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Book vs. Show Characters: Better, Worse, Mixed, or just Different?


Rill Redthorn

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i dont know why littlefinger sounds more and more like british batman every season

He sounds more like an Irish Batman to me. I expect him to get right up in Sansa's face again and complain that the Lannisters are "always after me lucky charms."

Spot-on writing and casting: Arya and Sandor, Maesters Luwin and Aemon, Varys, Joff. Like someone upthread said, you really disliked Joffrey in the books, but Jack Gleeson made you hate him with the heat of a thousand suns. I think it's a hoot he's giving up acting for theology!

Better than I expected: The Tyrells except Loras, Tywin, Davos, Sansa, Dany.

Worse than I feared: Stannis, Littlefinger, Jon Snow (though he seems better this season).

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Jesus Christ. He said "like" not that she was.

I'm not really sure how this makes it any better, tbh. He's saying she's 'like' a lesbian. Okay, well, what makes her 'like' a lesbian? Does she sleep with women? Does she fancy women? No. So what he's actually saying is 'she's butch and masculine so she fits the outdated and unpleasant stereotype that all lesbians are manly dungaree-wearing bulldykes'. That's a pretty uncool thing to imply.

(Red Raven, right there with you on the 'it wasn't rape because it became consensual in the end' - er, where? All I hear was Cersei sobbing as Jaime continued, having ignored multiple protests. That doesn't sound like consent to me. If you're going to have Jaime force himself on Cersei, at least have the balls to justify your creative decision instead of pretending it wasn't actually rape.)

Back to the OP: I don't think I've heard Tormund say 'Har!' once and that saddens me.

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1) Better in the show than in the books: Tywin, Joffrey, Cersei, Bronn, Viserys, Jorah, Osha, Khal Drogo, Stannis, Grey Worm, Shireen, Ros, Robb, Ygritte

2) Worse in the show than in the books: Littlefinger, Loras, Tormund, Mance

3) Basically unchanged between the show and the books: Ned, Davos, Arya, Sansa, Robert, Varys, Balon, Walder Frey, Melisandre, all the maesters, The Hound, Bran, Rickon, Sam, Jeor Mormont

4) A mix of good and bad changes, hard to separate out: Tyrion, Theon, Brienne, Tommen, Renly, Jaime (all characters that I like: sometime I prefer their book version and sometime the show one).

5) Completely different in the show and in the books: Asha/Yara, Margaery, Talissa

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1) Better in the show than in the books: Tywin, Olenna, Bronn (love it!), Podrick, Khal Drogo, Vyseris, Grey Worm, Tommen (maybe? We'll see), Robb

2) Worse in the show than in the books: Jon Snow, Tormund, Mance, Talisa, Shae

3) Basically unchanged between the show and the books: Ned, Davos, Sansa, Robert, Balon, Walder Frey, The Hound, Sam, Brienne, Ramsay, Cersei, Catelyn

4) A mix of good and bad changes, hard to separate out: Renly, Bran, Loras, Stannis, Melisandre, Daenerys, Jorah, Littlefinger

5) Completely different in the show and in the books: Yara, Margaery (but this one could go in the first group),

I would add the category spot on for charachters that might be a little different from the books (at times) but I love just the same: Jaime, Arya, Tyrion and Varys

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1) Better in the show than in the books: Tywin, Olenna, Bronn (love it!), Podrick, Khal Drogo, Vyseris, Grey Worm, Tommen (maybe? We'll see), Robb

2) Worse in the show than in the books: Jon Snow, Tormund, Mance, Talisa, Shae

3) Basically unchanged between the show and the books: Ned, Davos, Sansa, Robert, Balon, Walder Frey, The Hound, Sam, Brienne, Ramsay, Cersei, Catelyn

4) A mix of good and bad changes, hard to separate out: Renly, Bran, Loras, Stannis, Melisandre, Daenerys, Jorah, Littlefinger

5) Completely different in the show and in the books: Yara, Margaery (but this one could go in the first group),

I would add the category spot on for charachters that might be a little different from the books (at times) but I love just the same: Jaime, Arya, Tyrion and Varys

Category 3 (Unchanged) is meant to be basically "just right/perfect/spot on." I didn't want to call it "Perfect" because if you have a category of "better in the show than in the books", what's better than "perfect"? That is, I wanted to draw a distinction between Sean Bean's Ned, who was great partly because Ned's a great character and partly because Sean nailed him, and, say, Margaery, who is vastly improved from the book version (IMO) because the book version is almost a nothing. Saying that Ned is "spot on" is a compliment because Ned was a well-rounded character, but saying Margaery is "spot on" wouldn't be saying much.

