(Book Spoilers) What do you make of the Shireen and Selyse?

[Rhaenys Sand]

Shireen was lovely and the actress truly did her justice, but I only have one slight vain problem, why is she blonde? I mean usually I'm not picky, but after the whole "seed is strong" it seems extremely stupid not to dye the actress's hair, it's like Lilly Potter having brown eyes in the HP movies while Harry's eyes were blue in the film. Otherwise I loved the way they portrayed Shireen.

[Maizel]

I think both of the characters were really well done, and are a decent on screen resemblance of what I thought they would be like. I liked the scenes overall, I like that Stannis get deepened out a bit.

Didn;t like the jarbabies though. Even though it does seem to work well with Creepy Selyse, and her wish fir a son and stuff.

[ShigellaSand]

Loved Shireen. Well acted, adorable, she loves Davos and her father... Her life can't have been easy (crazy mother who loves fetuses in jars more than her, father who is extremely uncomfortable with affection, greyscale, mainly confined to a tower room with her toys and books) but somehow she's still such a sweetheart.

"It begins with A-E-G, that's pronounced like Egg." Heh.

Selyse is insane. The failure to fulfill "her one purpose in life" - that of giving her husband a son - I presume. And on top of that, her husband can't show love (or maybe just doesn't love her) and her daughter has a contagious stigmatizing disease. Yeah, I can see how that would make a (presumably already unstable) woman in Westeros tip over the edge, and make her easy prey for Melisandre.

And poor Stannis, too. So extremely awkward with any interaction where he doesn't have clear-cut rules to follow. Crazy wife, dead sons, greyscaled daughter... Yeah, pretty much nobody's happy on Dragonstone.

[ViennaGirl]

I thought Selyse's level of crazy was mostly consistent with the books, even including the bottle babies. She'd have to be pretty out there to not just approve of, but actively support Mel's relationship with her husband, so I'm okay with a high level of TV crazy. I don't think it's consistent to have her be hostile to Shireen, though. Book Selyse does love her daughter, even through the crazy. I never really felt anything about Shireen in the books, but TV Shireen is pretty adorable and sympathetic. I miss Patchface. Maybe he would have been out of context without the other Fools who also weren't cast (Butterbumps, Dontos, etc). In TV Westeros, we don't see the role of a Fool played by anyone, so Patchface alone would be pretty jarring.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Selyse is insane. The failure to fulfill "her one purpose in life" - that of giving her husband a son - I presume. And on top of that, her husband can't show love (or maybe just doesn't love her) and her daughter has a contagious stigmatizing disease. Yeah, I can see how that would make a (presumably already unstable) woman in Westeros tip over the edge, and make her easy prey for Melisandre.

One small distinction - Shireen had greyscale as an infant and survived it, thus she is no longer contagious (per book canon).

[Shaula Black]

I liked the portrail of both Selyse and Shireen. Specially how the Greyscale looked. And people can get the ideia of how crazy Selyse is.

I see we have many theories here... IMO the one that makes more sense is the 3 fetuses being the 3 sacrifices. The scene would be very impactant on screen. I wonder which 3 kings are going to die though, because they show very little of Balon, and people will forget him.

[Abaddon]

One small distinction - Shireen had greyscale as an infant and survived it, thus she is no longer contagious (per book canon).

Val doesn't seem to think so, also per book canon. It is unclear whether her fear of greyscale even in a child is meaningful or not to date.

Very interesting idea that the three fetuses will take the place of the three leeches. I agree that would be a lot more disturbing! But it would make a lot more sense than just having them be there out of the blue. And it also makes sense that one of them would be named "Edric", to tweak book-readers on the nose.

[jarl the climber]

Shireen was lovely and the actress truly did her justice, but I only have one slight vain problem, why is she blonde? I mean usually I'm not picky, but after the whole "seed is strong" it seems extremely stupid not to dye the actress's hair, it's like Lilly Potter having brown eyes in the HP movies while Harry's eyes were blue in the film. Otherwise I loved the way they portrayed Shireen.

Stannis has lighter hair than show Robert and Renly as well. The Barratheons do have some Targ blood, I always felt in ran stronger in Stannis than the other 2. Maybe its the burning people alive thing and whatnot, it just a vibe I get from him.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Where was Selyse's mustache?

:lmao:

The babes in the jar were a bit too much, her saying she knows about Stan & Mel was enough.

Shireen was great, she has all the innocence and sweetness of a little girl. Was suprised to hear her singing Patche's tunes, I thought they scared her.

[ShigellaSand]

One small distinction - Shireen had greyscale as an infant and survived it, thus she is no longer contagious (per book canon).

Possibly not contagious anymore - there's some disagreement within the books on that... And anyway, who's to say Selyse hasn't been insane ever since Shireen was an infant and definitely was contagious?

[HailStannis]

I am quite surprised that people saw selyse as much more creepy than in the books. I thought she was spot on. She was a brainwashed, disgusting, religious zealot in the books and I hated her. The only difference is that they didn't ugly her up (moustache) which is understandable.

