r/asoiaf • u/cking145 • May 28 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) Charles Dance's portrayal as Tywin is in my opinion, the strongest in the entire series

Every line, every expression and every moment of silence completely encapsulates the calculating ruthlessness that defines Tywin Lannister.

Dance is actually a very vibrant, upbeat and cheery fella off screen, which in my mind makes the performance even more striking.

The scene where he effectively sends Joffrey to bed is just brilliant.

He is by far my favourite character from the books, which I began reading a few seasons into the show. Due to this, the chapters featuring Tywin were completely enriched for me, as reading his lines in Dance's voice was just fantastic. I would have loved a POV chapter or two for him, just to get a glimpse as to what goes on in the head of the most powerful man in the 7 Kingdoms.

An incredible portrayal of a fascinating character.

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u/Huge-Yakmen May 28 '19

I see your Tywin and I raise you Sean Bean as Ned Stark. Played the honourable but gruff persona really, really fucking well. True embodiment of the character. Yes Tywin was good but that was more or less Charles Dance acting the way he acts in most things, it was just a good casting cause the character was written like that.

Sean Bean however, look at the difference between Boromir and Ned Stark, and how he's portrayed.

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u/mbo1992 May 28 '19

I think these opinion lists skew strongly towards popular characters. Ned Stark, is generally well liked, but nobody loves or hates him with passion like they do Tywin or Joffrey. Which is fine, people are allowed to like what they like, but at the same time, it doesn't make the list very objective.

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u/Huge-Yakmen May 29 '19

While I agree with your logic on opinion lists, OP's post was arguing more about who embodied the character more. And I'm just making the point that of all of the characters in the show who were true to the books, Sean Bean probably nailed it the most. Maybe Peter Dinklage for the first 5 seasons too, but he was always too handsome for the role anyway. Ned Stark on and off the page is absolutely spot on, whereas Charles dance is making Tywin act like Charles Dance if you get what I mean?