Why would Stannis ever marry Selyse??? WHY?????

[Corvo the Crow]

On 27.04.2018 at 2:37 AM, JaneSnow said:

I'm autistic and while it can kinda look like that Stannis doesn't seem particularly anxious nor does he appear to have any problems communicating or with sensory inpout.

He seems to communicate with people rather fine, thanks to his teeth grinding skills.

[Corvo the Crow]

On 26.04.2018 at 6:55 AM, GallowsKnight said:

Nah I tend to agree. Often when people suggest he's on the Autistic spectrum, I disagree and suggest schizoid. 

A savant perhaps? Not an idiotsavant though.

Must point out I am not joking, as far as we know he never even captained a boat but somehow he ends up the best fleet commander in Westeros there is, even handing the Ironborn who spend their lives at sea their arses. Giving those pesky Krakens a finger in the bum so to speak.

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 11:39 PM, House Beaudreau said:

Recently, I have been wondering why would Stannis ever marry Selyse Florent??? At the time of their marriage, Stannis would have been quite a prize in all of the seven kingdoms, he was probably still Robert's heir. I don't know if Joffrey was born yet but still.  You would think every high lord in westeros would have been offering up their daughters to Stannis. I have looked long and hard at the florent family tree and their is literally no reason why stannis would ever accept. Even if Selyse was a great beauty and Stannis was in love with her, Robert and John Arryn probably should have realized how important Stannis was, and married him to at least to a lord's daughter. I don't think this betrothal happened before the rebellion, or during the rebellion for that matter. WHY THEN? WHY??????? 

All this has lead me to believe that Stannis' marriage to Selyse was for duty and there was some sort of political reasoning behind it.... I have some pretty outlandish theories about why but ultimatly I just want to know of any reasons why Stannis would marry Selyse.  

Either Jon Arryn told him that he needed to wed Selyse to create an alliance between the Reach and the Baratheons or it was Alester Florent .

[The Mother of The Others]

On 4/9/2018 at 9:43 PM, The Mother of The Others said:

She has good posture.

Stannis is very rigid and respects that in his mate above all other concerns.  If she can match his bolt uprightness in her chair while they receive visitors, that's all he ever wanted.

[Tagganaro]

It's a good question.  The general sense I get of Stannis is that he's almost deathly afraid of women, and I'd say the prettier the scarier as Stannis is wound so tightly he's afraid of sex as anything but a duty.  Even with Melisandre I get the impression Stannis can link his sexual desire for her to her "religious" powers like created shadow babies, etc., so he doesn't really have to admit sexual attraction.

In that respect, I'd see Selyse as a perfect match for Stannis.  She herself also seems to lack a lot of sexuality and desire, only seeing it as her duty as Stannis's wife.  

I wonder if that played into Stannis's choice of Selyse as wife because I agree, otherwise you'd think Stannis could, well for lack of a better term, do better than Selyse.

[Sigella]

On 2018-04-10 at 5:39 AM, House Beaudreau said:

Recently, I have been wondering why would Stannis ever marry Selyse Florent??? At the time of their marriage, Stannis would have been quite a prize in all of the seven kingdoms, he was probably still Robert's heir. I don't know if Joffrey was born yet but still.  You would think every high lord in westeros would have been offering up their daughters to Stannis. I have looked long and hard at the florent family tree and their is literally no reason why stannis would ever accept. Even if Selyse was a great beauty and Stannis was in love with her, Robert and John Arryn probably should have realized how important Stannis was, and married him to at least to a lord's daughter. I don't think this betrothal happened before the rebellion, or during the rebellion for that matter. WHY THEN? WHY??????? 

All this has lead me to believe that Stannis' marriage to Selyse was for duty and there was some sort of political reasoning behind it.... I have some pretty outlandish theories about why but ultimatly I just want to know of any reasons why Stannis would marry Selyse.  

On 2018-04-12 at 1:52 AM, Lord Lannister said:

I always figured Robert just arranged the match to screw with Stannis when he was drunk because it would be funny.

My fanfiction-self imagines that Robert had this thing with Stannis sitting on a high horse morally and Robert regularly challenged it, mounting in a marriage-proposal to Selyse and Stannis by marrying her "won" the battle with Robert but lost the war for Stannis' happiness, sort of.

 

On 2018-04-26 at 5:55 AM, GallowsKnight said:

Nah I tend to agree. Often when people suggest he's on the Autistic spectrum, I disagree and suggest schizoid. 

Schizotypical, darling. "Great difficulty in maintaining personal relations" DING DING DING

 

 

On 2018-04-10 at 2:31 PM, Shouldve Taken The Black said:

I have to say, I always thought of that as the most rock star move Robert made. Here's to him.

 

I sense a kindred spirit in you

 

[TheThreeEyedCow]

It's that four letter word that makes us weak at the knees....

DUTY

[GallowsKnight]

On 5/1/2018 at 4:36 AM, Sigella said:

Schizotypical, darling. "Great difficulty in maintaining personal relations" DING DING DING

I would disagree with this but it has been a while since I perused the DSMV. Both schizotypal and schizoid have a lot of overlap, relationship etc. 

"Pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts"  - Schizotypal

Versus

"pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least four of the following: 1. Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family. 2. Almost always chooses solitary activities. 3. Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person. 4. Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities. 5. Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives. 6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others. 7.Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity" - Schizoid

I think Stannis fits the latter much better, and doesn't have those cognitive or perceptual distortions mentioned.

On 4/29/2018 at 4:25 AM, Corvo the Crow said:

Must point out I am not joking, as far as we know he never even captained a boat but somehow he ends up the best fleet commander in Westeros there is, even handing the Ironborn who spend their lives at sea their arses. Giving those pesky Krakens a finger in the bum so to speak.

