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| “ | It is not a question of wanting. The throne is mine, as Robert's heir. That is law. After me, it must pass to my daughter, unless Selyse should finally give me a son. I am king. Wants do not enter into it. I have a duty to my daughter. To the realm. Even to Robert. He loved me but little, I know, yet he was my brother. The Lannister woman gave him horns and made a motley fool of him. She may have murdered him as well, as she murdered Jon Arryn and Ned Stark. For such crimes there must be justice. Starting with Cersei and her abominations. But only starting. I mean to scour that court clean. As Robert should have done after the Trident. | „ |
| ~ Stannis to Davos Seaworth |
| “ | My enemies have made my kingdom bleed. I will not forget that. I will not forgive that. I will punish them with any arms at my disposal. | „ |
| ~ Stannis to Davos Seaworth during "Mhysa". |
Stannis Baratheon is the head of House Baratheon of Dragonstone, lord of Dragonstone, younger brother of the late King Robert I Baratheon, older brother to Lord Renly Baratheon, and a major character in A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as in Game of Thrones. His parents were Lord Steffon Baratheon and Lady Cassana Estermont. Stannis is married to Queen Selyse Florent and has one daughter, Shireen. Although all the other kings refer themselves as "King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms", phrasing utilized by Targaryen kings since the reign of Aegon I Targaryen, Stannis styles himself as "King of Westeros".
He is the main antagonist of the Lannister POV storyline in book 2 and season 2, followed by Robb Stark and the overall secondary antagonist of the book/season.
In the TV series he's played by Stephen Dillane.
Personality
Stannis is utterly unlike his two brothers: he’s not considered as handsome and charismatic as Renly or as a younger Robert. He’s in his thirties at the beginning of the main story, but he’s described as looking older than Robert, suffering from premature hair loss and looking like an old man. He’s a stern grim man obsessed with duty and principles, he never smiles and does not enjoy parties. He’s got none of his brothers’ social skills and, unlike Robert, he never acts out of impulse, but only after a long time of reflection, as he’s a strategical and calculative man. A stubborn, unforgiving, serious man, Stannis never speaks with gentleness, neither dissembles nor flatters. He is obsessed with slights both real and imagined causing him to grind his teeth regularly. Stannis is an accomplished commander, sailor, and warrior, although his personality hinders his ascension to being a truly great leader. Even Lord Tywin Lannister respects him and considers him an enemy not to be taken lightly.
While he is respected and feared, he has never been loved, or had the affection of nobles or smallfolk, due to him being utterly without mercy most of the time. He is the least popular of the Baratheon brothers. People in Westeros dread having him at command because of this merciless sense of justice, and even his brothers can barely stomach him. Stannis dislikes Robert and Renly and never got along with them since they were kids. He was considered a difficult child even by his parents, who never managed to make him laugh, and always preferred to stay alone and reserved. He’s a proud man, often obsessing about himself and complaining about his rights to everyone, lacking passion, easy to annoy, and rarely forgives others, preferring to kill his enemies. Despite being rather unlikable as a person he proves to be a very complex man who dislikes what he forces himself to do. He believes that a “good act” does not wash out the bad, nor the bad the good, and that each one should have it’s own reward. Unlike most highborns of the westerosi society, he does not look down upon the smallfolk and treats people as equals, rewarding others when he feels they actually truly deserve it. He also can’t stand lies and courtesies, and wants to hear the hard truths, preferring telling things like they really are.
Stannis has a cold relationship with his wife, Selyse. Theirs is a loveless marriage, and the two have little patience for each other. Stannis was always uncomfortable around women, even his wife. He barely visited her, doing his duty in the marriage bed once or twice a year, taking no joy in it. Stannis and Selyse have only one surviving daughter, Shireen, a sad and homely little girl who is disfigured as a consequence of contracting greyscale in her infancy. Davos Seaworth is one of Stannis's most loyal servants.
History
Early Life
Stannis was born in year 264 AC, he was the second born child of Lady Cassana Estermont and Lord Steffon Baratheon. He developed completely differently from his older brother Robert, who was scarcely one year older than him. He was considered a dour and humourless child.
When he was no more than four year old, Steffon Baratheon took him and Robert to court, in King’s Landing. Stannis met Lord Tywin Lannister, who was serving as Hand of the King, and mistook him for King Aerys II Targaryen, seeing him sitting on the Iron Throne. Tywin and Steffon were friends, and later Steffon corrected Stannis and explained him the king was not present that day.
Stannis’ childhood was not a happy one. He lived under the shadow of Robert. Whatever Stannis did, Robert had done first and better. The two brothers were incompatible, and sometimes Robert mocked him. Stannis’ feelings towards Robert remained until adulthood. As a child he was introverted, precociously mature, smarter than the average child, solumn, and joyless. Maester Cressen, who had cared for the three brothers upon their parents' deaths, came to care deeply for Stannis, as he felt Stannis, being the unloved boy, was the one of the three brothers who needed him the most. Later, Lord Steffon’s youngest child, Renly, was born. A happy boy who loved games and bright colors, looking a lot like Robert. This alienated Stannis from his family even more, being ignored most of the time.
From an early age onwards, Robert has been fostered in the Eyrie by Lord Jon Arryn, together with Eddard Stark. The two became friends during this time, and Robert loved Ned as his true brother while he had no love for Stannis and Renly (the latter due to them being separated most of the time), and Jon Arryn as a second father. While he was fostered, Robert visited Storm’s End on multiple occasions, and at some point he was knighted.
In 278 AC, Lord Steffon and Lady Cassana were sent on a mission by King Aerys II to Volantis to find a bride for Stannis's cousin, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, but in this they failed. The two had found a slave fool in Volantis, and bought his freedom in order to bring him to Storm’s End, believing he would delight Robert, and might even teach Stannis how to laugh, in time. They wrote this to Maester Cressen and were both ready to return home. The day they were expected to return to Storm’s End, Robert and Stannis were on the parapets of Storm’s End, looking for the ship Windproud. When the ship came in sight, a sudden storm arrived, and the two brothers witnessed their parents death, watching as the ship was destroyed at Shipbreaker Bay. Steffon and Cassana drowned, and from that moment Robert became Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. The same day of his parents’ death, the 13 years old Stannis lost his faith in the Seven, saying that gods so monstrous to take his parents’ lives in front of him would never have his worship. He stopped believing the existence of any god, and developed an indifferent disdainful behaviour towards religions.
After the death of their parents, the Baratheons were being watched by Cressen, while Robert continued to live in both Storm’s End and the Eyrie at the same time. Stannis found an injured goshawk, and nursed it back to health. He took it as his pet and named it Proudwing. Robert mocked Stannis for his bird, and called it Weakwing, because it was unable to fly higher than the treetops. Stannis’ s great-uncle, Ser Harbert, told him he was making a fool of himself and conviced him to abandon the bird. Growing up Stannis disliked being reminded he was not as strong as Robert. Later, in the year 282 AC, the same year Prince Aegon Targaryen was born, the supposed abduction of Lyanna Stark, the disappearance of Prince Rhaegar, the deaths of Rickard and Brandon Stark at the hands of King Aerys II, and his order to Jon Arryn to deliver him the heads of Eddard and Robert caused the war known as Robert’s Rebellion. Jon Arryn refused to obey the Crown and raised the banners of the Vale.