I could have divided it up into more categories -- "Great in book, Great on show", "Okay in book, Great on show", "Terrible in book, okay on show" and so on -- but five categories is really enough.

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Better on the Show: Bronn is by far my first choice here; Jerome Flynn is doing a stellar job in his portrayal, and the writers have been generous in giving the character some choice lines. Others that also fill the bill for me in this category include Tywin, King Robert, Thoros, The Hound, Alliser Thorne, and Margaery.



Better in the Books: Stannis leads the rest of the pack by a mile; I really like Stephen Dillane as an actor, and he does the best that he can with what he's given, but at this point, I'm finding it hard to understand why even Davos is still loyal to show Stannis. Others in this category include Tormund, Mance, The Blackfish, Asha/Yara, the Thenns, Catelyn and Robb Stark.



Unchanged: Ned Stark for the win in this category. I can not picture anyone other than Sean Bean as Eddard in my mind's eye. Others include Varys, Maester Luwin, Davos, Lord Commander Mormont, and The Queen of Thorns (yes, they've upped her appearance and dialogue quotient from what it was in the books, but I believe the spirit of the character of Lady Olenna remains unchanged between book and screen).



Mixed: Brienne get my nod for tops in this category; Ms. Christie is doing a fine job in her portrayal, but I kind of miss some of the OTT awkwardness and innocence that so characterized book Brienne. Show Brienne, while still awkward in a fish out of water way, is still a shade less tongue-tied than book Brienne; show Brienne is far more comfortable with taking lives and is not quite so gullible as book Brienne. Others in this group to me include Theon, Jorah, Jaime, Cersei, and Beric (still not over show Beric selling out Gendry to Mel).



Completely Different: To me it's got to be Shae, but I actually like show Shae better; book Shae was such a one-note gold-digger that it always strained my credulity to think that a sharp guy like Tyrion would ever truly fall for her.


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One character not mentioned enough is Roose Bolton. He definietly fits under A mix of good and bad changes.


Since I started with the show (and read the books after season 3), I liked Roose a lot. He's the bad-ass advisor to the King in the North. I saw him as the Tywin of the North. When he betrayed Robb (which I did not see coming at all), I was so furious because he was one of my favorite minor characters at the time. I've come to like him again in the show and Michael McElhatton is a great actor.



In the books, he's quite different (in looks, personality and storyline). Much less trustworthy (flat-out telling Jaime that he means to betray Robb) and way creepier. I like them both for different reasons, but I think I like show Roose better.


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  • 2 months later...

Better in the Show:


Margaery Tyrell, Samwell Tarly, Cersei Lannister, Tywin Lannister, The Hound, Joffrey...



Worse in the Show:


Stannis Baratheon, Robb Stark, Jon Snow, Petyr Baelish, Daenerys Targaryen, Sansa Stark...



Equal in Book & Show:


Ned Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Roose & Ramsay Bolton, Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark...



I can't decide where to put Catelyn.


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  • 2 months later...

Before I'd watched the show I had only read the first 2 books (read them all now) so some of the characters later one may have been

1) Better in the show than in the books: Tywin (love the way Charles Dance portrays him and now picture him anytime he is mentioned in the books), Oberyn (is amazing in the show! Can't really remember him being as awesome in the book!), Jorah, Bronn, The Hound, Margeary

2) Worse in the show than in the books: Littlefinger (slightly pantomine villain-y and way too obvious in the show) , Loras (has become a stereotypical gay guy for some reason), Renly (not charismatic enough and a bit wussy),

3) Basically unchanged between the show and the books: Arya, Ned & Catelyn (though admittedly was thrown in the pilot by how old the actors were playing them but was won over!), Robert (minus being tall!), Jon Snow, Dany, Sansa, Bran & Rickon (bar age of course), Theon, Walder Frey, Gilly, Sam, Lysa (ok she looked nothing like the book Lysa but was the right amount of crazy), Lancel, Jaime, Brienne

