Is Stannis delusional to even think he can ever win the iron throne?

[The Mountain That Posts]

No one knows that Ned Stark supported Stannis, especially not anyone in the North. If that was the case, Robb would've supported Stannis no matter what - instead of letting himself be declared king or trying to enter an alliance with Renly first.

I highly doubt that Stannis will ever come south again, but I do have a STRONG feeling that he will meet Brienne at some point(which, with her character development, will lead to her not blaming him) because that's important for Brienne's plot to come full circle.

[Murat]

Hi everyone!

I wonder why nobody has noticed that yet ... Stannis is not delusional he is just autistic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

He doesn't even want to be king - he does it only because the rules say that it is that way so he just does it.

So, no - he wont give up! No matter what the odds.

PS: My favourite character :D

[FroYoTWP]

As quirky as Stannis is, I dont think there is much of a case for him having autism. Think its safer to say he lacks social grace and grinds his teeth

[realistic_asoiaf_fan]

I always thought that Stannis was going to die fighting The Others in the seventh book, the irony being that no one major in the seven kingdoms wanted him to sit on the iron throne aside from Ned and he ended up being the one claimant to actually defend the realm. I think that he was delusional about being the king but his persistence has made him much more powerful than anyone else would have been given his strength after the battle of the blackwater.

I actually thought Stannis might have Aspergers syndrome myself, I dont think he has autism though. There is a pretty marked difference in severity between the two.

[Tyrion Hand of the King]

I'm sure you'd have said the same thing at the beginning of the war, and yet he is the only King of the original 5 who is still alive.

Exactly!

[Blacksmith]

I don't necessarily think he's delusional, although he has always been a long shot. (Save for the time he stormed Blackwater Bay... before he lost!) He's so locked into taking what he sees as his by right that I don't think it matters if he knew he was going to lose, he continues on based on principle.

Also, I don't think he'll end up on the iron throne. I don't have the exact quote, but the part where he's talking to Davos and says something to the effect of "A good act does not wash out the bad, nor the bad the good". I always felt like that was symbolic for what will eventually happen to him; he's doing good in the North at the moment, but he used shady black magic to assassinate his brother and has been burning people alive... which I can't see as being good, regardless of the power of the Lord of Light.

[l2 0 5 5]

He certainly isn't as run down as he was post BW. He battled back and has won some small victories, but the fact that he has recovered slightly from BW is impressive. If Massey can come through, and if Stannis can gain the allegiance of another region I think he has a very realistic chance. A lot of ifs however.

[Littlefinger of the Hand]

There are huge break up forces in westeros. The vale with Littlefinger prepares for war. The Dorne plots aganst the IT. The riverlands are just submitted by force, the North will break up from the IT if Stannis defeats Boltons, the stormlands are invaded by Golden company, and the iron islands are in open rebelion. This extra fragile ecosystem is in place by just one marriage alliance between Lanisters and Tyrels. If this fails then anyone can, more or less, claim the right to rule. But Noone has the strength to defeat all others. This is actually the end of the Targ empire established 300 years ago and the dismiss of the IT as an institution. Only Dany has the name, the significance, the power, the abilities and the dragons for a "reconquista". Without her Westeros will end up being 5-10 independent kingdoms. Maybe Stannis will rule in one of them.

[jeyneofthed'Ubervilles]

Stannis is delusional to think that the Free Folk will ever fight for him.

[Marcus Agrippa]

*sigh* Stannis believes what he is doing is right. That is what is going to get him killed in the end.

[Elohssa]

It is precisely because Stannis is fighting for right-even if a rather rigid and limited idea of right--that people want him to win the IT.

I think this is the book in which the notion of Stannis doing all this for duty and not personal gain will be shattered. At some point his right hand man will have the only person in the North that can usurp him (Rickon) and I’m wondering if good, pure Stannis might give Davos the thumbs up to toss the youngest Stark overboard (I doubt Davos will do this by the way).

On top of this is the problem Stannis will have reconciling R’hllor’s want to burn Godswoods and the North’s want to keep their Heart trees just the way they are. Will he be just to his new people and respect their religious beliefs or burn baby burn because his red witch promises him all kinds of fortune (like she has all along) if he just goes a little pyro.

Lastly he’s a southerner that is about to have a whole bunch or Northerners setting up shop in Winter Town just outside of his new seat, Winterfell. They will be starving soon because everything they should be eating through winter was burnt by southerners… what will he do, use the money from the IB to by food instead of an army?

