Juan Carlo

I thought the burning scene was awful, not because Shireen was sacrificed, but just because it was so truncated, unearned, and treated, more or less, like just a plot point the writers had to tic off before moving forward. I don't think Book Stannis is beyond burning his own daughter, but a whole ton of stuff would have to happen before he would ever get to that point. I think we'd have to see him being broken and losing his humanity in some way, and the show never did that. One episode he's telling his daughter that he would do anything for her, then the next he burns her after just like 20 seconds of hesitation. I mean burning a 10 year old girl at the stake is arguably the most horrible thing this show has ever done, so you'd think it would require a bit more set up than that. Completely ruins show Stannis as a character, making him seem like he was pretty much always a sociopath (e.g. another Joffrey or Ramsey) with zero moral conflict. Even if he inevitably has a moment of regret in subsequent episodes, it still diminishes what is probably one of the most fascinating characters in the book.