There are some characters in Game of Thrones - Joffrey, Ramsay Bolton - who are so evil you know theyre going to have to die eventually, but the show is going to let them have their twisted fun for a long time before that happens. Then there are the characters who are far too sweet and innocent to survive in such a world, and you know the inevitable is going to happen. No one personifies the latter better than Shireen Baratheon, daughter and sole heir of Stannis. Shes scarred from having greyscale as an infant, teaches Davos how to read, and is one of the few truly good and uncorrupted characters we meet. When she started to have an increased role in season 5, the writing was on the wall. It started with a conversation with her father in episode 4, a rare example of Stannis opening up and coming as close as hell ever get to showing his human side. Although he rejected the idea of sacrificing his daughter when Melisandre first mentioned it, the thought lingered throughout, right up until episode 9. If it wasnt clear what fate awaited poor Shireen before then, the episode went to great pains to point it out: first her nice talk with Davos, and then a conversation with Stannis where she unknowingly agreed to her own death. Just because it was signposted didn't make it any easier to take though, as the camera wisely chooses not to show the event of her burning, but allows us to hear her terrified screams as we see Stannis watching on, letting it all happen. It proved, if it hadnt been established already, that nothing is off-limits in this world.
NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far.
A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.
