History AdaptationalAttractiveness / GameOfThrones

* Selyse Baratheon is plump with large ears and a mustache in the books but the worst that can be said of Creator/TaraFitzgerald is that she's made to look gaunt, though frequent contrasts with MsFanservice Melisandre help downplay it.

* The books' Three-eyed Crow is a one-eyed albino with a wine-stain birthmark on his cheek who's pierced through with weirwood roots and looks more like a corpse than a living man. The show's Three-eyed Raven is a two-eyed WizardClassic who seems to be merely tangled in the roots.

* Magister Illyrio is morbidly obese in the books, but he's a pretty normal-looking overweight man in the show.

* Ramsay Snow is explicitly described in the books as being an ugly, fleshy man with wormy lips, blotchy skin, and creepy pale eyes. Creator/IwanRheon has none of these traits except the eyes.

* In the books, Roose Bolton is described as "neither handsome nor plain". His voice is also described as soft and whispery in the books, but McElhatton's deep, smooth voice has earned him quite a few fangirls.

* Obara Sand in the books is very plain and big-boned but her actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes, is very good-looking and is not exactly tall, and despite the makeup department giving her a tough boyish look, she still looks good on the camera.

!!Straight examples

!!{{Inver|tedTrope}}sions:
* Theon Greyjoy (before his torture by Ramsay and becoming "Reek"). In the books, Theon is tall, dark-haired and attractive, and a famed [[TheCasanova ladykiller]]. In the show, he's a ratty guy who has to pay for sex.
* The White Walkers are eerily beautiful ice-themed versions of TheFairFolk in the books but {{Humanoid Abomination}}s that resemble frozen corpses in the show.
* Renly is a good-looking guy, but not the Adonis described in the book.
* Mace Tyrell is shorter, balder, and generally less aesthetic than the "once powerful man gone to fat, yet still handsome" described in the novels.
* Joffrey is described as being beautiful with flowing blond locks and sparkling green eyes in the books, but is played by the fairly average Creator/JackGleeson.
** However, like Arya, some UnreliableNarrator is at play in the books, since less flattering appraisals describe his eyes as being "vain and cruel", and also compare his lips to "fat red worms".
* Cersei is described word-for-word as being the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman in the books. Creator/LenaHeadey ''is'' attractive, mind you, but not to that degree, though the show does give her the AdaptationalCurves of a 27-year-old body double during her public shaming, whereas the books describe her figure as declining from age and pregnancy, and also imply bloating from alcoholism.
* The Faith Militant undergo this with their ObviouslyEvil facial scars, which are an exaggeration of the Poor Fellows (in the books, a single member has a CarvedMark on his chest, the rest are only ThisMeansWarpaint) with none of the appeal of the rainbow cloaks, silvery armour, and crystal-pommelled swords of the Warrior's Sons.

* Ramsay Snow is explicitly described in the books as [[TheGonk an ugly, fleshy man]] with wormy lips, blotchy skin, and creepy pale eyes. Creator/IwanRheon has none of these traits except the eyes.

* Osha hardly looks like a woman in the books, with a lean, scarred body and a hard face. Music/NataliaTena is an attractive actress with a feminine physique. Her costuming, including a shapeless robe and scraggly hair, goes a long way in toning it down, but even so she's able to seduce male characters twice.

* Ned is described as plain and long-faced but is played by MrFanservice stalwart Creator/SeanBean and described as "even more impressive" than his late brother Brandon while in the books, Catelyn recalls her "childish disappointment" that Ned was shorter, plainer, and more solemn than Brandon.
* Like his father, Jon is long-faced and never pointed out as notably attractive in the books but is played by MrFanservice Creator/KitHarington and constantly described as "pretty" in the show. This is likely meant as an allusion to his true parentage, as Rhaegar Targaryen was known to have been exceptionally beautiful.

* Tyrion is frequently described as TheGrotesque as well as a dwarf in the books, but Creator/PeterDinklage is [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tyrion_5_6967.jpg quite handsome]] and even proclaimed so in-universe. The facial wound he receives is also much less grievous than the partial loss of his nose and upper lip for both pragmatic and sympathetic reasons, which gets a MythologyGag when Cersei notes his scar isn't as bad as she'd heard.

