In the most shocking departure from the books yet, Shireen gets sacrificed in a vile move that now proves Stannis Baratheon is totally unworthy to sit on the Iron Throne. In a season of startling departures from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books, Princess Shireen's depraved murder at the hands of her father, Stannis Baratheon, was the most disturbing. Really, disturbing doesn't even begin to describe the horror of watching a power-hungry father and his weak wife, Selyse, send their bright, gentle little girl to be burned alive at the stake. And all in the name of some hocus pocus so he can get power.
Shireen was "sacrificed" to the bloodthirsty, mythical Lord of Light, who supposedly will only help Iron Throne contender Stannis if he makes a sacrifice from his own blood. Talk about selling your soul to the devil -- that's who the "Lord of Light" must be, if his price of a throne requires the torture and death of a precious only child. Game of Thrones viewers went wild following the horrific scene with commenters lashing out at Stannis and Selyse for being the "worst parents EVER"! Yeahh!
This pair, in the real world, would face the electric chair for having their screaming daughter tied to the stake and then burned alive. Shireen's cries were pitiful --"Father, don't do this! Mother, don't do this!" -- before they turned into heartrending screams as the flames reached her small, innocent body. Poor Shireen. She didn't even have a humane Jon Snow to shoot an arrow through her heart to stop her suffering.
Stannis and Melisandre mercilessly let the poor thing die in agony. And Selyse's change of heart from being a power-hungry Lady MacBeth was too little, too late to save her sweet daughter. Even manipulative Cersei Lannister is mother of the year next to Selyse. Cersei is a lioness about protecting her kids no matter how monstrous, like son Joffrey. GoT fans' fury at the hideous plot twist was swift and sharp:
What is now proved beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Stannis Baratheon is another epicly undeserving contender for King of Westeros. His daughter murder drops him even lower on the deserving ranks than sadistic slimeballs Ramsay and Roose Bolton. If a man is willing to burn his own innocent daughter to ashes to sit on the Iron Throne, then what depths of disgusting will he NOT go to? He's already murdered his own brother, Renly, with an otherwordly shadow and cheated on his wife with evil Melisandre.
His chief advisor, Davos, almost had us convinced that despite Stannis' transgressions against Renly, he was actually a decent man who would be a fair ruler of Westeros. Well, that idea just got blown away forever. Stannis has revealed himself as the biggest evildoer of all. Even Roose Bolton puts a premium on his crazy bastard son, Ramsey, and legitimizes him. Really, every other clan in the Seven Kingdoms is all about furthering the FAMILY, and ensuring its grip on power for generations.
Stannis just ended that, when he sent his only child to the grave. That means that ruling Westeros is ONLY about his own twisted ego, not some manifest destiny that he babbled about. And talk about a stone-cold heart. Stannis ordered his daughter to a painful death right after she trustingly proved her own true love to her father, by saying she'd do anything to help him. Of course, she didn't mean "anything"!
Now, Stannis has probably sealed his own doom by this cowardly act. For as Tyrion wisely said to Daenerys, in the same episode last night: "A ruler who kills those that are devoted to her, is not a ruler that inspires devotion. And you're going to need to inspire devotion, and lots of it, if you're ever going to rule." Stannis just demonstrated to his army and all of the Seven Kingdoms what he does to those most devoted to him. He will never inspire devotion and therefore he can never successfully rule. Stannis -- you're a loser, not a leader.