LIttlefinger: book vs show

[gibbles545]

I think Littlefinger's character from the books was lost when the show decided to do away with the subtleties of the books, so a faithful and therefore good adaption of the character was just not going to happen.

Another thing that infuriated me about tv littlefinger, but this is a fault of the writers, is him receiving Sandor Cleganes lines. Such as the story of how he was burned and the line about liers. Those were the lines I wanted to see Rory Mccan say and he didn't, still a little bitter about it really.

[Colonel Green]

Another thing that infuriated me about tv littlefinger, but this is a fault of the writers, is him receiving Sandor Cleganes lines. Such as the story of how he was burned and the line about liers.

The first one only happened because of production problems, as I understand it.

[DaveyJoe]

http://31.media.tumblr.com/610cbd7a0c018a57aa1b8725baed454f/tumblr_mor9knZoJT1r0zqlzo1_400.gif

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

A faithful and therefore good adaption of the character was just not going to happen.

This isn't very good reasoning.

[DaveyJoe]

http://image.blingee.com/images19/content/output/000/000/000/7b9/796088404_1367972.gif

[King of the Road]

http://31.media.tumb...0zqlzo1_400.gif

And this is why show Littlefinger is so wonderful!

[Pinkie Baelish]

According to /tv/, this is how the "Only Cat" scene would play out on the show:

"LYSA YOU SEE FOR ALL THIS TIME, I'VE BEEN USING YOU FOR MY OWN BENEFITS AND NEVER LOVED YOU BECAUSE FOR YOU SEE, I ONLY LOVED YOUR SISTER, CATELYN WHOM I WAS ATTRACTED TO THUS THE ONLY REASON I WAS EVER WITH YOU WAS TO BE CLOSHHEE WITH HER. NOW AS I PUSH YOU DOWN THIS DOOR WHICH IS CALLED A MOON DOOR SINCE IT'S REALLY HIGH AND IT WILL CAUSE YOU TO DIE AS YOU HIT THE GROUND I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THIS, IT WAS CHAOSHH AND THE FALL IS ALL THERE IS BECAUSE YOU SEE, I'VE CAUSED THE CHAOS AND I DIDN'T DO IT FOR YOU I DID IT FOR CATELYN WHO IS YOUR SISTER AND HER DAUGHTER, SANSA THE CURRENT HEIR OF THE WINTERFELL WHOM I FANCY ALSO BECAUSE SHE LOOKS LIKE YOUR SISTER CATELYN, WHOM I ONLY LIKE"

[Nilan8888]

And as she falls, he'll yell after her: "Vote Carcettti!"

[Pinkie Baelish]

And as she falls, he'll yell after her: "Vote Carcettti!"

"She didn't fly so good!"

[Hodoris]

LF is just like Cersei. Both want power, its just that LF is smarter

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

LF is just like Cersei. Both want power, its just that LF is smarter

You could say that about virtually every noble lord or lady.

[Andrés Garcia]

By the time Littlefinger's part in Jon Arryn's death is revealed, the unsullied will have forgotten who he is. They'll have to be reminded by their book reading friends that he was the reason Ned Stark was made Hand of the King and that it was his clues that led to the discovery of the Lannister incest. So the fact that Littlefinger is portrayed as less subtle than in the books and that this will lessen the shock when it is shown exactly how evil he is won't be an issue anyways.

[Mach]

He is evil in both the show and books but I think the show has made him look like a bigger "player" than the books did. In the books, you don't understand how big of a player he is until the end of ASOS and later on in AFFC.

But I enjoy the show LF quite a bit and particularly the scenes with Varys.

[Illyrio Mo'Parties]

He is evil in both the show and books but I think the show has made him look like a bigger "player" than the books did. In the books, you don't understand how big of a player he is until the end of ASOS and later on in AFFC.

But I enjoy the show LF quite a bit and particularly the scenes with Varys.

Yeah, show Littlefinger's great.

The problem is that he's quite an important character, so they have to get a good actor to do him; but now that they've hired one, they can't have him just sitting around looking suspicious for 3 seasons. It'd be a waste of money, but at the same time, they couldn't write him out altogether either.

I like what they've done with him; those scenes of him and Varys mindfucking each other are more than worth the price of admission.

