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Showrunner Explains New “Game of Thrones” Shocking Death on “Dance of Dragons” - Spoilers

Dan Weiss says Stannis’s sacrifice was meant to be horrible

Jun 8, 2015 07:30 GMT  ·  By
Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon from HBO's “Game of Thrones”
   Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon from HBO's “Game of Thrones”

“Game of Thrones” is making a sport out of upsetting fans with what they perceive as gratuitous violence and / or lazy writing, and last night’s episode “The Dance of Dragons” was no exception to that. It all happened for a reason, though, showrunner Dan Weiss tells Entertainment Weekly.

Weiss explains that, in order to understand the latest twist in the plot and to see how what happened made sense in Stannis and Melisandre’s mind, we have to see the world through their eyes and not let our feelings towards a particular character sway us in their favor.

*If you’re yet to see “The Dance of Dragons,” please be advised that this article contains major spoilers that you could avoid if you stopped reading any further.*

A necessary death that was meant to be horrifying

As made clear by Melisandre in the previous episode, Stannis had two choices: either accept defeat by the Boltons and death by freezing, or sacrifice someone of his royal blood to the Lord of Light for a chance to escape.

At her urging, Stannis chose the latter, having his own daughter Shireen burned at the stake. It wasn’t so much the actual death that sent shivers down fans’ spine, but her walk towards her death and seeing it all reflected on her face, from her initial confusion to the moment when she understood what was happening.

Add to that the fact that, just earlier in the season, Stannis and Shireen had shared a moment when he had assured her of his love in spite of her condition, and you get the perfect recipe for a stomach-churning scene.

And this is precisely how it turned out. Weiss says it was on purpose.

“Horrible things happening to people in this show, and this is one that we thought was entirely [narratively] justified,” Weiss tells the trade publication. “It was set-up by the predicament that Stannis was in. It will be awful to see, but it’s supposed to be awful.”

It’s a matter of perspective

To understand how Shireen’s death made sense, viewers should attempt to see the world through Stannis and Melisandre’s eyes, Weiss continues. To them, magic is real and powerful, and more important than any human life, even if it that’s of a close relative. To them, the ultimate goal trumps personal lives, so Shireen was disposable from the get-go.

Fans were upset by the scene, but only because they had previously allowed themselves to feel for Shireen, Weiss adds.

He compares her death to a scene in which viewers are shown a dog being crushed to death on the big screen: it’s the most horrible thing ever. Say, for instance, that in the same movie a building is shown being destroyed by a superhero: viewers imagine there are about 5,000 people in it and that they’re already dead, and because they don’t know them, the scene has no emotional impact, let alone one of the same intensity as in the scene with the dog.

Because fans had been rooting for Shireen, her death was considered “too much.” As you can see from the Twitter samples below, it was just that.

So, do you agree with Weiss or with the outraged fans? Let us know in the comments below.