You've read Game of Thrones and want to judge me for only watching the show? Who are you – Joffrey?

I'm sick of self-righteous GoT fans trying to claim ownership of the whole franchise

A nice young boy: Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey in HBO's Game of Thrones (Rex Features)

Game of Thrones book readers, on behalf of those who only know of Westeros because of HBO, we need to talk. This could be controversial but here goes: we don’t care that you’ve read the books.

We especially don’t care about the differences you have so diligently (read: obsessively) noted between the books and the screen adaptation. The minutiae you complain about don’t bother us in the slightest. Many of the main characters are actually teenagers? Good for them. Tyrion Lannister should have two different coloured eyes? Ditto.

However, what does bother us is your superior attitude to all things Thrones. It’s the snorts of derision when we don’t know what you mean by R + L = J. What is it? Is it some sort of maths? Or worse still, your eye rolling when yet another beloved character dies and we’re left clutching a cushion, mouths agape. Yes, we’re surprised. After all, this is brand new information for us.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone who reads the books. But the arrogance exhibited by some within the GoT literary community is such that I imagine they read while sitting in ivory towers, carved in the likeness of the Red Keep. Here are just some examples of the attitude displayed by the self-righteous GoT book fans online:

If you are part of the elite GoT literary clique, I’m not knocking the books, nor am I criticising your commitment to reading them. But – and here’s the thing – how long did it take you to read them? I would wager longer than a weekly 60 minutes. And, for some people, that’s all we have in which to enjoy the television series.

And before you say it, that doesn’t mean we don’t ever read. In fact, assuming we don’t read just because we choose to watch GoT is among the most annoying things of which you accuse TV fans. If HBO is happy to make an easily digestible version of an entertaining story, some people might prefer to watch that and read something else. It's not that hard.

So, don’t get frustrated with those sticking to the TV series, and don’t try to claim ownership of the whole franchise. Above all, though, if you must complain about something as irrelevant as differences between books and screen adaptations, can you at least do it in private?