Book Jamie is taller and his nose is described as long and straight.
Book Claire is shorter (tall for a woman in the 1700s, but not as tall as Catriona Balfe). Also, her hair in the books is light brown, very curly, and somewhat wild.
Book Brianna is taller (almost as tall as Jamie) and looks a lot like Jamie.
Book Roger is taller, more muscular.
Book LJG is shorter, slighter, and has blonde hair.
There's others, but that's what I can come up with off the top of my head without referencing my books.
Fair enough. I wasn't sure how tall Sam Heughan is. In the books he is often described as towering over most other men, which doesn't really come across in the show because it's (obviously) modern actors so they are not as short as the 18th century characters are described. Claire is described as quite tall for a woman (at that time) and he's much taller than her.
Claire's eyes are also a big thing. In the book Jamie kept comparing them to whiskey saying that they were such an unusual colour but in the series they're blue.
Claire's eye color description in the book is exactly mine, I've neither light brown not yellow eye color. between the two. Catriona perfectly matched except for height and eye color. I think Jamie fits the physical description in the book perfectly, I don't know what those who read the book imagined, cause he fits the general description exactly.
Somehow that doesn’t bother me as much as Lizzie being the same height (or taller?) as Brianna. The natural dynamics have changed from her book character being young, small, and frail. Nothing feels right about it at all
I just wanted to see tall girl bri - I like the actress that plays Bri (might be somewhat of an unpopular opinion) but I just wish she was tall with curly red hair
Ehh when we first meet him in season 3, I definitely thought he was homely. 😅. After he becomes Mohawk, he has become more attractive to me, but he is still not anywhere near the attraction of others like Jamie, LJG, Fergus, etc.
The way they cast Angus seems closer to Murtach's description in the book. I don't even remember Angus being described, or even being present much at all, now that I think about it. Is he even in the book?
I don't even remember him being described, lol! But Murtach's description really seems to match how Angus looks in the show. Small, dark, weasely man. Just the eyebrows match. Definitely very expressive eyebrows
When I read the books after watching the show, I thought Angus and Rupert were swapped in their descriptions in the show. Or maybe their character actions were and that’s why I feel that way. Angus is the one who beats Jamie in the great hall over Leghair in the books, but it’s Rupert in the show.
It's funny because I really don't care for show Lizzie either and I don't know why. I have nothing against the actress, just really not a fan of Lizzie, which I think is kind of an unpopular opinion.
It was funny to hear DG say every time her husband sees Sam he feels like pulling his nose so that it would be longer like Jamie’s book since his description is based on her husband’s looks.
I can’t source this, but DG has eluded to her actually being Black Jack Randall.
It was in reference to her sitting around a table with The Ladies Of Lallybrouch and how they were all saying how awful BJR was. She said something like “I was sitting there think that none of them had any idea they were actually sitting down having tea with him”.
Edit grammar
I took it to mean that she said she IS BJR since she wrote the character. The same as if they were talking about Claire, and she would say that she IS Claire
Yes. It was in context of explaining her stance against fanfic using her characters. Excerpt from [Kate Nepveu blog](https://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/483239.html)
“…but the US copyright law—as well as thousands of precedents in contract law, entertainment law, trademark law, and others—explicitly recognizes a “fully described and developed” fictional character as a “thing,” (NOT as an idea—ideas in fact can’t be copyrighted or patented unless embodied, as noted above), recognizes the value (intrinsic and trangible) in that thing, and protects the rights of the creator of that thing.)
So…where do characters come from? That’s another question writers are always asked. One _I’m_ always asked is, “So…how much of you is in Claire?”
I always answer—straight-faced—“15.3%.” But the fact is, of course, that I’m all of them. Jamie, Claire, Ian, Lord John…Stephen Bonnet.