Robert’s Rebellion
Unlike Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark, Robert Baratheon had Targaryen blood in him, as his paternal grandmother was Rhaelle Targaryen. Because of this he became the head of the revolt, claiming the Iron Throne. After killing Marq Grafton and taking Gulltown, Robert could finally reach the stormlands, and he arrived to Storm’s End meeting Cressen, Stannis, and Renly. Robert was gathering his banners at Storm’s End, separated from his allies and surrounded by the loyalists of the Reach, Dorne, and the crownlands. Some of Robert’s bannermen remained loyal to the Crown and started gathering at Summerhall. However, Robert defeated them all at Summerhall, winning three battles in a day. Later, he was defeated by Lord Randyll Tarly and Lord Mace Tyrell in the Battle of Ashford, and was forced to retreat. Mace Tyrell headed to Storm’s End. Robert told Stannis to held the castle, no matter what cost. According to Stannis, choosing between his family and his king was the hardest choice he ever made. At the end he choose his brother, as “the younger brother must bow to the elder” is a more ancient law.
Stannis's stubbornness and determination are legendary and served him well during the rebellion. Mace Tyrell was besieging Storm’s End for a year, with all the power of the Reach, led by himself and his closest bannerman, Lord Paxter Redwyne. Mace surrounded the castle with his vast host, while Lord Redwyne took the Redwyne fleet of the Arbor and closed Shipbreaker Bay, making impossible for Storm’s End to receive any kind of supplies. Stannis was left with a small garrison of 500 men. He refused to give up, no matter what, and let himself and his men starve at Storm’s End. Renly was six years old during the war, and suffered starvation at Storm’s End too, witnessing the desperation of the garrison. While Robert, Ned Stark, Jon Arryn, and Hoster Tully were fighting the war against the Mad King, Stannis and his garrison had to eat their horses, cats, and dogs in order to survive. They were forgotten during the year, and at some point they had to eat rats and boots. Meanwhile Mace Tyrell and his bannermen, such as Paxter Redwyne and Mathis Rowan, feasted within sight of the walls, earning permanent enmity from Stannis Baratheon.
The garrison had to face many problems, such as conflict and rage in Storm’s End, along with problem with discipline, such as the time were the master-at-arms, Ser Gawen Wylde and three knights tried to sneak out a postern gate and surrender. They were captured, and Stannis was going to hurl Ser Gawen out with a catapult. He was dissuaded by Maester Cressen and locked Gawen and the other traitors into a cell, where Wylde died later during the siege.
The siege was not going to end anytime soon, and Stannis remained stubborn. Renly recalls Stannis and Cressen talking about having to eat their own dead, but before that could happen a notorious smuggler named Davos had come to save the garrison of Storm’s End. Davos had noticed that everyone had forgotten about the men defending the castle from the might of Reach, and those who remembered didn’t care. He knew the horrors of starvation from his childhood in poverty, so one night he took a risk that many would have considered madness. He slipped through the Redwyne fleet’s lines and entered Storm’s End with his ship full of onions and salt fish. Stannis refused to eat until every single man had eaten before him, and when he did, his portion was the same as everybody else’s. The food allowed Stannis and his garrison to survive longer until the arrival of Lord Eddard Stark after the Battle of the Trident and the Sack of King’s Landing. With King Aerys and his heir Prince Rhaegar both dead, Mace Tyrell dipped his banners when Eddard and the rebels appeared on the field. There was no battle that day.
Although only a boy, Stannis Baratheon successfully held the seat of House Baratheon against all the power of the Reach, giving victory to the rebels against the Crown: the Reach and the Tyrell’s vast host could not join Rhaegar Targaryen’s army. This allowed Robert’s forces to win the rebellion thanks to the fact that Stannis had prevented the Reach and the powerful Redwyne fleet from destroy the rebels on the battlefield. After the siege ended, Stannis took Davos into his service as a landed knight with his own keep and allowed him to found his own house: House Seaworth. However Stannis demanded a payment from Davos for his past crimes as a smuggler, so he removed with a cleaver the first joint from each finger of Davos's left hand. Davos accepted the punishment, with Stannis carrying it out himself. In addition to his titles and keep, Davos was also given his own lands and his own war galley, Black Betha, and later two more galleys to be commanded by his eldest sons. Davos’ younger son Devan would be later taken as squire by Lord Stannis. The majority of the Reach’s lords and knights were later pardoned by King Robert, much to Stannis’ resent, who would keep his enmity towards House Tyrell and House Redwyne until the current story.
End of the Rebellion and Lord of Dragonstone
King Robert I Baratheon was now Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. He charged his brother Lord Stannis with building a new royal fleet at Storm’s End, to seize Dragonstone, who was still loyal to House Targaryen. Aerys’wife and sister, Queen Rhaella Targaryen was hiding there with her son Prince Viserys. Queen Rhaella died nine months later, giving birth to Daenerys Targaryen while Stannis was buildling Robert’s fleet. A ferocious storm raged that night and destroyed the Targaryen fleet while it lay at anchor. Stannis took it as an opportunity to take the castle unopposed by the former royal fleet, now lying under the sea. The garrison at Dragonstone planned to sell Viserys and Daenerys to Lord Stannis, so he could either bring them to Robert or kill them. However a loyal old knight and former master-at-arms of the Red Keep, Ser Willem Darry, with several other retainers and a wet nurse rescued the Targaryen children and smuggled them into exile, outside Westeros, and sailing to the Free City of Braavos. The children were smuggled just before Stannis sailed.
Stannis successfully took Dragonstone from the Targaryens, conquering the island in the name of King Robert I Baratheon. House Targaryen lost every holding in the Seven Kingdoms. Robert granted Dragonstone to Stannis, making him Lord of Dragonstone. The island castle was traditionally the seat of the crown prince, the Prince of Dragonstone, so Robert honored Stannis by granting him the seat of the heir to the Iron Throne. However, Robert was also furious that the Targaryen children had escaped before Stannis arrived, and he granted the ancestral Baratheon seat of Storm's End to the youngest brother, Renly Baratheon, which Stannis resented as an intentional slight. Renly was named Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, upsetting Stannis, who felt that, as the elder of the two, Storm’s End was his by right. Although it was an injustice, Robert also needed a strong men to hold the island of Dragonstone, who was full of former supporters of the Targaryen at the time. Dragonstone had the advantage of taking Stannis away from the mainland, and Stannis became an effective and efficient administrator, head of the new cadet branch of House Baratheon: House Baratheon of Dragonstone. Maester Cressen followed Stannis to the ancient castle. Stannis was appointed to Robert’s small council, as the master of ships, the commander of the royal fleet, and the King’s main general. During year 286 AC Prince Joffrey Baratheon was born, making him the new heir of the Iron Throne instead of Stannis. Around year 287 AC, Stannis married Lady Selyse Florent. During the wedding, King Robert deflowered Selyse’s cousin Delena Florent on the wedding bed made for Stannis and Selyse. Later Robert told Stannis he was too drunk to know whose bed it was, claiming to have entered in the wrong room, but Stannis never forgave him. Later the pregnant Delena gave birth to a boy, Edric Storm, the only acknowledged bastard of the king, beside Mya Stone, the first daughter of Robert from the Vale. Stannis insisted that Edric was a blight upon the honor of his wife's house and promptly shipped him off to his other uncle, Lord Renly, at Storm's End.