No, Stannis is the next Robb Stark who after doing some winning died!

[Marcus Agrippa]

I think this is the book in which the notion of Stannis doing all this for duty and not personal gain will be shattered. At some point his right hand man will have the only person in the North that can usurp him (Rickon) and I’m wondering if good, pure Stannis might give Davos the thumbs up to toss the youngest Stark overboard (I doubt Davos will do this by the way).

On top of this is the problem Stannis will have reconciling R’hllor’s want to burn Godswoods and the North’s want to keep their Heart trees just the way they are. Will he be just to his new people and respect their religious beliefs or burn baby burn because his red witch promises him all kinds of fortune (like she has all along) if he just goes a little pyro.

Lastly he’s a southerner that is about to have a whole bunch or Northerners setting up shop in Winter Town just outside of his new seat, Winterfell. They will be starving soon because everything they should be eating through winter was burnt by southerners… what will he do, use the money from the IB to by food instead of an army?

No, Stannis is the next Robb Stark who after doing some winning died!

Stannis purpose is two fold- one is to finish Jons teaching on how to RULE- keyword folks. Number two is to start the military actions against the white walkers. He probably won't survive seeing either finished. I thoroughly suspect that if he dies Daenerys does too.

[The Bedding]

No.

[The Bedding]

I don't necessarily think he's delusional, although he has always been a long shot. (Save for the time he stormed Blackwater Bay... before he lost!) He's so locked into taking what he sees as his by right that I don't think it matters if he knew he was going to lose, he continues on based on principle.

Also, I don't think he'll end up on the iron throne. I don't have the exact quote, but the part where he's talking to Davos and says something to the effect of "A good act does not wash out the bad, nor the bad the good". I always felt like that was symbolic for what will eventually happen to him; he's doing good in the North at the moment, but he used shady black magic to assassinate his brother and has been burning people alive... which I can't see as being good, regardless of the power of the Lord of Light.

Maybe they're all delusional longshots. But the contenders from the beginning are dead, including Robb, and Stannis is still working.

[The Bedding]

Stannis very easily took out at least 4 of the Kings.

[JLE]

I think Stannis is winning acceptance, slowly. At least, starting in the North, where - gods aside (and he himself does not actually believe in any, and is about to pay lip service to the Old Gods, which will win him some favour), he now has the Manderlys, Glovers and Umbers. Stannis is, at the least, hard, uncompromising and devoted to justice: all qualities that the Northmen are known to respect. And he has come to the point of promising to put a Stark back in Winterfell. Meanwhile, the anti-Bolton faction of the North have come to the conclusion that they probably can't stand as a fully independent nation - at least not until all their southern enemies are beaten, and that means not just Bolton but Frey and Lannister.

note: I believe that the Umbers are in fact united, and that Hother Umber is no friend to the Boltons but is secretly working for his brother, the Stark-loyalist Mors: the Umbers were not able to harvest all of their crops, so there will be famine in the Umber lands unless some of them leave. Hother is working by taking the greybeards - the men too old to fight - away so that they do not eat Mors and the youngsters out of food, and indeed he is eating the Boltons' stores so *they* are less able to feed their own men and the Freys. In a couple of years, Hother's greybeards will be dead, Mors's youngbloods will be grown men led by the Greatjon's unnamed second son (who is currently under-age) and will survive the winter thanks to not having had to share their stores with the old men - at least that is the plan that has been concocted between the brothers. Neither Mors nor Hother has any sons of their own, and therefore no reason to usurp the rightful lineage of House Umber: and it is Mors, loyal to House Stark, who is looking after not only the real heir to Umber (Greatjon's second son), but ALL of the young men - ALL of the "future" of the clan.

However, I think events north of the Wall will change things, and happen too fast. The Others, if they break the Wall, may overwhelm the loyalist remainder of the Umbers, or force them to flee south: but more to the point, while I think Stannis will beat the Boltons, he has some deed to do at the Wall, and I think he is more likely to die as a king than live as a king.

Specifically, he may well, by self-sacrifice, end up being one of the "two kings to wake the dragon" (the Dragon being the bastard dragon, Jon Snow, if Jon is Rhaegar's bastard rather than Ned's, and the "waking" being bringing him back from death): and Theon - another who cannot live as a king in his now-crippled state, but can certainly die as one, since he is the only person who can lawfully dispute Euron's victory at the Kingsmoot - will be the other. The two of them, who are currently in the same place - two who currently can lay claim to kingship lawfully even though they have not the support to back up their claim at the actual place of their thrones: two kings-in-exile, as it were.

