Connaughton and his colleagues found that the five Ice and Fire books published to date feature 2,007 named characters and more than 41,000 interactions. Yet each character only interacts with When you're watching the show, you can kick back with friends and have a drink. Or five drinks, if you're channeling Tyrion Lannister. Book fans can curl up in a chair with their book, sure, but Theon was tortured in the books throughout books 3 and 4, and by the time he is reintroduced as Reek he is completely broken. He has lost teeth and only has a few fingers and toes left. The removal of his favorite toy also happened in the books, but was only alluded to so the show confirmed it for us. As any good soap opera, it is filled with lots of characters, and Game of Thrones has a lot of characters with interesting backstory. There is betrayal, humor, alliances, and battles. Lev Grossman in Time Magazine proclaimed George R.R. Martin as “the American Tolkien.” As someone who has read quite a bit of Tolkien, I could not disagree more. Game of Thrones is renowned for Martin’s ability to craft a story that is heavily based upon the idea of who is best fit to rule an entire kingdom. Despite it being a rather straightforward idea, all five of Martin’s epics are filled with characters who deviously plan political plots aimed at the goal of claiming the Iron Throne. Video: What Game of Thrones characters look like in the show vs the books. Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and while HBO has adapted some parts Gjz8Nvr.