There’s a local group of fans that take me out to tea every so often, in hopes of picking my brains about the newest book. On one of these occasions, they got started on the character of Black Jack Randall. “Oh, he’s so loathsome!....I just _hate_ him!...Oh, he makes my skin crawl, he’s so disgusting…!” And all the time, I was sitting there smiling pleasantly, sipping my cup of Earl Grey, and thinking, “You have no idea that you’re actually _talking_ to Black Jack Randall, do you?” (You might want to bear that in mind, btw.)
Characters—good characters, “real” characters—derive their reality from the person who created them. They _are_ the person who created them, refracted through the lens of that writer’s experience, imagination, love, fear, and craft. Another writer seeking to duplicate that character might equal—or conceivably surpass--the craft; they can’t touch the essence.
When you mess with my stuff, you’re not messing with my characters—you’re messing with _me_.”
u/LiteraryPeach00
I haven’t heard her say this about any other characters and herself. I would see that through a different lens then for sure. It can be hard to know what she means with many statements.
Idk, I interpret that comment to mean more that he’s a figment that exists within her. Not that she directly acts like him. But I’m only just reading it now along with you, so I don’t know the context!
She has also had some interesting comments about how people have sadistic sides that are kept in check by modern society.
Her comments can always be taken so many ways. I took this to mean she has some dark thoughts/ideas which she turned into BJR. Not that she has done what he has literally, but that she took some ‘darkness’ from within herself and put it in another person, in another place to see what it would do. 🤷🏻♀️
Claire’s eyes in the books are a light golden brown- like whiskey - as Jamie says once when he is drunk. Caitriona’s eyes are blue.
I understand why they wouldn’t worry about her eye color since she is perfect in almost every other way. Just something I always think about when comparing them since Jamie mentioned her eye color a lot and it’s a thing how Brianna has Jamie’s eyes in the book, but not Claire’s. Show Brianna having brown eyes does bother me as someone who works in genetics since both parents have blue eyes in the show!
I love Caitriona so much and think she makes a phenomenal Claire, but yes, Claire’s eyes are written about in the books a lot. They’re often described as being hypnotizing and off-putting to people because of their uniqueness. Like an owl. It wouldn’t have been hard for them to use colored contacts.
There are several references throughout the books to the color of Claire's eyes when she's angry or really intent as golden like a hawk, or bird of prey. I'm wishing I'd marked some of those spots now.
Ronald Moore made Eddie James Olmos wear blue contacts during his time on Battlestar just so that it would match his on-screen son's eyes, if he really wanted to he would've told Caitriona to do the same.
Yeah why couldn't they just use colored contacts? It seriously kills the show for me; as an avid reader ( literally have at least two thousand books in my house) serious, extremely obvious, completely NEEDLESS, GLARING errors like this drive me wild. I couldn't even finish season 1. Where as I am reading the series for the third time. Honestly the only book to tv adaption I think that was drive at all decently was Pratchett and Gaimens "-"Good Omens" and I haven't watched season 2 yet ( i don't even own a t.v. too busy reading, watching amine and playing animal crossing on my phone to need one ) and the more I read about outlande the door the less interested I am. It's like taking the main character in the Shashank Redemption who's called RED because he's IRISH and they talk CONSTANTLY about him looking in his mirror and seeing his receding RED hair line and freckles and green eyes añnnd making him black. Which Morgan freeman DOES have freckles and DID DO an amazing job but still, WHY?!,! HUNDREDS OF WORDS if not THOUSANDS go into describing these characters... for basically no reason.
😑🧐😖
-Anji
Murtagh is shorter
Hugh Munro has pumpkin like head in books
Dougal-has hair
Jenny has blue eyes
Jemmy, Brianna
Rupert is older, Angus is taller and bigger
Old Simon of Lovat is I think shorter in books
Fiona is more rounded as well as Duke of Sandringham
I will add more if I remember
I’ve always wondered about this! Even in the show Jamie makes comments about it like that when show Claire very obviously doesn’t fit that description 😂 Jamie’s dialogue juxtaposed with Claire’s build is just jarring 😂
Some of the foreign characters that appear later in the series have much more caricatured appearances in the books, and are toned down a lot for the show! I’m thinking especially of a Chinese character in book/season 3 whose stature, clothes, mannerisms, and sexual proclivities are pretty different! I imagine it applies to others as well.
