14 Struggles Only "Game Of Thrones" Books Fans Will Understand

Every book fan has had to stoop to calling the series the "Game of Thrones books," (proof: the title of this article) so people actually know what we're talking about. But let's be clear: the book series is called A Song of Ice and Fire. The TV series is called Game of Thrones. The first book in the series is called A Game of Thrones. Get it right, people.

At first, you're both geeking out over your shared interest. But all too soon, you find yourself explaining that the show cut Lady Stoneheart, and that Sansa doesn't actually marry Ramsay, and that Dornish politics are completely different in the book, and then you've confused and alienated all of your show-watching friends.

We all know that adaptations are going to have to change a few things here and there...but why is there no Lady Stoneheart?? Why is Jojen already dead? Why is Varys on team Daenerys? It's tough when the HBO gods decide to kill or completely rewrite your favorite characters. Or when the show just straight up doesn't include your favorite characters. Arianne Martell fans know what I'm talking about.

Then again, we can't blame HBO for all of those character deaths. GRRM has no mercy. I mean... remember when Ned Stark was the series protagonist and then he died at the end of book one? We love A Song of Ice and Fire for all of its twists and intricate plotting, but we also hate to see our faves constantly getting stabbed and beheaded. I just hope that GRRM know that if he comes for Tyrion, we're coming for him.

So. Many. Names. Daenarys alone has one mouthful of a last name (Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons). GRRM is fond of using the same name for multiple characters, and of calling back minor characters from minor subplots to play major roles. Not to mention all the characters who go by nicknames, titles, and aliases. You need all those family trees in the back of the book just to keep your sanity intact.

Why do I know that the followers of the blind god Boash left the Valyrian Freehold and founded the Free City of Lorath on the coast of the Shivering Sea? Why is that information that I have in my brain? I have only the haziest idea of why World War I happened or when the Mayflower landed, but useless trivia about Westeros and its neighboring city-states is embedded in my mind forever.

GRRM loves to add dimension to even the nastiest of characters. Like, objectively we know that Jaime is sleeping with his sister and once pushed a seven-year-old boy out of a window... but he's grown so much since then! As far as incestuous murderers go, he's one of the good ones.

What is that black oily stone? What's really going down in Asshai? What's across the Sunset Sea? What was the Doom of Valyria? What's up with the glass candles? Who is Coldhands? What happened to Tyrion's wife? JUST TELL US ALREADY, GEORGE.

Look, reading these books is a big commitment. But when no one else you know has read them, it gets lonely out there. How can you talk about your Young Griff theories when no one else knows who the hell Young Griff is??

Sometimes it's a total surprise when a character bites the dust, but other times you can see it coming from miles away, because you have way more information than the characters do. That's when it becomes tempting to scream and hurl your book at the wall. Especially when you know that Brienne is about to take Jaime to meet Lady Stoneheart, or when anyone at all is going to a wedding.

Seriously, what was up with A Feast for Crows? No Dany, Jon, or Tyrion chapters for an entire book? Um? No thank you? Let's be real, as much as we love the other characters, no one's coming to the party for Samwell Tarly alone.

Yeah, I like Asha Greyjoy too, but enough already with so many Greyjoy chapters. Asha, Theon, Victarion, and Aeron are all point of view characters and it just...feels like a lot of Greyjoy. Several helpings of Greyjoy. More Greyjoy than anyone really wanted.

The rule of thumb is pretty much this: if someone gets beheaded in a chapter, they're permanently dead. Like Ned. I think. Otherwise...all bets are off, and boy does GRRM like to tease us with character death fake-outs whenever he possibly can. Not to mention all of our cool zombie/Frankensteined friends, like Catelyn Stark or the mysterious "new" knight, Robert Strong. It seems like in Westeros, death is more of a loose suggestion.

Of course, all of these struggles pale in comparison to the constant, endless torture of waiting for The Winds of Winter to FINALLY come out. CAN WINTER PLEASE JUST COME ALREADY?