Game of Throne: There’s no defending Stannis Baratheon now: The unlikely “Game of Thrones” fan favorite finally crossed the line

After this week's tragedy, even the most loyal fans of "Stannis the Mannis" may have trouble sticking with him

There's no defending Stannis Baratheon now: The unlikely "Game of Thrones" fan favorite finally crossed the line 

Dear readers,
I have an apology to make. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article defending someone I felt was a chronically under-appreciated character in the “Game of Thrones”
TV universe: Stannis “The Mannis” Baratheon,

would-be king of the Andals and the First Men and, in my opinion, actually a pretty cool dude! Sure, Tyrion and Daenerys are the flashy characters who get all the love, but Stannis – a besieged underdog, a competent leader, a loving father (uh… my bad) – seemed to be getting short shrift for all the dogged hard work he has been doing since the show began.

Well, I have now had a day to process Sunday’s events, in which Stannis, prompted by religious freak Melisandre, took his daughter Shireen – an emblem, as our recapper Libby Hill writes, of “all things good and loyal and sweet” in the show – and burned her alive at the stake while she sobbed and screamed his
name.

 It was one of the show’s most cruel and heart-wrenching scenes, in a show that wantonly murders adorable doggies in cold blood (RIP, Lady the Direwolf). Suffice to say, this was not a good fatherly move, nor, might I add, is it something a cool dude would do. Or as Joel Johnson aptly put it, in a piece that I am choosing to read as an entirely earnest take: “Opinion: Stannis Baratheon is NOT a Good Dad.
”
So yeah, sorry to be a flip-flopper (Stannis, BTW, not a flip-flopper, although the moment his only child was being burnt at the stake might have been a good time to start ‘floppin) but I officially change my mind. Guys – Stannis is not The Mannis, and like the rest of you, I am no longer a fan…nis.
Not that it’s not okay to enjoy evil characters! I was almost sad when Joffrey died, because at least he was fun evil, like a teeny overdressed Bond villain, and I always backed Tywin, because Charles Dance had world-historical gravitas that made him impossible not to respect. I was even willing to overlook Stannis’ past evils, like murdering his brother Renly via shadow baby, because murdering someone via shadow baby is a badass, if not very nice, thing to do. But Stannis’ sacrifice in Sunday’s episode wasn’t evil in any way that could be embraced as a meme-able character quirk. It was a wrenching gut-punch, a nauseating scene shot for maximum viewer pain, one that’s impossible to reconcile with cutesy memes of him in a Coachelle-esque flower crown or to paint in shades of gray (like Stannis’ dumb gray outfits, which used to charm me and now I think are LAME, get Melisandre to take you shopping, Stannis, jeez).

 

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