[BOOK SPOILERS] Selyse's Babies

[TheEvilKing]

So, these will be sacrificed instead of the leeches, right? King's Blood, and there's 3 of them.

How it'll go down:

- Mel brings Gendry to Dragonstone to sacrifice.

- Davos persuades Stannis not to kill him.

- Stannis takes the stillborn and burns them instead.

[A Real Dire Wolf]

Nice deduction, I have a feeling you may be right.

Only thing: showing the foetuses actually burning might be a bit too gruesome. I guess they could always do it offscreen.

[Woel]

Dead babies are dead. You can't use them for magic, since there is no life to sacrifice. So no. Gendry will be the one, but he might not die. Most likely it will seem like he's going to die but he will end up just getting leeched.

[StannisandDaeny]

Blood isn't really 'alive' when it's taken from the body by leeches either, is it? That said, I hope they won't throw the fetuses in the fire, I even hope they don't show them anymore, lol...

[stunningsteve]

Interesting thought which would explain why they showed those creepy babes, but I hope they stick with leeches with Gendrys blood.

[Roose Seal]

I thought it was pretty obvious that the babies (how convenient, there are three!) are going to replace the leeches.

I don't think they'll show Melisandre throwing pickled fetuses in the fire though, that would be a little to gruesome even for HBO.

[Frey Pie a la Mode]

Said this in the nitpick thread: if those were supposed to be fetuses, Selyse must have been five months overdue with that huge middle one!

[Roose Seal]

Said this in the nitpick thread: if those were supposed to be fetuses, Selyse must have been five months overdue with that huge middle one!

Well they could be stillborn fully grown 9 months babies. I've seen some pretty big stillborn babies in jars in anatomy museums.

[Death by Cupcakes]

How would that be different from a proper cremation, really?

Additionally, one would get some use out of them. Just ask any student of medicine.

[A Man Has Said]

Having just watched Elio and Linda's review of the episode, I can't understand why this wasn't mentioned. I'll just have to assume that it was because they were being too busy being upset about the TV shows creating a gay lover for Loras. And BTW, I've yet to see anything in the books that more than hints (and I mean very vaguely) at Loras and Renly having been gay lovers. The TV writers are really overselling that.

I've noticed though that in the UK the entertainment industry tries very hard to depict society as being as gay as the entertainment industry in the UK - which appears to be about 10X as gay as the general population.

[juanml82]

Maybe the big one wasn't a fetus. Maybe he was born disabled or with a very nasty deformation/disability and died as a baby.

[Titan]

And BTW, I've yet to see anything in the books that more than hints (and I mean very vaguely) at Loras and Renly having been gay lovers. The TV writers are really overselling that.

Have you considered that this might be because neither Renly nor Loras are POV characters?

I've noticed though that in the UK the entertainment industry tries very hard to depict society as being as gay as the entertainment industry in the UK - which appears to be about 10X as gay as the general population.

Oh never mind. This explains your previous comment *quite* well.

[Lord Godric]

As much as I don't want to see those disgusting fetuses again, I hope they were added for a reason and not just to make Selyse creepy on a Lysa level.

[Envie]

Showing dead babies in jars was pretty creepy, even for HBO standards ... but going so far as to throw dead babies into a fire for sacrifice would be over the top. WAY over the top. This stuff wasn't in the books and the books had plenty of gruesome bits, even babies being killed, but I really hope they're not seriously going to use those for the king's blood ritual.

[Raion Laion]

Tara owned EVERYTHING on that scene. Geez. I didn't know it was possible to be That good. Babies? What babies? I was too busy adoring that woman to even care.

[Gendels Children]

interesting theory i was thinking something along thoes lines my self, but not sure. reguardless those fetuses were soo creepy kinda gives a real weird side to Selyse but i like it. and as said by someone already that baby in the middle (the huge one) was a bit too big to be a newborn it was like the side of a fat healthy 6month old or something. maybe he wasnt fully still born but liked for just a small time

[TheDarkOne]

The worst part about the babies in the jar is that it looks like a writer ripped off the Governor's gimmick in the Walking Dead.

I just don't understand some of the changes they make. It's just ridiculous.

[BlackTalon]

Said this in the nitpick thread: if those were supposed to be fetuses, Selyse must have been five months overdue with that huge middle one!

Well they could be stillborn fully grown 9 months babies. I've seen some pretty big stillborn babies in jars in anatomy museums.

It might be just the lens effect from the curved wall of glass filled with liquid.

[Net-Viper X]

Maybe the whole thing is just a throwback to the days of the siege at Storms End and starving their asses off. You never know when the day might come that your down to eating boot leather and those baby jars start looking better than pickled pigs feet.

Someone had to say it, might as well be me. :D

[Khal Porno]

This is another great example of something people wouldn't have a problem with if it had been in the books, but because it's not they freak out. Someone mentioned the scene in the books where Jaime has sex with Cersei mid-period next to their son's dead body as a counterpoint to the baby jars. I can only imagine the outrage if that hadn't been in the book, but appears in the show.