Would Stannis Sacrifice Himself to End the Long Night?

[Corvo the Crow]

As the title says. Would he do it? All I know is my gut says maybe.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

If he knew that it would end it and save the world, yes I think he would. 

[Aejohn the Conqueroo]

Yes, I believe so, but he keeps bad company and seems easily led astray. So I guess I'm saying that his impulse would be to sacrifice himself, but ultimately he would listen to Mel if she gave him some BS reason not to.

[astarkchoice]

Yes stan the man  would

[frenin]

He'd look for a relative to throw to the fires.

[BlackLightning]

1 hour ago, frenin said:

He'd look for a relative to throw to the fires.

That part

[Craving Peaches]

I think he would only consider the possibility of self-sacrifice if there was no one else who was a valid sacrifice. Self-Sacrifice does not seem to be part of the 'plan' him and Mel have about him being Azor Ahai. The plan involves/involved him sacrificing someone else to get X and using X to save the World. Besides, he already seems to think he is sacrificing himself just by doing his duty.

Quote

I know the cost! Last night, gazing into that hearth, I saw things in the flames as well. I saw a king, a crown of fire on his brows, burning… burning, Davos. His own crown consumed his flesh and turned him into ash. Do you think I need Melisandre to tell me what that means? Or you?

[James Steller]

16 hours ago, frenin said:

He'd look for a relative to throw to the fires.

By that logic, he’d have given up Storm’s end to save his own skin.

Stannis and Renly were both ready to kill each other, the only difference is that Stannis succeeded. And shireen is still alive and well as far as canon is concerned. I’m hoping that GRRM will reconsider what he had in mind after how the abomination turned out.

Edited June 23, 2023 by James Steller

[frenin]

4 hours ago, James Steller said:

By that logic, he’d have given up Storm’s end to save his own skin.

Dunno that was pre books.

 

4 hours ago, James Steller said:

Stannis and Renly were both ready to kill each other, the only difference is that Stannis succeeded.

Stannis went out of his way to go to Storm's End to see Renly dead and steal his army.

 

4 hours ago, James Steller said:

. And shireen is still alive and well as far as canon is concerned.

And will die by her dad's hand as far as canon is concerned.

Just like Edric was about to die by his hand too.

 

4 hours ago, James Steller said:

I’m hoping that GRRM will reconsider what he had in mind after how the abomination turned out.

Stannis' arc is a tragedy.

[SaffronLady]

I may have been drinking too much for my own good, but the theory I subscribe to is Stannis would run out of all other options and sacrifice himself in the end, and thus 

Spoiler

cause the 2nd Long Night to start when everything he did since he sailed north was to prevent or stop it. In his last moments (as a human before he turns into an Other?) he would think of Renly, maybe the peach too.

 

[James Steller]

2 hours ago, frenin said:

Stannis' arc is a tragedy.

Stannis can still die tragically without killing his own daughter. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 
 

Also, do you really think Renly was just going to let Stannis live in peace?

Edited June 23, 2023 by James Steller

[Curled Finger]

As out of character as it seems, Stannis does evolve.  He listens and is inspired.  He doesn't come up with all this garbage and weirdness all by himself.  The move to go North and north of the Wall at that (!) wasn't his idea, wasn't even on his radar and didn't take a lot of persuasion.  Maybe in the end his sense of duty isn't entirely self serving pride and bitterness.  

Would he sacrifice himself?  What would the sacrifice entail?  Throw himself on fire?  Toss himself off a cliff?  Face impossible odds in battle?  Enlist enemies and strangers in his quest for power?  What is sacrifice here?  Stannis isn't a regular guy.  He is willing to give a great deal up to meet his ends.  I think it's simply a matter of saving the world or ending the Long Night becoming a priority for Stannis to consider it his duty to make ultimate sacrifice, though I am hoping it is Melisandre he feeds to some ritual.

[Craving Peaches]

1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

As out of character as it seems, Stannis does evolve.  He listens and is inspired.  He doesn't come up with all this garbage and weirdness all by himself.  The move to go North and north of the Wall at that (!) wasn't his idea, wasn't even on his radar and didn't take a lot of persuasion.  Maybe in the end his sense of duty isn't entirely self serving pride and bitterness.  

Would he sacrifice himself?  What would the sacrifice entail?  Throw himself on fire?  Toss himself off a cliff?  Face impossible odds in battle?  Enlist enemies and strangers in his quest for power?  What is sacrifice here?  Stannis isn't a regular guy.  He is willing to give a great deal up to meet his ends.  I think it's simply a matter of saving the world or ending the Long Night becoming a priority for Stannis to consider it his duty to make ultimate sacrifice, though I am hoping it is Melisandre he feeds to some ritual.

Melisandre would actually work as a sacrifice because she has some value to Stannis.

