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How do you picture all the characters?


Hizzy Horsecock

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For those of us who had the misfortune of watching the HBO series before reading the books, how do you picture all the characters in your head? For example I still tend to picture Jon Snow, Cersei, Bronn, Ned and Khal Drogo as the actors from the show (but I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying real hard...to picture them as described in the books) but picture just about everyone else as described. Interested to know! 

Also did you guys get the [bad] Pulp Fiction reference? :D

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Well, I did read some of the books before I watched the show but then again, by the time I discovered the books, the show was out and even before I bought the DVDs I had seen pictures.  Still, primarily yes, I cannot get the actor's looks out of my head but then again I think by and large, although more some are significantly more attractive in the show, I think most are well cast.

Now for instance with Tyrion, a favourite of mine, I definitely picture Peter.  To me, sorry... George went overboard with his ugliness in the books.  Yes, it is absolutely necessary that he is a dwarf, that would give him enough lack of self-esteem, to me making him just that ugly was over-killed, so I prefer Peter, to be honest, in terms of looks.  Now, funnily enough, Peter has had different hair styles in the show and, to be honest, my preferred one was not in season 1.  He had very light blonde hair and straight (nothing against straight blonde hair, love it on some people just not quite on Peter on that setting).  Okay, I don't want to derail this thread to what look do I fancy best lol but something felt odd to me.  I know in the books he is a blonde, like the rest of his family (yet Jaime is a dark blonde, which is totally consistent with a child who was very blonde but gets a bit sandier with age).  Yet, Tyrion's hair to me was a bit off in season 1.  Now, I love his curly highlights in Essos, unsure about the beard (but hey fitted the plot), but he yes salivating over Peter with his curly highlighted locks a bit here lol  Now, which style is more accurate???  I guess all we know is that he is blonde and I believe in Jon's description in book 1 he sounded pretty light blonde, so here you go, my vision is all wrong ;)

Now, for instance, I imagine Sansa with curly ginger hair more than straight for instance.  Dany, I guess I am just too used to Emilia and she seems to correspond with what she is supposed to look like in the books.  Same goes for Cersei, for instance.

As with Tyrion, I like John playing Sam.  In the books he is said to be overweight but not necessarily ugly.  In my opinion the actor has lovely eyes for instance.  Overall, just like with personalities, very few have all the positives, so a negative and a positive (say overweight but nice eyes etc in this case) makes it more realistic for me.

Now, George said that when Natalia was cast as Osha, he thought she was way too good looking and too young for the role.  Not sure if he had in mind a younger version of Old Nan or what lol but that on hindsight he thought it was a perfect casting, or something to that effect.  So, well, even if the casting agents can beat the author... lol

Brienne is a bit in line with Tyrion and Sam in my opinion.  Gwen is very attractive, yes she is very tall, as it is required and George in the books makes her really plain.  I think her story still holds even being attractive, just like with Peter/Tyrion, because she is still very tall for a woman and dresses manly and is a total tomboy (not being derogatory in any way) in a society with very set in stone gender roles.

To me, if the looks of the actor still hold with the story, all is well and hey visual images are very powerful and they cannot be "unseen."

Now, I am trying to think of a character that I didn't imagine at all looking like in the show and, off the top of my head, I cannot think of one.  Now in Harry Potter, just as an example and without willing to derail this thread or get to out of topic, I thought the actress who played Narcissa Malfoy was totally not what I had in mind.  Then again, in my mind, I had cast either Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts or something like that lol

I guess I am one of the ones very influence by the looks of the actors in GOT. :rolleyes:

 

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18 hours ago, TRILOGY said:

Sansa looks like Frida Gustavsson, but it's not a clear image in my head. 

https://zachsfashionsense.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/fridaellesweden.jpg

I could go with that but even despite Sophie, I always pictured her with curly hair, no idea why...

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Most characters are so different in the show and book, both in appearance and character that it's easy to keep them apart, imho, especially since GRRM is very descriptive when it comes to people when compared to, for example, Tolkien (where we usually just get a hair/eye colour and maybe the colour of the garments and hair length a character has when we meet them)

I definitely agree that I imagined Cersei more along the lines of a young Michelle Pfreiffer than Queen Cornerface from the show, Margaery is obviously younger and more...flower/blossom like...a pretty young girl rather than a beautiful young woman. Robb is completely different, Tyrion, pretty much everyone except Jon, Arya and Jorah. That's less a compliment to the casting agency and more a result of me not caring enough about those characters to develop a distinct mental image for them.
I've also been guilty of ignoring both show and book descriptions and picture some of the men as more attractive than GRRM probably intended them to be. Don't judge me...
 
