In his world, it’s not a super crazy decision to make. Magic is freaking real. But shit, I still fucking hate that guy.
My best guess is rebuild the army with all of the pro-Stark/Baratheon & anti-Bolton/Frey/Lannister Northmen he can find and head south.
Since Mance Rayder was the “king beyond the wall”, why didn’t his burning help Stannis? After all, he had king’s blood. Or did Jon Snow’s arrow mess that up? If so, Mel and Stannis certainly didn’t make a big deal about it.
Is there enough food stores in Winterfell to feed his army? I was going to say I renember hearing 20K soldiers, but maybe that is high.
I’m saying by some miracle he captures WF, then he will be in another tough spot, who does he burn then?
The Lord of Light didn’t think he counted.
Consider that the free folk don’t bend the knee. I’d guess that Mance was a leader, but wasn’t a king in the sense that the entity granting the powers agreed with.
If one guy in all of Westeros had his granieries filled early, it was Ned Stark.
Also, once at Winterfell, he’d be near the Stark’s vassals. Who presumably have food.
Which was burned by Ramsay Bolton when he took Winterfell from Theon Greyjoy.
Did they specifically say he burned the winter stores?
I assume that stuff is underground since it’s intended to last several years.
Food aside, the advantage to being in Winterfell is that it is a defendable, sheltered location as opposed to out in the open sleeping in tents. There’s also the psychological effect of occupying the de facto capital of the North with the authority that goes along with that.
I will say that the decision to burn Shireen was definitely in character for Stannis; his strongest quality is his unbending nature, which can be a strength for sure but can take him too far. His moment of tenderness with Shireen was the most human we’ve seen him be. Perhaps he did make the right decision given his situation and the world in which he exists, but yikes.
Roose Bolton stated that they had six month’s worth of stores,when discussing Stannis’s approaching force, as well as the walls had been rebuilt.
Declan
Behind the scenes, filming the Hardhome massacre: Game of Thrones Season 5: Episode #8 - The Massacre at Hardhome (HBO) - YouTube