* Brienne is described as hideous in the books by everyone who meets her, with an overly broad face, coarse freckly features, an overly wide mouth, puffy lips that look swollen, large crooked teeth, a nose that's been broken several times and so upturned she looks somewhat pig-like, brittle hair, and a figure that actually looks ''worse'' in a gown. Creator/GwendolineChristie is made up to look plain and mannish with some minor facial scars but not really ugly and SheCleansUpNicely in her time at Harrenhal - out of armour and after a good bath she starts to look a little more like the normal Gwendoline Christie. Even the dress she's forced to wear, which in the books is described as both garish and several sizes too small for her, looks rather decent. The show also avoids the part from the books where Biter takes two large bites out of her face.
* Ygritte is described in the books as having crooked teeth and a pug nose but she is considered beautiful by Jon. In the series, she's played by the conventionally attractive Creator/RoseLeslie.
* Pod is a debilitatingly shy, stuttering twelve-year-old in the books but aged up to a handsome if somewhat {{adorkable}} young man in the show.

* Selyse Baratheon is plump with large ears and a mustache in the books but the worst that can be said of Creator/TaraFitzgerald is she's made to look gaunt, though frequent contrasts with MsFanservice Melisandre help downplay it.

* Ramsay Snow is explicitly described in the books as an ugly, fleshy man with wormy lips, blotchy skin, and creepy pale eyes. Creator/IwanRheon has none of these traits except the eyes.

* Rorge keeps his nose for [[PragmaticAdaptation practical reasons]] in the show and while his companion Biter retains his filed-down teeth, he's still better looking than the pallid obese man with weeping sores described in the book.
* Walder Frey certainly doesn't turn any heads in the show but he's still far younger and sprier looking than the bald, toothless, half-blind, crippled old vulture of a man described in the books despite being described as nearly ninety at the end of "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things".
* Giants are hairy, ape-like beings more similar to Bigfoot than men in the books, but merely over-sized men with brutish facial features in the show.

* Reek is described in the books as ghastly pale and malnourished, with broken teeth and premature white hair as well as the missing fingers and limp featured in the show. However, his original persona, Theon Greyjoy, inverts this. In the books, Theon is tall, dark-haired and attractive, and a famed ladykiller. In the show, he's a ratty guy who has to pay for sex.

* Lancel is very infirm, dishevelled, and prematurely aged after his brush with death in the books, but even healthier and more muscular than before in "The Wars to Come". Conversely, he gets a seven-pointed star CarvedMark [[GoodScarsEvilScars on his forehead]], which doesn't happen in the books.
* Lollys Stokeworth is obese and mentally handicapped in the books, but fairly average-looking in the show with her dim-witted descriptor played more as [[TheDitz ditzy]] [[ManChild childishness]] than a severe handicap.
* The slaver Yezzan zo Qaggaz is basically a humanoid Jabba the Hutt in the novels, too fat to stand and suffering from a debilitating disease that leaves him jaundiced and unable to control his bladder. Actor [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0162281/ Enzo Cilenti]] is not the slightest bit ugly or overweight.

* Obara Sand in the books is very plain and big-boned but her actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes is very good-looking and is not exactly tall. And despite the make-up department giving her a tough boyish look, she still looks good on the camera.
* Magister Illyrio is morbidly obese in the books, but he's a pretty normal looking overweight man in the show.

* Lysa Tully/Arryn is overweight in the books, but played on TV by Creator/KateDickie who is anything but. In the books, Lysa is described as being just as beautiful as her sister in her youth, if not moreso, but let herself go later in life. The series played up her paranoia and bizarre behavior to make up for this.
* The Davos of the books is described as being short, slight and with a "common" face, whereas Creator/LiamCunningham is fairly tall and well-built, and attractive in a rugged sort of way.
* In "Blood of my Blood", the late King Aerys is briefly shown in Bran's vision and has none of the disheveled appearance he has in the books: no cut wounds from the throne, no overgrown hair and fingernails.

* Joffrey is described as beautiful with flowing blond locks and sparkling green eyes but played by the fairly average Creator/JackGleeson. However, like Arya, some UnreliableNarrator is at play in the books since less flattering appraisals describe his eyes as "vain and cruel" and compare his lips to "fat red worms".
* Cersei, is described word-for-word as the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman in the books. Creator/LenaHeadey ''is'' attractive, mind you, but not to that degree, though the show does give her the AdaptationalCurves of a 27-year-old body double during her public shaming, whereas the books describe her figure as declining from age and pregnancy, and imply bloating from alcoholism.
* The Faith Militant with their ObviouslyEvil facial scars, which are an exaggeration of the Poor Fellows (in the books a single member has a CarvedMark on his chest, the rest are only ThisMeansWarpaint) with none of the appeal of the rainbow cloaks, silvery armour, and crystal-pommelled swords of the Warrior's Sons.