[Señor de la Tormenta]

I think Stannis is winning acceptance, slowly. At least, starting in the North, where - gods aside (and he himself does not actually believe in any, and is about to pay lip service to the Old Gods, which will win him some favour), he now has the Manderlys, Glovers and Umbers. Stannis is, at the least, hard, uncompromising and devoted to justice: all qualities that the Northmen are known to respect. And he has come to the point of promising to put a Stark back in Winterfell. Meanwhile, the anti-Bolton faction of the North have come to the conclusion that they probably can't stand as a fully independent nation - at least not until all their southern enemies are beaten, and that means not just Bolton but Frey and Lannister.

note: I believe that the Umbers are in fact united, and that Hother Umber is no friend to the Boltons but is secretly working for his brother, the Stark-loyalist Mors: the Umbers were not able to harvest all of their crops, so there will be famine in the Umber lands unless some of them leave. Hother is working by taking the greybeards - the men too old to fight - away so that they do not eat Mors and the youngsters out of food, and indeed he is eating the Boltons' stores so *they* are less able to feed their own men and the Freys. In a couple of years, Hother's greybeards will be dead, Mors's youngbloods will be grown men led by the Greatjon's unnamed second son (who is currently under-age) and will survive the winter thanks to not having had to share their stores with the old men - at least that is the plan that has been concocted between the brothers. Neither Mors nor Hother has any sons of their own, and therefore no reason to usurp the rightful lineage of House Umber: and it is Mors, loyal to House Stark, who is looking after not only the real heir to Umber (Greatjon's second son), but ALL of the young men - ALL of the "future" of the clan.

However, I think events north of the Wall will change things, and happen too fast. The Others, if they break the Wall, may overwhelm the loyalist remainder of the Umbers, or force them to flee south: but more to the point, while I think Stannis will beat the Boltons, he has some deed to do at the Wall, and I think he is more likely to die as a king than live as a king.

Specifically, he may well, by self-sacrifice, end up being one of the "two kings to wake the dragon" (the Dragon being the bastard dragon, Jon Snow, if Jon is Rhaegar's bastard rather than Ned's, and the "waking" being bringing him back from death): and Theon - another who cannot live as a king in his now-crippled state, but can certainly die as one, since he is the only person who can lawfully dispute Euron's victory at the Kingsmoot - will be the other. The two of them, who are currently in the same place - two who currently can lay claim to kingship lawfully even though they have not the support to back up their claim at the actual place of their thrones: two kings-in-exile, as it were.

Stannis going down fighting the others is what suits the character best. However, we still have daenerys vision of her fighting the blue eyed King who cast no shadow. with a flaming sword.

[SynthFG]

Stannis going down fighting the others is what suits the character best. However, we still have daenerys vision of her fighting the blue eyed King who cast no shadow. with a flaming sword.

Patently a reincarnated Jon Snow and his Dragon Steel Blade

[Ferocious Veldt Roarer]

Stannis very easily took out at least 4 of the Kings.

Your numbers might be a little off. Stannis had nothing to do with Robb's death, Joffrey's death or Balon's death, and further he claims he had nothing to do with Renly's death, either.

[Aryya Stark]

Hi everyone!

I wonder why nobody has noticed that yet ... Stannis is not delusional he is just autistic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

He doesn't even want to be king - he does it only because the rules say that it is that way so he just does it.

So, no - he wont give up! No matter what the odds.

PS: My favourite character :D

Hi,

Nobody noticed it...cause he isn't! :lol:

I don't think Stannis is delusional, or autistic. he is just suffering from the insecurities of being a second son. However, I don't want to discuss his social skills.

This guy went from one of the characters I deeply disliked at the beginning of the series to one of my favorites. He has gained my respect as a reader as well as Westeros' I think. At the beginning of the series he used to be a laughing stock but now nobody is laughing.

I greatly admire his determination and grit. Personally, I don't think he will sit the IT but I don't think he will die soon either. His determination to fight the Others makes me think that he might be one of the dragon heads (the dragon has three heads) since he has some Targ blood and I think this might be why Mel is confusing him with being AA.