Greyjoy's Rebellion
In the year 289 AC Lord Balon Greyjoy rejected his father’s wishes to strengthen the ties of the Iron Islands with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, and declared the Iron Island independent. House Greyjoy remained neutral during most of Robert’s Rebellion and their Iron Fleet was still intact, the greatest fleet in Westeros, commaned by Balon and his brother Victarion. Balon declared himself King of the Iron Islands, thinking that Robert, who was still called “the usurper” by many, didn’t have the support of many lords like a Targaryen king and that he could defeat him at sea. While the houses were gathering under the orders of Robert, Balon and his fleet were already attacking and raiding the western coast, being responsible of many strikes, such as the Raid on Lannisport, planned by Euron Greyjoy and commanded by Victarion Greyjoy. The anchored Lannister fleet was destroyed by Victarion.
Robert charged Stannis to succeed were his father-in-law Tywin had failed. Stannis started to prepare the royal fleet, as well as Lord Redwyne with his Redwyne fleet. Meanwhile the raids of the surrounding coasts of the Sunset Sea were going on, and Balon’s eldest son, Rodrik Greyjoy, was killed by Lord Jason Mallister at the Battle of Seagard. After that, Stannis Baratheon dealt with the Iron Fleet in the sea battle off Fair Isle. Stannis, the master of ships, commanded the force made of the royal fleet, and the warships from the Reach, the Arbor, and Oldtown. With him also Paxter Redwyne and other lords of the Reach. Stannis lured the ironmen into a trap in the Straits of Fair Isle, with the island of westerlands to their west and the mainland of the westerlands to their east. Stannis's ships trapped them from the north and the south, smashing Victarion's fleet off Fair Isle. In the battle Aeron Greyjoy’s ship, the Golden Storm, was destroyed by Stannis’s flagship, Fury. Lord Rodrik Harlaw lost his sons in this battle. After defeating Victarion and making him flee, Robert was now free to attack the Iron Islands, as Stannis had destroyed the Iron Fleet. Robert and Eddard led most of the royal army to subdue the island of Pyke, the main of the Iron Island. Meanwhile Stannis subdued Great Wyk, the largest of the Iron Islands, while Ser Barristan Selmy, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, took Old Wyk. Balon was outnumbered, so he lost the war, as well as his second son, Maron. Balon was forced to bend the knee to King Robert I and the Iron Throne. In return he was forgiven for his treason to the Crown, and allowed to remain Lord of the Iron Islands, much to Stannis and Cersei Lannister’s disapproval. Stannis says if it was him ruling the realm, Balon would have been executed without a second thought, as he does not forgive or forget. Cersei thinks Robert should have destroyed all of the Iron Islands, and remake them from the beginning with new rulers.
Master of Ships
Lord Stannis kept serving King Robert I as the master of ships for years in King’s Landing, visiting Dragonstone a few times. His marriage with Lady Selyse was not a happy one. There was no love between them, and Stannis was not a person to give or show feelings. He dislikes her for both look and personality, and rarely sleeps with her. The two had hoped for years to have sons, but every child they had died as stillborn. Only a female child managed to remain alive: Shireen Baratheon, born shortly before Greyjoy’s Rebellion. A lonely sad little girl, she’s considered by most a sweet but ugly child. She inherited both of her mother and father’s physical traits. When Shireen was an infant, she suffered from greyscale, a mortal disease known to affect mostly children. It makes the skin hard, black and grey, stony to the touch. Greyscale had almost claimed Shireen’s life, but she survived and was rendered immune to every fatal form of greyscale. The disease left her disfigured. She was educated by Maester Cressen, and she was mostly seen in the company of the mad fool Patchface. The fact that Shireen, a deformed ugly little girl, was the only child Selyse could give to Stannis, caused him more anger. Stannis resents Selyse for not being able to give him an healthy strong male son, while Renly mocks both Selyse and Shireen, and wonders how Stannis ever fathered his daughter when he goes to his marriage bed like he is marching to a battlefield to do his duty. While Stannis lived at court in King’s Landing for many years, Ser Axell Florent, uncle of Selyse, controlled Dragonstone as its castellan.
Robert was the king, but he never bothered to rule the Seven Kingdoms. He passed the time drinking, hunting, and whoring, as Robert cared only about alcohol, killing and having sex. The Hand of the King, Lord Jon Arryn was the one who actually kept the King’s peace, along with Stannis, both making sure the realm was well fed. As commander of the royal fleet, Stannis once led a fleet to Sisterton, a town located on the island of Sweetsister, in the Vale, and suppressed smuggling from the Three Sisters. Stannis and Robert’s relationship remained cold during these years, Stannis was more serious and responsible than the elder brother, and Robert did his best to avoid giving him too much power. Stannis always resented Robert for the slights he suffered. He feels Robert has given him little in return for his loyal service, thanking Ned Stark for lifting the Siege of Storm’s End, rather than thanking him for holding the castle against the power of the Reach. Instead of thanking him for capturing Dragonstone from the Targaryens, Robert blamed him for the escape of Viserys and Daenerys, even though they left Dragonstone before Stannis had sailed with his fleet. Among Stannis’ household in King’s Landing there was Ser Davos Seaworth, who also lived in the capital, visiting Dragonstone with Stannis sometimes, as well as visting his youngest sons and his wife in the stormlands. During the years Lord Renly Baratheon grew up and was eventually given a place in the small council as master of laws. He left Storm’s End at command of Ser Cortnay Penrose, and arrived at King’s Landing with his household and his former squire and lover Ser Loras Tyrell. At court Stannis had no love or trust for anyone: he saw immediately through people such the Queen, Grand Maester Pycelle, Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, Varys, Janos Slynt, and his own brother Renly. None of them helped Jon Arryn to rule the Seven Kingdoms, as everyone only cared about their own personal desires and gain. He disapproved how Jon Arryn, who was a trusting man, allowed Lord Baelish to have a place in the small council, and how Robert let the city be full of Lannister men, even in the Kingsguard there were Cersei’s men. Stannis had a desire to get rid of most nobles in the capital and punish them all, but Robert cared little about justice, and Renly was even worse in that regard, as he never took things seriously and would laugh and jests about everything with Littlefinger. Jon Arryn found out that Janos Slynt, the commander of the City Watch of King’s Landing, was taking bribes and selling positions and promotions. Lord Arryn had two men, willing to testify against Janos, but were found dead a short time after. Robert let Janos mantain his position thanks to Littlefinger. Stannis stated that Baelish undoubtedly knew of Slynt's corruption and made sure the crown profited from it as much as Janos. He also swore that if he had been king, Slynt would have lost more than his office for such corruption. Renly recalls that once Stannis, who dislikes whores, proposed outlawing brothels, but Robert just laughed and asked him if he