Screen Genius - Rebuttals to the Stannis Baratheon Complaints lyrics

Complaint Stannis, this might put you one step closer to the Iron Throne, but you just murdered your own child. You no longer deserve it. -- Casey Cipriani, Indiewire Rebu*tals MalcolmFlex: The claim here is that THIS act voided Stannis' moral claim. But what about the fact he k**ed his own brother, Renly Baratheon? What about the fact he broke his marriage vows by sleeping with Melisandre to birth a shadow to k** Renly? What about the fact he used bloodmagic to k** Robb Stark (the son of his brother's best friend), Joffrey Baratheon (his brother's (fake) son), and Balon Greyjoy? What about him burning his brother-in-law (Seylese's brother) and numerous loyalists? How many d**hs is Stannis allowed notwithstanding his daughter? This position, in my opinion, is untenable. It's a visceral reaction instead of one rooted in what the actual situation was. Stannis was left with no other choice unless you consider Stannis k**ing himself (kingsblood) and giving Shireen/Davos command or letting his men desert and starve, dooming the Night's Watch and Westeros, better options. If Stannis did not deserve the Iron Throne, it was a long time ago. This act really just revealed to us who Stannis was all along or who he was destined to become--as he said himself "[h]e must fulfill his destiny and become who he is meant to be, however much he may hate it.” Heisenferg: To quote Snoop Pearson: "Deserve got nothin' to do with it." Stannis is gunning for a position which recently belonged to a teenager without blood right who "preferred torturing animals to leading his people", and was then pa**ed down to an eight year old prone to temper tantrums. It's tough to argue that one of the best military minds in Westeros with a proven understanding of the realm's priorities "deserves" the Throne less than anyone in the Seven Kingdoms. As always, a Tywin Lannister quote seems to apply here: "Explain to me why it is more noble to k** 10,000 men in battle than a dozen at dinner." Which is to say that, horrible as it may have seemed, Shireen's d**h wasn't the sole cause of the internet's rejection of Stannis; it was the intimacy of the d**h. If she was k**ed off-screen and we never heard her screams from the funeral pyre, it's tough to imagine that this would be the tipping point for a man that's already done some things that clearly haunt him in his quest for the Throne. Complaint It renders his pa**ionate, moving speech to his daughter meaningless --Eric Kain, Forbes Rebu*tals MalcolmFlex: If anything, it makes the speech even more powerful. D&D developed Stannis Baratheon as a stoic figure before a father figure, attempting to create the image of a righteous man who saw duty, honor, and order as priorities before his own humanity and personal concerns. The Throne was not a goal of his ambition, it was his right. He saw it as his duty to the realm, to Robert, to his House to take it from the four other kings illegally claiming autonomy or the Throne itself. We see his underlying emotions leak through, mostly in Season 5, but in bits and pieces throughout the show--such as after Blackwater Bay when he laments k**ing Renly. But we see them after and only after a hole in his armor opens. We see regret for k**ing Renly when he fails to take King's Landing. We see anger when Davos frees Gendry and dooms the realm to further conflict. We see love when he is away from the conflict, alone with Shireen at Castle Black. That speech should show viewers how hard of a choice this is for Stannis. In the very first scene that we meet Stannis, he is doing his duty by staking his claim as the legal heir to Robert Baratheon. Matters of the realm, of right, of justice, they all come easily to him then. But with his speech to Shireen, his daughter and only child, he cannot as easily square away emotions. Which leads us to what I think is an even more potent speech, even if subtly, the speech given this episode. It is much catharsis as it is a plea for forgiveness; it is Stannis' attempt to one last time weigh whether or not this is who he is. The speech is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful moments of Stannis' character arc in addition to his staring down of Shireen as she burned. Heisenferg: Up until the speech, there was little evidence in the show that Stannis's love for Shireen extended past "I talk about k**ing you less than your mother does." If Shireen continued to be treated as a daughter only in name, she would have essentially became a cuter version of Gendry -- a character whose importance pales in comparison to the importance of their blood. The speech is what makes her an important character, it doesn't recognize her existing importance. Complaint [This] definitively closed the book on Stannis Baratheon: There will be no rooting for him now. --Sam Adams, Criticwire Rebu*tals Heisenferg: This begs the question: why were you rooting for Stannis before this? Outside of Stephen Dillane's brilliance and the hilarious "Stannis the Mannis" memes, all Stannis had going for him was his military-minded competence in the midst of lesser men getting by on the strength of their charisma or alliances. Anyone who previously named him their favorite character should have been aware what they were signing up for, which is the man who is best suited for the Iron Throne but won't let a conscience dictate the way that he gets there. Just about everyone in the show has already made up their mind about Stannis (asks Brienne if this move blindsided her), so it feels odd to see audience members switching sides after witnessing Stannis doing what he has always done, and feels he is destined to keep doing.