A Game of Screentime

[boojam]

*Character is being played by an extra or different actor

You know had not looked at that list in a long time, both Amrita Acharia .. Irri (13 episodes) and Roxanne McKee Doreah (11 episodes)

must of had more screen time than Balon Greyjoy and Maester Aemon.

?

[Cyvasse Khal]

I have to disagree. Her character was very unrealistic. Prostitutes in Westeros do not move up as high as she did in the social ladder. And why would Littlefinger EVER work with her, or share that much information with her, if he's supposed to be clever? (Show Littlefinger is far from clever, as the brilliant writers have proved repeatedly.) Not to mention, Varys has to be told by Ros that Littlefinger carried two feather beds on his ship to the Vale and that he would take Sansa with him, because some random whore is obviously more intelligent than the Master of whispers. And obviously no one else would notice this except for the wonderful Ros.

Another thing that amused me is how Ros is sometimes the only whore in all of Westeros. Overall, Ros brought nothing to the series, and is another one of D&D's pointless additions.

And how did Ros ever provide the chance to hear the 'inner working mind' of Sansa?

It's not about the fact she was a prostitute, it's about who you know. She moved up the 'social ladder' because she was willing to do things for powerful people. Shae was exactly the same. After the trial she would have had a pretty cushy social standing had Tyrion decided she no longer deserved oxygen. Guaranteed also, that most prostitutes that work at Chataya's are richer and more important than the average KL citizens.

Well that's what Varys employed Ros to do, to spy on LF. Not sure why you find it so surprising or unrealistic. Varys gets all his information through his little birds, of which Ros became one of them.

Early on in season 3, we see Sansa talking to Ros about LF's interest in her. And through that conversation we can see Sansa weighing up that there is hope for her if he can save her, but she doesn't know how much trust to put into him, which Ros says something along the lines of she doesn't know what LF has planned for her but she definitely shouldn't trust him.

[El Guapo]

I have to disagree. Her character was very unrealistic. Prostitutes in Westeros do not move up as high as she did in the social ladder. And why would Littlefinger EVER work with her, or share that much information with her, if he's supposed to be clever? (Show Littlefinger is far from clever, as the brilliant writers have proved repeatedly.) Not to mention, Varys has to be told by Ros that Littlefinger carried two feather beds on his ship to the Vale and that he would take Sansa with him, because some random whore is obviously more intelligent than the Master of whispers. And obviously no one else would notice this except for the wonderful Ros.

Another thing that amused me is how Ros is sometimes the only whore in all of Westeros. Overall, Ros brought nothing to the series, and is another one of D&D's pointless additions.

And how did Ros ever provide the chance to hear the 'inner working mind' of Sansa?

Oh C'mon. Varys glanced at the list for all of 2 seconds. It is not like he studied the thing for a half an hour and couldn't figure it out.

[We Pay Our Debts]

It's not about the fact she was a prostitute, it's about who you know. She moved up the 'social ladder' because she was willing to do things for powerful people. Shae was exactly the same. After the trial she would have had a pretty cushy social standing had Tyrion decided she no longer deserved oxygen. Guaranteed also, that most prostitutes that work at Chataya's are richer and more important than the average KL citizens.

Well that's what Varys employed Ros to do, to spy on LF. Not sure why you find it so surprising or unrealistic. Varys gets all his information through his little birds, of which Ros became one of them.

Early on in season 3, we see Sansa talking to Ros about LF's interest in her. And through that conversation we can see Sansa weighing up that there is hope for her if he can save her, but she doesn't know how much trust to put into him, which Ros says something along the lines of she doesn't know what LF has planned for her but she definitely shouldn't trust him.

There's a huge difference between Shae gaining power through her husband, and a prostitute who all of a sudden becomes a spy of a member of a small council. It really does make no sense why Littlefinger would trust her, since he'd have way more options. And considering Westeros is a very sexist society, women rarely gain power on their own. It feels like the producers tries way to hard to shove their 21st century ideals on to the series.

And Varys' little birds in the books are children without tongues, and he has a ton of them. He'd never have a former prostitute in his service, since he's too smart for that. But the show made the characters IQ's significantly lower. Hell, no one even notices that Littlefinger directly goes to Sansa in public, and asks her if she want to be rescued, and no one notices.

Sansa never talks to Ros. Shae does, and the scene brings nothing to the show.

[We Pay Our Debts]

Oh C'mon. Varys glanced at the list for all of 2 seconds. It is not like he studied the thing for a half an hour and couldn't figure it out.

He's the Master of fucking spies, and he's supposed to be a genius. Hell, even Tywin, Tyrion and Cersei should've known that. It's not that hard to miss a giant featherbed.

[Waxfoot]

I take your point about losing characters from the novel, but really I think Ros was a convenient character in more ways than one. Aside from the whole exposition thing, she really was the original 'sexposition' character. We saw her have hot sex, uncomfortable sex, psycho sex, cold, detached sex.... Each time it told us something about the character she was with. She was a valuable narrative thread; visually it helped that it was one character that experienced all those moments, where in a novel you perhaps could be more intricate.

[boojam]

And Varys' little birds in the books are children without tongues, and he has a ton of them. He'd never have a former prostitute in his service, since he's too smart for that. But the show made the characters IQ's significantly lower. Hell, no one even notices that Littlefinger directly goes to Sansa in public, and asks her if she want to be rescued, and no one notices.

