Do you imagine the TV actors when you read the books.

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

I had written a response to this question in the general thread, when to my annoyance, I discovered it was locked. I assume it's because someone thought it was in the wrong forum. I hope this is the right forum. Mods, please find forum for it, or let me know what forum it should go in if this is not the right one. Anyway, on to my response:

I have not seen season 2 yet, but for what it's worth: Stannis not at all, for obvious reasons. There is some really great fan art out there. Why couldn't they have found someone to look more the part? Sansa and Arya, while the actresses do a wonderful job of portraying their characters and I wouldn't want them to change, are both a little off. Sophie is not nearly as pretty as I imagine Sansa being, and Maise is a couple of years too old. It kind of takes you out of the immersion in season 2 when she's supposed to be passing for a boy and is so obviously not a boy. Gregor: o my r'holla, the first season actor was PERFECT. Damn him to 7 hells for leaving the show. Emilia Clarke is way too old for the part of Mad Queen Dragonbreath and not a great actress, either, so I don't imagine her. As a sidenote, I'm really disappointed they aged up Missandei for next season. I thought the pseudo-mother/daughter relationship she had with Dany was just the sweetest. I imagine Melisandre as more exotic, even thought that is probably not at all supported by the text. Dinklage is way too handsome to play Tyrion, but he plays the part so well that I can go with it. I have a friend from college who looks so much more like what I imagine Tyrion to look like. For some reason I used to imagine Brienne as a really ugged down Darryl Hannah. I don't know why, DH is not ugly. With the new casting I've started imagining the actual actress in her place. I would always imagine the Tickler as some kind of mustache-twirling villain when in actuality he was quite plain. The actor playing Robert needs to be taller, or somehow believable that he once was a really physically imposing dude. But again, the actor played the part so well that it's forgivable. For some reason, I imagine Peter Cushing as Tywin.....probably because of his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars. I could go on, but for the most part I do imagine the actors, mainly because I started watching the series before I read the books and for the most part, they get the casting right.

[lozeldatkm]

I absolutely picture the actors. I'm not much of a reader at all, but I was able to get into the books because I already knew a bunch of faces and characters from watching the show. Even as I get farther into the books, and characters that haven't been casted yet, I noticed I was picturing every old guy I couldn't imagine as looking like Walder Frey or Craster, because those were the faces I already had in mind.

[Rolex Baratheon]

Ned: Hell yes 100%

Stannis: Very good 80% (a bit broader at the shoulders would do but he does look imposing enough)

Sansa: Yes, both pretty and you can say 'cute' looking since she is like supposed to be 13 or 15. 70%.

Arya: Hell yes. 90%

Asha/Yara: Blegh. Not at all. Needed to be slimmer, face is fine. But she looks too fat. 30%

Theon: HELL YES. 100%

Robb: Hell yes, always seems determined and boy-lordly. 90%

Tywin: Oh fuck yes. 100%

Cersei: A bit older but I find Lena Heady extremely hot. 80%

Samwell Tarly: Fat, cheeks like a 2 year old, messy facial hair, yes 100%.

Jon Snow: Captures the coolness and mystique of the character very well. 90%.

Jorah Mormont: Yes, I know people say he was supposed to be not handsome but Ian Glen still gives him that bear look. 90%.

Jaime: Hell yes. 90%.

Danaerys: No. No no and no, she is too young looking. 30%.

[lozeldatkm]

Danaerys: No. No no and no, she is too young looking. 30%.

Too young looking? Isn't she supposed to be 13 when the events of the book start? The show actually ups a bunch of ages in order to avoid child porn accusations...

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

Asha/Yara: Blegh. Not at all. Needed to be slimmer, face is fine. But she looks too fat. 30%

This so much. The actress is not at all how I envisioned Asha, although my visions of her are influenced by fan art I've seen (hubba hubba). Also, stupid decision to rename her Yara. Hello?!?! Why are you worried about people confusing her with Osha? Aren't you worried about people confusing her with Arya, who is a much more important character?

Jon Snow: Captures the coolness and mystique of the character very well. 90%.

Agreed. Unfortunately, some people think he looks emo, so now people think he's such an emo character in the books, but I've never read him that way.

Danaerys: No. No no and no, she is too young looking. 30%.

What? Should we assume you meant the book character is too young looking? She's 13 in AGoT. They aged her up by about 10 years for the show. 5 or 6 years would have been reasonable.

[Rolex Baratheon]

By Dany looking too young, I know her age at the start of the series. However by ADWD it increases by quite a bit, and she's said to be mad hot by that time and I just don't see the actress being able to capture that hotness.

Thats what I meant, I could have worded it better.

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

The books seem to take about a year each (give or take), given that for each book, the childrens' ages in the appendix of each book goes up a year each time. That would put Dany at 16 at the start of ADwD; and you're right, she's not mad hot. Emilia Clarke is hot, but she's not hot as Dany.

[Kurt Russell 1stOfHisName]

Unfortunately, I can't help but picture the actors now that I've seen the show, whether I think they were accurately cast or not.

They blew it;

Arya is way too cute. She has the opposite of a horse face.

