•

I think part of it is that Sansa retains an idealistic hope, she remains almost pure, she doesnt get touched. She realizes things arent good but remains hopeful she can escape, she will find a better way and life.

And people cant stand that happiness and hope, she is the only one like that.

And people cant stand that she has to be subservient still, her compliant is the only way she can make it through the game, but slowly she is ascending ranks of pieces in the battle. Yet she still remains compliant, and people dont like that.

She has one of the more interesting nad strongly written arcs, and she is changing quick. But people want her not to be woman, conniving nad strong through political battles (god forbid a women does that, I mean, Tyrion does it? Awesome. Ceresei, Margeary, or Sansa? Ew), they want her to be like Arya, a man, someone who trancends her age, etc.

People hate Sansa because she is a foil to everyone else...by being true to herself and her age. She remains occasionally niavely hopeful. She remains a proper lady. She remains a 14 (I believe) year old girl occasionally infatuated by a gorgeous knight.

And they hate that GRRM would dare provide that interesting contrast by making it completely normal. Rather than an Imp, or maimed, or incestual twin, or a Magical animal tamer, or mother of dragons, or a king, or zombie fighter, etc.

They hate her being exactly what she is. A teenage girl.

5
TheWholeThing•

I have a feeling Sansa is going to do awesome things soon.

2
Arthur_Dayne•

On the other hand, Arya is elevated to near hero-worship status while Littlefinger is shat on pretty hard.

It's not male-versus-female, it's just teenage boys liking people who swing a sword.

2
TheWholeThing•

Littlefinger is shat on pretty hard

Really? They love him in r/asoiaf

6
eighthgear•

He is clearly quite evil, but the TV show includes some scenes that portray him as quite the creep.

2
Arthur_Dayne•

Okay, fine. People like Brienne and Arya and hate Dany, Sansa, and Catelyn. What is the common link here?

1
TheWholeThing•

They like masculine women and hate feminine women.

I always though Brienne was boring. Dany was one of my favorite characters before this most recent book, where her story slows down a lot. I expect Sansa to get pretty awesome as she learns more from Littlefinger (and hopefully brings him down with her new training).

2
hercbeak•

I normally find Littlefinger being praised for his manipulations (which readers blame Catelyn for, of course).

2
Takingbackmemes•

well to be fair that cunt sansa is a stupid bitch.

-6
Arthur_Dayne•

Oh look, it's another opportunity for me to mention r/asoiafcirclejerk . You have to have read the books though, because spoilers ahoy.

11
[deleted]•

[deleted]

9
Appleanche•

r/gameofthrones is one of the saddest Subreddits around, IMO.

Here you have a Subreddit dedicated to one of the best book series and one of the best TV shows airing. Both the TV and Books are deep and could spawn endless debate, conversation.

What does r/gameofthrones produce? A front page with usually about 75%+ memes and other completely shit content.

I've had debates about this with the mods there, they basically straight up said they'd rather be a big Subreddit than good.

8
DaRootbear•

I loved that at first, hell my only link karma is from a shitty meme.

Now that I finished the series and discovered ASOIF subreddit, I cant stand GoT sub

1
kenneth1221•

You got 370 karma from making a meme?

This probably supports the hypothesis that Reddit allows easily digestible posts to rise to the top.

0
DaRootbear•

It was god awful, and I think it has probably been done before. I mainly made it as a joke to share with my friends, and I decided on a whim to post, thinking it would get nowhere.

Instead i spawned whole thing of arguments, and a pissed off post about me.

All in all it was impressive.

This crap spawned so much argument, karma, and everything. It was really quite funny.

1
pietpiraat•

What is dislike most about this subreddit is the constant hinting towards spoilers, as if having read the books makes you part of some special club and you have to prove your membership by spoiling it's content.

7
MutualOP•

They're also really, really, really anal about spoilers over there. Which is pretty much the reason why I spend more time over at r/asoiaf than I do at r/gameofthrones. Pretty much every post is marked as [SPOILERS ALL], so I don't have to dick around with spoiler formatting.