I do tend to imagine some of the child/teenager characters a little bit older though, like on the show, particularly Daenerys (most likely to avoid the squick) I've never been able to picture her as a 13 year old, rather she's 15/16 in my head.  

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  • 4 weeks later...
On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 5:30 PM, Morgana Lannister said:

Well, I did read some of the books before I watched the show but then again, by the time I discovered the books, the show was out and even before I bought the DVDs I had seen pictures.  Still, primarily yes, I cannot get the actor's looks out of my head but then again I think by and large, although more some are significantly more attractive in the show, I think most are well cast.

Now for instance with Tyrion, a favourite of mine, I definitely picture Peter.  To me, sorry... George went overboard with his ugliness in the books.  Yes, it is absolutely necessary that he is a dwarf, that would give him enough lack of self-esteem, to me making him just that ugly was over-killed, so I prefer Peter, to be honest, in terms of looks.  Now, funnily enough, Peter has had different hair styles in the show and, to be honest, my preferred one was not in season 1.  He had very light blonde hair and straight (nothing against straight blonde hair, love it on some people just not quite on Peter on that setting).  Okay, I don't want to derail this thread to what look do I fancy best lol but something felt odd to me.  I know in the books he is a blonde, like the rest of his family (yet Jaime is a dark blonde, which is totally consistent with a child who was very blonde but gets a bit sandier with age).  Yet, Tyrion's hair to me was a bit off in season 1.  Now, I love his curly highlights in Essos, unsure about the beard (but hey fitted the plot), but he yes salivating over Peter with his curly highlighted locks a bit here lol  Now, which style is more accurate???  I guess all we know is that he is blonde and I believe in Jon's description in book 1 he sounded pretty light blonde, so here you go, my vision is all wrong ;)

Now, for instance, I imagine Sansa with curly ginger hair more than straight for instance.  Dany, I guess I am just too used to Emilia and she seems to correspond with what she is supposed to look like in the books.  Same goes for Cersei, for instance.

As with Tyrion, I like John playing Sam.  In the books he is said to be overweight but not necessarily ugly.  In my opinion the actor has lovely eyes for instance.  Overall, just like with personalities, very few have all the positives, so a negative and a positive (say overweight but nice eyes etc in this case) makes it more realistic for me.

Now, George said that when Natalia was cast as Osha, he thought she was way too good looking and too young for the role.  Not sure if he had in mind a younger version of Old Nan or what lol but that on hindsight he thought it was a perfect casting, or something to that effect.  So, well, even if the casting agents can beat the author... lol

Brienne is a bit in line with Tyrion and Sam in my opinion.  Gwen is very attractive, yes she is very tall, as it is required and George in the books makes her really plain.  I think her story still holds even being attractive, just like with Peter/Tyrion, because she is still very tall for a woman and dresses manly and is a total tomboy (not being derogatory in any way) in a society with very set in stone gender roles.

To me, if the looks of the actor still hold with the story, all is well and hey visual images are very powerful and they cannot be "unseen."

Now, I am trying to think of a character that I didn't imagine at all looking like in the show and, off the top of my head, I cannot think of one.  Now in Harry Potter, just as an example and without willing to derail this thread or get to out of topic, I thought the actress who played Narcissa Malfoy was totally not what I had in mind.  Then again, in my mind, I had cast either Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts or something like that lol

I guess I am one of the ones very influence by the looks of the actors in GOT. :rolleyes:

 

When is Jon said to be overweight??

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17 minutes ago, JaneSnow said:

When is Jon said to be overweight??

I think she is referring to John Bradley, who plays Sam in the show.

As for my vision of the characters, on re-reads, I tend to have the show's versions in my head, which is unfortunate especially for the younger ones, whose show versions are often too old for the book characters.

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22 minutes ago, Nevets said:

I think she is referring to John Bradley, who plays Sam in the show.