[genwolf]

In the show, they make him much too obvious. While readers always knew he was a power hungry, it's important to remember few in Westeros recognized this. Littlefinger was simply seen as a charming minor lord, loyal to the crown with a talent for making money. Only a couple, like Tyrion, notice somethings amiss, and they still don't see the extent of his plotting. If he showed his ambitions as clearly as he does on the show, I doubt that he would have ever been appointed to the Small Council.

The books POV structure means that LF gets to operate outside the readers view much of the time - as the POV's we get are all from people who - to a greater or lesser extent - are taken in by LF. Or perhaps more accurately a number of characters are vaguely suspicious of LF, but they can't quite put their finger (pardon) on why, or what his game is. It's not until he wants to reveal a great deal to Sansa that we get to see just the extent of his ambitions and his manipulation of events. And even then his motives and ultimate endgame remain a little mysterious. If Varys had been a POV character, and from early on, there would be much less mystery about LF, but if we were in Vary's head then a great many mysteries would not be mysteries at all.

The show does not really have that option - if it wanted to pull a Keyser Söze with LF they would need the sort of elaborate restricted viewpoint structure of a film like The Usual Suspects - which can work in a single movie with just a single story to be told - but I am sort of thankful that the producers did not try and replicate the POV structure of the books - how the hell would you tell which viewpoint you were supposed to be in scenes where there is more than one POV character, short of some gimmick like literally shooting from a characters eyepoint? And once you have gone for a more omniscient viewpoint hiding LF, and revealing his role in events only much later - like literally seasons later - and only having him be much minor would feel like cheating to me, and I think much of the Audience. I think Aiden Gillen has been either given or played some awkward lines - he come perilously close to twirling his moustache in a few scenes - but then he redeems himself with something like the Chaos is a ladder scene - so I blow hot and cold on the actor. And he and Varys have been tasked with sometimes having to deliver Themes with a capital T to the audience - which can often be a thankless task for an actor.

That said I am overall enjoying this great duel behind the throne between Varys and LF.

[TepidHands]

LF is just like Cersei. Both want power, its just that LF is smarter

You could say that about virtually every noble lord or lady.

You could say that about Mormont's raven.

[genwolf]

You could say that about Mormont's raven.

HaHa!

[Bolivar]

It utterly blows my mind when people on this forum defend the show and its choices, especially users who have read the books.

Yes they are both "evil" but BookFinger has a capital L Liberalism spin in that he's subverting the feudal system for more of a technocracy. ShowFinger just wants to watch people kill eachother and show how ridiculous they are. Gillen is also noticeably over-acting now compared to his first season performance. Everything he says has a grand sense of evil and foreboding, none of the easy smile and crass jokes on the book, even when he's explaining grave matters

[Bolivar]

It utterly blows my mind when people on this forum defend the show and its choices, especially users who have read the books.

Yes they are both "evil" but BookFinger has a capital L Liberalism spin in that he's subverting the feudal system for more of a technocracy. ShowFinger just wants to watch people kill eachother and show how ridiculous they are. Gillen is also noticeably over-acting now compared to his first season performance. Everything he says has a grand sense of evil and foreboding, none of the easy smile and crass jokes on the book, even when he's explaining grave matters

[DaveyJoe]

It utterly blows my mind when people on this forum defend the show and its choices, especially users who have read the books.

Yes they are both "evil" but BookFinger has a capital L Liberalism spin in that he's subverting the feudal system for more of a technocracy. ShowFinger just wants to watch people kill eachother and show how ridiculous they are. Gillen is also noticeably over-acting now compared to his first season performance. Everything he says has a grand sense of evil and foreboding, none of the easy smile and crass jokes on the book, even when he's explaining grave matters

I think most would agree that the show could never live up to the book, so why let that drive you crazy? Just sit back and enjoy the show for what it is. It's an adaptation in a fundementally different medium, it will require changes. The perception of Littlefinger is different in the show and the book, but I still find Gillen's performance to be quite entertaining. The show isn't perfect, but how many shows are perfect? How could it live up to the power of imagination that you use when reading the books? I think some people hold the show to ridiculous standards that have been set up in their own mind's eye, and let's not forget that many readers interpret aspects of the books uniquely and quite differently. Considering how many book-to-show/movie adaptations have been bastardized and completely botched, I personally think the fans are lucky to have a show that is so faithful to the source material, and features such consistently high acting and production values.