6
[deleted]•

[deleted]

5
BritishHobo•

Oh hey, top comment on one of those links devolves immediately into a 'man, if GRRM dies before the last books!!!!' 'He gave the ending to HBO just in case!!!!' Further proof that Reddit is like that one friend who you always have the same two or three awkward conversations with, repeating things that you know you've told them before in a desperate attempt to fill the silence.

Also they're really quite shitty about 'heroes' like GRRM and Gabe Newell. They seem to think 'oh, we idolize their work, so it's fine if we mock them for being fat and old'. You're not friends with GRRM, fucknuts, you're just some anonymous asshole slagging him off online.

4
Answermancer•

Definitely agree, whenever someone goes off on "he's old and fat and he's going to die OMG" I wonder how they can be so crass and disrespectful to an author they claim to love.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
Spysix•

Thank god, this whole joke NEEDED to be meme-ified.

You can thank the people who go to normal humorous pics and say "Can we please turn this into a meme?"

3
[deleted]•

Game of Thrones is an extremely popular franchise involving a complex and interesting universe with lots of characters and plots to discuss. Yet, the front page is completely plastered with memes and shitty image macros.

It looks like the moderators worked hard to create the beautiful CSS with the cool hacks and flair, it's a shame that it's being abused by uncreative kiddies.

3
atheistfagz•

yeah i stopped reading that subreddit because it turned into stupid reposted images and everyone talking about how DAE NED STARK????!?!?!?!!

Now the subreddit is just memes and photos of cast members

2
MutualOP•

Don't forget the five millions pictures of the same exact scene after every episode with "DAE THIS SCENE?!?!!" in the title. Also, the stupid CGI budget joke when Daenerys refused to show the Qartheen her dragons in one of the early episodes of season two. UGH.

4
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
josh024•

Can they kill off that midget already? Getting tired of him.

1
DrCowboyFace•

Wow, really?

3
josh024•

I meant getting tired of reddit jerking off about him.

5
DrCowboyFace•

I think the Tyrion-praise has quieted down a bit. Outside of the subreddit, there's a huge following of him. From what I've seen, at least.

I also think he kind of deserves it as one of the only level-headed people in the entire series.

6
MutualOP•

I really like how his story has evolved throughout the series. He has so many highs and lows throughout the books that it's almost a little ridiculous.

3
Saiyaman•

I hate how this happens to most TV show-related subs when the season's over with. And some are even still bad when the show returns. (Cough, r/breakingbad, cough.)

I'm only on the 2nd book so I can't venture into r/asoiaf yet.

1
MutualOP•

Your best bet for discussion or information is Tower of the Hand. You can set the scope of the site so that it will only include information up to whatever book or episode you've seen.

2
Saiyaman•

Thanks! And I wonder, has r/got always been like that? When I first started reading there I thought it was a good sub. I liked watching an episode then reading the episode discussion threads picking up on things I may not have noticed.

1
MutualOP•

It's always been full of similar content, but it got way worse as the show skyrocketed in popularity. Now that nearly everyone who wants serious discussion posts over at r/asoiaf, I don't see it getting any better. I still stay subscribed for the occasional funny picture or joke, though.

2
Ghost_Child•

I love Breaking Bad and I find that the BB subreddit never ceases to disappoint. Each episode's "discussion" thread is just an embarrassing cluster-fuck of tired memes and obnoxious catch-phrases. There's so much thought and nuance in that show's production that I'm at a loss as to why it's fan-base is so stupid and, frankly, pretty rabidly sexist.

The creators of these shows have to work hard and fight to convince the networks that audiences are smart enough for this kind of high-quality programing, so can we show our appreciation and enthusiasm by receiving their work with some level of maturity like grown-ups and not just vomiting idiotic catch-phrases like a bunch of fucking simpletons?

1
binarypolitics•

It's not specific to reddit of course. If you watched the lead in to newsroom or hard knocks, it shows some clips from the comic con panel where george r.r. martin is making jokes about killing off characters.

It's sort of just a meme for AGOT / ASOIAF. So that's why it's rammed into the ground. Such is the way of memes.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
seminolekb•

I got banned from r/gameofthrones for linking to a Sibel Kekilli porno.

feelsbadman.jpg

1