Aidan Gillen's portrayal of Littlefinger: Yay or Nay?

[Damocles]

LF's motives were pretty blatant in the book. He constantly did things that only elevated his position. His actions and inner dialogue regarding Cat/Sansa made it quite clear why he did things he did.

We weren't given a bunch of clues towards another agenda altogether like Varys.

When did LF have any inner dialogue!??

[snake]

I think the TV Littlefinger pales in comparison to the book one. He doesn't seem to have the mischievousness or arrogance that I felt Littlefinger in the book had. He always seemed to be one who liked to tweak the noses of his "betters" especially since he felt that he had them where he wanted them. He was also wriiten as a character no one could get a handle on. Even Varys did not know what game he was playing. Gillen doesn't pull it off for me. Seems too stiff and wooden. Not relaxed at all.

Oh, and people did know that Petyr was ambitious in the books. The Kingslayer mentioned it when he and Cersei talked about Ned being named Hand. The Kingslayer said something like, "Give me honorable enemies instead of ambitious ones and I'll sleep a lot easier." when comparing Ned and Littlefinger.

[maxlongstreet]

I'm afraid I'd also give Gillen a thumbs down - I see him as the least effective major cast member in the show, which is hard to say since I loved him so much in The Wire.

I disagree strongly with Ran's conception of the character as someone irritating in how they try too hard to be charming. Littlefinger should actually be charming. He needs to be to get away with what he gets away with. He jokes about being a manipulator, and he can only get away with that by coming across as friendly and charming, as opposed to acting as dangerous as he actually is. Said another way, no one likes an uncharismatic grasper. Charm is his bread and butter.

I have some sympathy to those who just don't like his lines - they give away too much about his character. Littlefinger needs to be someone with somewhat mysterious motivations.

However, I think the biggest problem comes from the choices that Gillen made in playing the character. When deciding how he was going to have Littlefinger talk and act, he went for creepy and uncharismatic, and it shows in the strangely flat voice and frozen expression that he uses. Littlefinger needs to occur like that guy you know that's a bit of a jerk, but he's funny and charming so you let it slide. I don't see how Gillen's Littlefinger ever got on the small council - he's such an obvious creep that he never would have made the friends he needed, skills with money or no. I imagine a Littlefinger with a melodic voice, an easy-going manner, and a friendly joke in everything he said, not this uptight psychopath we see on the show.

[TheEvilKing]

Dinklage is American, so he is definitely putting on an accent. Aidan Gillen sounds different in the interviews I've watched as well.

Aidan Gillen's Irish.

I do think LF has been given terribly unfunny lines in the show. The writers have done a poor job with him, in my opinion. Only LF line that made me laugh was "A naked knight".

[Horza]

I think he's been a victim of the whirlwind pace. To establish LF subtle nuances you need a bit of time and space and Gillen hasn't been afforded that, he's been forced to tell more than show and it's hard to set up LF that way.

[Asarlai]

I'll say, "Yay." The writing could have been better, but Aidan Gillen seems to be portraying Littlefinger very well.

[Kolwynia]

It's funny, but the TV version of Littlefinger is one of the characters that looks and acts EXACTLY how I pictured him in the book. (With the exception of the whole monologue where he confides in his prostitutes during the sex scene, which is out of character, but I blame that on the writers.) I was actually surprised that people weren't liking the way he was portrayed. (And I actually really liked the conversation between Littlefinger and Vary's in the season finale. The puppetmasters face off!)

[AndreaDraco]

To me, Aidan Gillen is definitely "Yay."

I find his portrayal of Littlefinger subtly seething and mellifluous and his two verbal sparrings with Varys are amongst the highlights of the season. I certainly prefer Conleth Hill, whom I find a truly terrific actor and a pitch-perfect choice for the Spider, but Mr. Gillen is just as talented in my book and every scene he's in - except, of course, the ludicrous sexposition scene in Episode Seven - has been a true pleasure to watch.

I'd rate him a solid 8,5/10 (while, for the sake of a comparison, I'd rate Mr. Hill 9,5/10).

[Podrick + Arya = Win]

I don't mind Gillen's portrayal. He looks and acts dangerous, but the character survives only because of his usefulness as Treasurer.