[Corvo the Crow]

I don’t think Stannis is a man who would hesitate for even an instance if he has has to sacrifice himself. It is his skepticism that is his problem. Even after he has seen Mel’s power he’s still skeptical most of the time. If he believes sacrificing him would end LN then he’d do it, for Shireen if for no one else, it is the making him believe part that is the problem.

[sifth]

5 hours ago, frenin said:

And will die by her dad's hand as far as canon is concerned.

Just like Edric was about to die by his hand too.

 

 

Assuming D&D aren't lying to save their skins, which I'm still not convinced they are. They seem to lie quite a lot when talking about the show in it's later years.

[James Arryn]

10 hours ago, James Steller said:

 

Stannis and Renly were both ready to kill each other, the only difference is that Stannis succeeded.

Except for the minor quibble that one of these brothers declared war on the other, then attacked the other with the specific agenda to be his assassination. And the other brother defended his capital from attack and did not forbid his commanders from killing Stannis in the battle (to defend himself against the attacker, again) if necessary. So yeah, hardly any difference.

I’d say it’ll never happen, but with the sheer number of polls/data collection I wonder if we could ever find out what % of Stannis fans are Trump supporters, or vice versa. The…not just willing, but enthusiastic, enraptured capacity for cognitive dissonance and false equivalence is very evident ‘on many sides’, ie spectically one side. Not saying this about you, rather the sheer volume of Trump like blind devotion to the Mannis has taken its toll. 

As far as the OP, it would really be a fascinating moment. On the one hand Stannis might be the most self-centred character in the books…at least from the outside. Cersei’s POV puts her pretty high but imagine being inside the Mannisphere. On the other hand he does seem to put a lot of weight on duty or law. On the other hand when the law/his duty gets in the way of Stannis getting what Stannis feels he deserves, it gets sidestepped pretty neatly with regularity. So, I dunno. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that if it is absolutely and unshakeably shown to him that his death WILL save the world and similarly it’s shown that only his death will accomplish that, he’d do it.  

Edited June 23, 2023 by James Arryn

[frenin]

54 minutes ago, sifth said:

Assuming D&D aren't lying to save their skins, which I'm still not convinced they are. They seem to lie quite a lot when talking about the show in it's later years.

That's Martin's own word btw, not D&D.

[James Steller]

38 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

Except for the minor quibble that one of these brothers declared war on the other, then attacked the other with the specific agenda to be his assassination. And the other brother defended his capital from attack and did not forbid his commanders from killing Stannis in the battle (to defend himself against the attacker, again) if necessary. So yeah, hardly any difference.

I’d say it’ll never happen, but with the sheer number of polls/data collection I wonder if we could ever find out what % of Stannis fans are Trump supporters, or vice versa. The…not just willing, but enthusiastic, enraptured capacity for cognitive dissonance and false equivalence is very evident ‘on many sides’, ie spectically one side. Not saying this about you, rather the sheer volume of Trump like blind devotion to the Mannis has taken its toll. 

As far as the OP, it would really be a fascinating moment. On the one hand Stannis might be the most self-centred character in the books…at least from the outside. Cersei’s POV puts her pretty high but imagine being inside the Mannisphere. On the other hand he does seem to put a lot of weight on duty or law. On the other hand when the law/his duty gets in the way of Stannis getting what Stannis feels he deserves, it gets sidestepped pretty neatly with regularity. So, I dunno. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that if it is absolutely and unshakeably shown to him that his death WILL save the world and similarly it’s shown that only his death will accomplish that, he’d do it.  

Implying that I’m a Trump supporter because I root for Stannis? That’s got to be the most insulting thing that’s ever been said about Stannis and myself the whole time I’ve been on this forum. 
 

Stannis would have had a guy like Trump gelded for rape, executed for treason, or sent to the wall for corruption.

[Craving Peaches]

32 minutes ago, James Steller said:

Implying that I’m a Trump supporter because I root for Stannis?

I don't think that was what other James intended.

1 hour ago, James Arryn said:

Not saying this about you, rather the sheer volume of Trump like blind devotion to the Mannis has taken its toll. 

I think it was supposed to be a comment on Trump's 'cult of personality' and the old 'Stannis the Mannis' thing which used to be on the forum, where a few people took everything that Stannis said as gospel even when it was contradicted by other parts of the text.

[James Arryn]

53 minutes ago, James Steller said:

Implying that I’m a Trump supporter because I root for Stannis? That’s got to be the most insulting thing that’s ever been said about Stannis and myself the whole time I’ve been on this forum. 
 

Stannis would have had a guy like Trump gelded for rape, executed for treason, or sent to the wall for corruption.

As Peaches highlighted, not specific to you. But the entire point of Stannis Baratheon is that he would have someone like Stannis Baratheon maimed for smuggling, executed for treason, burnt alive for kinslaying, sent to the wall for dereliction of duty, etc. provided it wasn’t actually Stannis Baratheon.