4) A mix of good and bad changes, hard to separate out: Tyrion (I have no issue with the eyes thing or the half a nose its more that they seem to selectively cut out parts of his character - he is still a great character with his flaws - i prefer the middle shade of grey characters), Joffrey (a little pantomime like as well but I can understand why they gave him some extra evil things to do such as killing Robert's bastards and the crossbow/Ros as they aged the character up, Cersei (generally positive - I don't really care that Lena Headey is clearly a brunette for example and I understand the more sympathetic angle she is shown at because it would be hard to portray a lot of the things (like Robert's sexual abuse) when there is no POVs)

5) Completely different in the show and in the books: Mance (?!), Theon's sister, Daario, Jorah (I know I already said him)

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The show is a little bit of everthing with the characters. There are moments where the characters do something that's better in the show, and there are moments that do not work as well for the same characters and in different seasons but I cannot say that there are characters that are consistently better, or worse than in the books. It goes up and down in a flux.


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This season, Oberyn really stood out to me as 'better in the show than the books' as I hardly noticed him in the books but he was likely my favourite character in the show this season.



Brienne's rudeness to Podrick and Hot Pie really stuck out like a sore thumb this season, and combined with her much higher propensity to kill people, I'm putting her firmly in the 'worse in the show than the books' category.



Basically unchanged, as in who was truest to the books, I'm going with The Hound. I really liked Rory's portrayal this season.



A mix of good and bad changes: Littlefinger. This is a bit generous as he has come under a lot of criticism particularly, in this season for example, for not having a plan to deal with the Lord's declarant. On the other hand, I've always found the TV version fairly entertaining.



Completely different: Daario (also completely different from last season). Also, Sansa/Alayne in her final episode (having previously seemed pretty true to the books this season). Where on earth did this character come from?


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What higher propensity to kill people does Brienne have? She kills some guys after Renly's death, but that was self-defense. She doesn't try to kill Jaime in their duel. After Brienne initially beats the Hournd she even tells him that she has no desire to kill him; she just wants him to yield. Then there were the Stark soldiers at the hanged women's corpses. She was the first to strike, sure, but they were about to find out that he is Jaime and had already killed three women for laying with lions. Hard to fault her for being practical there.


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Keeping in mind that I still haven't seen all of season 4 I'd have to give the following ranking:



Better: Brienne (because they cut down her "OMG I'm not pretty enough"-whining, I guess; also, Gwendoline Christie is fantastic), Catelyn (never liked book-Cat but due to Michelle Fairley, I absolutely love show-Cat), Oberyn (Pedro Pascal is perfect. Also - that accent!), Marge (more of a political player than in the books; loved her scene with Renly when she asked him if she should bring in Loras *g*), Bronn, Tywin, Ygritte (not as annoying as in the books)



Worse: Jon (even mopier and whinier than in the books; Kit makes me hate that character), Stannis (when did he become such an a*hole?)



Basically unchanged: Jaime, Cersei, Tyrion (characterwise; I'm aware that physically he's different from the books), Sansa, Arya, Ned, Robb, Theon, Varys, Bran, Hodor (even though the actor's older than I imagined Hodor to be but I love Hodor :) ), Dany, Viserys, Robert, Melisandre, Davos, Oleanna (I hope we get to see more of her in S5), Lysa (even though she's slimmer than in the books, she displays the right amount of crazyness), Sam, the Frey bunch, Aliser Thorne (am I the only one who thinks the actor looks a bit like John C. McGinley and is thus constantly reminded of Dr. Perry Cox on "Scrubs"? I keep waiting for him to say "newbie" or call Jon girls' names...), Craster, Drogo



Mixed: Joffrey (extra cruelty made me hate him even more so he could as well go up in the "better than books" section), Renly (like the performance but was, when watching S1 for the first time, absolutely clueless who this was meant to be because he looks so different), Ramsay (too pretty but cruel enough)



Totally different: Daario, Asha/Yara


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Better in the show: Tywin, Margeary, Bronn, Shae & Podrick. (A lot of the minor characters really).



Worse in the show: Varys and Petyr Baelish, only because they are portraying Petyr Baelish as an obvious villain and I think Varys comes off a little lightly, considering he is also playing at his own game.


Unchanged: Arya, Samwell, Theon & Ramsay



A Mix: Jorah (they omitted some of his creepier & sulky moments and have made him more noble), Tyrion (he's not as dark as he is in the books, but show Tyrion is wonderful still).



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