[Bronn Stone]

I haven't seen any evidence that either the writers or the actor knows what to do with the character. I'm not sure who to blame for this (besides Pod), but I lean toward the creative side.

One of his defining characteristics is that he is supposed to be horribly underestimated by pretty much everyone not named Varys. But he is the first person TV-Tywin mentions to Tyrion when instructing him to straighten things out in Kings Landing. His efforts to lead Eddard Stark around by the nose were clumsy and so obvious that even Eddard should have noticed ("Isn't that the sigil of your wife's father?" - C'mon! We are supposed to believe that Eddard didn't notice that LF is pretending to not recognize the sigil of the Lord in whose castle he was raised, as both of them well know?????).

I can't accept Ran's suggestion that the clumsiness is part of LF's game. At times, it is so blatant that even a casual observer would suspect he is up to something.

I have noticed that we've seen very little reaction from Gillen himself - much less than many other of the principals. I wonder if he is not happy with it either.

[Rangers30]

Aidan Gillen's Irish.

I do think LF has been given terribly unfunny lines in the show. The writers have done a poor job with him, in my opinion. Only LF line that made me laugh was "A naked knight".

I'm not sure why the need for everyone to speak with a generic English accent. Considering Littlefinger is an island so to speak amongst all these people why couldn't they have just attributed his natural accent to him being from a different area in Westeros?

[Ramsay Bolton]

I'm... Not quite sure.

I love his scenes with Varys for example, but still there seems to be something missing. Maybe its just Conleth Hill doing a better job in comparison, the perfect Varys.

[Sixshells]

To me it's a "yay" on the looks : he seems very close to what he should look like.

However on the part itself it's more or less a "nay". I really couldn't get used to Gillen's monochord delivery (and if people are putting the blame on problems to act with his assigned accent I'm ready to belive it). I also thought he was a much more alive Littlefinger in the video interview of the actor posted above than in his actual performance, that always seemed too affected and sollemn to me. LF is supposed to of agreable company and very charming, not trying so hard to say "I'm not to be trusted" seriously. That's why the OP's suggestion of The Good Wife's Eli Gold as a modern version of LF pleases me very much.

That being out of the way it's clearly the changes already mentioned towards a much less subtle and mysterious character, already set as a big bad that were problematic, since we are not supposed to know that much about his business anyway. I also thought the sexposition of his motivation boring and killing all his mystery for the seasons to come. Although in retrospect, knowing about

his scenes with Sansa in the Eyrie

, it actually furthers the character derailment since it puts his relation with Sansa as as meaningful as the one he has with his whores, since her explains them everything without second thought. In the context of TV-evil-LF it makes sense : they wanted to simplify his relation to Sansa. However it doesn't correspond to the LF in the books, who would know better than to open himself to random employees of one of his brothels. He only opens up to Sansa because his feelings for Catelyn still make a part of him foolishly imprudent, and he thinks he can allow himself that much since she obviously depends entirely on him and makes moves to attach herself even more to him with the betrothal plan. And even then he doesn't try so much to look like a villain.

Though truth to be told, I don't think I have been a 100% comfortable with most of their character choices although there are exceptions.

[Basileus777]

But he is the first person TV-Tywin mentions to Tyrion when instructing him to straighten things out in Kings Landing.

That's consistent with the books.

“Let her say what she likes. Her son needs to be tak­en in hand be­fore he ru­ins us all. I blame those jack­anapes on the coun­cil—our friend Petyr, the ven­er­able Grand Maester, and that cock­less won­der Lord Varys. What sort of coun­sel are they giv­ing Jof­frey when he lurch­es from one fol­ly to the next? Whose no­tion was it to make this Janos Slynt a lord? The man’s fa­ther was a butch­er, and they grant him Har­ren­hal. Har­ren­hal, that was the seat of kings! Not that he will ev­er set foot in­side it, if I have a say. I am told he took a bloody spear for his sig­il. A bloody cleaver would have been my choice.” His fa­ther had not raised his voice, yet Tyri­on could see the anger in the gold of his eyes. “And dis­miss­ing Selmy, where was the sense in that? Yes, the man was old, but the name of Bar­ris­tan the Bold still has mean­ing in the realm. He lent hon­or to any man he served. Can any­one say the same of the Hound? You feed your dog bones un­der the ta­ble, you do not seat him be­side you on the high bench.” He point­ed a fin­ger at Tyri­on’s face. “If Cer­sei can­not curb the boy, you must. And if these coun­cil­lors are play­ing us false …”