wanted to outlaw shitting, eating, and breathing as well. Robert I had become a broken man, fat, old, unhealthy, and unhappy. He beggared the realm with the expense of his tournaments and feasts, despite the fact Aerys II had left treasure vaults overflowing with gold. While Robert bankrupt the realm, leading the Crown to be six million golden dragons in debt with the Iron Bank of Braavos, Tywin Lannister, Mace Tyrell, and even the Faith, Stannis helped Jon Arryn in ruling the kingdoms with an iron fist, avoiding the realm to revolt against the King, but Stannis received little or no acknowledgment or thanks from Robert. Stannis never complained publicly since service without expectation of reward was required of him in his positions, although he often did so privately to Robert and Cersei. According to Cersei, he would come very often asking Robert about his rights to have the castle of Storm’s End, and everytime he was dismissed by Robert who had the same excuse. She agrees that Robert meant to insult his younger brother and claims she could hear Stannis grinding his teeth after he was done talking to his brother, and would never stop complaining. Jaime thinks no one in the world can possibly stomach Stannis Baratheon, and even Robert’s children, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen avoided him. Some years before the events of the main series, a mysterious woman called Melisandre arrived In Wsteros, after travelling from Asshai, from Far East Essos. A red priestess of a foreign religion, Melisandre met Selyse Florent and the latter brought the red woman to Dragonstone. Lord Varys informed the small council about Melisandre, but Stannis decided to simply ignore her, not taking seriously any kind of religion, and having a disregard for the Faith of the Seven. According to Stannis, the fat High Septon, leader of the Faith in the Seven Kingdoms, would prattle at him of how all justice and goodness flowed from the Seven, but all he ever saw of either was made by men. On the year 298 AC, Lord Stannis attended at the tourney on Prince’s Joffrey’s name day, along with him were present Robert, Renly, Jon Arryn, Tywin Lannister, Walder Frey, Yohn Royce, and Davos Seaworth.
Before A Game of Thrones
Just prior to the events of the first book, Stannis had suspicions about Robert’s children, thinking that Cersei’s sons and daughter were not actually Robert’s. However Stannis never bring such suspicions to King Robert, as he knew Robert would not believe the charges coming from him, making him look self-serving because Robert had no love for Stannis, and he would be seen as making himself heir of the Iron Throne. So Stannis confided his suspicions to Jon Arryn, because he felt Robert would listen if the charges came from the Hand of the King, whom Robert loved as a second father. Meanwhile Stannis came to know that Renly and Loras Tyrell secretely plotted to have Robert spurn Cersei in favour of Loras’ 14 years old sister, Margaery. Renly was helping his lover to make House Tyrell the second most powerful family in Westeros, overthrowing the Lannisters. Renly also felt that he would have made a better king than the other members of the royal family, in line before him, including Stannis.
Stannis and Jon investigated the case of Robert’s children together. They were often seen riding together in the city, and visited many places and houses, including brothels, much to the surprise of the people. They visited several of the king’s bastard children, and Stannis pointed out that all of them had black hair, and looked like Robert, while Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella looked more like Jaime and Cersei in their younger years. Even Mya Stone and Edric Storm had Robert’s traits, both Edric and Gendry looking like a younger Robert and Renly. Stannis and Jon did not fear spies, therefore their visits didn’t go unnoticed by Cersei, the Spider, and Littlefinger. Jon Arryn went to Grand Maester Pycelle and consulted the book The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms. After reading the book Jon Arryn had no doubts anymore: Cersei’s children were not actually Robert’s, instead they are all products of incest between Cersei and her twin brother Jaime, thus Stannis Baratheon was Robert’s true legal hair of the Iron Throne. Jon meant to act and planned for his son Robert Arryn to be fostered with Stannis on Dragonstone. This was something that his wife Lysa would not have liked at all. However, Jon’s life was now in danger because he was being watched by the Queen’s men, Littlefinger, and Pycelle, who was protecting the Lannisters. Varys came to Jon, warning him about his life being in danger, and begging him to use a taster for his drinks, but Jon refused to have others risking their lives for him. Shortly after that, in 298 AC, Jon Arryn died, poisoned by his own wife Lysa, who was instructed to do so by Petyr Baelish. While he was dying he kept saying “The seed is strong.” in front of Robert and Lysa. Pycelle sent Jon’s master, Colemon, away from the room. Maester Colemon was trying to save Jon’s life, and could have succeeded, but Pycelle wanted to protect House Lannister. Stannis immediately blamed Cersei for the death of Lord Arryn, and now his plan had failed. Robert wanted Robert Arryn to become a ward of Lord Tywin Lannister at Casterly Rock, as he feared that being raised by his mother would make his namesake weak. Lysa refused the suggestion brusquely and, against the wishes of the king, fled from King's Landing with her son, master Colemon, and her household back to the Vale of Arryn without bidding farewell. Only Jon’s squire Hugh, and some other remained in King’s Landing. Jon’s death is what will trigger many events who will lead to the War of the Five Kings.
With Jon Arryn dead, the King needed a new Hand. Robert started his journey to Winterfell, bringing with him a huge party. Stannis felt slighted again by his brother, because he believed that the position of Hand of the King was his by right. He always resented Ned Stark for being considered more by Robert. The Lord of Dragonstone would often remind everyone that he was NOT his friend, however he also understood that it was beyond Ned’s control that Robert liked him more than his brother and respected him as an honourable man. Tired of Robert’s constant slights, Stannis abandoned his duty for the first time of his life. He took with him his household, Ser Davos, and most of the royal fleet of King’s Landing, without the permission of the King, and fled to Dragonstone to gather his strength, preparing for a future war. In the old Targaryen fortress, Stannis begins to plan his next move.
A Game of Thrones
Stannis flees to Dragonstone and isolates it from the world. He closes the port and its surrounding waters. As master of ships, he’s joined by most of the royal fleet, with only some ships remaining at King’s Landing. Robert and the small council are not worried about this, and officially declare that Lord Stannis has taken an indefinite leave of absence to visit Selyse and Shireen. Dragonstone is now hostile to everyone outside, with armed men, ready to receive any ship that approaches the island. No ship that has come within sight of Dragonstone has been allowed to leave.
Stannis is still missing for months. Ned had sent a polite letter to Lord Stannis requesting him to return to his seat, but he never received any response.
Eddard finally discovers the truth Jon Arryn died for and that Stannis Baratheon is Robert’s lawful heir to the Iron Throne, but he makes the serious mistake of warning Queen Cersei about it, telling her to flee with her children before Robert returns from his hunt.
