The last time I posted about Stannis it was probably 2012, I had just watched the first two seasons of Game Of Thrones and was totally psyched about him. I loved his brand of justice. if you did good, you were rewarded and if you done bad you were punished. Also he was not greedy. He was a proven leader, had a strong sense of right and wrong, and was totally the rightful heir. He was straight forward and minced no words. He seemed like he could win and his skepticism to religion only made him more endearing. I was totally in love with him.
I subsequently read the books and I liked him even more. His fallibility and vulnerability made him so human, despite his unforgiving nature. I must add that I skimmed a lot of chapters in the last two books, so there was a lot I might have missed about him.
Anyway, I just finished watching the sixth season today. I had watched the 3rd season somewhere around 2013 but no more after that until the last week were I ran thru seasons 3-5 culminating in today’s binge.
It was good. And I have a few thoughts on the matter. There is a lot to be said, but mostly it can be summed up by saying the series covers the different forms of governance and the portrayal of the shifty sands of politics is like none other I’ve seen. I often think to myself about the different approaches to governance, weighing in the pros and cons and GoT is like a bootcamp course in all of them. It is exciting to watch and gives me more examples to toy with in my head.
But this post is about Stannis. I honestly dont like him anymore. For people who want to avoid spoilers - stop reading now. He’s such a fucking prick. I dont know if he burnt his daughter Shireen in the books or not, but he did in the tv series and that is just fucking crazy. He’s no fucking king of mine anymore that’s for sure. Using dark magic was still acceptable to me. I guess the adage - All’s fair in love and war, rings partly true to me (I dont think everything is fair in love. A lot of respect, trust and consent is required for love.) and using magic to tilt things in your favor especially in the case where you are the underdog sits fine with me. Barbecue Leeches or Shadow Assassins, its all the same to me.
But things went wrong with him as soon as he lost the Battle of Blackwater. He executed some of his banner men and vassals, and offered more as sacrifices to the Red God. An ritual sacrifice is ridiculous, but sacrificing humans is unacceptable. I could understand him executing people for actually crimes as per the law - like desertion, not answering the call to battle, treachery and betrayals, but ritual sacrifice is fucked up. At one point of time, I thought it was marginally acceptable despite it being an unpopular, demotivating and reduced the count of surviving vassals, as being part of the law. But burning Shireen was the last straw. His claim to the Iron Throne meant more to him than his own child and that moves him so far away from the righteous person I saw him as. Fuck Stannis.
Also, that line by Melisandre - ‘I did not lie. I was wrong’. Man, fuck. that was such a killer line. If she wasn’t convinced about Stannis being the Lord of Light, the war may have never begun. All that death and destruction caused probably just by the certainty of one person. Fuck people with such strong conviction to religion. Fuck em.
One thing I remember is that she straight out told Stannis that he made a mistake in leaving her behind for the Battle of Blackwater, the she could have helped somehow - in managing the fire I assume. But during the march to Winterfell, when Ramsey and his 20 men sneak into Stannis’s camp and burn the food and seige weapons she does nothing. She just stands and watches. I dont get it.