[SFA-OK]

Sixshells, that is a GREAT point you made in regards to Littlefinger explaining his MO to some of the whores at King's Landing (which really made no sense for a couple reasons). That does raise some problems further down the road with his relationship with Sansa. I remember reading the scenes with him and Sansa and thinking "Wow, is he actually being honest and upfront about his schemes and who he is?" Because before that his character was very shady and hard to get a complete read on, which was great. That definitely hasn't been the case with the show version. Pretty much everything the character is on the show has been made brutally clear, which in effect really doesn't make him the character he was in the book.

[Kaitscralt]

I'm 100% behind Gillen's performance.

[oliviadunham]

10/10. Sure, his character in the show is a bit different from the books (which I read AFTER seeing the show), but that's fine with me - in the show, he's less slimy, and more aloof, both of which make me like him more and not just see him as a villain who became evil because he was seen "inferior" physically and in wealth. In both the books and show, you still get the idea that the bullied/ignored can come back to bite.

[Annara Snow]

10/10. Sure, his character in the show is a bit different from the books (which I read AFTER seeing the show), but that's fine with me - in the show, he's less slimy, and more aloof, both of which make me like him more and not just see him as a villain who became evil because he was seen "inferior" physically and in wealth. In both the books and show, you still get the idea that the bullied/ignored can come back to bite.

Littlefinger was never bullied and ignored. He grew up in more privileged circumstances than 99% of Westeros, got good education, was really close friends with the Tully kids growing up, particularly Catelyn and Lysa (who felt more than friendly feelings for him from early on). Edmure making up a jokey nickname for him =/= bullying. Brandon beating him in a duel that PETYR challenged him to, to "fight for" BRANDON'S fiancee, who did not in any way indicate she felt for him anything romantic or would want to marry him (even if he was perhaps under the wrong impression that she did) =/= bullying. Childhood friend not returning romantic feelings she felt for her =/= ignoring. There are people with heartbreaking, tragic backgrounds in this series - Sandor, Tyrion, Varys, and now, all the Stark children after what has happened to their family - but Baelish is not one of them.

As for the subject of the thread - I don't like how obvious they made LF from season one, he's as subtle as a Bond villain. The sexposition monologue was a misstep. The scenes with Varys got repetitive quickly. LF telling Sansa Sandors story made no sense; I hated the way they gave him Sandors lines but cut his own iconic lone - "Life is not a song, sweetling, you may learn that one day to your sorrow." Characters are not interchangeable, show runners! And they really shouldn't have LF openly approach Sansa in season 3 instead of doing it all through Dontos. That made him and everyone in KL look stupid. Gillen growling voice and moustache twirling demeanor also doesn't help.

[oliviadunham]

Littlefinger was never bullied and ignored. He grew up in more privileged circumstances than 99% of Westeros, got good education, was really close friends with the Tully kids growing up, particularly Catelyn and Lysa (who felt more than friendly feelings for him from early on). Edmure making up a jokey nickname for him =/= bullying. Brandon beating him in a duel that PETYR challenged him to, to "fight for" BRANDON'S fiancee, who did not in any way indicate she felt for him anything romantic or would want to marry him (even if he was perhaps under the wrong impression that she did) =/= bullying. Childhood friend not returning romantic feelings she felt for her =/= ignoring.

Wow...k. Excuse me for using words you consider imperfect. SO sorry my wording was so imprecise that you didn't understand what I was getting at...oh wait, but you knew exactly what I was referring to. LF getting beat in a duel and being bitter about it kind of makes him similar to a stereotypical "bullied" kid. As for "ignored," I suppose I should have said "rejected" - or, what would YOU prefer?

Also, I don't see anything "flat" about Gillen's performance.

Anyway, the TV series has somewhat differed from the books all along. I take them as separate stories.

[CaptainTheo]

I don't really mind Gillen on TV, mostly I find him quite entertaining, including the accent; after season #2 I ranked him as my 10th favourite characte in the series. My main objection is his portrayal in episode #8 of season #4 where Littlefinger had no plan to deal with the lords and relied on Sansa to save him, although that is not the actor's fault.