(Spoilers All) The True King

[LordImp]

So with no Stannis , who is bringing down the Boltons ? Littlefinger ?

[OldGimletEye]

The options were always Jon, Dany and Bran. Choose one or two or all three but Stannis was never an option.

Never.

The post I was responding to was responding to a post about Jon Snow being permanently dead.

Here in case you missed it:

If Martin confirms that Jon Snow is dead, I'm throwing out the books and the show can go chase itself. I've had it. How can you go so far in one direction and decide, nah, just kidding, he's a goner. To hell with that scene and David Nutter (good name) & D&D too. Especially OLLY. WTF, Ghost isn't shown locked up and the last words Jon says is Olly?

So, they don't want to leave us any hope. Melisandre miraculously arriving at the wall faster than Superman on speed means nothing? A week or two ago when I read where Kit Harington said that his character wasn't safe, I felt myself cringe. I allowed myself to think that he wouldn't be allowed to spoil the show like that and he was just building suspense.

Well, the hype has reached a saturation point and if this is a storyline where in the end everyone dies but the fucking walkers, I could have spent my time reading another series of books 6 times.

Nice try. But, try again.

[Lord Varys]

In the book, Stannis has a plan, and a good chance to win. Not to mention that there are several thousand Northmen with him who would gladly die at his side bathing in Bolton blood before the curtain falls. In fact, I'm still pretty convinced he completely crushes the enemies coming for him at the village. Whether he successfully takes Winterfell afterwards is another matter considering that Roose will keep his main force of loyal men within the castle walls. Considering the feeling of impeding doom for Stannis George has carefully crafted in ADwD I actually expect a reversal of that in the wake of the first Theon chapter.

Yet still he would have gone back with Justin Massey if things had been as hopeless as they had been in the show. The man is not suicidal. The guy in the show was just some dude with a frozen face who thought what he did there mattered. It didn't. Any sane man would have taken Selyse's rope and joined her then and there, at the tree. Or better, he would have jumped upon the pyre with Shireen.

If the show was going to show us Stannis breaking there sort of did. Stannis did not survive the death of his daughter, and I imagine book Stannis would also not survive the death of Shireen there, even if the sacrifice there accomplishes more than changing the weather. An act as atrocious as this cannot be undone or forgotten. You are completely beyond everything after that. There is no hope, no forgiveness, nothing of any sort.

[Trinket2]

I'm just hoping things will turn out differently in the books. I feel like this was a really crappy way for Stannis to go.

Shireen will burn in the books too, but I doubt Stanns will order the burning. They're not even in the same place. If/when Stannis will die in the books is still up for debate. It's not impossible that this is not how it will play out in the books. Maybe Dillane wanted out and had other stuff he'd rather work on, and D&D didn't want to recast the role. Maybe Dillane asked for too much money. Maybe things weren't working out with him. Who knows? Maybe this is just another one of D&D's "creatively it made sense to us, because we wanted it to happen".

[Lord Varys]

Trinket2,

if Shireen is going to be sacrificed in the books then Stannis should do it. That is the strongest story, anything else reduces Mel to the evil sorceress cliché. But I'd not necessary say Shireen is going out this way. With Stannis presumed dead she'll first become Queen, and may actually soon go with Justin Massey to Braavos. Now, after Stannis returns from the dead in books he'll presumably return to the Wall which should eventually fall, too. With the Others on the rise and pressing everybody south things will become very dire for everyone. Mercy-killing your children won't be such a big issue then, and if Shireen's death could indicate bring forth dragons or create the real Lightbringer it could be worth a try - if she is most likely going to die anyway.

The other option is the whole greyscale angle. Val didn't tell us for no reason that Shireen's greyscale could return/is still dangerous in a dormant state. My guess is that the sickness will eventually return, cause an epidemic, and threaten to kill her - this could lead to her murder at the hands of the wildlings/other people or to a desperate fire magic healing attempt by Mel of the same sort Moqorro did on Victarion, possibly resulting in her transformation into a burned corpse-like girl or even a half-dragon, half-human monster - the stone beast breathing shadow fire.

[scotman74]

They really went out of their way to not show Stannis dead.

This. All the other character deaths this episode were crystal clear, including Jon who is dead (not that he has to stay that way). From Brienne's angle, and as Stannis was leaning against the tree, that kind of sword motion would not kill Stannis. The tree would block that shot - watch the scene again. For her to swing all the way through as it appears she does, she would have had to swing short of the tree, and therefore, Stannis' head. It wouldn't have been a killshot if it was just a slash across his armor.

And the "Behind the Scenes" doesn't say Stannis is dead. It says Brienne went there to kill Stannis. It revealed some of Stannis' probable thoughts and motivations as he lay there waiting to be killed by Brienne. But that's all.

If they'd wanted to show him killed, a forward thrust into the chest would be the attack to use. They didn't.

Stannis is not dead. Yet.

[Cas Stark]

LOL, you guys are suckers. This is what they want you to think. Stannis is alive, Jon is dead. When it's the reverse, Stannis is dead, Jon is coming back.

