Stannis Baratheon
| House / Order | House Baratheon |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Stormlander |
| Status | Alive (as of A Dance with Dragons; besieging the Boltons near Winterfell) |
| Origin | Dragonstone; The North |
| Born | 264 AC, Storm's End |
| Died | |
| Weapon | Lightbringer (claimed) |
| Fate | Marching on Winterfell through the snows to break Roose Bolton |
| Portrayed by | Stephen Dillane |
Stannis Baratheon is the Lord of Dragonstone, the middle brother of King Robert Baratheon, and a claimant to the Iron Throne during the War of the Five Kings. Rigid, dutiful, and humorless, he believes himself the one true and lawful king of Westeros following the revelation that Cersei's children are bastards born of incest.
Stannis is a hard, unloved man with an unbending sense of justice and duty. Drawn into the orbit of the red priestess Melisandre and her god R'hllor, he comes to be hailed by her followers as the prophesied Azor Ahai reborn.
Background
Stannis held Storm's End through a long, starving siege during Robert's Rebellion, a brutal ordeal that left him bitter and was, in his eyes, never properly rewarded. After the war, his brother Robert gave Storm's End to their youngest brother Renly and granted Stannis the lesser seat of Dragonstone, a slight Stannis never forgave. He served as master of ships on Robert's council, married Selyse Florent, and fathered a daughter, Shireen, whose face is scarred by greyscale. It was Stannis, with Jon Arryn, who first uncovered the truth of Cersei's children, prompting him to withdraw to Dragonstone.
Biography
A Clash of Kings
On Robert's death, Stannis declares himself king and reveals the incest that disinherits Joffrey. Under the influence of Melisandre, he converts (at least outwardly) to the worship of R'hllor, burning the statues of the Seven and drawing a sword he names Lightbringer. When his brother Renly also claims the crown and raises a far larger host, Stannis has Melisandre birth a shadow that murders Renly, then absorbs much of his army. His assault on King's Landing is shattered at the Battle of the Blackwater by Tyrion's wildfire and the Lannister-Tyrell host.
A Storm of Swords
His cause in ruins, Stannis retreats to Dragonstone, where Melisandre's fires call for king's blood. The smuggler-knight Davos Seaworth, his most honest counselor, persuades the Citadel-trained maester Cressen's former pupil and others, and crucially convinces Stannis to heed the threat in the North. When Aemon's letters from the Night's Watch reach Dragonstone, Stannis sails his remaining strength to The Wall, shattering Mance Rayder's wildling host and saving the realm's northern shield, the only king to answer the Watch's call.
A Dance with Dragons
From the Wall, Stannis seeks to win the North to his cause. He takes the ironborn-held Deepwood Motte, earns the loyalty of mountain clans and northern houses, and marches on Winterfell to break the treasonous Roose Bolton. His army becomes bogged down in deadly blizzards on the march, half-starved and freezing, and a forged letter (the "Pink Letter") later claims he has been defeated, though his true fate is unconfirmed in the novels.
Character
Stannis is just, but joylessly so; he prizes duty and law above mercy or love and grinds his teeth at the world's unfairness. He inspires respect rather than affection. His rigidity is both his strength, he alone among the kings rides to defend the realm from the true enemy, and his curse, for he bends to Melisandre's dark magic in his hunger for a crown he believes is his by right.
Relationships
Stannis's most important relationship is with Davos Seaworth, the lowborn smuggler he both punished and ennobled, and who serves as his conscience. He is dominated spiritually by Melisandre, whose prophecies define his self-image. His marriage to Selyse is loveless, but he shows a hard tenderness toward his greyscale-scarred daughter Shireen.
Quotes
A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good.
I will not become a page in someone else's history book.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Stannis was portrayed by Stephen Dillane. His arc broadly follows the novels, then ends beyond them: pressured by failure on the march to Winterfell, he allows Melisandre to burn his daughter Shireen alive as a sacrifice, is routed by the Boltons, and is killed by Brienne of Tarth. None of these events have occurred in the books, where Stannis is still on the march and Shireen lives.