On Game Of Thrones, Remaining True To Yourself Is The Worst Lie Of All
Charlie Jane Anders
A few characters face terrible choices in this week’s
Game of Thrones. They pretty much all choose expediency over principle. In the midst of all this, one character says these choices should be easy as long as you remain true to yourself. But that’s the most insidious lie of all. Spoilers ahead...
The character who says that, of course, is Stannis Baratheon, in this week’s episode, “The Dance of Dragons.” His lovable daughter, Shireen, has just been telling him about
the war between Rhaenyra Targaryen and her half-brother Aegon, known as the Dance of Dragons. (This took place about 130 years after the Targaryen conquest, or about 170 years before the present day.)
Stannis asks Shireen which side she would choose in that civil war — Rhaenyra or Aegon. And she replies neither, because choosing sides led to massive bloodshed and the weakening of the Targaryens forever. (And we’ve already seen what “choosing sides” in a great dynastic battle of succession leads to, and it’s not pretty.)
Stannis responds that sometimes you have to choose sides, but “if a man knows what 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.”
But Stannis is actually combining two very different ideas there: being true to yourself, and fulfilling your destiny. He’s chosen to see them as the same thing, when anybody who’s ever read an adventure story will tell you they’re often at odds. What does it even mean for a ruler to be “true to himself”?
Stannis can’t come back from this
In the case of Stannis, his defining trait has always been his obsession with justice — he punishes people according to their crimes, like the way he chopped off Davos’ fingers for smuggling.
But since he fell in with Melisandre, the red priestess, he’s been pushed more and more towards taking lives for his ambition, rather than for any other reason. At first, these were people who defied him and refused to worship Melisandre’s god, R’hllor. But then it was Gendry, Robert’s bastard, and the rebel Mance Rayder, who was a prisoner of war.
Now, Stannis’ army is stuck in the snow, and Melisandre wants to burn his daughter Shireen alive to get enough magic to save the situation. (None of this would have happened if Jon Snow had just put out. This is all Jon Snow’s fault.)
So which version of Stannis will he be true to: the rigid guardian of fairness and law — or Azor Ahai, the legendary hero that Melisandre believes him to be? He chooses to achieve his “destiny” (ruling Westeros, fighting the White Walkers) instead of remaining true to his original principles. (And remaining true to his love for his daughter, which made him move mountains to save her when she had grayscale.)
3
Stannis is backed into a corner this week, because Ramsay Bolton has sneaked into his camp with 20 men and set fire to his food supplies, siege weapons, and some horses. This leaves Stannis without enough food to march back to Castle Black, even if he were willing, and his army is basically trapped in the snow, left to die.
So Stannis believes he has no choice left but to sacrifice Shireen. To that end, he sends Ser Davos away on a mostly bogus mission, to ask Jon Snow for more supplies and horses, and tells him not to return empty-handed. Before he goes, Davos gives Shireen a figurine of a stag (the Baratheon crest) which he made for her, and thanks her for teaching him to read, and forcing him to “become a grown-up.”
Then there’s the aforementioned scene where Stannis asks for Shireen’s advice, sort of — but doesn’t quite tell her that he’s thinking of burning her alive. Shireen sees her father is facing a tough choice and says she wants to help, however she can. Great! Stannis asks her to forgive him. Then she’s dragged away, screaming, and burnt to death.
4
This is one of those deaths that’s not in the books (at least, not yet) and which is kind of shocking — the biggest surprise, maybe, is that Shireen’s cold-hearted fanatical mother Selyse is the one who breaks, and tries to prevent the sacrifice. Stannis has already made up his mind, and won’t change it in the face of unpleasant realities.
But even though Stannis hasn’t sacrificed Shireen in the books, this does feel like a logical progression for his character. He’s made plenty of choices that led up to this. And at the same time, there’s no coming back from this — this is sort of a defining choice for Stannis, and one that will probably destroy him in the end.
Fonte:
http://io9.com/on-game-of-thrones-remaining-true-to-yourself-is-the-w-1709757273
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Meu comentário: o comentarista também tá apelando pro Azão Azinho ou raio-que-o-parta.
Mas é, as chances de que isso volte para atormentá-lo são grandes, como outros herois trágicos como Agamêmnon, Orestes ou Édipo.