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[Book Spoilers] Book Petyr vs. TV Petyr


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Maybe this has been discussed before, but I was wondering about this and wanted the insight of the posters to the forum.

In this new GRRM interview that can be found here:

http://www.westeros.org/GoT/News/Entry/GRRM_Interviewed/

George names characters in the TV show that are different from the books: Shae (ugh), Osha (hooray), Renly (not sure the changes make any difference to me) and Petyr (slightly negative feelings).

The main difference I see is that he is less subtle than in the books. To a degree I think the show does this so the viewer can understand the character and his motivations a little bit better, so there is some added dialog to help accomplish this. Some of this additional dialog is given to Varys also, but he does not seem to have changed from the book. On the other hand by the end of ADWD I understand Petyr's thoughts and motivations a lot better than Varys'. Don't you just feel that there is more for Varys still to be revealed?

So back to Baylish. Here are the differences I have noticed:

1) More involved in day to day running of brothels.

2) Scene with Cersei about power. That kind of hurt to watch.

3) Less subtle with Tyrion revealing how much he wanted Harrenhal.

It makes me wonder if in the plot for the TV show there will be some changes that depend on his having less skill at the game.

Thoughts?

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Yes, I thought that was interesting. His being much more of a pimp is certainly a change. But I think GRRM's remark probably goes further, and probably has to do with the nakedness of Littlefinger's emotions at times (as desired by the writers), and the fact that he has been more readily revealed in his aims and pursuits. That's a big change for a character whose goals remain, to this day, not exactly transparent and still up for speculation.

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Tyrion noticed the look on his face when he mentioned Harrenhal as well. It was the exact same as the book IMO.

Petyr is flamboyent in both, he's sneakier in the book to me. He keeps a hgh profile but is still able to conduct a ton of espionage and hatch plots that no one knows about.

I agree about the brothels. If he was supposed to be that much of a pimp, tyrion would have brought it up in his travails replacing him as the lord o coin.

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Littlefinger is my favorite character and I will admit the differences are noticeable. However I don't really mind them. They usually use the brothel scenes to explain things (like the one where he explains his history with the Tullys)

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Yes, I thought that was interesting. His being much more of a pimp is certainly a change. But I think GRRM's remark probably goes further, and probably has to do with the nakedness of Littlefinger's emotions at times (as desired by the writers), and the fact that he has been more readily revealed in his aims and pursuits. That's a big change for a character whose goals remain, to this day, not exactly transparent and still up for speculation.

Perhaps, but his end goals in the show are still not revealed in the show either. It has all been added scenes to explain his motivations - but not what he plans to do. There has been no hints so far about what he plans to do with Sansa. (no more than then book, at least)

I still think they are doing most of his characterization to show viewers that he is not a Lannister stooge like Pycelle. Without this many would think that he talks a good game, but secretly works for Cersei.

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I think TV Littlefinger is a more interesting character than Book Littlefinger. Book Littlefinger is frankly too smart, too perfect. We see maybe one or two missteps from him and meanwhile he's the grand architect of this overarching conspiracy that extends back to before the first book. The reveal is stunning, yes, and the story will probably suffer a bit from the early reveals, but the character? Boring.

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Is it me or does the actor who plays Petyr, change his accent (speech pattern) from scene to scene? Maybe its just my ears playing tricks on me.

Someone brought this up in another thread. I re-watched ep 3 and his accent seemed all over the place - English, Irish, even some American twang in there.

Yeah, I don't know what's going on there.

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he's definitely different, but asides from the power scene (which was wrong in so many ways), I don't mind it. I can't complain that they're humanizing him a little, and his motives are still just as foggy as they were in the books. so there's no real loss either way imo (except for the brothel scenes taking up screentime that could've been used for the Reeds, Tullys, etc.)

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It does not bother me that his goals are a little more transparent to the viewers as long as it is much less so to other characters. I hope the revelations of his motivations are not expanded on for the time being. And I REALLY hope that there is not some plot point that hinges on Ros having some insight into Petyr's thinking. As if she was listening to what was said during sexposition.

My bigger worry is how they depict his self control and the guarding of his feelings. It seems to be an integral part of his character that he developed from his experiences growing up at Riverrun, which the show has already indicated through the afor mentioned sexposition. It is his self control, the guarding of his feelings and his incredible shrewedness that allow him to play the long game so well. Take one of these away, and he is not longer the really skillful player that is portrayed in the book. Maybe they plan to have him make a mistake which will explain some change to the plot that theyare going to make.

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I believe this post will be even more prevalent after this week's episode. Petyr being sent to Renly's camp will be very interesting indeed, and his potential meeting up with Cat (and her pulling the dagger on him like in some early previews for the season) should be a very telling moment. I have my own thoughts to how book Petyr would act if he was in that situation, and on Sunday I may find out what show Petyr does.

I am definitely looking forward to it, though I am nervous about it too. LF is definitely one of the most interesting characters in the series in my opinion, and I like to see his character expanded upon.

Also, I wonder if there will be a scene with him talking to Margaery one on one, that would be interesting too, especially considering the events in ASOS.

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Also, I wonder if there will be a scene with him talking to Margaery one on one, that would be interesting too, especially considering the events in ASOS.

Yes, we saw a glimpse of a LF/Margery one on one scene in one of the S2 previews.

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This season is where Petyr has changed most. No like.

They're also giving him stupid plots. He's going to try to convince Catelyn to give up Jaime? I recall in the books he said something like "If you want to convince Catelyn to give up the kingslayer, waste someone else's time." But the show writers took the reversal and used a scheme Petyr mocked and assigned it to him. Ugh.

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Using additional Petyr scenes to give us some information about his motivations would have been interesting. Why could he and Ros not have talked about Renly and the setting sun of House Lannister? Considering the fact that TV Littlefinger is going to talk to Cat in Renly's camp this would have been much more interesting if Petyr had openly pondered to betray the Lannisters and deliver KL to Renly as soon as his host stood before the city gates.

Littlefinger knew Renly quite well, and suggested to Ned to make Renly king if Joffrey should misbehave.

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