spockvarietyhour asked:

So what happens, if anything to Shireen in the books

airyairyquitecontrary-deactivat answered:

So far nothing really bad has happened to Shireen (apart from being very sick as a baby and having an uptight born-again religious mum and a boring dad with a stick up his bum).  She hasn’t had as much page time as she’s had screen time, and while book Shireen also teaches Davos to read while he’s in prison and is a sweetie-pie, she doesn’t teach Gilly to read or interact with her and Sam (we also never hear of Gilly having had sisters who caught grey plague).  

In the books, a character who I don’t think made it to TV, a wildling woman called Val, tells Jon Snow that Shireen is half-dead because of her greyscale and should be put down, less because she’s an active risk of contagion (which she hasn’t been for years), more because there’s a kind of superstitious feeling among the wildlings that she’s contaminated and unlucky to have around.  Jon disagrees with Val, and to date nothing further has been said or done about it.  Shireen is still in her mother’s care, and her father has expressed a wish that if he doesn’t survive, his followers will continue to press his claim and place Shireen on the Iron Throne as his heir.  

Book Shireen also has a few friends that aren’t present in the TV series, like her cousin Edric Storm, one of Robert Baratheon’s many bastard children who was fostered at Dragonstone.  In the books, it was Edric, not Gendry, whose blood (all of it) Melisandre wanted to use to attack the usurping kings, and Edric who Davos smuggled away and saved because he couldn’t countenance hurting or killing a child to win a kingdom.  (Edric is a child and there was nothing sexual about what Mel had planned for him, but you know how the TV show likes to pour on the tits.)

Shireen is usually accompanied by the Baratheon family’s fool, Patchface, who may or may not be unspeakably sinister, we’re not sure yet.  He didn’t make it to the screen either.

Anonymous asked:

Are you aware that George told D&D that Shireen is going to be burned in the future books?

donewithwoodenteeth answered:

I am aware that D&D claim that GRRM said “it” (thanks for the vagueness, guys) will happen in the books. That being said, I find “it” to be extremely uncertain as to what is being referred. 

• Is Shireen purposely burned in front of a large audience (including her parents) or just sacrificed in some capacity?
  
• On that point, is there a reason Shireen specifically is burned beyond the “king’s blood” stuff? Like is her greyscale become a threat and a factor?
  
• How knowledgeable is Stannis of this fact? Does he consent? Is he there?
  
• Why exactly is Shireen sacrificed? Because “weather” was a terrible excuse and made the scene a little laughable in all its horror. It didn’t feel anywhere near high stakes enough to have Stannis kill his heir over.
  
• Continuing, the entire build up of the scene both in the season and in the episode was pitiful. I didn’t buy it from show!Stannis. If GRRM does do something like this, I’d bet anything he would provide a better setup that will allow me to at least understand why/how it happened.
  
• Makes Stannis less likable than many villains on the show because even they won’t kill their children
• D&D said it’s because Stannis chose “ambition” over his family- Stannis is not even close to the most ambitious character on this show, like he’d be way low on my list, and none of them are doing such terrible acts for power  
• I don’t believe this is at all true to Stannis’ character.
• Conveniently forgets that Stannis is stubborn and law abiding to a fault as he agrees to burn his innocent, only heir alive for ~magic~ in a society that deems kinslayers worse than trash asa result of comparatively (when you think of Stannis’ past) low stakes circumstances
  

Anon, I have guessed Shireen would die tragically for so long now. GRRM confirming that doesn’t shock me at all. But just because GRRM confirmed something along those lines does not mean the scene made any sense and wasn’t just an attempt at manipulating viewers’ emotions- I mean now we know why we saw all those cute Shireen moments this season, particularly the ones with Stannis.

It didn’t play out in a logical way. The show didn’t sell it to me at all to the point where I could not believe that this was happening. The setup was weak at best. (Balon Greyjoy is still alive and you expect me to buy that Stannis believes this is the option?)

And D&D’s reasoning (that it’s ~selective morality~ by the viewers because Stannis/Mel have been doing the burnings for seasons) is just irritating. Shireen is a child, she’s STANNIS’ child, and they can’t understand how this is a little different than him sacrificing adults/people unrelated to him. Note: Gendry is well older looking than Shireen, a bastard Stannis didn’t know, and even then Stannis was super hesitant to burn him alive despite Mel’s prodding. And even if he wasn’t, Shireen is his daughter that he fought for and protected and loved. 

None of this makes sense. Whatever GRRM told D&D, it’s not this. It may share basic similarities (to even the point that Stannis gives the go ahead to Mel to sacrifice Shireen) but it’ll be done in a much more understandable way I’m sure.

(Also, is this why Brienne is so big on killing Stannis in the show? D&D always knew they were going to make him unlikable and now Brienne will be very justified or something? I can’t even begin to understand what’s going on at this point.)