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[Book Spoilers] Jaqen


Ice Turtle

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Jaqen, IMO, is absolutely perfect in both mannerisms and appearance. I've seen a lot of comments that he's too handsome and not flamboyant enough (I assume this is in regards to the two-tone hair).

First, we need to remember that GRR's narrating from Arya's point of view and she's not too concerned with physical appearances of people so we typically only get stand-out features from her, if anything. Gendry's simply described in terms of his large size, Lommy and Hot Pie have zero physical descriptors because they're average boys, and Rorge and Biter are described in terms of their deformities. Jaqen's described as fine-featured and handsome; the "fine-featured" I'd take to mean almost pretty (as opposed to chiseled handsomeness; so more Loras than Jaime). That Arya takes notice of his attractiveness means it must stand out in some way (this might just be in contrast to his companions).

As for the hair, keep in mind that A. Again, this is Arya's POV so she's going to keep it simple. The shade of red is never specified (I think she describes Beric as having red hair as well, which seems to be interpreted as auburn by most readers). If it were Sansa talking about Jaqen, we'd probably get a lot more specifics (auburn hair, half of which was streaked with grey), but the only reason Arya bothers to comment on it at all is because it's two-toned (red on one side, white on the other).

And B. The poor guy's been in the black cells and riding in the back of a wagon in a cage that's exposed to all the dirt and filth kicked up on the road. His hair is filthy, so its color is probably subdued by that (and Arya does state that it's matted with dirt). I imagine that the color difference will be more noticeable after he cleans up (and so help me, HBO, if I've sat through 12+ episodes of tits and sexposition and you cut the bath scene, I'm going to drive to NYC and set the corporate office on fire).

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I loved the way he laughed when Arya hit Biter/Rorge (how the hell do you know which is which at this point?) with her practice sword. Seems like a brilliant characterization.

I loved the laugh too! So perfect. He's completely unfazed by being locked up with a couple of lunatics, which makes him seem so much more dangerous and yet charming too.

Rorge is the shouty one to Jaqen's left; Biter is behind him and doesn't talk. So Arya was swatting at Rorge. I agree, though...I didn't expect them to look so much alike. At the least, Biter should be bald. But then, their similarities in appearance could be a deliberate choice to make Jaqen stand out more to the viewer.

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Another reason why Jaqen may not have sounded liek Syrio is because Syrio is from Braavos and Jaqen is Norvosi I do believe.

Syrio is not originally from Braavos, nor is Jaqen, Braavos seem to have a hell of a lot of emigres.

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I was trying to explain Jaqen to a non reader friend who wanted spoilers but it was difficult. In the books, we are introduced to the idea of FM before we meet Jaqen so we aren't totally thrown off when he reveals himself as such. But in the show, they've not brought up anything about FM. The whole FM concept is completely mysterious and somewhat confusing until Arya gets to the House of B&W and it would probably be doubly confusing to viewers. So how would this work?

I believe the concept of the FM was spoken of, when Robert was talking to Ned about getting rid of Dany. I will have to re-watch that episode but I think I'm correct.

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I believe the concept of the FM was spoken of, when Robert was talking to Ned about getting rid of Dany. I will have to re-watch that episode but I think I'm correct.

Nope, FM wasn't brought up in the show during that particular scene, though, as someone pointed out upthread, Dorea mentioned a man changing his face. I went back and rewatched that scene with her and Viserys and it's only about the face changing, nothing about how the face changer could be an assasin.

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Well he's pretending to be Lorathi and as a professional assassin it would be a bit of a give away if he spoke with a Bravossi accent.

Also spending the money on make-up to give a minor character no nose would hardly be productive and probably extremely uncomfortable for the actor.

a little preview of how they will handle Tyrion - although they have prettied him up a lot anyway.

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Yeah I have to admit I expected a bit more of a "flamboyant" Jaqen, à la Syrio. But I think it was okay.

But his hair color split was barely noticable.

I totally agree that I expected him to have more of an accent. Was his hair two different colors? I didn't see it at all.

Even though I wasn't crazy about his accent (or lack of), I did like his accent. When Arya hits Rorge and Jaquen says "a boy has more courage than sense," it looked like he was really impressed with her. It will be nice to see him realize that she would be a good FM candidate through the show.

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You can tell Rorge and Biter apart because Biter has his teeth filed into sharp points. It is quite obvious when they show close-ups of him. Also he has close-cropped hair while Rorge has longer hair, and Biter tends to not talk.

And yes, Jaqen does indeed have red and white hair, though it is more like red hair with white "I shop at Hot Topic"-highlights than some kind of 50/50 split so it isn't extremely noticeable except in the close-ups.

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Even though I wasn't crazy about his accent (or lack of), I did like his accent. When Arya hits Rorge and Jaquen says "a boy has more courage than sense," it looked like he was really impressed with her. It will be nice to see him realize that she would be a good FM candidate through the show.

I don't think 'realization' is part of it, the FM have had an eye on Arya for a while.

It's my theory, from the books, that , that is the exact reason he has been sent to Westeros?

Which presents us with a very interesting and as yet unresolved arc for Arya.

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I thought it was a nice simple introducaiton. He'll get more screentime next week with the lannister attack, and obviously more later in the season. Do you guys think he might go ahead and explain to Arya that he is a faceless man, seeing as how it wasn't described last season?

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I thought it was a nice simple introducaiton. He'll get more screentime next week with the lannister attack, and obviously more later in the season. Do you guys think he might go ahead and explain to Arya that he is a faceless man, seeing as how it wasn't described last season?

I don't remember, and it's too hard to check, that Jaqen ever tells Arya that he is a FM.... tho somehow we readers know.

Right before the Weasel Soup incident he reveals he knows , has known all along she is Arya Stark, George sort of slips that one in, very interesting!

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I don't remember, and it's too hard to check, that Jaqen ever tells Arya that he is a FM.... tho somehow we readers know.

Right before the Weasel Soup incident he reveals he knows , has known all along she is Arya Stark, George sort of slips that one in, very interesting!

As he's leaving he changes his face in front of her and tells her that it can be taught. That's when he gives her the coin and the words and tells her to head to Braavos if she wants to see him again. So, no, he never explicitly says he's a Faceless Man. I think we gather that from previous mention of them in the first book, where the council's discussing how to get rid of Daenerys. Pycelle mentions the Faceless Men as a solution.

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