Game of Thrones stars, from season 1 through today

Arya Stark in the first season of Game of Thrones. English actress Maisie Williams was just 13 when she filmed the initial season, and it was her first professional acting role.

Second-season Arya's baby face shows few signs of the fierce warrior she'll become.

A more confident Arya in a photo from season 8. Maisie Williams is now 21, and has grown up with the character.

Isaac Hempstead Wright plays Bran Stark, who was paralyzed in the first season after Jaime Lannister tossed him out a Winterfell window because he saw Jaime and his twin sister in an intimate moment. He was 11 when he filmed the first season of Game of Thrones. 

Isaac Hempstead Wright is now 19, and like Maisie Williams, grew up on the set of Game of Thrones. Bran, his character, never regained the ability to walk, but he did acquire some strange new powers.

Bran looks like a baby in the first season, and Hodor looks younger too.

Hodor's aged a great deal by his final tragic appearance in season 6. 

Sophie Turner was just 14 when she was cast in her first television role as 13-year-old Sansa Stark. She dyed her blond hair red for the part, but later wore wigs.

Sansa and Lady, her doomed direwolf.

Sophie Turner is now 23. Her character, Sansa, has transformed from a sheltered young girl dreaming of romantic love and becoming a queen to a young woman who's been brutally used by almost everyone who came in contact with her.

Lena Headey as Queen Cersei in the first season, when she still had long hair and three living children.

Queen Cersei was always plotting something.

Cersei and her horrible tyrant son, Joffrey, played by Jack Gleeson. Gleeson retired from acting after his stint on the show ended.

Now short-haired, Queen Cersei has lost her children, her husband and much more.

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) started the first season as a naive virgin whose brother was essentially selling her into marriage to further his own dreams of power.

Daenerys is shown during the first season, before she came into her own.

Scottish actor Iain Glen, seen here in the first season with Emilia Clarke, plays Jorah Mormont, who's had a complex relationship with Dany.

Daenerys was married off to Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) but a marriage of convenience turned into a love match.

Daenerys' white horse, a wedding gift, matches her icy white-blond hair.

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys in a photo from the eighth and final season. Clarke recently revealed to The New Yorker that she suffered two aneurysms early in the filming of the show.

Jaime Lannister, played by Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, is a complicated character. In the first season, he blithely pushed young Bran out a window, thinking he'd die. 

Jaime Lannister has lost a hand -- and plenty of his illusions -- since the first season.

Jon Snow (Kit Harington) was thought to be Ned Stark's bastard son in the first season. Unwanted by Stark's wife Catelyn, he left to join the Night's Watch with his Uncle Benjen Stark.

Jon Snow has lived, loved and even died in the years since he left Winterfell.

In the first season, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) had an unscarred face, and was as witty as ever.

Many battles were ahead for Tyrion, shown again in the first season.

Tyrion was scarred horribly in the Battle of Blackwater, but it was worse in George R.R. Martin's books, where the character lost half his nose.

Theon looking young and strong in the first season. 

Theon may have redeemed himself by season 8, but you wouldn't have wanted to endure what he went through.

Jorah was already a seasoned warrior by the time he shows up in the first season.

Battles with greyscale and unrequited love aged Jorah by the Battle of Winterfell.

Catelyn Stark started the show as a calm and loving wife and mother, but things went downhill fast.

Poor Catelyn met an early end during the Red Wedding. In the books, however, she has another, very creepy after-death persona.

The Hound never looked really great, thanks to the facial burns his brother gave him, but he gets a lot worse.

The Battle of Winterfell involved one of The Hound's least-favorite things: fire.

Littlefinger looked a lot younger in the first season. Maybe treachery keeps you youthful.

Littlefinger still looked pretty good, up till that infamous moment in season 7 when Sansa and Arya turned the tables on him.

We can almost see why a naive young Sansa fell for Prince Joffrey. Almost.

By his wedding to poor Margaery Tyrell in the fourth season, Joff just looked meaner. Maybe it was just because we knew him better.

Even back in season 4, The Wall was looking pretty solid.

This Wall can withstand anything! Um...

Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark.

Gendry appeared early in the series, then rowed off, only to return.

Gendry in the final season is tough as nails and always ready to defend Arya.

Chubby Sam was soft and had never won a fight when he met Jon in season 2.

He's still no Jaime or Jon, but by the final season, Sam has grown up a lot and learned to fight.

Here's Khal Drogo and Daenerys with one of the dragons before it even hatched, in season 1.

Daenerys' favorite dragon, Drogon, is seen here as a hatchling.

Tyrion tries to befriend a dragon.

A full-grown dragon is an incredible weapon of war.

Jon Snow's Targaryen blood allows him to become a dragonrider.

From egg to hatchling to this. Impressive.

In case you're wondering just how much bigger the dragons are than humans, here's an idea.

Viserion was killed and resurrected by the Night King, then became an ice dragon.

Drogon remains Daenerys' favorite.

Robb and Bran Stark hold their direwolves as puppies. Robb and his pet would meet gruesome ends.

Jon Snow's direwolf, Ghost, was seen briefly at the Battle of Winterfell.