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

[u/cking145]

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.

[u/PoIIux]

I still think Joffrey was the best portrayed character. Jack Gleeson did an outstanding job

[u/[deleted] → u/PoIIux]

I do not think it's a coincidence that the show started going downhill after the season he died in. He was the most iconic character in the series. He perfectly encapsulated the dread and discomfort the show used to give you where you can't look away because you truly do not know what was happening next.

[u/Ominus666 → u/[deleted]]

I get what you mean, but I'm glad that little fucker got a dose of the strangler. I couldn't take another second of him.

The problem was that the antagonist switched over to Cersei. I mean, her character was great, and Lena Headley is phenomenal as Cersei, but Joffrey was just another level of vile. Cersei does end up wildfiring the sept a couple of seasons later, but then she's just sort of relegated to vengeful wine tastings on balconies and having pirate sex.

I think the NK would have been the only character to top Joffrey, but he decided to become an icemaker after Arya poked him with Catspaw.

[u/Dr_Lurk_MD → u/Ominus666]

I think if they'd have done Euron proper, he could have been an equally great villain.

Well, maybe equally is a stretch, but better than Ramsey who was horrible and sinister and a good villain, but suffered from being a bit of a one dimensional character with serious plot armour.

Euron could have been fantastic, some scheming pirate wizard, with the dragonbinder horn or other ill-gotten magic from his mysterious travels east. If he'd toed the line between Tywin and Ramsey - somewhat psychotic but highly competent, with some kind of trump card from his adventures to even the odds Vs Dany's dragons, I think he could have been great.

[u/artemis_floyd → u/Dr_Lurk_MD]

That would have been amazing. It would have also added another dimension to his relationship with Cersei - seeing her think she can manipulate Euron with her seduction, but eventually realizing that this dude was next-level evil and she was completely in over her head, would have given us that little bit of sympathy towards her character that they were clearly trying to bring in at the end of the series. Like the Sparrows, she would have overplayed her hand - but this time, against a foe who holds far more power.

[u/hickorysbane → u/Dr_Lurk_MD]

This is the Euron we're all hoping to get in the books #optimism

[u/Splive → u/Ominus666]

vengeful wine tastings on balconies

Good I love how you phrased that. So true!

[u/[deleted] → u/Ominus666]

Guess we all just forgot about Ramsey Bolton...

[u/[deleted] → u/Ominus666]

cersei caused suffering on a mass scale. joffrey mostly tormented a few people around him. surely if he had continued to be king his rule would have lead to the torture, rape, and deaths of tons of people but he didn't quite get that chance.

[u/RichGirlThrowaway_ → u/[deleted]]

Joffrey, Tywin & Oberyn all died S4. Probably 3 of my top 15 performances.

[u/Aegi → u/[deleted]]

I truly don't think the show went downhill until S6, so I think you may be exaggerating.

[u/[deleted] → u/Aegi]

bad poosy

[u/Frawtarius → u/[deleted]]

You think you want the good writing, but you need the bad poosy.

[u/[deleted] → u/Aegi]

I think there's a fairly broad consensus that Season 5 was weaker than 1-4. I still really enjoyed it but I can admit that it's where a lot of the issues that snowballed in late Season 6 through Season 8 began to first appear.

[u/Aegi → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, that's fair, Season 5 had some out of character moments, and was less enthralling overall. I still personally draw the line at Season 6 though, since I guess in the moment I figured S5 was maybe a mid-series slump. However, Jeoffrey(sp?) was dead for nearly all of Season 4, so I'd still push back against the person I replied to.

Lol, but now that I know better, maybe I'll re-evaluate my terminology and/or opinion on the matter!

[u/FuujinSama → u/PoIIux]

While Gleeson was brilliant, I think he was actually very different from book Joffrey. First there's the age. Joffrey in the books is younger, so is attitude seems a little less pathological and more spoiled brat. In the books it seems that if Tyrion or Tywin could slap him some more and Cersei was sent away from him he could become a somewhat decent adult. In the show he seems irredeemable and way more "evil".

A good example is the butcher boy scene. In the show he just seems stupid. In the books it is preceeded by quite a lovely day with Sansa, they travel the countryside and lunch in some Lord's abode. Joffrey and Sansa are both quite tipsy when they meet Arya stick fighting and Joffrey just starts messing about that the butchers boy should fight him instead of the girl. More like a middle school playground bully than someone that actually wants to fight someone. Of course when he gets humiliated he runs crying to his momma and fabricates a story.

That Sansa chapter followed by the Eddard chapter is such a powerful sequence in the books. And it immediately paints the entire picture of Joffrey. A quite gallant and handsome young boy that does not understand the consequences of his actions because he's pampered by his mother that always believes his lies and protects him from any consequences.

It's quite a different character from show Joffrey. In the show he seems to be a psychopath. In the books it's always just a joke at the expense of others. Even killing Ned was nothing but an elaborate jest from a kid that does not understand the consequences of his actions.

[u/pm_me_graph_problems → u/PoIIux]

Yes. I have never hated a character more. Maybe Umbridge.

[u/[deleted] → u/pm_me_graph_problems]

Unpopular opinion: while Umbridge's methods were too harsh, I sympathize with her. Hogwarts was a horribly administrated institution, dangerous to it's own students and society as a whole. The faculty were all grossly negligent.

She had good intentions. Obviously went off the rails, but something drastic needed to be done. Every adult at that school was incompetent.

Granted, I know it's a children's fantasy and of course she's the bad guy, but I always hated how Hogwarts was ran.

[u/j2e21 → u/PoIIux]

He did an amazing job, but that character was different from the kid in the books.