King Robert I Baratheon is mortally wounded by a boar, after drinking too much wine during his hunt in the kingswood; a strong wine that Cersei gave to her cousin Lancel, squire of the King, in order to have Robert drinking too much and slow him down, allowing the boar to gut him. While Robert is still dying, Lord Renly warns Ned that Cersei is surely preparing to secure the Iron Throne for her family, and offers him a plan to take the Red Keep, seize the royal children, and holding them as hostages to neutralize House Lannister from the Iron Throne. Eddard refuses the plan, as he doesn’t want to shed blood in the castle while Robert is still alive. Renly doesn’t know that Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella are all Jaime’s children, and he’s planning to become the new king, thinking that the line of succession doesn’t matter anymore since the Targaryens were overthrown and ignoring the fact that Stannis still has a better claim to the Iron Throne. Knowing that Joffrey is considered a “monster” by many, Renly believes that Stannis is not born to be a king, and takes advantage of the fact that Tommen and Myrcella are both children.
Ned writes a letter for Lord Stannis, only for him to read. He offers the Iron Throne to him as the rightful heir of King Robert I. Petyr Baelish does not want Stannis on the throne, as he would punish him for his unloyalty and corruption. Stannis is no friend with Ned or Baelish, and even his brothers can barely stomach him. Stannis will send Ned back to his home, Winterfell (which Ned would love it), appoint his own Hand and small council, and his ascension will mean war and dark times for the realm, also most see him as a cruel person. Stannis will seek the heads of Cersei, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen to secure his position on the Iron Throne (an act that will incite Tywin Lannister and the houses sworn to Casterly Rock to an uprising), those of Lords Tyrell and Redwyne as revenge for the Siege of Storm's End, and even Lord Balon Greyjoy for his rebellion. According to Littlefinger, anyone who stood by the Targaryens during Robert's Rebellion or rose with the Greyjoys will have cause to fear Stannis' ascent to the throne, because people believe that Stannis would have killed anyone who fought for his enemies.
After Robert’s death, Stannis immediately rallies his strength at Dragonstone, while the war is starting. He’s joined by the few houses sworn to Dragonstone: Bar Emmon, Celtigar, Sunglass, and Velaryon. They come to the island with their fleets, while Stannis starts to hire mercenaries and pirates of the Free Cities. As Lord of Dragonstone and master of ships, Stannis has a great amount of naval power, but the sparse population of the rocky, volcanic islands surrounding Dragonstone leave him without the strength to risk openly contesting the Lannisters. Stannis sends Ser Davos Seaworth as an envoy to the Lysene pirate Salladhor Saan, to recruit his fleet.
Stannis, Selyse, and Shireen are mentioned among the many nobles King Joffrey commands to do him fealty or be named traitors. Cersei Lannister, as Queen Regent, is seated in the small council in place of Stannis Baratheon. ther against Joffrey. Varys reveals to Ned that Cersei would have killed Robert anyway, if it had not been the boar. She needed Robert dead to deal with Stannis, who was already gathering his strength at Dragonstone before, and Renly, who was already plotting with Ser Loras. The paranoid queen is frightened by everybody, she fears Eddard, Hoster Tully and his river lords, Lysa Arryn, the Martells, who lust for vengeance for years, the Tyrells, Robb Stark with his forces of the North, and Renly Baratheon. However the man who truly terrorizes Cersei is Stannis Baratheon, who has a true claim to the throne, is a skilled military tactician, and is utterly without mercy. Cersei’s biggest fear is that while her father Tywin battles the Starks and their army, Stannis will descend on King’s Landing, kill her and her children, and proclaim himself king. She desperately needs the peace between her family and the North, so her father can serve her son as Hand of the King and prepare to fight Stannis. Ned refuses to give up his honor and betray Stannis, but Varys says that the realm needs peace, a peace that will never be with Stannis sitting on the Iron Throne. Varys wants Ned to admit his treason, command Robb to lay down his sword, denounce Stannis and Renly, and carry Cersei’s secret to the grave.
Right after the first battles between the Starks and the Lannisters, Eddard Stark confess his treason to the crown in front of the High Septon and the population of King’s Landing. However King Joffrey I has him executed, despite having promised to Sansa mercy for her father. Cersei fails to stop her son from doing the reckless act. Ned Stark loses his head.
Stannis sends Davos to a secret mission in the stormlands, to rally the storm lords to Stannis’s cause. The mission results to be a complete failure, as Davos is either refused or ignored by the storm lords. They won’t raise. Not for Stannis. Instead they choose to follow Renly, hoping to bring more glory to the stormlands. Maester Cressen warned Stannis about this, as he knows that the nobles have no love for him. Soon Stannis receives news about King Renly Baratheon and that the stormlands have decided to support him, although Stannis, as the eldest son of House Baratheon, should have held claim to the loyalty of his House's ancestral seat, Storm's End. Stannis is infuriated by this, and considers it blatant treason. The news about Renly shock everyone in the Seven Kingdoms, including Tywin and Robb, who had always expected it to be Stannis, instead he’s been missing for a year at this point, vanished between the walls of Dragonstone. Tywin is surprised that Stannis still has done nothing, and only knows that he’s been building another fleet during the year, hiring sellswords, and starterd seeking the counsel of a shadowbinder from Asshai. Tywin considers Stannis to be more dangerous than all the other enemies combined. He sends his son Tyrion to King’s Landing, to rule in his stead, preparing the city to defend against Renly and Stannis, and clean up the mess Cersei, Joffrey, and the small council have created.
A Clash of Kings
It’s now the year 299 AC. The 10 years old long summer is finally over. It’s now autumn, and Stannis Baratheon now styles himself as King of Westeros, making Selyse Florent his queen and Shireen Baratheon his princess. Ser Davos Seaworth returns from his failed mission from the stormlands, as an envoy of King Stannis I. The king is not happy to learn about it, as the other lords at Dragonstone want to sail and enter the War of the Five Kings. Stannis now finds himself with his back to the wall. His men are not enough to take King’s Landing, and Renly is now his enemy and a traitor. He finds himself having to listen to the red priestess Melisandre, talking about her god, R’hllor, and her visions in the flames. Queen Selyse has been entirely converted to the worship of R’hllor, the foreign god, she’s the most fervent supporter of Melisandre, followed by her uncle, Ser Axell. Believers of the Lord of Light in Dragonstone think that the red comet in the sky is an omen for Stannis’s victory.
