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Barristan Selmy, True Knight or Jackbooted Thug?


GallowsKnight

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Yet his is the only army made up of followers of the Seven, the Old Gods and R'hllor.

He forced the wildlings to bow to his god (or be forced to stay beyond the Wall), burned men alive for desperate cannibalism, and accepted Melisandre terms of giving Winterfell to Jon if he burned the symbol of the Old Gods. Stannis might not a be a religious fanatic but he enables them...

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He forced the wildlings to bow to his god (or be forced to stay beyond the Wall), burned men alive for desperate cannibalism, and accepted Melisandre terms of giving Winterfell to Jon if he burned the symbol of the Old Gods. Stannis might not a be a religious fanatic but he enables them...

This is true to an extent, but he doesn't force the issue with Davos or the King's Men or the Northmen.

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This is true to an extent, but he doesn't force the issue with Davos or the King's Men or the Northmen.

That is true, but I still don't like it. Religious fanaticism is always bad and introducing Rhllorism is something that will be a problem for the entire continent for many generations after Stannis.

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Have you read Barristan's POV in ADWD? We see in his POV that he is a man who is trying to do the best he can in a world where it is nearly impossible to know what the right and honorable thing is. He even decides not to Knight his squires because he does not want them to be touched by the his potential dishonor. He is one of the few characters who truly cares about the common people and especially the children and I do not know how somebody can read his POV and come away with a negative attitute towards him.

I do sense a good deal of pride in him (not that I think there's anything wrong with that). He never spells it out, calling himself true knight, a knight must be humble. But when the Dornishmen calls themselves knights he seems to take it as a challenge, as if they had questioned his skill and he does marvel over the memory of being knighted by the king himself.

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Interesting point about Barristan standing back when Robert's will was torn up - I sort of got the impression that Ned was half expecting Barristan to back him up and he got precisely no help from that quarter. My distinct impression from his reappearance in the east is that Barristan is consciously trying to make amends for all the times he remained silent.

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