Lyanna casting appreciation

[Cas Stark]

4 minutes ago, robasp2 said:

The problem is not that she must look beautiful in bed after just giving birth...

But that she has no facial features like good jaws (naturally look like a wild beauty) or expressive (dont know if thats the word for what I meant) eyes (to seem  wild. Thats how arya pulls it off)

This actress looked like a chubby kid whose cheeks you wanted to pinch. Lol.

She seemed soft in apperence itself solely based on looks. Sonja in Underworld (who is not at all attractivr) or KatieMc Grath have that wild appearences solely based on looks. I havent watched the perform much.

In the show they have never mentioned Arya resembling Lyanna. Do no need to cast based on that.

Also, plump children sometimes grow up to be beautiful women and thin down. So they need not make her chubby just to match the younger Lyanna.

This was exactly the impression I got....not that of a wild willful beauty so headstrong she was willing to throw convention to the wind.....

I also thought her talking about being afraid of death was not really in keeping w/the personality she's supposed to have, and was a poor choice for the very limited dialogue given to her.

[Darksky]

^she was being human. Excuse characters for acting human and not like emotionless, fearless robots.

[Red Dragon10]

9 hours ago, GhostNymeria said:

 Cersei is supposed to be one of the greatest beauties of Westeros but I think Lena Headey is below average. 

Wow, really?  I think Lena has a "mature" face that is age-appropriate.  She was quite exceptional (to me, anyway) when she was younger and is still very beautiful which I think suits her character (still very beautiful but past her prime).  Below average?!   Lol, what is the average then? 

Lyanna's casting was not what I was expecting.  She didn't fit the picture I had in my mind, but there are few actors in this show that fit that mental image (Ned was one that did but a lot of that has to do with his acting and not necessarily his looks) and that's fine.  I wasn't unhappy with her, though.  I do appreciate that she resembles Jon and Arya.  Not much point is having her look like a Stark from the books, when only Benjen really suits my mental picture of a Stark.  As for her personality, I wasn't expecting her to come across as wild, spirited, etc. on her deathbed shortly after childbirth.  

[Prince of the North]

42 minutes ago, Red Dragon10 said:

Wow, really?  I think Lena has a "mature" face that is age-appropriate.  She was quite exceptional (to me, anyway) when she was younger and is still very beautiful which I think suits her character (still very beautiful but past her prime).  Below average?!   Lol, what is the average then? 

Lyanna's casting was not what I was expecting.  She didn't fit the picture I had in my mind, but there are few actors in this show that fit that mental image (Ned was one that did but a lot of that has to do with his acting and not necessarily his looks) and that's fine.  I wasn't unhappy with her, though.  I do appreciate that she resembles Jon and Arya.  Not much point is having her look like a Stark from the books, when only Benjen really suits my mental picture of a Stark.  As for her personality, I wasn't expecting her to come across as wild, spirited, etc. on her deathbed shortly after childbirth.  

Yep.  Joseph Mawle most closely fits my mental image of Ned Stark but Sean Bean was fine, too. Also, I think the casting of Lyanna Stark was fine as well but, admittedly, I'm probably being influenced by the fact that I just caught Aisling Franciosi in the part of a rebellious teen in the series "The Fall".  And I think she's certainly attractive enough for the part 

[GhostNymeria]

41 minutes ago, Red Dragon10 said:

Wow, really?  I think Lena has a "mature" face that is age-appropriate.  She was quite exceptional (to me, anyway) when she was younger and is still very beautiful which I think suits her character (still very beautiful but past her prime).  Below average?!   Lol, what is the average then? 

I might have exaggerated a little looking back at my post, and it was meant more as an example of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't mean she's ugly or anything, I think Lena is beautiful, just not the beauty I imagined Cersei to be. But my point was that it doesn't bother me since I like her portrayal of Cersei. I'm not that picky and vain of the definition of beauty tough, and I guess "below average" was the wrong word to use. I don't really have a measurement for beauty.

1 hour ago, Red Dragon10 said:

Lyanna's casting was not what I was expecting.  She didn't fit the picture I had in my mind, but there are few actors in this show that fit that mental image (Ned was one that did but a lot of that has to do with his acting and not necessarily his looks) and that's fine.  I wasn't unhappy with her, though.  I do appreciate that she resembles Jon and Arya.  Not much point is having her look like a Stark from the books, when only Benjen really suits my mental picture of a Stark.  As for her personality, I wasn't expecting her to come across as wild, spirited, etc. on her deathbed shortly after childbirth.  

I agree I guess they looked for an actress who resembled Kit, and Maisie too judging from their likeness.

[Florina Laufeyson]

4 hours ago, Darksky said:

^she was being human. Excuse characters for acting human and not like emotionless, fearless robots.

no joke, and even looking like human beings. I guess people expected Eva Green style Lyanna, but i rather appreciated a human, real looking Lyanna. One who looks like the characters shes related to in the story.