I can't remember , in the books , does LF ever talk to Sansa?

O well, even on the show, we only have the slightest hint, one time of one of Vary's little birds, I remember only one.

Yet he seems, he seems to have all this knowledge of what's going on, that's true, I think, in the books.

So , since the show has to condense rigidly , no time for it, how do we know one of Vary's birds did not see LF and Sansa?

(and yeah I know all the stuff about trying to prove a negative.)

[We Pay Our Debts]

I can't remember , in the books , does LF ever talk to Sansa?

O well, even on the show, we only have the slightest hint, one time of one of Vary's little birds, I remember only one.

Yet he seems, he seems to have all this knowledge of what's going on, that's true, I think, in the books.

So , since the show has to condense rigidly , no time for it, how do we know one of Vary's birds did not see LF and Sansa?

(and yeah I know all the stuff about trying to prove a negative.)

Well, they first meet during the Tourney of the Hand in the first book, but they never talk to each other nearly as much as in the show, since it would be too suspicious. After that brief conversation in the book, they don't really talk again until after the PW. She barely thought about him, and when she did, she found him creepy. Littlefinger comments on her as well, and he makes some really creepy statements, calling her body 'sweet'. And she wasn't even 13 at the time. :ack:

It makes no sense that Littlefinger would ever directly talk to her about saving her. And it's not only Varys' little birds, but also Tywin, Cersei and Tyrion's spies. Even Joffrey would notice it. How the hell is Littlefinger still alive?

Cutting out Ser Dontos was a really bad idea. I don't buy that they didn't have enough time for it, seeing as they added a lot of filler throughout the series.

[Colonel Green]

I can't remember , in the books , does LF ever talk to Sansa?

They exchange about two lines at the Tourney of the Hand (expanded on the show to include him telling her the Hound's backstory), and then have a longer and more significant conversation just after Ned sends Dondarrion and co. to kill the Mountain, where is where the famous "life is not a song" line comes from (cut from the show entirely). Their only interaction after that is when Littlefinger joins the rest of the Small Council in convincing Sansa to write letters to Robb, Hoster Tully and Lysa Arryn.

Cutting out Ser Dontos was a really bad idea. I don't buy that they didn't have enough time for it, seeing as they added a lot of filler throughout the series.

Per the producers, it wasn't a time issue. They just preferred to have regular characters interact directly. Still dumb, of course.

[Yossarian Lives]

This is wonderful, thank you. I'm really looking forward to an update for season 4.

[zaphodbrx]

They exchange about two lines at the Tourney of the Hand (expanded on the show to include him telling her the Hound's backstory), and then have a longer and more significant conversation just after Ned sends Dondarrion and co. to kill the Mountain, where is where the famous "life is not a song" line comes from (cut from the show entirely). Their only interaction after that is when Littlefinger joins the rest of the Small Council in convincing Sansa to write letters to Robb, Hoster Tully and Lysa Arryn.

Per the producers, it wasn't a time issue. They just preferred to have regular characters interact directly. Still dumb, of course.

THIS! I was wondering if anyone else picked up on this.

'Life is not a song' is one of the most iconic lines in ASOIAF for me. Certainly in the top 5.

However the show butchered both the characters ( especially Littlefinger ), so I suppose it wouldn't have carried any meaning or emotional impact even if it had been there in the show.

They also managed to butcher 'Only Cat', 'Jamie Lannister sends his regards', and 'You have the wall, Jon Snow'. And I certainly don't expect any of Stannis' awesome lines to be in the show, not after all the butchery and blackwashing.

To be fair, Robb Stark did get his coolest line on the show though: 'That one was only the watcher. Hang him last, so that he may watch the others die'.

[ebevan91]

This is wonderful, thank you. I'm really looking forward to an update for season 4.

Same here. This past episode allowed some of the guys at Castle Black/North of the Wall to catch up in screentime.

[John Dorian]

I decided to do a word count for my favorite character in selected episodes, and compared the word count for her dialogue in the equivalent chapters.

The Mountain and the Viper 425 words (inc 387-word scene), difficult to compare with her 297-word and 345-word chapters because of how different the dialogue is and the chance that some of the book stuff might come back later

Blackwater 275 words/363 words in the book = 76%

Mockingbird 202 (inc 123-word scene) /312=65%

Dark Wings Dark Words 190ish (inc 120ish-word scene) /458 = 41%

A Man without Honor 107/232 = 46%

Second Sons 70ish/226 = 31%

Fire and Blood 45/245 = 18%

Garden of Bones 28/194 = 14%

Baelor 20/0 (mostly stop/no) = N/A

Lion and the Rose 10ish/324 = 3%

The counts are actually lower than I thought generally.

[gvewolf243]

THIS! I was wondering if anyone else picked up on this.

'Life is not a song' is one of the most iconic lines in ASOIAF for me. Certainly in the top 5.

However the show butchered both the characters ( especially Littlefinger ), so I suppose it wouldn't have carried any meaning or emotional impact even if it had been there in the show.

They also managed to butcher 'Only Cat', 'Jamie Lannister sends his regards', and 'You have the wall, Jon Snow'.

Well, also no ,, i save only maidens '' .

[Blood of the Trout]

Quite impressive work, well done! But seeing so little screentime for Catelyn and Stannis in season 3 is rage-inducing, to say at least.

[Noojers]

Any chance this is going to be updated? Would be really interested to see how things have changed in the past season and a half.