As for my vision of the characters, on re-reads, I tend to have the show's versions in my head, which is unfortunate especially for the younger ones, whose show versions are often too old for the book characters.

I've never seen the show, although I do occasionally watch clips of some of my favorite book scenes as portrayed in the show/

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15 hours ago, Nevets said:

I think she is referring to John Bradley, who plays Sam in the show.

As for my vision of the characters, on re-reads, I tend to have the show's versions in my head, which is unfortunate especially for the younger ones, whose show versions are often too old for the book characters.

Yes, I mean John Bradley lol.  Yes, the children look older in the show but I personally think they would have worked fine a little bit older in the books too.

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The reason it bothers me a bit that they are older in the show is because while they look one age, they still act the age they are in the book which is kind of weird to me. I mean, Kit Harrington plays Jon as 16, but Jon still has the character of a fourteen-year-old(sullen, naïve, a bit unsure of himself).  When I read about Jon I kinda imagined him a bit more uh prepubescent than a burly curly-haired Kit.

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On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 5:30 PM, Morgana Lannister said:

Well, I did read some of the books before I watched the show but then again, by the time I discovered the books, the show was out and even before I bought the DVDs I had seen pictures.  Still, primarily yes, I cannot get the actor's looks out of my head but then again I think by and large, although more some are significantly more attractive in the show, I think most are well cast.

Now for instance with Tyrion, a favourite of mine, I definitely picture Peter.  To me, sorry... George went overboard with his ugliness in the books.  Yes, it is absolutely necessary that he is a dwarf, that would give him enough lack of self-esteem, to me making him just that ugly was over-killed, so I prefer Peter, to be honest, in terms of looks.  Now, funnily enough, Peter has had different hair styles in the show and, to be honest, my preferred one was not in season 1.  He had very light blonde hair and straight (nothing against straight blonde hair, love it on some people just not quite on Peter on that setting).  Okay, I don't want to derail this thread to what look do I fancy best lol but something felt odd to me.  I know in the books he is a blonde, like the rest of his family (yet Jaime is a dark blonde, which is totally consistent with a child who was very blonde but gets a bit sandier with age).  Yet, Tyrion's hair to me was a bit off in season 1.  Now, I love his curly highlights in Essos, unsure about the beard (but hey fitted the plot), but he yes salivating over Peter with his curly highlighted locks a bit here lol  Now, which style is more accurate???  I guess all we know is that he is blonde and I believe in Jon's description in book 1 he sounded pretty light blonde, so here you go, my vision is all wrong ;)

Now, for instance, I imagine Sansa with curly ginger hair more than straight for instance.  Dany, I guess I am just too used to Emilia and she seems to correspond with what she is supposed to look like in the books.  Same goes for Cersei, for instance.

As with Tyrion, I like John playing Sam.  In the books he is said to be overweight but not necessarily ugly.  In my opinion the actor has lovely eyes for instance.  Overall, just like with personalities, very few have all the positives, so a negative and a positive (say overweight but nice eyes etc in this case) makes it more realistic for me.

Now, George said that when Natalia was cast as Osha, he thought she was way too good looking and too young for the role.  Not sure if he had in mind a younger version of Old Nan or what lol but that on hindsight he thought it was a perfect casting, or something to that effect.  So, well, even if the casting agents can beat the author... lol

Brienne is a bit in line with Tyrion and Sam in my opinion.  Gwen is very attractive, yes she is very tall, as it is required and George in the books makes her really plain.  I think her story still holds even being attractive, just like with Peter/Tyrion, because she is still very tall for a woman and dresses manly and is a total tomboy (not being derogatory in any way) in a society with very set in stone gender roles.

To me, if the looks of the actor still hold with the story, all is well and hey visual images are very powerful and they cannot be "unseen."