Jon Snow is not even close. I do not beleive that they have afro-sheen in the 7 kingdoms

Tyrion needs mis-matched eyes. He is not just a small version of his siblings, he should be hard to look upon.

All of the kids are too old but I understand. They should have held back on Jon and Robb's facial hair though.

I have a hard time imagining the show's King Robert ever being an imposing figure on the battlefield.

Asha should be at least somewhat attractive. Melissandre should be very attractive.

They nailed it;

Cercei, Jaime and Joffrey. Born to play their parts.

Sean Bean did us all a favor bringing Ned to the screen. The show wouldn't be the same without him.

The Hound and Theon seem to have walked off the page.

Sansa and Dany look exactly as I had imagined. Sansa's part is acted well, Dany not so much. (Where are my dragons?!?!)

Stannis has really grown on me. A little smaller than I pictured, but I'll take it.

As a whole I think they did a wonderful job casting the show. Even the actors that don't physically match what I originally pictured do a solid job of portraying their characters. If the show sticks to the book, TV audiences are in for a treat this upcoming season.

[Nezzer]

What? Should we assume you meant the book character is too young looking? She's 13 in AGoT. They aged her up by about 10 years for the show. 5 or 6 years would have been reasonable.

No, most of them have been aged up by 3 years only. Robert's rebellion was 14 years before the main events in the book, while in the show it's 17 years. So in the first season Dany is supposed to be 16 and Jon and Robb, 17. Bran is 10, while 7 in the book; Arya is 11, while 8 in the book. Only Sansa and Joffrey broke the 3-year pattern. Sansa was aged up 2 years only, while Joffrey was aged up 4 years, from 12 to 16.

Back to topic, yeah, I have a hard time building my own portrayal of the characters in the books. I am not much of a reader, and I watched the first season before starting reading, so the actors' appearance stuck in my mind. Most of them look the part, and the ones that don't, protray the characters pretty well, so I have no problem with using their image.

[lozeldatkm]

Even if you don't think Peter Dinklage is the spitting image of Tyrion, no one else could possibly act the part like him. I couldn't imagine it being anyone else.

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

So in the first season Dany is supposed to be 16

Yea, that's right. I was thinking of the actress and not the character. It doesn't help that Emilia Clarke does not look anywhere near 16. She looks like what she is, a twenty-five year old woman.

[Nezzer]

Yea, that's right. I was thinking of the actress and not the character. It doesn't help that Emilia Clarke does not look anywhere near 16. She looks like what she is, a twenty-five year old woman.

She looks 17 or 18 to me, especially with her short height. She just looks older when she's having an angry expression. Jon looks 20, and Roob looks 23. Theon sometimes looks younger than them both, especially when he shaved his beard in the first episodes of the first season..

[Rolex Baratheon]

Idk, the way they dress her up makes her look like a kid going to some official function with her parents. Talking Dany here.

Anyhow Stannis could have been a bit broader. Renly too, bigger and broader. Tyrion, I don't know why, but I never even pictured him as ugly when I read the books.

[One of Three]

I think it depends on what your first exposed to; either: the books or the TV show. I was exposed to the ASoIaF world through the TV show and have now started reading the books, I do the see the actors as the characters, although there sometimes gets a bit complicated when they are described differently e.g. Tyrion or when they're a complete different character altogether e.g. Asha/Yara, but I do end up imagining that the characters look like the actors e.g. Tyrion looks like Peter Dinklage etc.

Since though, I've now gone beyond CoK with new characters I've had to use only GRRM descriptions of them, e.g. Meera Reed to me doesn't look like Ellie Kendrick though in time they might do, but I doubt it.

[andrew_]

Yeh i do, its kinda weird because i can't think of their appearances that i imagined before i watched the tv series now.

[King.In.Yellow]

I say this with complete and utter heterosexuality: Iain Glen is drop dead gorgeous. Ser Jorah Mormont isn't supposed to be gorgeous. I'm not saying that pre-branding and beating Jorah is ugly, but he's supposed to be average.

I agree that Iain Glen has a bearish look, but he's a pretty bear. No homo.

I guess the producers will troll us further by casting some tiny tit in a beard as Daario Naharis.

[andrew_]

I say this with complete and utter heterosexuality: Iain Glen is drop dead gorgeous. Ser Jorah Mormont isn't supposed to be gorgeous. I'm not saying that pre-branding and beating Jorah is ugly, but he's supposed to be average.

I agree that Iain Glen has a bearish look, but he's a pretty bear. No homo.

I guess the producers will troll us further by casting some tiny tit in a beard as Daario Naharis.

Ian Glen is a babe. No homo.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcrzr62Aiv1rsnn3xo1_1280.jpg Daario is on the right, he's not what I imagined at all but still looks goood ;) No homo

[Kurt Russell 1stOfHisName]

If that's Daario I sure hope he's in the blue hair and beard line.

[liefde]

Ian Glen is a babe. No homo.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcrzr62Aiv1rsnn3xo1_1280.jpg Daario is on the right, he's not what I imagined at all but still looks goood ;) No homo

He looks more like Eomer than Daario...

[andrew_]

He looks more like Eomer than Daario...

Yeh he could've even played Young Griff imo