Well it didn't happen over night. Robert commissions him to build a fleet. Then he sails a fleet to Dragonstone. Not much actual fighting, but some more experience there. Then he spends 9 years as Master of Ships. We hear from the Crab Lord on the Sisters that he was pretty hands on as Master of Ships. Leading the campaign to find those luring ships to their deaths. So he probably was quite familiar with his job by the Greyjoy rebellion.

His victory at fair isle is spectacular. But if he's been training and studying naval warfare for the whole time he was Master of Ships I can see him knocking it out of the park on his first go so to speak.

[Lady Winter Rose]

On 4/30/2018 at 8:46 PM, TheThreeEyedCow said:

It's that four letter word that makes us weak at the knees....

DUTY

Heheheh, best comment ever.

 

 

TBH, I believe both Selyse and Stannis deserve each other.

[Sigella]

14 hours ago, GallowsKnight said:

I would disagree with this but it has been a while since I perused the DSMV. Both schizotypal and schizoid have a lot of overlap, relationship etc. 

"Pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts"  - Schizotypal

Versus

"pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least four of the following: 1. Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family. 2. Almost always chooses solitary activities. 3. Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person. 4. Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities. 5. Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives. 6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others. 7.Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity" - Schizoid

I think Stannis fits the latter much better, and doesn't have those cognitive or perceptual distortions mentioned.

Well, 

Stannis sleeps with Melisandre so 3 and 1 is out

he has friends (Davos and Mel) so 5 is out too

being prickly and bitter as hell rules out 7

so he is a point short for schizoid. And doesn't schiziods have hallucinations?

 

For cognitive and perceptual distortions one might argue that seeing the future in the flames and sitting on a rooftop looking into the snowstorm for days isn't good signs. The quote you chose for schizotypical is totally how I read Stannis.

[TheThreeEyedCow]

20 hours ago, Lady Winter Rose said:

Heheheh, best comment ever.

 

 

TBH, I believe both Selyse and Stannis deserve each other.

Lol, why? I know our Stan has his share of critics but what did he do prior to acok to warrant a marriage to her?  

[Lady Winter Rose]

3 minutes ago, TheThreeEyedCow said:

Lol, why? I know our Stan has his share of critics but what did he do prior to acok to warrant a marriage to her?  

IDK, maybe being an huge asshole, and, of course, he was sent to kill Dany and Vis. If he was so dutiful, and managed to catch them, he would have killed them. He talks about that and he says he fail Robert in that.

[TheThreeEyedCow]

3 hours ago, Lady Winter Rose said:

IDK, maybe being an huge asshole, and, of course, he was sent to kill Dany and Vis. If he was so dutiful, and managed to catch them, he would have killed them. He talks about that and he says he fail Robert in that.

Ah, ok. I think most other Ladies of Westeros would of found him too frustrating anyway. 

[GallowsKnight]

On 5/4/2018 at 3:21 AM, Sigella said:

Well, 

Stannis sleeps with Melisandre so 3 and 1 is out

he has friends (Davos and Mel) so 5 is out too

being prickly and bitter as hell rules out 7

so he is a point short for schizoid. And doesn't schiziods have hallucinations?

 

For cognitive and perceptual distortions one might argue that seeing the future in the flames and sitting on a rooftop looking into the snowstorm for days isn't good signs. The quote you chose for schizotypical is totally how I read Stannis.

Schizoid doesn't have delusions or hallucinations. That's full blown schizophrenia. That said Schizotypal, Schizoid and even Schizophrenia have a lot of overlap. Two psychiatrists might sit down with Stannis and disagree as we are. One might even just say "shows cluster A features" (the broad heading both are under). I'm not a psychiatrist. I have worked with them when I worked in an inpatient psych unit. And in general practice I do see patient with both diagnosis as incidental history.

Personally I think he does meet 1 and 3. He doesn't really have much love for either of his brothers, he doesn't seem to mind his wife and child living away in Dragonstone while he works in Kingslanding. As for sex, they don't have to have absolutely no sex. Just little interest. Until Melissandre a literally magical seductress comes along he is mocked as "[going] to his marriage bed like a man marching to a battlefield, with a grim look in his eyes and a determination to do his duty." He has no other lovers and dislikes prostitution. Even his sexual relationship with Melissandre seems equally motivated by the power she/he gets from it.

Again a schizoid person doesn't necessarily have no close friends, simply "lacks them". Which he does. He only friend is Davos. And their relationship is pretty unconventional. With Stannis being Davos' boss pretty much and Davos obligated to him.I don't know if I'd consider Mel a friend for hims. And if so it's equally a weird relationship. With her being a magical seductress and him being her messiah. Compare to say Ned who was a quiet boy but still seems to have normal friendships.

I'd disagree about 7. It's not about being an emotionally stunted zombie. It's about compared to everyone around you being more emotionally reserved/restricted which he definitely is. You can still gripe and make bitter comments.

As for the last part, it's a magical setting we know people can predict the future in fires, it's not necessarily a perceptual distortion if it's actually possible. We can't really try to apply realism to such fantastical elements. Up until then and even latter he shows a healthy scepticism for the occult even when it actually exists. In real life an example I have encountered with a lady with Schizotypal personality disorder, who holds a job and is a functional adult who adamantly believes fairies exist, that she watches them in the evening outside her window. Weird but not full blown delusional. Stannis doesn't show this sort of fantastical quirk,

[Lord of Oldstones]

He married since head of his house & Seven Kingdoms probably ordered him to do so.Robert wanted to give his brother Ton of humility along with gifting Lordship of bleak & strategic but relatively unimportant drafty Dragonstone to him over the Lordship of Stormlands.He even claimed over his marriage bed,bedding Delena Florent...