How old is everyone in the books?
At the opening of A Game of Thrones in 298 AC, the chronicle's cast is younger than the screen ever let on. Here is each figure's age on the page beside the age of the actor who wore the part — a study in how many years a camera can add.
In the novels, Daenerys Targaryen is thirteen when A Game of Thrones opens, and turns fourteen before it closes. Emilia Clarke was twenty-three when the first season was filmed — a full decade between the girl on the page and the woman on the screen.
The company, youngest to oldest
Rickon Stark
House StarkThe youngest wolf-child, three in the novel and barely more than a memory in it; the screen let him grow.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Stark)
Bran Stark
House StarkSeven years old on the day of the fall that ends his climbing and begins his dreaming.SourceA Game of Thrones, Bran I
Arya Stark
House StarkNine when she first takes up Needle. The chronicle marks the age plainly; the screen chose a girl five years older.SourceA Game of Thrones, Arya I
Sansa Stark
House StarkEleven and dreaming of songs and princes. The page is unsparing with how young that dream begins.SourceA Game of Thrones, Sansa I
Joffrey Baratheon
House BaratheonTwelve, and already a study in cruelty. Born 286 AC, so a boy at the story's opening whatever the screen suggests.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Baratheon)
Daenerys Targaryen
House TargaryenThirteen and newly wed to a khal; she turns fourteen before the first book closes. The screen aged her to womanhood to spare the eye what the page does not.SourceA Game of Thrones, Daenerys I
Robb Stark
House StarkFourteen when the direwolf-boy is left to hold Winterfell — a lord and a commander before he has ever shaved.SourceA Game of Thrones, Bran I
Jon Snow
The Night's WatchOf an age with Robb, fourteen, when he takes the black — a boy swearing a man's vow at the edge of the world.SourceA Game of Thrones, Jon I
Samwell Tarly
The Night's WatchA year or so older than Jon by the chronicle's reckoning; the novel gives no precise count, so the maester hedges at about fifteen.SourceA Game of Thrones, Jon III
Theon Greyjoy
House GreyjoyA ward of Winterfell in his later teens; the ledgers place his birth near 278 AC, so about eighteen at the opening.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Greyjoy)
Renly Baratheon
House BaratheonThe youngest stag, hardly past twenty, all charm and green cloaks; the birth year is inferred rather than stated.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Baratheon)
Viserys Targaryen
House TargaryenThe Beggar King, about two-and-twenty, waiting on a crown the page will not grant him. His age is reckoned, not recorded.SourceA Game of Thrones, Daenerys I
Tyrion Lannister
House LannisterSomewhere near four-and-twenty by the ledgers; born the year his mother died. The screen cast him a good deal older.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Lannister)
Sandor Clegane
House LannisterThe Hound's precise age the novel keeps to itself; he is a hardened man in his late twenties, burned young by his brother.SourceA Game of Thrones, Sansa II
Khal Drogo
The DothrakiA khal in his prime; the page gives no year, so the maester guesses at thirty. Here, unusually, page and screen stand near of an age.SourceA Game of Thrones, Daenerys I
Petyr Baelish
House BaelishLittlefinger, a few years the elder of Catelyn's siblings whom he was fostered beside — near thirty by the chronicle's arithmetic.SourceA Game of Thrones, Catelyn IV
Jaime Lannister
House LannisterTwin to Cersei, born 266 AC, so one-and-thirty when the story opens — a Kingsguard in the flower of his skill.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Lannister)
Cersei Lannister
House LannisterElder twin by moments, two-and-thirty and queen; the ledgers give the birth, the novel the ambition.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Lannister)
Catelyn Stark
House TullyLady of Winterfell, near four-and-thirty, five children behind her; the ledgers place her birth about 264 AC.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Stark)
Robert Baratheon
House BaratheonThe fat king, of an age with Ned whom he fostered beside — about five-and-thirty, the war-hammer long hung up.SourceA Game of Thrones, Eddard II
Eddard Stark
House StarkLord of Winterfell, born 263 AC, so about five-and-thirty — younger by far than the grey-beard the screen made of him.SourceA Game of Thrones, Appendix (House Stark)
Jorah Mormont
House MormontThe exiled bear, a knight in his middle years; the novel gives no figure, so the maester sets him near five-and-forty.SourceA Game of Thrones, Daenerys III
Barristan Selmy
The KingsguardBarristan the Bold, past threescore and the eldest of this company; the one man the screen dared to cast his own age.SourceA Game of Thrones, Eddard VII
Ages marked “reckoned” are taken from birth years in the appendices rather than stated outright in the text; the maester rounds where the novels stay silent.
How old is Daenerys in the books?
Thirteen at the start of A Game of Thrones, set in 298 AC. She turns fourteen partway through the same book. The show cast Emilia Clarke, then twenty-three, and aged the character to match.
How old is Jon Snow at the start of the books?
Fourteen, of an age with his half-brother Robb. Both are boys of fourteen when the first novel opens — Jon takes the black, and Robb is left to hold Winterfell, at an age the screen quietly raised to the mid-twenties.
Why are the characters so much older in the show than in the books?
The novels give the Stark children as young as three and the eldest as fourteen, and pair them with adult storylines the screen could not film with children that young. HBO aged the principal cast up by several years to cast working adults and to soften the youngest material.
How old is Sansa Stark in A Game of Thrones?
Eleven. Her sister Arya is nine, Bran is seven, and Rickon just three. Robb, the eldest of the Winterfell children, is fourteen — all of them younger on the page than the actors who played them.