Stannis is unable to win the war, and frustrated by this, starts ranting and calls Renly a thieving child who has never done anything to deserve the throne, jested with Littlefinger during his job and allowed better men to unhorse him in tourneys, while he (Stannis) was helping Jon Arryn to keep peace in the realm. Stannis wonders why the gods inflicted him with brothers, and doesn’t know what to tell to his bannermen. Cressen and Davos tried to make suggestions to their king, but each one has made him angry. Cressen immediately yielded when Stannis refused to join with Renly to defeat the Lannister, or a partnership with Robb Stark, now King in the North and the Trident, commanding the power of the North and the riverlands. Stannis declares he won’t make peace with Renly, not until he calls himself king, and calls Rob a green boy and another false king that seeks to steal half of his kingdom. When Cressen mentions helping Robb to avenge Eddard’s death, he provokes Stannis’ easy anger again. He rants again that Ned was nothing to him, how much he had to hear from Robert that Ned was a brother to him, and how the position of Hand of the King was his by right. He sees Joffrey, Renly, and Robb as nothing but thieves, and he will destroy them.
Cressen proposes a marriage pact between Shireen and Robert Arryn, but Stannis don’t see how they could bring the boy to Dragonstone when the paranoid Lysa hides him in the Eyrie. Then he considers the idea of sending Shireen to the Eyrie with the fool, Patchface. Selyse, however, objects this, saying that Stannis should not treat or beg for what is his by right. He’s the one true king and they all owe their allegiance to him. Selyse tells Stannis that her family, House Florent, can provide him 2,000 men. However, the Florents are too close to Highgarden, and they are supporting Renly, but Selyse thinks that R’hllor will provide Stannis all the might of the Reach and the stormlands. Selyse then suggests her husband that if Renly should die, his army would join Stannis. She says that Melisandre has seen into the flames a vision of Renly dead. Much to Cressen’s horror, Stannis listen to Selyse and the two have a talk that might imply the planning of the murder of Renly Baratheon.
The thought of Stannis committing fratricide horrifies the old master Cressen, since he raised the Baratheon brothers after Lord Steffon died. He decides that Melisandre is trouble and her religion is evil. He wants to end it, before the red priestess can convert Stannis to her “evil schemes” and spread her “crazy religion” beyond Dragonstone. Cressen joins Stannis’s council and its lords and knights. Without any alternative, Stannis keeps pressing his claim, refusing to give up, and all they can do now is talking about how Melisandre has seen Stannis’s victory in the flames, refusing any kind of alliance with anyone who doesn’t show absolute obedience to King Stannis. Horrified by what he’s going to do, Cressen tries to poison Melisandre with the Strangler. The woman and his friend Davos try to stop the old master, but he insists he is doing what he must for the sake of the realm and his lord’s soul. Thanks to her magical ruby at her throat, Melisandre survives, while Cressen dies after drinking the poison himself.
Later Salladhor Saan informs King Stannis that his brother Renly has left Highgarden with his army and his queen, Margaery, to march on King’s Landing. The biggest army of the War of the Five Kings. Renly also thinks that Stannis will join him with his fleet and his 5,000 men, and accept him as king. He’s spending a lot of time in the Reach, marching incredibly slowly, hosting tourneys and melees, waiting for the right moment to attack the capital while the Starks and the Lannisters are fightning.
Since the poor lands of Dragonstone don’t help him much to support his claim, Stannis focus on Melisandre’s magic and religion. He allows Selyse to destroy the sept of Dragonstone, where Aegon I Targaryen knelt to pray before his conquest. Selyse’s men, all converted by the faith of R’hllor, overturn the altars, pull down the statues, and smash the stained glass. The septon of Dragonstone, Barre tries to protest and curse them. Ser Hubard Rambton and his three sons try to defend the sept and kill four of the Queen’s men, but eventually Ser Hubard and one of his sons are defeated and killed by the soldiers. Lord Guncer Sunglass is a pious man, devoted to the Seven, who annoyed often Stannis about his devotion. After the sept of Dragonstone is burned by Melisandre and Selyse, he learns that King Stannis allowed it and he’s not going to punish anyone for this. Sunglass approaches Stannis and withdraws his support for him. Stannis has him promptly thrown into the cells, alongside Septon Barre and the two surviving sons of Hubard Rambton. Davos is both surprised and disappointed that Stannis allowed this heresy to happen, he strongly dislikes Stannis’s conversion to the Lord of Light. In fact the King has now officially denied the Faith of the Seven and embraced R’hllor as the official religion of House Baratheon of Dragonstone. He changes the original crowned Baratheon stag and takes his own personal banner: a crowned stag within a red heart surrounded by a blaze of orange fire on a field of sun yellow. Stannis however, only seeks the power that Melisandre promises him. He doesn’t really care which god his followers want to serve, as long as they serve their king.
That night, hundreds of men watch Lady Melisandre burning the old statues of the Seven as an offer to R’hllor. The statues were originally carved from the masts of the ships that carried the first Targaryens from Valyria, but that did not saved them from Stannis’s indifference. Davos watches with his two eldest sons, Allard and Dale, while feeling ill for the heresy that Stannis and Selyse are committing. The lords are wordless, while Lord Velaryon keeps looking at Stannis. The King of Dragonstone watches impassively as the statues are burned. Melisandre recounts an ancient prophecy that at the end of a long summer, when the stars bleed and darkness falls over world, Azor Ahai will be reborn and draw the burning sword Lightbringer from the fire and destroy the darkness. The Red Woman proclaims Stannis to be the prophet and savior Azor Ahai come again to save the world from darkness and the dead, who will rise again. Stannis tries to take the mantle of Azor Ahai by plunging a sword into the pyre of the burning relics of the Seven. He marches forward to take his sword, Lightbringer, and when he pulls the sword out, it glows with a magical light, but it's not actually hot, and the sword of Azor Ahai should both be shiny and radiate heat.
Later Salladhor Saan brings more news for Stannis; Tyrion Lannister now controls the capital as Hand of the King and Janos Slynt has been driven out, sent to the Wall. The city is only mainly defended by the few inexperienced goald cloaks of the City Watch. Stannis agreed to pay Salladhor with gold, but the pirate also wants the Queen to warm his bed for at least one night. Lord Salladhor urges a surprise attack on King’s Landing, but both Stannis and Davos know that they couldn’t hold it for long, alone against both Tywin Lannister and Renly Baratheon. The King refuses to sail until his god shows the right moment.
Finally Stannis Baratheon officially declares to the world that he’s the rightful king, and that King Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella are the product of incest between Cersei and Jaime Lannister. He has hundreds of letters distributed throughout all the Seven Kingdoms, from the north to all the south. Stannis wants all of their 117 ravens to carry the letters across the realm, knowing that most of the letters will just be burnt by those who support other kings. Stannis has Davos carry the message to Gulltown, the Fingers, the Three Sisters, and White Harbor, while Dale Seaworth has to carry the message past Cape Wrath and the Broken Arm, all along the coast of Dorne as far as the Arbor. Stannis also plans to send Allard Seaworth to carry his claim to the Free Cities, so all the world will know about his claim. However Davos reminds that they have no proof. All of Robert’s known bastards are now dead, and nobody knows how many of his bastards might be alive. Stannis says there’s a proof at Storm’s End, and it’s Edric Storm, who’s the very image of a young Robert Baratheon, while Joffrey and Tommen look nothing like him.
