A portrait of Stannis Baratheon

Today, as I am on a bank holiday Monday and have plenty of time to spare and it is cloudy outside, I am doing a bit of a medieval fantasy marathon.So that means I am watching Game of Thrones episodes (I just finished watching the last one) and I might watch the last Hobbit movie (although I was underwhelmed by the second one). If I could, I would play Dungeons&Dragons as Game of Thrones gets me in the mood for it and it would be a perfect day for gaming. But instead, I am blogging and sharing my geekiness to the world.

So today I have decided to upload here a portrait of Stannis Baratheon, drawn by artist and fellow Quebecker Magali Villeneuve. I did it before for her portrait of Tywin Lannister. Like for Tywin, I started appreciating the character of Stannis because of his portrayal on the show by actor Stephen Dillane. Stern, ruthless, even merciless, but with a sense of justice that is sometimes misplaced, Stannis is a fascinating character. I would love to have one like him in some of our D&Dr games, either as a friend or foe. I think Magali captures perfectly the hardness of the man in this portrait.

A portrait of Tywin Lannister

I love Game of Thrones and I have been following the TV show since the end of last year. I have also started reading the novels, albeit less assiduously. I have here a confession to make: because mainly of the quality of the acting, I do prefer the TV series. It must be the thespian in me. And my favorite villain in the show and (so far) books is Tywin Lannister, played with such an amazing ease by Charles Dance. Because I have been watching the Tv series before reading the books, I sometimes have difficulties imagining the characters as described, shame on me. Well, not all, but Tywin Lannister, because of the incredible malevolent presence of Charles Dance on the show, I have difficulties imagining any other face for the head of House Lannister.

Which leads me to this portrait. I have been looking for different pictoral renditions of these characters I associate too much with the actors playing them, to exorcise their interpretations of the roles. And I found this portrait of Tywin Lannister by Magali Villeneuve. I think it is a brilliant depiction of the character as he is in the novels, cold, ruthless, calculating. And given her name, the artist is a fellow Quebecker, so I was proud to see her work on fan sites, card games and so on. Of all the portraits of Tywin I saw, this is by far my favourite. So this is is this image that will remain in my mind when I read the books. Or at least it will help me think about another face than Charles Dance's. Am I right to think it's a great portrait?