[purple-eyes]

only thing i want to say now is that if you tell me this lyanna is 35 years old, i will believe it without a second thought. 

actually she looks like one of my friends, a dark-haired middle-aged Turkish lady and a mother of two children. she has a similar round face as this Lyanna. 

[Bazil]

Considering how the others starks look in the show she looks just fine.  Arya is supposed to look a lot like her.  Arya in the books has a long face as did Lyanna.  In the show they both have round faces.  They had to case a round faced girl for Lyanna after they cast Macy Williams for Arya.  Even GRRM said Macy didn't look right for the role, although he also said her acting was spot on.

[Wall Flower]

On 2 July 2016 at 6:45 AM, Prince of the North said:

Yep.  Joseph Mawle most closely fits my mental image of Ned Stark but Sean Bean was fine, too. Also, I think the casting of Lyanna Stark was fine as well but, admittedly, I'm probably being influenced by the fact that I just caught Aisling Franciosi in the part of a rebellious teen in the series "The Fall".  And I think she's certainly attractive enough for the part 

Yeah the actress does specialise in playing baby-faced teenagers with a wild streak. She also played a rebellious teen in Legends (series 2) where non other than Sean Bean was her secret dad.

On a personal note, I hope this thread ends before I feel too ugly to leave the house! Seriously, no wonder young girls have body confidence issues.

[Liz Stark-Targaryen]

2 hours ago, Wall Flower said:

On a personal note, I hope this thread ends before I feel too ugly to leave the house! Seriously, no wonder young girls have body confidence issues.

Same here! Not sure what people were expecting. Love that they went for an actress outside of the typical fancasting discussions -- everyone saw her in their minds looking like Katie McGrath or Eva Green.

Like Cleopatra in history, some "legendary beauties" are women who men find desirable. They aren't necessarily the most beautiful girl in the room, though.

[Wall Flower]

2 hours ago, Liz Stark-Targaryen said:

Same here! Not sure what people were expecting. Love that they went for an actress outside of the typical fancasting discussions -- everyone saw her in their minds looking like Katie McGrath or Eva Green.

Like Cleopatra in history, some "legendary beauties" are women who men find desirable. They aren't necessarily the most beautiful girl in the room, though.

Yeah, I'm glad I'm not young now.

Eva and Katie are lovely but in their thirties now, I think. Realistically, any lord or prince would have thanked their lucky stars to get such a lovely young bride as show Lyanna - you only have look at some of the portraits of princesses who were considered beautiful by the standards of the time.

[purple-eyes]

1 hour ago, Wall Flower said:

Yeah, I'm glad I'm not young now.

Eva and Katie are lovely but in their thirties now, I think. Realistically, any lord or prince would have thanked their lucky stars to get such a lovely young bride as show Lyanna - you only have look at some of the portraits of princesses who were considered beautiful by the standards of the time.

you are using your own opinion on beauty to evaluate historical people. the truth is the standard of beauty can be very different or even opposite. those princesses may be great beauties in their time. And this actress may not be recognized as beauty in old time. 

[Nymeria's pack]

8 hours ago, Wall Flower said:

On a personal note, I hope this thread ends before I feel too ugly to leave the house! Seriously, no wonder young girls have body confidence issues.

Wholeheartedly agree, the discussion is making me uncomfortable at times.  I'm worried about the ease with which some people are calling the actress 'chubby' or 'not attractive enough'. She's lovely.

6 hours ago, Liz Stark-Targaryen said:

Like Cleopatra in history, some "legendary beauties" are women who men find desirable. They aren't necessarily the most beautiful girl in the room, though.

Agree.  Some people remember Lyanna as beautiful but they tend to be the ones who already know her, so her personality must be a big part of her attractiveness.  Selmy and Kevan both seem agree that she had a certain something ('wild beauty' - was that Kevan or Selmy, can't remember) but she wasn't the most empirically beautiful woman of the time. Arya saying 'everyone says so' doesn't count for much - that'll be Stark family lore by now. Theon, who would have seen her statue in the crypts, sees her in his vision as 'lovely'.  So I think we're talking about a good looking girl with a vibrant personality, loved by her family, loved by her betrothed (and how much of that is the disillusioned Robert looking back through rose tinted glasses) who caught the attention of one other man - whose motives are unclear at best. 

I think the casting was good, the actress very good and it was right that she should have been weak and afraid at that point, anything else would be unrealistic (let's be thankful they didn't emulate the scenes of  Arya leaping and rolling and running around Braavos with a stab wound). 

[Meera of Tarth]

On 28/6/2016 at 3:02 AM, Rumy Stark said:

She was really great, especially with just that short scene. I'm hoping we get more flashbacks in future seasons and get to see her more, particularly when she's less..... dying in a pool of blood. 