Davos tries to warn Stannis about his new religion. Burning statues of the Seven and destroy septs won’t help his cause. People will never accept Stannis if he takes away their gods in favour of a foreign one. Stannis doesn’t care, stating that people have never loved him anyway. Stannis is not devout to any god, all he knows is that Melisandre has power and he means to use it. There will be no more begging or laughing. The throne is his, and Stannis knows that half of his men are afraid of Melisandre. He wants to find out what she can do and give to him.
Stannis’s message becomes known to everyone in the realm. Every castle, port, town, and village receives it, like Bran Stark at Winterfell, his brother Robb at Riverrun, Tywin Lannister at Harrenhal, Balon Greyjoy at Pyke, and Renly in the roseroad. Letters arrive in the crownlands, and this infuriates Queen Cersei, who demands the letters to be destroyed. She rages about being accused of incest, adultery, and treason, all of the accusations being all true. Tyrion decides to use the Lord of Light and Melisandre as propaganda against Stannis, and says that they must do nothing about Stannis’s letters, avoiding to show that they fear the truth. They let people talk about what they want until they will grow bored. As a response to Stannis’s message, the Lannisters spread a false rumor that Stannis’s daughter, Shireen, is a bastard of Queen Selyse and the fool Patchface. With this rumor, lack of proof, and having no support nor love of nobles and smallfolk, Stannis’s proclamation ends as little more than tavern gossip, made up to excuse the rebellion of a jealous uncle. When Lord Bran receives the letter in which Stannis proclaims himself King of Westeros, he declares that his brother Robb will defeat Stannis.
Still at Dragonstone Stannis and Melisandre talk about Renly. Melisandre has seen two futures in her flames: one in which Stannis is defeated in King’s Landing by Renly, and one in which he sails to Storm’s End, where his brother shall die, and his men to flock to Stannis. Finally the king makes a decision, while he and Melisandre start to get closer. Stannis sails for Storm’s End, leaving Selyse and Axell to control Dragonstone.
Stannis arrives in the stormlands and besieges Storm’s End, unwilling to let the storm lords and Renly’s treason go unnoticed. He encircles the castle with his small host and blocks it from the sea with his superior naval force. Ser Cortnay Penrose, castellan of Storm’s End, holds the Baratheon fortress and sends a message to seek help. King Renly had just met Catelyn Stark when a messenger arrives at Bitterbridge with news that Lord Stannis is at the gates of Storm’s End and calls himself King Stannis. Renly’s original war plan changes, and he rides with his stormlords and a few Reach lords, leaving at Bitterbridge most of his force from Highgarden. Soon King’s Landing receive the news as well, making Cersei and Tyrion happy. The two celebrate the fact that Stannis and Renly are most likely going to battle, so whoever loses it’s a victory for them. Tywin is also made aware of this at Harrenhal.
Stannis meets his brother Renly and Catelyn Stark outside Storm’s End. His men already started to build more siege weapons. Catelyn sees how insignificant Stannis’s army his, 5,000 men against Renly’s 20,000 men and the garrison of the castle. At the parley Stannis brings with him Melisandre as well, he’s surprised to find Catelyn in the stormlands and he promises justice for Ned Stark’s death and that he will find Sansa and Arya in King’s Landing, alive or dead. Stannis demands loyalty and obedience from Renly, as the latter owes it to him as the elder brother and rightful king. He also despises the fact that Robb and Catelyn are siding with Renly, when Eddard Stark died for Stannis’s claim. Catelyn tries to tell that Robb is King in the North by the lords and people, and can be a friend and ally to both Stannis and Renly. Stannis coldly replies that kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies, showing that he has no desire to have friends or be loved, but only wants absolute obedience. The parley between Renly and Stannis doesn't go anywhere and fails to reconcile them. The two only insult and mock each other until they agree to start the battle at dawn.
That night Melisandre gives birth to a shadow creature known as “shadow assassin”, or just “shadow”. The creature is Stannis’s “son”, as it’s born from a sexual intercourse between him and Melisandre. The shadow appears in Renly’s tent, Catelyn and Brienne with him at the moment. At the same time Stannis had gone to sleep. A breeze seems to fling open the tent flap and suddently Catelyn sees the shadow being that cuts Renly’s throat in front of her and Brienne. At the very same time, Stannis witness the event as well through a dream, and he perceives the assassination of Renly as his own action, seeing himself opening Renly’s throat while Brienne screams. The shadow disappears. Stannis awakes and finds himself to have been fallen from the bed, sweating. Brienne is publicly blamed for Renly’s murder and Catelyn thinks how all of Renly’s power will now belong to Stannis, won in a single evil stroke; a chill goes through her as she recalls Stannis's threat that Robb's time will come. The lords present have no choice but to side with the last Baratheon.
With Renly’s death, all of the storm lords are now terrified of Stannis’s revenge, and immediately go over to the merciless king. The first one to do so is Lord Alester Florent, the uncle of Queen Selyse and head of the Florents. Nearly all of the stormlands and several lords of the Reach join with King Stannis. Blinded by grief and rage, Ser Loras wants to fight Stannis and avenge the death of his lover, but Stannis’s host is now huge, so he flees back to Bitterbridge with a fifth of the cavalry and some nobles, with them Mathis Rowan, Randyll Tarly, and Arwyn Oakheart, not wanting to serve Stannis Baratheon. With the support of House Florent, Selyse’s influence on Stannis becomes greater. The King sends two knights, Ser Parmen Crane and his brother-in-law Ser Erren Florent, to Bitterbridge to recruit the Reach and stormlands infantry still camped at Bitterbridge, the better part of Renly’s army. Stannis commands Ser Cortnay Penrose to yield Storm’s End, but the castellan doesn’t believe Renly’s death and demands they show his body to him, but Renly’s corpse has gone missing. Old Penrose decides to resist out of fear of what Stannis might do to Robert’s bastard, Edric Storm, as Cortnay sees him as a son. Stannis refuses to leave Storm’s End to sail for King’s Landing, because Melisandre’s flames show him taking Storm’s End and the bastard. He keeps besieging Storm’s End, losing patience every day as he want to take the Iron Throne soon. He starts having terrible nightmares every time, and dreams again about killing Renly. Only Melisandre can soothe him to sleep, and Stannis finds himself to having sex regularly with Melisandre in his tent.
Meanwhile the Greyjoys officially enter the war and invade the North, raiding the coast, pillaging, and raping. With this rebellion, King Balon Greyjoy provokes Stannis Baratheon, who was already planning to deal with the Iron Islands, by invading the North and weakening Robb Stark’s power. Stannis makes himself an enemy to almost all of the Seven Kingdoms and now, out of the Five Kings, he’s the one who leads the biggest army.
