# Anybody here like both GAME OF THRONES and HARRY POTTER & ETC.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581 "2015-08-11T18:50:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/21 "2015-08-12T16:31:07Z")
Big fan of the Harry Potter books. Enjoyed some of the movies but haven’t seen them all yet. Read the first Game of Thrones book, liked it okay, haven’t gotten very far into the second or seen any of the TV show. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/22 "2015-08-12T17:31:29Z")
I’m not the hugest fantasy fan. I always liked youth fantasy (Lewis Carroll, the Oz books, Peter Pan), but not the usual magic and dwarves in fictional medieval settings. But I figured Harry Potter was going to be more like Oz, and I really enjoyed the series. I liked how it got more complex and dark as the readers grew up. The movies were okay but not as good as the books. I stopped watching them after the Order of the Phoenix though, so maybe the last few films were better. I was prejudiced against Game of Thrones for a long time. For one thing, I have a (rightly earned, I’m afraid) bias against things that become very popular in a short period. Also, my “I don’t like orcs and goblins and muscly heroes with swords who fight sorcerers” bias. But once I finally watched it I was blown away. It looks amazing, it doesn’t have those tired cliches, the magic is really minimal. It’s more like watching a medieval political war movie that takes place in another universe with its own history and culture you can immerse yourself in. So I started reading the books and they are even better than the show. So I would say that I like them all, but Game of Thrones is much much better than the Harry Potter movies, and Ice and Fire is only significantly better than the Harry Potter books. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/23 "2015-08-12T17:34:41Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > So I would say that I like them all, but Game of Thrones is much much better than the Harry Potter movies, and Ice and Fire is only significantly better than the Harry Potter books. Wuzzat 'sposed to be “Ice and Fire is only slightly better than the Harry Potter novels”? 'Cause otherwise you got too many fricking adverbes in that sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/24 "2015-08-12T17:47:10Z")
You didn’t have an answer that fit me, so I went with the most likely one given everything I’ve heard about GoT: That I like Harry Potter but not Game of Thrones. I love the Harry Potter series, but have neither directly read nor seen anything related to GoT. However, based on everything I’ve _heard_ about the GoT series and the books, I wouldn’t like them. Too long, too misogynistic, too unrelentingly downbeat. I particularly don’t like works where characters I’ve become attached to have the potential to die at any second (especially if it’s not as part of some kind of heroic action). So yeah, no, I doubt I’d like GRRM’s series however well-written or well-filmed it is. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/25 "2015-08-12T17:58:35Z")
I like both, quite a bit. I stood in line for the last 3 Harry Potter books at midnight. I pre-ordered the last two Song of Ice and Fire books (I dunno if there was a midnight giveaway for those, but I’m too old for that and I like reading on my Kindle). I’ve mostly enjoyed but been relatively disappointed with the last few seasons of Game of Thrones, while I felt that the Harry Potter films got better and better as they advanced. However, I think the Song of Ice and Fire books are quite fantastic and while I loved the Harry Potter books, its not really a contest there. So I’d rank: Harry Potter films = Game of Thrones show Song of Ice and Fire books \>\> Harry Potter books ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/26 "2015-08-12T18:07:26Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Wuzzat 'sposed to be “Ice and Fire is only slightly better than the Harry Potter novels”? 'Cause otherwise you got too many fricking adverbes in that sentence. What I meant is that Ice and Fire is much better than the Harry Potter books, but not as much better as Game of Thrones is than the Harry Potter movies. Or something like that. Basically, the difference between GofT and the HP films is greater than the difference between SoIaF and the HP novels. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/27 "2015-08-13T00:53:32Z")
I like both (having read the books first before the TV show/movies), but I will say I vastly prefer ASOIAF over Harry Potter. Potter is good for what it is, children’s entertainment - there’s a few too many kid-aimed things that make me lose interest in spots. That and it seems clear to me that Rowling was making it up as she went along, whereas Martin is clearly planting seeds very early on that will pay off later in the series. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/28 "2015-08-13T06:35:13Z")
I said I like both, in both book and film form, although that was a slight lie. I’ve only read the Dunk&Egg GoT novellas, not the ASoI&F full novels, but I like those a lot, so imagine the novels would be liked too. I see no disconnect between liking HP and GoT, any more than there’s a disconnect between liking the fantasies of both Terry Pratchett _and_ Clive Barker. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/29 "2015-08-13T12:25:35Z")
Where’s the Lord of the Rings option?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/30 "2015-08-13T13:07:56Z")
Read both series, watched both series, like them all. (Never vote in public polls though. Personal policy.) As for _The Lord of the Rings_ and _The Hobbit_, I liked reading those but found the movies very tedious. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581/31 "2015-08-13T14:05:51Z")
Read the books of both series, and enjoyed them both. Well, mostly\*. And I liked the _Harry Potter_ movies okay, but don’t watch _Game of Thrones_. The bleak misery I knew was coming put me off the idea of committing to it, and frankly I didn’t like the gratuitous violence and nudity. If I’m spending half the episode looking away or feeling awkward and prudish, it may not be the show for me. \*I also gave up on the _Song of Ice and Fire_ books after… um… I think the last one I read was _Feast For Crows_. I’m not sure how many have come out since then. Anyway, I gave up for much the same reasons, too much bleak misery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-both-game-of-thrones-and-harry-potter-etc/727581.md?page=1)