* Brienne is described as hideous in the books, with coarse freckly features, puffy lips, large crooked teeth, a broken upturned nose, brittle hair, and a figure that actually looks ''worse'' in a gown. Creator/GwendolineChristie is made up to look plain and mannish but not really ugly and SheCleansUpNicely. The show also avoids the part from the books where Biter takes two large bites out of her face.

The show has a lot of [[AdaptationalAttractiveness this]], partly because the novels actively avert HollywoodHomely and BeautyIsNeverTarnished and partly because simulating gruesome injuries is just plain [[PragmaticAdaptation impractical]] for television:

* Renly, is good-looking guy but not the Adonis described in the book.

* Daario Naharis, although attractive, dyes his hair sky-blue in Tyroshi tradition and has a triple-forked, blue beard, a blue mustache with the tips dyed gold, and a golden tooth. In the series, the first actor who played him was clean-shaven (although the second had a normal beard), his hair is not dyed blue, and no golden tooth.
* Lysa Tully/Arryn is overweight in the books, but played on TV by Kate Dickie who is anything but. In the books, Lysa is described as being just as beautiful as her sister in her youth, if not moreso, but let herself go later in life. The series played up her paranoia and bizarre behavior to make up for this.
* The Davos of the books is described as being short, slight and with a "common" face, where Liam Cunningham is fairly tall and well built, and attractive in a rugged sort of way.

* The Faith Militant with their ObviouslyEvil facial scarifications, which are an exaggeration of the Poor Fellows (in the books a single member has a CarvedMark on his chest, the rest are only ThisMeansWarpaint) with none of the appeal of the rainbow cloaks, silvery armour, and crystal-pommelled swords of the Warrior's Sons.

The show has lot of [[AdaptationalAttractiveness this]], partly because the novels actively avert HollywoodHomely and BeautyIsNeverTarnished and partly because simulating gruesome injuries is just plain [[PragmaticAdaptation impractical]] for television:

!{{Inver|tedTrope}}sions:

* Arya is often called "horse-faced" in the books but Creator/MaisieWilliams is round-faced and cute. However, even in the books, Arya is noted to resemble her aunt Lyanna, who was quite attractive, if not a great beauty.

* Te White Walkers are eerily beautiful ice-themed versions of TheFairFolk in the books but {{Humanoid Abomination}}s that resemble frozen corpses in the show.

* {{Inverted}} by the White Walkers, who are eerily beautiful ice-themed versions of TheFairFolk in the books but {{Humanoid Abomination}}s that resemble frozen corpses in the show.
* {{Inverted}} by Renly, who's a good-looking guy but not the Adonis described in the book.
* {{Inverted}} by Mace Tyrell, who is shorter, balder, and generally less aesthetic than the "once powerful man gone to fat, yet still handsome" described in the novels.
* {{Inverted}} by Joffrey, who's described as beautiful with flowing blond locks and sparkling green eyes but played by the fairly average Creator/JackGleeson. However, like Arya, some UnreliableNarrator is at play in the books since less flattering appraisals describe his eyes as "vain and cruel" and compare his lips to "fat red worms".
* {{Inverted}} by Cersei, who's described word-for-word as the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman in the books. Creator/LenaHeadey ''is'' attractive, mind you, but not to that degree, though the show does give her the AdaptationalCurves of a 27-year-old body double during her public shaming, whereas the books describe her figure as declining from age and pregnancy, and imply bloating from alcoholism.
* {{Inverted}} by the Faith Militant with their ObviouslyEvil facial scarifications, which are an exaggeration of the Poor Fellows (in the books a single member has a CarvedMark on his chest, the rest are only ThisMeansWarpaint) with none of the appeal of the rainbow cloaks, silvery armour, and crystal-pommelled swords of the Warrior's Sons.

* Like his father, Jon is long-faced and never pointed out as notably attractive in the books but is played by MrFanservice Creator/KitHarington and constantly described as "pretty" in the show.

* Reek is described in the books as ghastly pale and malnourished, with broken teeth and premature white hair as well as the missing fingers and limp featured in the show. However, his original personna, Theon Greyjoy, inverts this. In the books, Theon is tall, dark-haired and attractive, and a famed ladykiller. In the show, he's a ratty guy who has to pay for sex.

* Reek is described in the books as ghastly pale and malnourished, with broken teeth and premature white hair as well as the missing fingers and limp featured in the show.