Game of Thrones: Book to Film (S1E1)

With the exception of Tolkien, I've never been a big fan of fantasy fiction. I've tried. I've read many others, but none of them have been very appealing. Even when one of my favorite writers delve into fantasy, like Ursula K. Leguin or Kazuo Ishiguro, I just can't get into it. Tolkien, on the other hand, is enthralling. I've read the The Hobbit several times and the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy twice. Everything about his writing is amazing, character development, dialogue, plot line, social relevance, world building. He's got it all.  I haven't liked another fantasy writer at all until now. 

In my pursuit to read every book on my shelves at home, I finally picked up Game of Thrones: Book One of a Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin and started it. I've seen the HBO series a few times so it is impossible to get the actors out of my head when I read of the characters. I decided not to try. My first impression is how incredibly close the series is to the book.  The big difference is the age of the characters. Let's started with my four favorite characters: Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Arya Stark.

Tyrion, the imp, portrayed by the amazing Peter Dinklage is 32 years old at the start of the series. He is only 24 in the book. This is a complete mystery to me why they changed this. Perhaps it is because they wanted Dinklage for the part and he doesn't look 24 at all. Changing the age of the younger characters makes a lot of sense, but this one does. He looks at least 40 in the show. 

Having children actors, in any series, is problematic for a lot of reasons so I can see why they changed their ages. Children grow, when a series is seven seasons long, this could cause problems with the storyline depending on how much time passes in the story line. The aging process of adult's isn't as obvious and easily changed with lighting and makeup. Also, due to the sexual nature of some of the scenes, HBO could get into some trouble with under age actor. Using older actors, not only makes sense, it prevents a lot of legal and ethical problems. 

The character, Daenerys Targaryen, is 13 years old at the beginning of the book when she weds Drogo, but in the series she is 16 (Season One, Episode One: S1E1). The actress that portrays her, Emilia Clarke, is 25 at the time. I never thought she looked that 16. Perhaps having the difficult life of a transient has made her look older beyond her years. 

Jon Snow, the bastard, and his half brother, Robb Stark, are both supposed to be 14 years old. In the series, they are supposed to be 17. The actor, Kit Harington, that portrays Snow is actually 25 in Season One but he could pass for 17. 

Robb Stark is also 17 at the start of the series as well. The actor Richard Madden is 25 as well.  I don't know how they get these actors to look so young, but seven years seems to be a typical difference for actors. I recently heard an interview with Ron Howard where he said that he had a hard time finding acting gig when he was a teenager because people in their twenties could play teenagers. So it seems this has been going for a while. 

The younger Stark children Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon are 11, 9, 7 and 3, respectively, in the beginning of the book. They are 13, 11, 10 and 6 in Season One of the series. We aren't ever told how old Rickon is in the series, until his death is season three. He is 11. He is the only Stark child that isn't a major character. 

Arya actually looks 11. The actress, Maisie Williams, is 14 in Season One. When the book was originally published in 1996, she wasn't even born. 

The only character that is younger in series than in the book that I could find is Theon Greyjoy. He's 18 in the book but 16 in the series. I found this in google not the book. He's a very minor character early on in the story. 

Other than ages of the characters, the only difference from the book I could find in S1E1 is in the very last scene when Bran gets thrown off the tower. He overhears a conversation about political intrigue while the queen and her twin brother are having sex (this book has everything.) In the series, he only hears, and then, witnesses the sex. He doesn't hear the conversation. I can't imagine why they changed this. Length, I am sure, is always a good enough reason for an 800 page novel adaption.

Time to rewatch Episode Two.