Is Stannis in Denial about Wanting to be King?

[csuszka1948]

8 hours ago, frenin said:

I don't think Pycelle ever gives an insight about whether he believed his life was in danger or not, other than to state that if Cersei wanted him out he'd collabore.

 

Didn't you quote this?

"Pycelle also thought Cersei was behind Jon's poisoning because of the incest. Varys & LF knew about the incest, with the latter actually responsible for said poisoning. Renly is who we've argued about. Varys actually told Ned that Cersei was trying to get Robert killed in the melee."

"Pycelle didn't think Cersei was going to kill Robert, neither LF seemed to know, neither did Barri or Renly. Varys did know however."

8 hours ago, frenin said:

I don't know how he did not have reasons to believe Robert was in danger, the only thing that could have brought the Lannisters down was Robert knowing about the twincest and with thte secret becoming more and more open it was a matter of time before Cersei moved to elimininate that threat.

 

I don't think Stannis thought it was going to become 'more and more open of a secret'. He didn't think there was anyone who could tell Robert about the incest and certainly couldn't foresee Ned Stark figuring it out within a few months.

 

Although honestly, I am not sure that George exactly conceived Stannis' character in AGOT, his actions do not make much sense from a Watsonian perspective (most importantly, why wait so long to claim the Throne?), no matter how selfish/selfless his motives were.

8 hours ago, frenin said:

 

Obligation is just a way to mask desire and ambition, Jon wanted to become Lord of Winterfell but doesn't want to destroy the legacy of the Starks by giving in to Mel, Dany wants a carefree life but she wants even more reclaim what she believes righfully hers.

 

So you are saying that true sense of obligation doesn't exist?

8 hours ago, frenin said:

It's not duty, it's desire and ambition, duty just becomes a dogwhistle. That said, i don't think Stannis had it in him to pull a Renly anyway.

 

Well, his duty certainly matters to him, otherwise he wouldn't have gone north, recognizing that the true threat lies there (as the author himself said). 

[frenin]

14 hours ago, csuszka1948 said:

Didn't you quote this?

It's honestly super weird that you've gone through all that.

But anyway, it's a belief i had then, i don't share it now.

 

14 hours ago, csuszka1948 said:

I don't think Stannis thought it was going to become 'more and more open of a secret'. He didn't think there was anyone who could tell Robert about the incest and certainly couldn't foresee Ned Stark figuring it out within a few months.

How didn't he know that?

The secret had gone from zero knowers to one and the people (Varys, LF) and the means to discover the twincest (Robert's bastards, the book, Cersei's children) were all there.

 

14 hours ago, csuszka1948 said:

So you are saying that true sense of obligation doesn't exist?

No, i'm saying i'm not seeing in Stannis and or Dany, at least when it comes to the throne.

 

14 hours ago, csuszka1948 said:

Well, his duty certainly matters to him, otherwise he wouldn't have gone north, recognizing that the true threat lies there (as the author himself said). 

He went North because he could start over, build a base and try and impress the northmen into accepting. He did knew about the Others but i don't think he'd ever had gone North if all the doors in the South were not firmly closed to him.