What The Game Of Thrones Characters Looked Like In The Books

Reading books, especially fantasy novels, is an excellent way to escape from reality. You are thrown into the world of dragons, kings and queens, and dynastic families all trying to rule whatever fantastical world they live in. When A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series that the popular HBO show Game of Thrones was first released, fantasy readers were thrilled. Each character was developed in great detail, and as a reader, you got to love each character or hate them depending on who they were. The author, George R. R. Martin possesses a great talent for character development, and that has in part led to the characters you now see on screen when you watch the show.

However, the characters you see on the screen are a tad different than the ones in the books. This is due to a variety of factors, such as the characters in the books being younger than the show, and also some key physical traits. If you’ve been wondering what the main differences are between the book and television characters, then keep on scrolling. We have read the books, and compared them to our favorite onscreen characters to see who is the same and who isn’t.

Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys ‘Dany’ Targaryen is one of the most memorable characters on the show and in the book series. Dany is known for her white blonde hair that is always done up in elaborate braids, and for being the Mother of Dragons. However, there is one very big difference physically between the character in the book and the one on the screen.

Do you see what it is? The answer is in the eyes. Dany’s eyes are supposed to be a shade of violet, whereas in the show they are actress Emilia Clarke’s blue eyes. Her eyes are beautiful, but they aren’t the true eyes of Queen Daenerys as imagined by Martin.

Eddard Stark

While Eddard ‘Ned’ Stark may not be around for the entire series, he definitely has a major impact on the world of Westeros. As the head of the Stark family, the Lord of Winterfell, and for a short time, the Hand of the King he gets a lot of screen time.

Actor Sean Bean, is the one that brought this character to life. The only major difference between the character in the book and the television show is the hair. In the novels, Stark has a long mane of brown hair, whereas in the show Stark’s hair is only shoulder length.

Melisandre

The Red Woman, also known as Melisandre is one of the most mysterious characters on the show. She belongs to a secretive religion called R’hllor, which seems to worship flame and all things red. The books always described her as being garbed in a red robe, and with a large necklace on.

Actress Carice van Houten did an excellent job of embodying Melisandre, and performing all sorts of magical acts. One thing that her appearance lacked, were two glowing red eyes. The production team decided to leave her natural blue eyes, and just dye her hair a vibrant red.

Theon Greyjoy

Some characters are terrifying on Game of Thrones, while others are more on the weak side. Theon Greyjoy, played by Alfie Allen was one character that nobody really loved. First he was pretty mean, and then he was simply weak. Eventually he redeemed himself, but he was never one of the characters that people raved about.

Theon experienced some pretty awful things while imprisoned by Ramsay Bolton, and due to this he was supposed to have a very gaunt appearance and grey hair. This did not quite translate to the character on screen, as Theon’s hair remained fluffy and brown.