While Stannis keeps besieging Storm’s End, Lord Tywin leeaves Harrenhal with his host, meaning to attack Edmure Tully and Robb Stark. People of Riverrun ask Catelyn if there’s hope of aid from the south, but Catelyn doesn’t know what to say about Stannis, as he declared himself as an enemy. She simply states that Stannis has made a common cause with a power greater and darker. Edmure receives a letter from the castellan Ser Cortnay Penrose, who fears for Edric’s life and asks for help against Stannis. Catelyn wants to warn Robb, who’s in the westerlands, about Stannis being hostile to them. Meanwhile King’s Landing falls into chaos as a result of Renly and Robb’s actions, that led the capital to starve. There’s hatred against King Joffrey, the Lannisters, and the High Septon, the latter is killed during a furious riot that occurs right after Princess Myrcella and Ser Arys Oakheart leave the city for Dorne. King’s Landing is now full of conspirators who plan to have the population and the sellswords fighting for Stannis Baratheon, when the time comes.
Ser Davos Seaworth arrives in the stormlands, having delivered his message throughout the realm. The siege of Storm’s End keeps going on until Stannis runs out of patience and meets Cortnay Penrose for a parley. Stannis makes him notice that no one will come to help him, and orders him to surrender the castle and kneel to him. Penrose, who’s also angry at Melisandre and the lords who supported Renly, refuses and challenges Stannis to a single combat. Stannis rejects him and replies that he will take the castle if he must. The king however respects his loyalty, unlike the other lords in his army, especially his new Hand of the King, Lord Alester Florent, who changed not only sides, but gods too, being now a follower of R’hllor. Stannis’s new bannermen, such as Bryce Caron, Ronnet Connington, Eldon Estermont, and Guyard Morrigen, try to make themselves look good in front of him, and offer several ideas, like offering themselves to duel against Penrose, leaving a force to storm the castle, or threaten to kill Cortnay’s hold father, Lord Penrose. Annoyed by the false courtesies of Renly’s former supporters, Stannis doesn’t fall for them and dismisses them for Davos.
Stannis refuses to leave Storm’s End until he takes it, otherwise the lords will consider him defeated there. He wants the boy Edric, as Melisandre saw Cortnay’s death and Stannis’s victory in the flames. Stannis makes it clear that the only reason he’s after the Iron Throne is because of his duty as the last trueborn Baratheon. He fights for his duty to Shireen, to clean the name of his family from Joffrey’s deeds and Cersei’s lies, and liberating the realm from all those usurpers and traitor that made his kingdom bleed. Stannis refuses to forgive and forget, and promises he will avenge the deaths of Jon Arryn, Robert Baratheon, and Eddard Stark by killing Cersei and her children. After that he plans to execute every noble in King's Landing, which Davos considers a merciless thing to do.
Stannis orders Davos to smuggle Melisandre beneath Storm's End, as its walls are warded against magic. In a cavern under the castle Melisandre gives birth to another shadow assassin, kills Cortnay, making him fall from a wall. Lord Elwood Meadows, surrenders the castle.Stannis leaves Ser Gilbert Farring as his castellan, with Elwood as his second and 200 men at his command. He burns the godswood as an offering to R'hllor. Unaware that Parmen Crane and Erren Floren failed to recruit the rest of Renly's army and were captured by the Tyrells, Stannis marches north towards King's Landing as his fleet prepares to join him in an amphibious assault.
At King's Landing the new High Septon warns the population about Stannis being an heretic who means to burn the Great Sept of Baelor. Tyrion sends out his remaining 150 Vale mountain clansmen to harass Stannis's flanks and kill his scouts in the kingswood. Stannis's vanguard, led by Ser Guyard Morrigen, arrives early, and Joffrey's war galleys are dispatched to exchange arrows with his forces.
Thanks to Edmure Tully, Tywin Lannister is made aware of Stannis's fleet sailing for the capital, and marches with his host to engage him.
Stannis's fleet sails up the Blackwater Rush with almost all their strength. Here they faces wildfire, a river-spanning chain. and many other defenses. Stannis refuses to give up and almost manage to win the battle, his men attacking many gates of King's Landing. The battle seems to be lost for the Lannister until the surprise relief force arrives, commanded by Tywin Lannister, and with him Mace Tyrell, Garlan Tyrell, Randyll Tarly, and Kevan Lannister. Ser Garlan leads the vanguard, dressed in Renly Baratheon's armor, causing panic and confusion amongst Stannis's ranks, terrified by "Renly's ghost". Many storm lords and Stannis's main commanders are killed. Divided and surprised, Stannis's host breaks, with many of his lords bannermen switching allegiance mid-battle. Stannis is furious and insists to fight, but he's dragged away by Ser Justin Massey and Ser Richard Horpe. Ser Rolland Storm leads a rearguard action involving thousands of men that allows some Stannis loyalists, chiefly Florents, to escape, along with Stannis himself on the Lysene galleys which had been left in Blackwater Bay while the rest of the fleet burned. The battle is lost.
Stannis survives, but the battle is a heavy defeat for House Baratheon of Dragonstone and his claim. He finds himself back at Dragonstone, cut off from the war and forced to hide. Most of the captured storm lords and men of the Reach bend the knee to King Joffrey. The Battle of the Blackwater and Stannis's defeat signs the end of the war, the Lannister-Tyrell alliance, and the failure of Robb Stark's cause, who was counting on Stannis to defeat the Lannisters, leading to the imminent defeat of the northmen.
Game of Thrones
In season 5 Stannis sacrificed his daughter Shireen to the Lord of Light, burning her alive on the pyre, crossing the Moral Event Horizon, and doing something that even someone like Cersei would not. After this act, many fans of the show rejected Stannis, even if his action was intended to be for the greater good.
In the novels Stannis doesn't burn Shireen, and it seems unlikely he will do it. It's also phisically impossible for him to burn his daughter, as he's already fighting the Boltons, while Shireen is at the Wall with Selyse and Melisandre.
Villainous Actions
- Had his brother Renly assassinated.
- Had Cortnay Penrose assassinated.
- Allowed the destruction and burning of sacred religious places, like the sept of Dragonstone and the godswood of Storm's End. Also considered burning the godswood of Winterfell.
- Didn't punish Selyse and Melisandre for burning non believers alive, like Guncer Sunglass.
- Allowed Melisandre to burn many non believers alive including his own brother-in-law Axell Florent in the TV series or his uncle-in-law Alester Florent in the books, although that was due to treason rather than religious belief.
- Tried to sacrifice his illegitimate nephew Gendry/Edric Storm in an attempt to gain more power with the Stone Dragons of Dragonstone.
- Had Mance Rayder burned alive after he refused to kneel. In the novels Mance was executed for being a deserter of the Night's Watch, however he is still alive in the books, because the Lord of Bones "Rattleshirt" was glamoured by Melisandre to appear as Mance.
- Sent Davos away so he could murder his daughter without any interference.
- Burned his beloved daughter Shireen alive to ensure his victory against the Boltons.
Trivia
- Many show fans who supported Stannis throughout the seasons immediately turned against him after he murdered Shireen
- Book readers were more shocked about Stannis's death, rather than Jon's. Stannis is still alive in the novels, while Jon's death had already been written years ago, and it was also implied he would return to life.