When George R.R. Martin changed how Syrio Forel looked on Game of Thrones

With Game of Thrones over and done with, the whole arc of the series is pretty set in our minds. But with just a couple of different decisions, the show could have looked very different. For instance, did you know that actor Miltos Yerolemou — who GoT fans know as Arya’s “dancing master” Syrio Forel — originally auditioned to play Varys, the Master of Whisperers?

This is according to Yerolemou himself, who spoke to Game of Laughs about his audition experience. Apparently it didn’t work out because he was “far too hairy” to play Varys, the Master of Whisperers famously being bald. But what’s odd is that, in the Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin, Syrio Forel is bald as well. But Martin himself provided a solution to that problem.

“Yeah, we [David Benioff and Dan Weiss] talked about it,” Yerolemou remembered. “They said, ‘Do you mind if we shave your head?’ And I was like, “Yeah sure“. As an actor, my favorite thing is the transformation. I love changing the way that I look. I always like looking different whenever I do a job and being unrecognizable. So yeah, I was very happy to do it, but then George R. R. Martin intervened and he said I didn’t need to. He said, ‘The reason why I wrote Syrio Forel that way, that he was small and bald and spoke in a very strange syntax.’ He kind of speaks back to front, a little bit, you know.”

"He wanted him to be different to all the other hairy men of the North. With their broad swords and the hacking and the slashing, you know, they’re uncouth. The Braavosi are very sophisticated, they are from a very affluent place. They are a very cultured place. And so he said I was exotic enough, I was different enough, there was no need to make me bald."

It’s very cool to hear Martin lending the show little personal touches like that, as was more common in its early days.

Syrio Forel’s most famous line didn’t come from the Game of Thrones books

Despite only appearing in the show for its first season, Syrio cast a long shadow over the show, particularly Arya’s place in it. It’s no coincidence that she eventually travels to Braavos, where her beloved dancing master hails from.

And in the books, Syrio had an even smaller role. “I remember David and Dan, the show creators and writers saying, ‘We only have the two scenes originally written by George R. R. Martin, which is the first lesson and the last lesson,'” Yerolemou recalled. “And they wanted to write another scene, which is of course the famous God of Death scene. And they made that up, which obviously doesn’t exist in the books. But they created it because they wanted more screen time for Syrio Forel, because in the books Arya Stark talks about her lessons, and talks about Syrio Forel all the time.”

"The actual, physical connection they have in the books is just the first lesson and the last lesson. Which I think is very interesting because obviously, he has a huge influence on her, along with her other teachers like Jaqen H’ghar, the Hound, and of course Jon and her father. But it always reminded me of, I always say this, and I think it must be really boring to anyone who’s heard me say this before, but I always liken that relationship to Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. You don’t see a lot of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he’s gone before you even really get to know who he is. But he’s the teacher that starts the journey of the hero. And in our case, it was Arya Stark. He kind of dies or gets consumed by the Force, you know, whatever it is, we never know. But his impression leaves a very deep impact on Arya."

And of course, Syrio’s “Not today” became one of the show’s many catch phrases, right up there with “Dracarys,” “You win or you die,” and “Hodor.” It might be the only big Game of Thrones catch phrase invented purely for the show, which isn’t a bad legacy to leave.

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h/t Wiki of Thrones