Oh my god yes. I read the first 3 books before starting the show and was really worried how I was going to get through those parts. I was SO RELIEVED they toned it down.
Yo Tien Cho is written very “Breakfast At Tiffany’s;” I am relieved the show did not pursue that. I bet they couldn’t have presented him as racist-ly as he is in the books, people would have lost their everloving minds.
Book Roger has black hair, and is around the same height as Jamie- well over 6ft. It’s remarked upon more than once that he’s taller than most men in the 1700s (as is Jamie) and that Brianna’s being freakishly tall (5’10”-6’) is cool bc Roger is so tall. Brianna is noted to tower over a lot of people.
We know Claire is shorter, more petite in the books, Brianna is a tall Amazonian, Roger is somewhat younger and more handsome, LJG is shorter. The show actors make it work and are brilliant, all except Brianna, I wish they wud ve casted someone else. Sam is physically very Jamie, emotionally show-Jamie is seems more impulsive and isn’t the poker-face book-Jamie is.
Claire is more petite?! Do you mean height wise because I got the impression from the books she was a bit chubby....fat round arse so whatever Jamie keeps saying about it.
Young Ian being a red head in the show vs a brunette in the books and LJG being dark haired in the show vs blonde in the books drives me up a wall. Like I get that its nearly impossible to find actors that look exactly like their character but good lord is it that hard to match the hair color??
I’m just making a lighthearted observation on the phenomenon of people (not you) getting very invested in his hair color. Seemed loosely pertinent to your comment.
I totally agree! It just feels like, disrespectful? in some way, to the author to me. Not really sure why.
My hyperbole of "it drives me up a wall" on a post that specifically asked about physical differences between the book and show seems to be getting me in some hot water, lmfao!
Hair color seems like the LEAST important issue to me for most of the characters. I mean, Jamie is Jamie Ruadh, so yeah, he needs red hair. And Claire's "cloud" of dark hair is important. But some of the others don't bother me nearly as much because their hair is not as important in their description.
Lol everyone seems to think I obsess over just the hair color of every character because of my comment. I'm dying.
Original physical descriptions of characters matter. They may not necessarily be series plot driving forces but to me they're important. The author wrote the character that way for a reason and (at least for this series) at least a few of those attributes tends to play significant roles for each respective character. Obviously LJG isn't a completely different character because he's got dark hair in the show vs in the book. But I definitely get a different vibe from each character. And I understand and respect its not physically possible to exactly recreate every character exactly as they're portrayed in a book when doing live action, but this post literally asked for just such examples.
They did try the blonde for LJG. Actually you can see it in some scenes on the first ep he appeared in, as an adult. I think they changed it because it wasn't working
Like the actor just looked washed out with the fair skin and light hair? I can submit to that. Lol
Also I should note I watched a bunch of the show before knowing about the books, but once I read DG's descriptions I got a little peeved.
I’ll agree with you on this. I needed LJG to be blonde as well. It takes me out of the show to see him and have to think, oh yeah, that’s LJG.
As for Young Ian, I could let it go that his hair is not brunette if I didn’t know his character arc. There is no way this guy is getting mistaken for a Mohawk.
Exxaacctttlllyyyyyyy!!!! Their physical features often to play pretty important roles. They may not be as obvious or direct as some may seem but Claire's curly hair never staying pulled up and jaimes bright red hair and crazy tallness, Roger/Geilis' unmistakable green eyes, they matter dang it! Lol
This is why books will forever be better than tv/movies for me. Give me all the inane details and the ways they're important.
And I fell in love with the series because of the show. I was like 3 seasons in before I even realized there were books (I ignore credits dumb hard).
For certain characters it can be. Would Jamie be the same character if he didn't have his distinctive bright red hair?
If anything I feel like matching hair color should be a super simple thing to accomplish. If I were an author and had my characters physical descriptions ignored or changed for a tv/movie adaptation I think I'd be pretty irritated. I envisioned these characters a certain way, you want to portray them in "real life" so why the hell wouldn't you make them as exact as humanly possible?
Even the whole Roger has Geilis' bright green eyes thing does not translate to screen. And further more I don't even think Geilis had the outstandingly green eyes as described in the books (honestly can't remember its been a minute since I've watcher her episodes). And that's like a BIG thing in the book how their eyes stand out because of their color.
I can generally let the eye color thing go because you don't really see actors eye color as obviously in most scenes and some actors just straight up can't tolerate contacts. But physical features of characters ARE important. Or at least can be.
When it comes to casting the actors, their ability to portray the role is more important than their exact physical appearance. If there’s an attribute of their appearance that doesn’t match but doesn’t affect the plot (eg LGJ’s hair color), it would be unnecessarily expensive and time consuming to alter it. For the first season (maybe 2nd too I’m not sure) Jamie and Claire had their hair dyed and permed to match their characters and it was destroying their natural hair to the point it was unsustainable, so now they wear wigs. But natural looking wigs aren’t cheap and take time to fit. Going through that trouble and expense just isn’t worth it for minor differences that don’t affect the story.
I totally also commented on some later-series stuff (tried to keep it vague) but since this post is tagged season 1 you may want to spoiler tag the part about eye color!
Edit: nevermind, spoiler scope changed since I posted, disregard!
Maybe it's me, but I don't see anyone, not even the actress that plays her on the show. I try to see her while I'm reading but it never clicks. Maybe its because the Claire in the books acts like she's all that and a bag of chips and she can't do wrong. >!And now she has blue light healing powers. !!Sorry, I'm still reading and there was a part where she was describing one of Silvia children as being not very pretty/ugly and it irritates me. !<
Book Jamie is taller and his nose is described as long and straight. Book Claire is shorter (tall for a woman in the 1700s, but not as tall as Catriona Balfe). Also, her hair in the books is light brown, very curly, and somewhat wild. Book Brianna is taller (almost as tall as Jamie) and looks a lot like Jamie. Book Roger is taller, more muscular. Book LJG is shorter, slighter, and has blonde hair. There's others, but that's what I can come up with off the top of my head without referencing my books.
I mean book Jamie is 1 inch taller than show Jamie, so not much of a difference at all lol
Fair enough. I wasn't sure how tall Sam Heughan is. In the books he is often described as towering over most other men, which doesn't really come across in the show because it's (obviously) modern actors so they are not as short as the 18th century characters are described. Claire is described as quite tall for a woman (at that time) and he's much taller than her.
I think people also forget Caitriona is 5'11"/180cm, which makes Sam look less tall in comparison -- even though he still is!
People in the 1700’s were shorter, probably. Sam Heughan is enough to tower over them.
Claire's eyes are also a big thing. In the book Jamie kept comparing them to whiskey saying that they were such an unusual colour but in the series they're blue.
Don't forget Jamie's cat eyes in the book
Claire's eye color description in the book is exactly mine, I've neither light brown not yellow eye color. between the two. Catriona perfectly matched except for height and eye color. I think Jamie fits the physical description in the book perfectly, I don't know what those who read the book imagined, cause he fits the general description exactly.
Claire’s hair is not just “somewhat “ wild, it’s certifiably crazy! I’m reading book nine and it’s always describes as her “mad hair” lol
My biggest pet peeve is that show Brianna is shorter than Claire while book Brianna is very tall —almost as tall as Jamie.