I really liked her. I hope Meera tells Bran a certain story-.

[Meera of Tarth]

On 28/6/2016 at 4:34 AM, Liz Stark-Targaryen said:

This topic... I agree with you, OP. This was amazing casting! 

Lyanna was dying in that scene. She had just given birth. For all we know, she may have just had a c-section. Even the most beautiful women in the world wouldn't look gorgeous under those circumstances. It's pretty inhumane to expect it of them.

Anyway, fans always get it completely wrong when it came to the level of attractiveness, real or perceived, of Lyanna and Arya in both the show and the books.

First, I think book readers have the luxury of imagining unreal ethereal looking people when they imagine the various book characters. Not only did we hear Arya wasn't pretty enough, people said it about Cersei, Jaime, Catelyn... the list goes on and on. Well, you might find a preternaturally beautiful person, but they might not be able to act at all.

I love what George himself has noted about Maisie's Arya. He's said no, she's not how he imagined Arya, but when he sees her, she IS Arya. I felt the same way about Lyanna.

It would have taken away from the show if Lya or Arya were model chicks. It's actually good that there's a contrast between them and Sansa/Cat, who are said to be more traditional, Southron beauties. You also have to imagine a setting where people aren't saturated with media and people telling them what is and isn't attractive. For heaven's sake, people hardly had mirrors back then, only the very wealthy did. This wasn't the Selfie Age, it was the (magical version of the) Middle Ages. And the show is still filtering that through a 21st century lens -- see previous seasons' talk about women being waxed to an inch of their lives, which is very culturally specific. Also things like makeup, plucking brows, and older characters having all their teeth are anachronistic. 

Interesting which realism we care about, and which we don't.

Finally (and I've said this before), men do love beautiful women, but throughout history, they've also been shown to love interesting women, women who fascinate them for one reason or the other. Lyanna certainly fit that bill, and so does her niece Arya, who was walking around grubby and looking like a boy for several books, is still underage, and nonetheless has clearly caught the attention of a boy or two here and there.

What can I say? There's something about those she-wolves of Winterfell, I guess.

Yes,I think she is beautiful enough to be called a she-wolf with a northern attractiveness. Definitely not exactly as I imagined her but very close to that. She was never meant to be a model or a delicate girl (which IMo is less beautiful, anyway). And she was dying of childbirth, no one has their best looks when something awful like that is happening. Not all women wear make-up all the time, and some decide not to use them ever (Sansa's medieval lip-gloss???? is still a huge plot hole)-

Another thing I liked enough is that reality is a little different to what is supposed to be remembered. I am really sure she was more confident of herself in other circumstances and more beautiful (because she would not be dying in a bed of blood) so I liked the scene, despite the fact I hate RLJ to be true (especially the fairy tale version).

[Newstar]

On 2016-06-28 at 7:31 AM, purple-eyes said:

another thing is that, i have to say this lyanna stark does not look very wolf-blooded. this lyanna looks more like a small, slender, gentle and mature lady, not a wild, strong and fiery teenager. 

i would rather believe she is Elia than lyanna. 

It's hard to look wild, strong and fiery when you're supposedly dying.

[purple-eyes]

35 minutes ago, Newstar said:

It's hard to look wild, strong and fiery when you're supposedly dying.

i am not saying she has to be strong as a bull at birthbed. but for an actress like scarlet johannson, i can imagine even when she is badly injured and dying, she still looks wild and strong. this lyanna is chubby and soft even you look at her normal pictures. 

[Wall Flower]

8 minutes ago, purple-eyes said:

i am not saying she has to be strong as a bull at birthbed. but for an actress like scarlet johannson, i can imagine even when she is badly injured and dying, she still looks wild and strong. this lyanna is chubby and soft even you look at her normal pictures. 

Women really don't look wild and strong when they're bleeding out after many hours of childbirth and close to death! Unlike Hollywood, I guess the Weirwood Net just doesn't have good photoshop capabilities.

[Rory Snow]

52 minutes ago, Newstar said:

It's hard to look wild, strong and fiery when you're supposedly dying.

I can't wrap my head around people's expectations. Lyanna has just delivered a child in medieval days, is dying and has had excessive blood loss yet folks don't think she's pretty enough? In that situation she SHOULD look pale, in pain and scared to death.

[Andrés Garcia]

She definitely should look pale, pained, and scared to death. That's most likely what Lyanna looked like at that time. She wasn't some sort of anime character whose power levels were so high that she was never ever vulnerable. She just went through hours of childbirth and lost enough blood to kill her. She's also feeling fear over losing her child to Robert's wrath and might even be a sad over the possible death of Rhaegar. In spite of all this I also thought she looked absolutely gorgeous. That might sound a bit creepy given the context, but the point is that it's as if you people were seeing another person from the one I was seeing.

Great casting, very good acting, excellent delivery.

A+