He’s the only one in a position to rule Westeros who also understands that there’s a far greater threat headed their way. He hasn’t even SEEN a wight or a white walker and he gets it.
And really aren’t we just building to an epic conclusion that sees Jon and Dany married and ruling the Kingdoms? Stannis is just there to get the story to a point of Jon being free from his vows and/or revealed to be of royal heritage and Dany free from commitments across the sea…Wolf plus Dragon equals love connection.
While I am firmly in the “fuck Stannis” camp, I would like to mention that the point of what happened to Shireen is that the Boltons get to feel the wrath of the Lord of Light.
I’d really like to see Roose and Ramsay get their comeuppances. However, this being GoT, I’m expecting some kind of backfire from the plan onto Stannis and Co.
The Shireen thing seemed almost like character assassination, it goes against everything established about Stannis.
Anyway as soeone else said WTF is the point of Stannis’s war? So he beats the Boltons and captures Winterfell? What then? Starve to death over the next decade? WTF is his plan?
Why were the SOTH randomly killing audience members? I thought they were fighting to get Dany and the gang out of Mereen and get slave masters back in power, but now they are just into killing? How are Tyrion and FriendZoned going to get away?
This episode felt forced and odd.
What we’ve always seen from Stannis is an unwavering, stubborn commitment to what he views as right. He’s the king of the seven kingdoms, that is what’s right and that trumps everything else. He’s willing to sacrifice innocents to get there - he was going to kill Gendry before Davos freed him. He was going to kill Davos until Melissandre pleaded for him. He burnt his men alive when they didn’t show sufficient devotion.
Sparing his daughter would’ve actually been the moment that his character didn’t behave in line with what we’ve previously seen - it would’ve either been untrue to the character, or a moment of growth when he realized there were limits to his fanaticism. But the greater right was threatened - he was stalled and failing in his quest to reconquer his kingdoms. Everything else - every other thing in his life - is secondary to that. That is 100% consistent to his character.
People were finding Stannis too likable because he made a few practical decisions that ended up doing some good while so many other characters didn’t. But he never changed who he was. And this caught you off guard because you bought into what you liked about him, and forgot his flaws. You should feel bad about sympathizing with him, not feel as though his character was betrayed by the writing, because it was not. This was, in fact, a bold move to take the character to the extreme logical ends.
No idea how people can be down on this episode. It’s easily one of the top episodes this show has ever done. And all that happened was that a cute, lovable innocent girl was burned to death as she screamed for her mother. It’s not like that’s anywhere near as horrible as marital rape on a wedding night of an arranged marriage that she agreed to.
But the decision to kill Renly with magic has tormented him in discussions he has had with Davos, hell the decision to use Mel’s magic period has tormented him.
He has always defended Shireen from his wife’s barbs and Mel’s fire fetish since he joined the show, Shireen seemed to be about the only person he actually felt affection for. He seemed to loathe his wife and Mel even, has even threatened to kill Mel.
But now he burns Shireen with not much debate or torment mentally.
I guessing here but this is probably a setup for Stannis to go totally crazy, with nothing left to lose.
It isn’t that torment wasn’t present, it is just that far more was shown over his brother getting killed by a shadow baby(which he wasn’t even present for!) than burning alive his own daughter the single person in his life he actually seems to care about. The scene seemed rushed.
Even his wife who seemed to hate Shireen showed more emotion, than a character we’ve been lead to believe loved her.
You didn’t see several episodes of regret from Stannis like he had over Renly because we haven’t had several episodes after this incident. You think Stannis is never going to mention this again?
That’s really important. Phalanx formations and long-spears aren’t much help in urban settings against terrorists with daggers. Notably, though, they don’t flee, they still don’t show any fear. They’re dying in large numbers, but they die standing.
You’d think the character would hesitate before going headfirst into an even worse situation similar to one which has tormented him before? Gendry really does not compare, some nephew he has never seen or known.
I kept thinking that Dragon’s aren’t the cleverest of beasts. Placing itself on ground level during combat is not the smartest move for a fighting dragon to make.
I never though I would say this, but I really hope that Ramsey catches and castrates Stannis before the show is over.
(I think the real for the write off might be that the actress who plays Shireen suffers from brittle bone disease and they could no longer keep her on the show and its sometimes rather taxing shoot schedule.).
Some of us think he did what needed to be done. The God’s must be satisfied at *all *costs. Stannis is a great man for making such a personal sacrifice.
I doubt it. If you watched the extras after the credits, the show runners said this plot point came from JRRM himself, and they were a little taken aback.
This. They don’t have enough men or food to besiege Winterfell. They don’t have enough food to get back to Castle Black. If they push forward, they are dead. If they sit around, they are dead. If they retreat they are dead. If they sacrifice the little girl, they have a slight chance to live. Stannis made the only choice he could make, no matter how much he hates it. What you saw in the scene was him putting on a strong outward show for his men. If he becomes a sobbing wreck, no one will follow him.
That being said, I think that a good way for the Lord of Light to manifest himself would be as a little flame in the broken tower. Brienne sneaks in, with the help of the Northerners, and gets Sansa out. Sansa/Brienne/Pod meet Stannis. Cue standoff between Brienne and Stannis, doesn’t go well for Brienne, but she doesn’t die. Then Sansa leads Stannis’ army into Winterfell through secret entrances, and they obliterate the Boltons.