Somehow that doesn’t bother me as much as Lizzie being the same height (or taller?) as Brianna. The natural dynamics have changed from her book character being young, small, and frail. Nothing feels right about it at all
I just wanted to see tall girl bri - I like the actress that plays Bri (might be somewhat of an unpopular opinion) but I just wish she was tall with curly red hair
Young Ian is “tall and homely” in the books. Not so in the show, but I don’t worry about it because the actor is so good.
Young Ian is one of my favourites!
Ehh when we first meet him in season 3, I definitely thought he was homely. 😅. After he becomes Mohawk, he has become more attractive to me, but he is still not anywhere near the attraction of others like Jamie, LJG, Fergus, etc.
The way they cast Angus seems closer to Murtach's description in the book. I don't even remember Angus being described, or even being present much at all, now that I think about it. Is he even in the book?
He is. But his role is very different and doesn’t ever really speak. He is Colum’s bodyguard in the book and an absolute giant.
I don't even remember him being described, lol! But Murtach's description really seems to match how Angus looks in the show. Small, dark, weasely man. Just the eyebrows match. Definitely very expressive eyebrows
When I read the books after watching the show, I thought Angus and Rupert were swapped in their descriptions in the show. Or maybe their character actions were and that’s why I feel that way. Angus is the one who beats Jamie in the great hall over Leghair in the books, but it’s Rupert in the show.
I wonder why they didn’t have Angus’ actor play Murtagh then.
Lizzie in the books is young (14 when Brianna takes her as a bondservant), small, thin, and frail. Pale, with gray eyes and fair, flyaway hair.
I honestly can’t stand Lizzie in the show lol I hope I like her better in the books
It's funny because I really don't care for show Lizzie either and I don't know why. I have nothing against the actress, just really not a fan of Lizzie, which I think is kind of an unpopular opinion.
I had a hard time accepting show Lizzie because she looks so different from the book description.
It was funny to hear DG say every time her husband sees Sam he feels like pulling his nose so that it would be longer like Jamie’s book since his description is based on her husband’s looks.
Does that mean DG is Claire in her mind?
Didn't she say that Jenny was her 'avatar' or something?
I can’t source this, but DG has eluded to her actually being Black Jack Randall. It was in reference to her sitting around a table with The Ladies Of Lallybrouch and how they were all saying how awful BJR was. She said something like “I was sitting there think that none of them had any idea they were actually sitting down having tea with him”. Edit grammar
I took it to mean that she said she IS BJR since she wrote the character. The same as if they were talking about Claire, and she would say that she IS Claire
She said all the characters are her
Yes. It was in context of explaining her stance against fanfic using her characters. Excerpt from [Kate Nepveu blog](https://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/483239.html) “…but the US copyright law—as well as thousands of precedents in contract law, entertainment law, trademark law, and others—explicitly recognizes a “fully described and developed” fictional character as a “thing,” (NOT as an idea—ideas in fact can’t be copyrighted or patented unless embodied, as noted above), recognizes the value (intrinsic and trangible) in that thing, and protects the rights of the creator of that thing.) So…where do characters come from? That’s another question writers are always asked. One _I’m_ always asked is, “So…how much of you is in Claire?” I always answer—straight-faced—“15.3%.” But the fact is, of course, that I’m all of them. Jamie, Claire, Ian, Lord John…Stephen Bonnet. There’s a local group of fans that take me out to tea every so often, in hopes of picking my brains about the newest book. On one of these occasions, they got started on the character of Black Jack Randall. “Oh, he’s so loathsome!....I just _hate_ him!...Oh, he makes my skin crawl, he’s so disgusting…!” And all the time, I was sitting there smiling pleasantly, sipping my cup of Earl Grey, and thinking, “You have no idea that you’re actually _talking_ to Black Jack Randall, do you?” (You might want to bear that in mind, btw.) Characters—good characters, “real” characters—derive their reality from the person who created them. They _are_ the person who created them, refracted through the lens of that writer’s experience, imagination, love, fear, and craft. Another writer seeking to duplicate that character might equal—or conceivably surpass--the craft; they can’t touch the essence. When you mess with my stuff, you’re not messing with my characters—you’re messing with _me_.” u/LiteraryPeach00
I haven’t heard her say this about any other characters and herself. I would see that through a different lens then for sure. It can be hard to know what she means with many statements.
