Winning the Game of Thrones: The Host of Characters and their Agendas (10 page)

Many other series are delightfully Tolkienesque though with mixed males and females and without the dull bits (heresy though it seems to say so). These include the following:

v
 
Sara Douglass,
The Wayfarer Redemption

v
 
Guy Gavriel Kay,
The Fionavar Tapestry

v
 
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory,
The Obsidian Trilogy

v
 
Patrick Rothfuss, 
The Kingkiller Chronicles

v
 
Brandon Sanderson,
The Mistborn Trilogy

v
 
Tad Williams, 
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
 

Readers might also consider classic epics like
The Tain
,
The Mabinogion
, and
King Arthur
, all of which inspired parts of Martin’s work.

What Are the Major Book and Show Differences?

Most shows take significant liberties with the books they’re based on. Unusually,
Game of Thrones
changes almost nothing – scenes may be shortened, but often they’re repeated word for word, especially the best lines. The websites that describe changes between the two are mostly stuck pointing out that Sansa meets Lady Olenna Tyrell in the gardens, not her chambers, and has a shorter scene in which she secretly confides her fear of Joffrey, rather than an hour-long one. A few scenes are added, but generally character moments that don’t alter the plot. Characters’ backstories, like Sam’s rejection as his father threatens to hunt him in the woods, are also identical.

A few specific differences involve character substitutions. Arya is supposed to be cupbearer to Roose Bolton (the Stark bannerman of uncertain loyalty) not Tywin Lannister. Jaime isn’t captured and behanded by Bolton men but by the Brave Companions, a group of sellswords his father had hired, who then began running amok. Shae is the maid of a minor character who is not Sansa. There are many more Frey characters everywhere, wed to Lannisters and King’s Landing characters as well as negotiating with Robb. Gendry inherits the plotline of the book’s acknowledged Baratheon bastard, Edric Storm, as Melisandre seeks king’s sons to burn. Stannis’s wife and daughter (and the daughter’s friend Patchface the fool) are seen often in the books, wandering about Dragonstone. Olenna seems to be negotiating in place of her pompous son. Sansa is proposed as a marriage candidate to Ser Loras’s older brother, heir to Highgarden, not Loras. Each of these changes was made to simplify the overwhelming and confusing cast of characters, at least a bit. Family trees are trimmed, parts are combined, and so forth, but these differences are decidedly minor.

Many characters are introduced a book or two late, beginning their storylines only when necessary (Selyse and Shireen, Meera and Jojen, Thoros of Myr, and the Boltons fit this pattern). Thus minor characters and events shown, from Karstark’s treason to Sam’s finding a dragonglass horn on the Fist of the First Men will likely be needed farther along.

In probably the largest change, the show replaces Robb’s sweet and passive bride Jeyne Westerling – whose father is a Lannister bannerman – with the capable and headstrong healer Talisa from Volantis. As she shows up, filthy and bloody, to tell Robb off for his lack of compassion, a far stronger character emerges. This change, as Martin has remarked at conferences, mainly was implemented as the television writers wanted to show Robb’s romance (in the books his imprudent marriage appears as a complete surprise, with all the courting done offscreen). The meek little mouse was unlikely to gain anyone’s respect or affection, so as new scenes of Talisa’s character-shaping childhood with slaves were written, Martin suggested a new name for her new backstory.

And most brothel scenes are new, as is the character Ros. Martin comments:

I like the fact that David (Benioff) and Dan (Weiss) are doing a faithful adaptation so when the scenes are the scenes from the books, I like those. And I like almost all of the new scenes, not from the books, that David and Dan and the other writers have added. The only thing that I miss is the scenes that are left out, scenes from the books that are not included in the TV show that I wish they would have included. As I watch a show I’m always thinking, “Oh, this is coming next” and then that scene isn’t there. But I understand the necessity for that. We have ten hours and that’s always we have. You cannot put every line of dialogue, every incident, in the TV show. You have to cut to the chase.
^[19]

Martin
 
has been heavily involved, from casting decisions to writing a script each season
(“The Pointy End,” “Blackwater,” “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”). He wrote many new
Twilight Zone
and
Beauty and the Beast
television episodes in the 1980s, and has even written some feature films.
Of course, he’s still busy writing the book series, with two more volumes to go (to say nothing of companion books, short stories, and other projects.) He adds:

I talk constantly with David and Dan the executive producers and show runners. They’ve done an amazing job and stayed very faithful to the story. There’ve been some changes, but that’s inevitable on a project like this. It’s been a great ride so far and I hope it will continue for many years to come.
^[20]

The realism is reflected in the unusually large number of deaths in his series. Book fans note that no one is safe, and new watchers were shocked and angered by Ned’s death after they’d grown to love him. Reactions ranged from amazement that a show would kill off the main character in season one to angry viewers canceling subscriptions. Martin has joked that he’ll need to go into hiding at season three’s end, when fans will be even more furious.

Despite the fan disagreements on the value of the plentiful sex and violence, the show is amazingly popular. Fans of the book are pleased with it, though there are occasional complaints of a beloved scene getting cut.

How Aged-up Are the Stark Children?

