“Game of Thrones” politics: “What great thing has ever been accomplished without killing or cruelty?”

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Rouding out the week´s discussion on Stannis Baratheon...

<and, of course, the night is dark and full of SPOILERS here>

"Sacrifice is one of those moments that brings into sharpest relief the difference between the modern (or postmodern) and the premodern mindset. Despite the cultural ubiquity of human sacrifice, despite the way that it’s woven in to so many cultures and religions from the shores of Hawaii to the imperial palaces of China and everywhere in between, the reaction tonight shows that here and now, we consider it abhorrent. But we consider it abhorrent, in no small part, because we don’t believe it works. Our ancestors considered it permissible because they believed it did. 

And if the previews for next week are accurate, then in Westeros, the ancestors seem to be in the right. The fires of R’hllor seem to have burnt away the Northern winter, and allows Stannis to put Winterfell under siege.

I think it’s profoundly mistaken to conclude that Stannis is an evil man, or that Melisandre is the clichéd witch figure so many take her for. There’s a reason why GRRM has explicitly stated that Stannis is a righteous man and that Melisandre is the most misunderstood person in the series. If Stannis was truly evil, there would be no torment and resignation in his voice when he says – to a daughter who has innocently pledged to do anything necessary to help him: “Sometimes the world forces his hand. If a man knows who he is and remains true to himself, the choice is no choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny and become who he is meant to be. However much he may hate it.”

Stannis does not act here out of sadism, and contrary to Mr. Benioff, I don’t think it’s ambition either. Rather, Stannis truly believes that he is destined to save humanity " 

read Steven Attewell's anaslysis>

“Game of Thrones” politics: “What great thing has ever been accomplished without killing or cruelty?” - Salon.com