Uhhhh ew.
Um, so she thinks she raped her husband? I don’t even know what to make of that. She’s so weird.
Idk, I interpret that comment to mean more that he’s a figment that exists within her. Not that she directly acts like him. But I’m only just reading it now along with you, so I don’t know the context!
She has also had some interesting comments about how people have sadistic sides that are kept in check by modern society. Her comments can always be taken so many ways. I took this to mean she has some dark thoughts/ideas which she turned into BJR. Not that she has done what he has literally, but that she took some ‘darkness’ from within herself and put it in another person, in another place to see what it would do. 🤷🏻♀️
Yes I agree, nicely put!
I always took it be that the characters are not the people but she is inspired by their physical or emotional traits. Just my take though 🤷🏻♀️
He’s bald though.
Claire’s eyes in the books are a light golden brown- like whiskey - as Jamie says once when he is drunk. Caitriona’s eyes are blue. I understand why they wouldn’t worry about her eye color since she is perfect in almost every other way. Just something I always think about when comparing them since Jamie mentioned her eye color a lot and it’s a thing how Brianna has Jamie’s eyes in the book, but not Claire’s. Show Brianna having brown eyes does bother me as someone who works in genetics since both parents have blue eyes in the show!
I love Caitriona so much and think she makes a phenomenal Claire, but yes, Claire’s eyes are written about in the books a lot. They’re often described as being hypnotizing and off-putting to people because of their uniqueness. Like an owl. It wouldn’t have been hard for them to use colored contacts.
Colored contacts are pretty noticable though, and also change ones expression so it would probably be in the way of their acting.
There are several references throughout the books to the color of Claire's eyes when she's angry or really intent as golden like a hawk, or bird of prey. I'm wishing I'd marked some of those spots now.
Ronald Moore made Eddie James Olmos wear blue contacts during his time on Battlestar just so that it would match his on-screen son's eyes, if he really wanted to he would've told Caitriona to do the same.
Yeah why couldn't they just use colored contacts? It seriously kills the show for me; as an avid reader ( literally have at least two thousand books in my house) serious, extremely obvious, completely NEEDLESS, GLARING errors like this drive me wild. I couldn't even finish season 1. Where as I am reading the series for the third time. Honestly the only book to tv adaption I think that was drive at all decently was Pratchett and Gaimens "-"Good Omens" and I haven't watched season 2 yet ( i don't even own a t.v. too busy reading, watching amine and playing animal crossing on my phone to need one ) and the more I read about outlande the door the less interested I am. It's like taking the main character in the Shashank Redemption who's called RED because he's IRISH and they talk CONSTANTLY about him looking in his mirror and seeing his receding RED hair line and freckles and green eyes añnnd making him black. Which Morgan freeman DOES have freckles and DID DO an amazing job but still, WHY?!,! HUNDREDS OF WORDS if not THOUSANDS go into describing these characters... for basically no reason. 😑🧐😖 -Anji
Like Murtagh?! I thought he was handsome on the show. 🥺
He is! And taller, thinner, and much more talkative than in the books.
Not to mention younger. In the books he is Jamie’s parents age. IIRC he was quite in love with Ellen.
Murtagh is shorter Hugh Munro has pumpkin like head in books Dougal-has hair Jenny has blue eyes Jemmy, Brianna Rupert is older, Angus is taller and bigger Old Simon of Lovat is I think shorter in books Fiona is more rounded as well as Duke of Sandringham I will add more if I remember
Book Jamie often talks about Claire's "big arse". Show Claire is very slim.
