Tom Wlaschiha played face-changing assassin Jaqen H’ghar across three seasons of Game of Thrones. The German actor recently traveled to Singapore and spoke to the Manila Bulletin about his time on the show, starting with the question on everyone’s mind: when Jaqen was working with the Lannister army back in season 2, did the armor he had to wear itch?
"Well, at first, when I put the armor on. It’s not so bad. It’s very light but then it’s very rigid. After a couple of hours of wearing it, you cannot stretch yourself, you can’t get out of it and your shoulders start to feel pain. But on season 5 and season 6, I was very comfortable with my bathrobe-style gown."
Would that all of us could wear a bathrobe to work.
From the start, Wlaschiha worked “almost exclusively” with Maisie Williams (Arya), who he described as “great fun.” His first scene was the one where Arya saw him and two other prisoners in a cage, which was also the scene he auditioned with. With such a sprawling cast, it can be hard for actors to socialize with people outside their storyline, but Wlaschiha had some surprising connections. “I’m friends with Iwan (Rheon) – he plays Ramsay Bolton – because we did a musical before.”
Ramsay Bolton in a musical is hard to picture. We’ll try not to.
As a fake master assassin, Wlaschiha naturally has a favorite death scene, although we suspect parts of his explanation was lost in translation:
"My favorite death scene would be the ‘Right Wedding’ because the cinematography is awesome. We’ve never done (anything) like it before. I read the first two books when I joined the show – I was in Season 3 – and I thought that scene was really well done. It was like a 20-minute sequence, amazing."
Red, right…same thing, pretty much. And he was in season 2, not 3. Sorry; we’re pedantic about the details.
Wlaschiha didn’t take part in the Red Wedding, but he was present for a fair number of big scenes. It’s made his face one people recognize, for better or worse:
"One thing I’ve had to learn was before ‘GOT,’ when you walk the street, you don’t always have to be conscious of yourself, what you do, and how you present yourself. Ever since, ‘GOT’ started, however, I’d been finding photos of me online that I probably wouldn’t have approved. It’s natural for me (to be) sitting in a restaurant and people just take photos (of me from) everywhere. But it’s okay, I can live with it."
Irritating as that can be, Wlaschiha also praised the fan community for its creativity. “It always amazes me how fans know so much more about the show more than I do,” he said. “Because they always have theories going on their heads like what might happen in the show…I tried doing it, but if you start doing it there’s no end to that because there’s so much (happening in the story).”
Game of Thrones is currently filming its eighth and final season, and Wlaschiha is among those glad to see the series conclude.
"There are so many storylines worth exploring further but there has to be a reason, I think. Personally, I think it’s a good idea that ‘GOT’ comes to an end after eight seasons. It’s like a perfect notch and not that you like a show that’s going on forever. The audience has been looking for this end to come on for seven seasons so I think it’s only fair that they are given what they are expecting."
Is there any chance that Jaqen H’ghar could be a part of that ending? The jury’s out on that one, but Wlaschiha is happy to comment from the sidelines, as when he made some pretty tall claims about Jaqen’s skillset to the BBC:
If we were taking bets on who kills the Night King, we’d rank Arya above Jaqen, but there’s no sense ruling him out.
Next: We saw “The Spoils of War” on the big screen at one of HBO’s special screenings
And if you’re wondering: No, Wlaschiha doesn’t speak about himself in the third person in real life, although we think he should consider it.
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels.