Valyrian-Steel

Good catch. Oops. When you change the books and then forgot you changed them.... Good point. Obviously the Starks were loved by the smallfolk of the north, so, letting that be known would severely undermine the Boltons. Please god no. Two of my favorite, absolute favorite, book moments, in the entire series. #1 is when Arya is at that Inn and the bwb come in and she sees Harwin and she breaks down for the first time since seeing her father die and you remember, after all the shit she has been through, she is just a little girl, and she begs him "Please remember me." That moment was cut. My second favorite moment is when Littlefinger explains to Sansa about Harry the Heir. It is like we were reading with fuzzy glasses all along and suddenly it comes into focus and we realize just how good Littlefinger is at playing the game. This, if it were true, really undermines Littlefinger's skill (though I suspect he is not long for this earth anymore). He couldn't have decided to ally with the Boltons for this maneuver until they got Winterfell, which means he wasn't thinking that far ahead. It removes much of his motivation for killing Lysa, if he didn't need the Vale, why bother? It is apparently a severe departure from the books considering the recent TWOT sample chapter. It also makes him look relatively foolish considering the Boltons do not have a strong hold on the north, nor could they ever, the north remembers afterall. Marrying Harry and marching the might of the Vale north to capture Winterfell and the fractured North would have been a much stronger move. I can see how this would play out. Boltons doublecrossing Littlefinger, Sansa being tortured, Reek snapping out of it and rescuing Sansa (and doing what with her I don't know). I know it will make good TV, Alfie Allen has done such a good job with Theon/Reek you know it will be compelling drama, and perhaps in a world without the books that would be enough. But if it comes to pass I will probably always regret them abandoning the vale plot. I definitely think last season's premier was the high water mark for premiers. Starting with the Rains of Castamere over the Ice destruction montage, ending with The Hound kicking ass over some chicken (one of the best scenes in the entire series, to date, possibly one of my favorite scenes of TV ever period).

[quote name='Adelle Tully' post='1597176' date='Nov 22 2008, 00.21']Aging the characters a bit shouldn't be too horrible (although I did have a bit of a pout at reading that they're going to age them). I just hope they don't go too far in the aging process and make Cersei look like she's maybe 30 and Joff look like he's in his 20's (for example). Also, they can always "Dawson" cast the characters if they have an inappropriate scene when they're much too young. However, I have to agree with the person who asked them not to give in to the temptation to make Dany into a sizzling hot 20 something year old character. As to Sansa's flowering and age, if they upped it to...say...15, it's still realistic for her not to have flowered as some flower as late as 16, especially if they've lived active lives.[/quote] Exactly. I don't really care that much about the ages of the Stark children, I probably always pictured thema little older in my head anyways because of how they act. However... Dany should NOT be a sexually confident seductress. That isn't her role, she needs to be (starting out anyways) naive, and vulnerable. Now... you can't just pull that off if you're some hot blond sticking your chest out and wiggling your butt. Remember American Beauty? Towards the end Kevin Spacey and Mena Suvari were going to have sex, and Mena says it is her first time. What does Kevin say? "Ya right." Because she acts more or less like a seductress the entire movie. If you cast someone with more sex appeal than vulnerability as Dany then when she acts all vulnerable, shy, and naive, the audience is going to be saying "Ya right."

[quote name='Morrigan' post='1591929' date='Nov 17 2008, 16.39']That's because Harry Potter characters aged at the same time as the actors (also, I think they all start off as teenagers and not pre-pubescent children, someone correct me if I'm wrong). Roughly two years, maybe less, have passed in AFFC since the beginning of AGoT. If Bran and Arya's characters (and to a lesser extent, Myrcella and Tommen) reach puberty midway through the series when their characters are still meant to be children, it'll screw up the story.[/quote] Tommen will have a true child playing him, he has almost no lines. Also, the harry potter actors did not age the same as the characters in the film. HP and the sorcerer's stone came out in 01, it was shooting in probably 00, making Dan Radcliffe 10 or 11 when he started. There are 7 books, each mostly constituting 1 year (sound familiar), supposedly getting them to 18. The 5th movie came out in 2007, the sixth movie not until 2009. If the seventh doesn't start shooting until 2010, which we can expect, they'll be shooting the 7th book which is supposed to be 7 years after the first book, a full 10 years later. Ie, not the same rate. Myrcella is already through puberty by the time she has any substantial lines, if they find a 14 year old actress for her it'll be fine. Sansa as well can start off being played by a 14 or 16 year old. No big deal there. Bran, being a boy, you only have to worry about his voice changing, which can be fixed in post production. They'll likely pick an actor from a short family to make sure he doesn't grow too much. The only risk I see is Arya, I imagine the producers will check into her female relatives, to make sure large breasts don't run in her family. That way, when the actress does go through puberty, it will not be as obvious and can be hidden by costume if necessary. Quite frankly they could even find a small breasted petite 16 year old to play Arya if she has a childish face, and if GRRM ever writes that Arya blossoms into a buxom lass those can be added. Movies and TV shows are riddled by teenagers playing children, it happens all the time.

[quote name='Morrigan' post='1589156' date='Nov 14 2008, 12.19']Very good questions, I'd like to know as well. Especially in regards to the age. If each book is a season, you might have to change actor for Bran, Rickon, Arya etc. Which would kind of suck. I don't know if changing their age (some of the characters' age are crucial plot-wise) would be better or not. Hard to say.[/quote] It didn't affect Harry Potter, HBO tends to take longer breaks between seasons as well, like the gap between harry potter movies.