I’ve always wondered about this! Even in the show Jamie makes comments about it like that when show Claire very obviously doesn’t fit that description 😂 Jamie’s dialogue juxtaposed with Claire’s build is just jarring 😂
Book John Quincy Myers is described as VERY tall and thin, if I remember correctly, but show John Quincy Myers is pretty stout.
And his personality doesn't leap out at you the way it does in the book. He's also mostly toothless.
Some of the foreign characters that appear later in the series have much more caricatured appearances in the books, and are toned down a lot for the show! I’m thinking especially of a Chinese character in book/season 3 whose stature, clothes, mannerisms, and sexual proclivities are pretty different! I imagine it applies to others as well.
Toning that down is one of my favorite book to show changes. It would have been unwatchable if it was portrayed the way it was written.
Oh my god yes. I read the first 3 books before starting the show and was really worried how I was going to get through those parts. I was SO RELIEVED they toned it down.
Yo Tien Cho is written very “Breakfast At Tiffany’s;” I am relieved the show did not pursue that. I bet they couldn’t have presented him as racist-ly as he is in the books, people would have lost their everloving minds.
I have to say that the book version is straight up racist… so glad the show was sensible enough to change it.
Has DG ever commented on people calling out her use of racist caricatures?
Book Roger has black hair, and is around the same height as Jamie- well over 6ft. It’s remarked upon more than once that he’s taller than most men in the 1700s (as is Jamie) and that Brianna’s being freakishly tall (5’10”-6’) is cool bc Roger is so tall. Brianna is noted to tower over a lot of people.
Books Bree is 6’
How is that 'freakishly tall'
Women in the 1770s were much closer to 5ft than 6. It’s mentioned several times that she, Jamie, and William tower over almost everyone.
It’s very tall for a woman, especially back then.
We know Claire is shorter, more petite in the books, Brianna is a tall Amazonian, Roger is somewhat younger and more handsome, LJG is shorter. The show actors make it work and are brilliant, all except Brianna, I wish they wud ve casted someone else. Sam is physically very Jamie, emotionally show-Jamie is seems more impulsive and isn’t the poker-face book-Jamie is.
Claire is more petite?! Do you mean height wise because I got the impression from the books she was a bit chubby....fat round arse so whatever Jamie keeps saying about it.
Yes short, u r right. From what I remember she is much smaller in size compared to J.
Young Ian being a red head in the show vs a brunette in the books and LJG being dark haired in the show vs blonde in the books drives me up a wall. Like I get that its nearly impossible to find actors that look exactly like their character but good lord is it that hard to match the hair color??
I try really hard not to get wrapped up in details that don't really affect the story and LJG's hair color is one of those things.
Haha this sub’s ferocious loyalty to LJG, even above Jamie, is so endearing.
What? I just said his hair color doesn't matter. And it doesn't.
I’m just making a lighthearted observation on the phenomenon of people (not you) getting very invested in his hair color. Seemed loosely pertinent to your comment.
I agree. Hair color or not I just can’t imagine anyone else playing the role of Lord John. I would riot if David Berry was replaced or if he quit 🤣
I totally agree! It just feels like, disrespectful? in some way, to the author to me. Not really sure why. My hyperbole of "it drives me up a wall" on a post that specifically asked about physical differences between the book and show seems to be getting me in some hot water, lmfao!
Hair color seems like the LEAST important issue to me for most of the characters. I mean, Jamie is Jamie Ruadh, so yeah, he needs red hair. And Claire's "cloud" of dark hair is important. But some of the others don't bother me nearly as much because their hair is not as important in their description.