[Lady Arwen]

I'm so surprised that they chose to introduce Selyse. I just assumed that they would refrain from even bothering to include Selyse, since her role seems quite small and easy to eliminate for the show. Makes me wonder if D&D know something about her that we don't.

[Mammothsbane]

I am quite surprised that people saw selyse as much more creepy than in the books. I thought she was spot on. She was a brainwashed, disgusting, religious zealot in the books and I hated her. The only difference is that they didn't ugly her up (moustache) which is understandable.

I agree.. I thought she was a wack-job in the books and she looks like a wack-job in the show. The keeping stillborns in jars was a little weird though.. that is just creepy SyFy movie shit

[shiola]

I think sacrificing the dead babies instead of leeches is really fucking stupid and pretty much over the top ridiculous. I get the king's blood aspect, and that it will save Gendry etc. But I don't think tossing fully-formed babies into a fire will go over well with the TV audience, and it's going to make Stannis look so much worse to the people who already hate him.

[shiola]

Shireen is adorable but she is blond!! Which sort of puts the nail in Ned's whole "Baratheon: Black of hair" discovery in S1. The man died for being an idiot, according to the show. LOL

Oh my god. That's so fucking ridiculous, I didn't even notice. I'm sure people will catch that and think she's some sort of bastard as well, since Selyse not having other children could be Stannis' fault and not her own. (Not to mention anything done for the Lord of Light is not a sin, etc)

[Sixshells]

Shireen was great. It's good they gave her more depth and presence in the scenes where she is. Although since she doesn't look that disfigured in the show they really should have put a reminder about greyscale because the way she looks doesn't give enough reason for her parents to keep her away like that.

The dead foetuses from Area 51 were a bit over the top, but creepiness has its place on the show.

I must have missed something however: where does all this talk of Gendry going to Dragonstone and Melisandre using his blood come from? Is that one of those crazy fan theories that some people have come to take for granted despite a lack of proof, or is there actual evidence to back it up? Because I see those posts saying that Gendry will somehow find himself whisked away from the BwB to Stannis and Mel, and it's just weird to even imagine it happening.

[Dove]

I think it's speculation that's sprung up as a result of seeing Mel interacting with Gendry in a few trailers, and an episode synopsis that hinted at her meeting the BoB.

[Darth Pipes]

The dead fetuses in a jar creeped me out although I agree with the reviewer from Westeros.org who said it was probably something that GRRM would have thought up eventually.

They made Selyse pretty bat**** on the show, like Lysa (who I can definitely see doing the jar thing) but I thought they nailed the character's religious fanaticism pretty well. I can buy her being okay with Stannis sleeping with Meilsandre. Speaking of which, when Selyse appeared onscreen I didn't know who she was at first. Thought she might have been Melisandra.

I liked Shireen in the books. A nice kid who lives a sad life. It really annoyed me in the first book when Renly laughed about Stannis having such an ugly kid at a Small Council meeting. To me, that showed a lot about the true character of Renly the Wonderful. Anyway, the actress who played Shireen did a great job and I like the character even more on the show. Combing aspects of Patchface and Pylos was a good decision.

[shiola]

The dead fetuses in a jar creeped me out although I agree with the reviewer from Westeros.org who said it was probably something that GRRM would have thought up eventually.

They made Selyse pretty bat**** on the show, like Lysa (who I can definitely see doing the jar thing) but I thought they nailed the character's religious fanaticism pretty well. I can buy her being okay with Stannis sleeping with Meilsandre. Speaking of which, when Selyse appeared onscreen I didn't know who she was at first. Thought she might have been Melisandra.

I liked Shireen in the books. A nice kid who lives a sad life. It really annoyed me in the first book when Renly laughed about Stannis having such an ugly kid at a Small Council meeting. To me, that showed a lot about the true character of Renly the Wonderful. Anyway, the actress who played Shireen did a great job and I like the character even more on the show. Combing aspects of Patchface and Pylos was a good decision.

I agree with most of this. Selyse was very different from how I pictured her, so I was confused at first as well. But I think she nailed the role.

[GoodGuyA]

I loved the quietness of these scenes, even in comparison to other bits of interaction. Selyse is a bit too one-minded for my liking, even though it does lead to some interesting character bits. Her conflict with Stannis really needs to be played out rather than a "casual adviser" otherwise she'll simply be a wasted character. I love how she really becomes disenfranchised with her husband later on in the books and really only rests her eyes on Mel. That obsession is certainly present here, but there is depth to be unlocked. Can't judge a character based on one appearance!

Shireen had one of the most clever reveals I've seen in a long time. It was just completely innocuous and you wouldn't expect there to be anything wrong until BAM, it's in your face. Even I was caught by it, probably because I could never imagine what greyscale looked like. That scene should have been far longer though. There is a rushed element to it regardless of the nice quietness. I'm glad they made her memorable by episode's end though. Great narrative purpose and solid character there. The song at the end of the episode also really accented the nature of the last scene particularly. Her Patchface elements were well put in and I hope to see a bit more of that.