[SerDesmondHume]

You know this is what happens when two unapologetic Renly fanboys make the show. I feel bad for Stannis and what the writing did to him. If he loses the battle in the books then fine it wouldn't be happy but it wouldn't be the worst thing ever. But the show killed his character completely in ep9 and went on the take poops all over him. First he's outfoxed by 20 good men and Ramsay bloody Snow and loses his supplies so he burns his daughter and heir. This episode he gets abandoned by his men, witnesses his wife's suicide, abandoned by Melisandre, slaughtered completely in battle and excecuted by Brienne of bloody Tarth in the name of the "rightful" king Renly Baratheon. That's literally the worst death in the entire series and they did their best to make us not have any sympathy towards him for it. Do you think that's enough? Why not have him be flayed a little and be made a eunuch too? The worst part is in the inside the episode D&D call Stannis a monstrous man. Stannis isn't a good guy I like him because he's what lawful neutral represents. D&D just turned him into a side villian that they mocked entirely.

[Many Faced Dude]

a dude has not seen a dead body of a man named Stannis, a dude cannot say for sure that a man is dead, can you?

an actor mentioning he will not be around in a 6th season does not mean anything to a dude, especially if there are at least 7 seasons.

What point is there to keeping Stannis around?

a dude sees several reasons, for instance if another man comes back to life (only death can pay for life)

Ghost isn't shown locked up and the last words Jon says is Olly?

It tells a dude a man will not warg into its wolf. a dude knows that many readers would not have liked that much.

[Drogonthedread]

LOL, you guys are suckers. This is what they want you to think. Stannis is alive, Jon is dead. When it's the reverse, Stannis is dead, Jon is coming back.

this has been the problem with the stannis fans imagining he is much bigger character than jon or dany

he never was and he never will be a bigger character than dany or jon ...he is a good secondary character with a tragic arc

[abacabb]

Well yeah because Show Stannis was dumb as dirt. Doesn't even bother waiting until dark or thinking up some type of subterfuge?

Nope. Walks up in broad daylight to get slaughtered. Greatest military commander in Westeros. What a joke.

Not only that but he yells out "we attack at sunrise"

The sun was already up genius!

[Cas Stark]

Not only that but he yells out "we attack at sunrise"

The sun was already up genius!

LMAO.

The show was in such a rush to get the fuck rid of Stannis they couldn't be bothered with any type of basic continuity.

Where in the hell did Mel get the horse? Since "all" the horses were taken when the other half of the men left in the middle of the night, waking not one person.

They turned Stannis into an evil, dumb buffoon.

[TinyNeedle]

Melissandre will be the good guy of season 6. Great character development, especially for the show.

I hated Cercei's smug at the end, alost felt like she's the ultimate survivor of GoT. Yuck.

All in all, I liked how it all came back together this season.

[Cer Tarl]

a dude has not seen a dead body of a man named Stannis, a dude cannot say for sure that a man is dead, can you?

an actor mentioning he will not be around in a 6th season does not mean anything to a dude, especially if there are at least 7 seasons.

What point is there to keeping Stannis around?

a dude sees several reasons, for instance if another man comes back to life (only death can pay for life)

Ghost isn't shown locked up and the last words Jon says is Olly?

It tells a dude a man will not warg into its wolf. a dude knows that many readers would not have liked that much.

while I Lol'd, upon further inspection Stannis most definitely dead where Jon is alive. Low hanging fruit tactic to kill one on screen definitively and one ambiguously, but gotcha its really the opposite!

[Winter's Cold]

This. All the other character deaths this episode were crystal clear, including Jon who is dead (not that he has to stay that way). From Brienne's angle, and as Stannis was leaning against the tree, that kind of sword motion would not kill Stannis. The tree would block that shot - watch the scene again. For her to swing all the way through as it appears she does, she would have had to swing short of the tree, and therefore, Stannis' head. It wouldn't have been a killshot if it was just a slash across his armor.

And the "Behind the Scenes" doesn't say Stannis is dead. It says Brienne went there to kill Stannis. It revealed some of Stannis' probable thoughts and motivations as he lay there waiting to be killed by Brienne. But that's all.

If they'd wanted to show him killed, a forward thrust into the chest would be the attack to use. They didn't.

Stannis is not dead. Yet.

Brienne has a valyrian steel sword. She could behead Stannis easily with that. His position doesn't matter.

[Drogonthedread]

.

i never knew D&D were renly fanboys ..if only you hear from Renly fans how they turned him into a stereotypical gay charcter and nothing more and butchered his character

this conspiracy theories that D&D are butchering stannis in favor of other characters are getting old and annoying as hell

if you look at the show all the charcters are deviated from the books and butchered at some point ..its not only happening with stannis .so please stop this nonsense

[David Selig]

Brienne has a valyrian steel sword. She could behead Stannis easily with that. His position doesn't matter.

Valyrian swords are of great quality, but they aren't lightsabers.

[Limeyfellow]

i think if stannis was dead they would have shown it. they would've relished showing his bloody dead body, defiled his corpse and played this song in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDN8FxMGEg

Maybe, maybe not. They didn't show the death of the Hound either on screen and we had all the Hound is not dead! speeches after that too. I don't see why he be kept alive.

[abacabb]

That shot of Stannis and his pack of men was quite laughable.

[Dany's Golden Fleece]

Well, of course, we know the official position of the Khaleesi National Party, but what about Bran Stark? Or has he been officially made an unperson, by the KNP's central committee?

Oops that is true, but then again I don't trust Bloodraven or the COTF one bit. As for the Khaleesi National Party.... :rolleyes: lol