If they do a Shireen burning, will you have the heart to watch it?

[Arakan]

While I don't think there is anything wrong with having a dislike for religion, I do agree that it is unprofessional of them to alter the existing themes of the story to align with their own personal view (if this is in fact what they are doing).

I'm not sure which generation D & D belong too, but there is no need to start a generational war here. The boomers were/ are an "entitled" generation in their own right, and a fortunate generation as well. There are distinct differences, but the generations that followed I suppose could be labeled as "entitled" - but where did they learn this behavior from I wonder?

I am an agnostic. So I am very sceptical of all codified religion myself.

My comment about generation entitlement was unfortunate, I confess.

But at least for me it is obvious that they want to feed us their stance on religion by deliberately building up a clear black and white view (which in itself is ironic) which is:

Religion in Westeros = fanatism, hypocrisy

By doing so they deliberately ignore the nuances and the ambivalence of the books in that matter.

The Red God is not only the god of fire sacrifices but also the god of the slaves in Essos, i.e. a religion actively praying for Dany and her crusade to free the slaves and destroy the old unjust order. Same goes for the Sparrows movement.

Honestly, GOT is more often than not a quite primitive show when it comes to deeper topics. 100% due to D+D. Not a bad show but at the end of the day surely much closer to The Walking Dead than to The Sopranos (I like both btw).

[Stannistician]

I am an agnostic. So I am very sceptical of all codified religion myself.

My comment about generation entitlement was unfortunate, I confess.

But at least for me it is obvious that they want to feed us their stance on religion by deliberately building up a clear black and white view (which in itself is ironic) which is:

Religion in Westeros = fanatism, hypocrisy

By doing so they deliberately ignore the nuances and the ambivalence of the books in that matter.

The Red God is not only the god of fire sacrifices but also the god of the slaves in Essos, i.e. a religion actively praying for Dany and her crusade to free the slaves and destroy the old unjust order. Same goes for the Sparrows movement.

Honestly, GOT is more often than not a quite primitive show when it comes to deeper topics. 100% due to D+D. Not a bad show but at the end of the day surely much closer to The Walking Dead than to The Sopranos (I like both btw).

I agree with you regarding D & D's depiction of religion in the show and with deeper topics in general. They have really missed the mark with some of the themes from the show (see revenge the way Martin depicted it v. the way D & D depict it). What was it that D & D said, something like "themes are for 8th grade book reports."

In regards to religion I think they missed with Stannis because in the books he doesn't appear to me to be a real believer in the Red God, but he finds it very useful. I think the way it will likely go down in the books is that after reading the pink letter, Mel will sacrifice Shireen on her own. In this way Stannis will pay a price for using religion for his own ends. But I think things like irony are a bit too complicated for the story that D & D are trying to tell, so they went with: Stannis is religious fanatic under the spell of the evil red witch so he orders his own daughter to be sacrificed. The scene was very moving (due to the good acting), but its simplistic.

I am however open to the idea that D & D intended for this sacrifice to be about the life of one person v. the good of the realm. But if that was the intention, I think they swung and missed.

[Rise Above]

I want to see Stannis continue on otherwise his storyline is a massive flop. As fucked up as Shireen's death was it would be even more fucked up if it was all for nothing. Him dying in the finale would be stupid and just serve as fodder for people wanting justice for Shireen.

Still stand by this.