Martin notes:

We had some real problems because Daenerys is only 13 in the books, and that’s based on medieval history. They didn’t have this concept of adolescence or the teenage years. You were a child or you were an adult. And the onset of sexual maturity meant you were an adult. So I reflected that in the books. But then when you go to film it you run into people going crazy about child pornography and there’s actual laws about how you can’t depict a 13 year old having sex even if you have an 18 year old acting the part – it’s illegal in the United Kingdom. So we ended up with a 22 year old portraying an 18 year old, instead of an 18 year old portraying a 13 year old.
^[21]

Thus, as Martin explains above, everyone got “aged up.” Events of the TV series are seventeen years after Robert’s Rebellion, contrasted with the books’ fourteen. Daenerys is 16 instead of 13. With her, the other characters are aged as well: Robb and Jon Snow are 17 instead of 14. Bran is 10 instead of 7 and Rickon’s 6, not 3. Sansa is 13 instead of 11 and Arya is 11 instead of 9. Joffrey is 16 instead of 13, Myrcella is 12 instead of 8 and Tommen is 10 instead of 6. All this aging up is mostly for the nude scenes for characters like Daenerys and to fit a bit better with audience sensibilities.

These characters – especially those of the book – seem awfully young considering that Sansa’s hand is being fought over, Jon and Robb are leading war parties, Arya’s ranging the countryside alone and Daenerys is…well, doing everything imaginable. In fact, Martin had planned a five year gap in the middle of the series, which would have let them grow up a bit more,
^[22]
but as it is, he’ll likely have the book characters fulfill their plotlines younger than he had expected. He adds:

The biggest thing I’m wresting with is the chronology. When I set out with the young characters it was my intention that the kids grow up during the series. And I thought I’d have a chapter. And the next chapter would be a month later. Then the next would be two months after that. And by the end of the book a year will have passed. But it doesn’t make sense that a character will take two months to respond to something that happens. So you wind up writing the whole book and very little time has passed. After the third book I thought I would jump forward five years, then the kids would be older. That was part of the delay. I tried to write it with a gap but it just didn’t work, so I wound up scrapping all that.
^[23]

Thus, though he wrote younger characters, the ones on the show are roughly the character ages he wanted. This is logical, as Daenerys, Jon, and Robb are now on the edge of adulthood, with Bran and Arya at the adolescent ages popular for adventuring fantasy characters.

How Feminist is Game of Thrones, Really?

Martin takes pride in his spectrum of female characters, from strong to sweet, saying:

I wanted to present my female characters in great diversity, even in a society as sexist and patriarchal as the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Women would find different roles and different personalities, so women with different talents would find ways to work with it in a society according to who they are.
^[24]

Indeed, a
Salon
article notes:

“Game of Thrones” persuasively demonstrates why some of us are always yammering on about the need for increased representation of women (and minorities) on television: Through the relatively simple process of upping the numbers, the burden on any individual woman magically lightens. No single character in “Game of Thrones” has to be the show’s final word on womanhood, and that’s a freeing prospect. I can find Melisandre a dinner-theater-esque take on the sorceress archetype; you can find Daenerys an appalling victim of untreated Stockholm syndrome. But it’s OK. With the women of “Game of Thrones,” you don’t have to put all your dragon eggs in one basket.
^[25]

Certainly, medieval women had few options, and Martin’s women take full advantage of their world as warriors, healers, mothers, and more. Too many, however, ask men to take advantage of their sexual abilities, even those with career choices outside the brothels. Some see the stripping Red Priestess as feminist, others an offensive parody.
The New York Post
actually describes Melisandre, with “some mysterious witchy power in the amulet she wears around her neck. She’s also got it in other places, as we saw in one graphic scene where she gives birth to a murderous shadowy wraith” as teaching viewers the following helpful message:

Have a shadow demon in your loins and no one will mess with you. Less specifically: Develop a special skill that only you can offer, it will make you invaluable – whether getting ahead at your office job, or seizing the Iron Throne.
^[26]

Offer your boss sex and an illegitimate monster-child to get ahead in the office? To say nothing of creepy sex magic that kills people? Under the humor, it’s clear Melisandre cannot be taken seriously.

Fans’ views on the story’s women vary, though like Martin, everyone seems to love Arya. Sansa and Catelyn have many supportive fans and many enemies calling them the weakest characters on the show. Cersei’s fans are likewise mixed. The author of the blog Feminists-at-Large writes:

Whether it is having her brother father her children to protect the Lannister bloodline or seducing key informants and strategic assets, Cersei firmly believes (as she tells young Sansa Stark) that “a woman’s weapon is between her legs.” She regularly defies the commands of her father, her husband the king, and all of the men on the Small Council. The lioness of Lannister embodies feminism – even though she is a villain, through and through – because despite her life of luxury and privilege, she is not afraid to get her hands dirty to achieve her goals, nor does she allow any man to dictate her actions.
^[27]

This paragraph seems problematic – Cersei’s feminist because she believes women should get what they want through sex? As Daenerys puts it, “The Copper King offers me a single ship on the condition that I lie with him for a night. Does he think I will whore myself for a boat?” (2.6). Really strong women have sex because they wish to, but not because they think offering men their bodies will give them power. It doesn’t even work. Certainly, Robert and even Jaime grow to despise Cersei. Her offering or withholding sex doesn’t affect them, they merely walk out in disgust. When Cersei literally tries sleeping with men to ensure their loyalty, beginning with her cousin Lancel in the second season, she loses at her game.

When Cersei suggests that she would make a better advisor than either of her brothers, Tywin dismisses her. “I don’t distrust you because you’re a woman. I distrust you because you’re not as smart as you think you are. You’ve allowed that boy [Joffrey] to ride roughshod over you and everyone else in this city” (3.4). Her motherly love, like her “weapon between her legs” puts her family and realm in danger: When Cersei pulls Joffrey off the wall in “Blackwater,” half the goldcloaks desert.