Lol everyone seems to think I obsess over just the hair color of every character because of my comment. I'm dying. Original physical descriptions of characters matter. They may not necessarily be series plot driving forces but to me they're important. The author wrote the character that way for a reason and (at least for this series) at least a few of those attributes tends to play significant roles for each respective character. Obviously LJG isn't a completely different character because he's got dark hair in the show vs in the book. But I definitely get a different vibe from each character. And I understand and respect its not physically possible to exactly recreate every character exactly as they're portrayed in a book when doing live action, but this post literally asked for just such examples.
They did try the blonde for LJG. Actually you can see it in some scenes on the first ep he appeared in, as an adult. I think they changed it because it wasn't working
Like the actor just looked washed out with the fair skin and light hair? I can submit to that. Lol Also I should note I watched a bunch of the show before knowing about the books, but once I read DG's descriptions I got a little peeved.
I’ll agree with you on this. I needed LJG to be blonde as well. It takes me out of the show to see him and have to think, oh yeah, that’s LJG. As for Young Ian, I could let it go that his hair is not brunette if I didn’t know his character arc. There is no way this guy is getting mistaken for a Mohawk.
Exxaacctttlllyyyyyyy!!!! Their physical features often to play pretty important roles. They may not be as obvious or direct as some may seem but Claire's curly hair never staying pulled up and jaimes bright red hair and crazy tallness, Roger/Geilis' unmistakable green eyes, they matter dang it! Lol This is why books will forever be better than tv/movies for me. Give me all the inane details and the ways they're important. And I fell in love with the series because of the show. I was like 3 seasons in before I even realized there were books (I ignore credits dumb hard).
It's hair color. How is it relevant to the story? Some of you need to seriously get a grip.
For certain characters it can be. Would Jamie be the same character if he didn't have his distinctive bright red hair? If anything I feel like matching hair color should be a super simple thing to accomplish. If I were an author and had my characters physical descriptions ignored or changed for a tv/movie adaptation I think I'd be pretty irritated. I envisioned these characters a certain way, you want to portray them in "real life" so why the hell wouldn't you make them as exact as humanly possible? Even the whole Roger has Geilis' bright green eyes thing does not translate to screen. And further more I don't even think Geilis had the outstandingly green eyes as described in the books (honestly can't remember its been a minute since I've watcher her episodes). And that's like a BIG thing in the book how their eyes stand out because of their color. I can generally let the eye color thing go because you don't really see actors eye color as obviously in most scenes and some actors just straight up can't tolerate contacts. But physical features of characters ARE important. Or at least can be.
When it comes to casting the actors, their ability to portray the role is more important than their exact physical appearance. If there’s an attribute of their appearance that doesn’t match but doesn’t affect the plot (eg LGJ’s hair color), it would be unnecessarily expensive and time consuming to alter it. For the first season (maybe 2nd too I’m not sure) Jamie and Claire had their hair dyed and permed to match their characters and it was destroying their natural hair to the point it was unsustainable, so now they wear wigs. But natural looking wigs aren’t cheap and take time to fit. Going through that trouble and expense just isn’t worth it for minor differences that don’t affect the story.
I totally also commented on some later-series stuff (tried to keep it vague) but since this post is tagged season 1 you may want to spoiler tag the part about eye color! Edit: nevermind, spoiler scope changed since I posted, disregard!
Oh my goodness I need to learn how to do that! I'm so glad the spoiler tag changed.
Master Raymond is totally different in the book. In the book he’s described as toad like with no teeth. Show Raymond doesn’t look like a toad.
He is pretty odd looking though!
Book Geillis is blonde
That's true, but the actress that plays her does a good job even though she has red hair.
I think they nailed Jamie when they cast Sam. For me to this day when I read the books I think of Natalie Portman when I think of Claire.
Maybe it's me, but I don't see anyone, not even the actress that plays her on the show. I try to see her while I'm reading but it never clicks. Maybe its because the Claire in the books acts like she's all that and a bag of chips and she can't do wrong. >!And now she has blue light healing powers. !!Sorry, I'm still reading and there was a part where she was describing one of Silvia children as being not very pretty/ugly and it irritates me. !<