Now, I am trying to think of a character that I didn't imagine at all looking like in the show and, off the top of my head, I cannot think of one.  Now in Harry Potter, just as an example and without willing to derail this thread or get to out of topic, I thought the actress who played Narcissa Malfoy was totally not what I had in mind.  Then again, in my mind, I had cast either Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts or something like that lol

I guess I am one of the ones very influence by the looks of the actors in GOT. :rolleyes:

 

I assume by Tyrion's 'ugliness' you mean his smushed-in face, prominent forehead, as large head as described by Jon Snow upon meeting him. Apparently those facial features are actually to be expected in someone with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism so having him look that way while cruel is also realistic

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On 3/12/2018 at 11:25 PM, JaneSnow said:

I assume by Tyrion's 'ugliness' you mean his smushed-in face, prominent forehead, as large head as described by Jon Snow upon meeting him. Apparently those facial features are actually to be expected in someone with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism so having him look that way while cruel is also realistic

Absolutely and true, but if I remember rightly when D&D got a deal with George they all agreed to try and cast Peter Dinklage.  They knew he may say no... and fair enough, George wrote the books much before a TV series was a possibility but Peter has achondroplasia and in my mind alone he is very attractive lol  I'm sure his wife agrees :)  Okay, joking to a point, but hey a dwarf can be attractive, as is a tall woman or even a fat young man...  I guess in the eye of the beholder lol (no antagonism meant btw) :)

I am no expert on achnroplasia but if Peter can look like that, how many others sharing his condition can too?  I don't blame George for going for the archetype or whatever but, in my mind, head-hunting Dinklage for the role almost took it away and I believe they did not audition for that role lol  They offered it to him, before it was certain that it would make him rich lol and they half expected him to say no because he was a bit against fantasy roles, having done some.

 

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On 3/11/2018 at 0:50 AM, JaneSnow said:

The reason it bothers me a bit that they are older in the show is because while they look one age, they still act the age they are in the book which is kind of weird to me. I mean, Kit Harrington plays Jon as 16, but Jon still has the character of a fourteen-year-old(sullen, naïve, a bit unsure of himself).  When I read about Jon I kinda imagined him a bit more uh prepubescent than a burly curly-haired Kit.

I know this is the opposite of what you propose but since you brought up age, ok.  In the ASOIAF universe, which in Westeros, sounds to me a lot like the Middle Ages in Europe, infant mortality was ripe, dying in childbed common, war even more common as were things like the black death...  Especialy among the nobility, as a woman was flowered so was she usually wed and the husband (either much older as a good political match) or same age or even younger at may suit the scheme.

In my country today (UK) 16 is the age of consent, in some is 18.  In the middle ages so many kids died they could not afford to wait that long.  I believe 14 was common amongst the nobility, later for the peasants.  Okay, constraints for procreation on the peasants but not as high.

Now, I think the show, shocking as it is with some scenes (but not necessarily disapproving) is viewed by us in our 21 century mentality so they aged the children a bit, just so that the viewers didn't call up Social Services lol

George had described in terms of war and cruelty stuff that I may have issues with today but, to me, necessary to convey the world he is trying to present to us.  So, I am happy with 12/30 marriage whatever (in that world).  If I am to be happy with a political marriage arranged by others without much consent, what is age??? provided the younger one is remotely able to see what was happening and I think this was demonstrated when Sansa when betrothed to her superior in rank but her own age... (and he was the worst possibles suitor; not my doing, the author's...) and yes, that union was horrific but not because of age difference. 

To us yes, any form of sex before 16 or 18, depending on country, is abhorrent, but hey what about the Dothraki say? I hear less complaints than with say Jon or Tyrion lol  We can strongly disagree with a type of culture and its practices, what we cannot do is put ourselves in the shoes of the character and react with our 21 century mentality!

Not saying that you did, mayhaps answering to the many who throughout had done.  To me there is no absolute right and wrong and yes, the culture we suck at the teat in some ways conditions us, including our own.

But you said the opposite.  Our interpretations are clearly at oods here for I thought the characters by and large acted well older than their years.  Bran especially.  Okay, he is special.  But Jon too.  How many 15 year olds have had to chose between family and duty???

I may had been very shallow at his age but I was more bothered about new record releases and make up than that sort of thing...

Of course, I don't advocate teenage marriage for political purposes or anything of the kind but if we are to understand the story, we must be immersed in it, without our today's values clouding the plot and making the story a pamphlet of human rights or whatever.  This is meant to be a fantasy for enjoyment not a vehicle for furthering political agendas or causes.

Although the series touches on them, the moment my leisure time takes me back to work again would be the moment I lose interest.  But each to their own.  Campaigning for just beliefs is very noble and I partake but not in a fantasy series.

Not saying that you did.  I am sorry, I didn't just answer you post but expressed something I feel strong about in literature, as opposed to real life. :)

 

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