#(well tbf he did die once already so its understandable)

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

I love how in "How the Marquis got his coat back" he didn't even hesitate one fucking second to beg and scream. No pride or spite or anything, just the absolute need to survive. And then he's told he's being too sarcastic.

I am so incredibly in love with every single word in this book istg

[a-libra-writes]

🌸⛅🥊💋💖🏥 for Ramsay boy 😏 (sorry if it's too much, lol, I don't know if I can send several at the same time, you can just choose one, I just really liked these 😅😅)

(oh my, this is a lot! tho tbf I didn’t give a limit! 😂 okay, putting this under a cut bc its a long boi)

🌸 Kissing

Ramsay kisses you like he wants to steal your breath. It’s always so sudden, so rough, and he brings you close to him like you might run away. It’s crushing, really, so you have to push him back and breathlessly tell him to slow down.

... Does he listen? Not really. 

You usually end up pressed against his firm chest and the cold wall, holding onto him as he bites at your lips and eagerly takes your lips. He’s just as breathless as you as he bites and kisses down your neck, and you wonder what’s gotten into him this time.

In bed, it’s just as desperate, but he’ll leave hickeys and rough kisses across your neck, breasts and thighs. He’ll bite where he pleases, even drawing blood if that makes you cry out and gasp louder. 

If you sleepily give him a chaste kiss in the morning, or a sudden one on his cheek in the day, he isn’t sure what to make of it. He’ll try to initiate something deeper sometimes, but other days, he looks at you with those intense eyes, trying to puzzle you out.

⛅ Sunset

Dreary as the Dreadfort was, it was still a proper castle, and you could climb to the top of the ramparts to watch the sunset, like you used to do at your old home. When you first married Ramsay, it was one of your many escapes. You hid in one of the older parts that was crumbling and wasn’t guarded well. You could disappear for hours up here.

Ramsay ended up finding your little hiding spot, though by that point, you had learned to handle him and live with him. He didn’t understand the appeal of just sitting still and watching a sunset. He was more interested in watching you.

He used to say and do things just to upset you, to annoy you, to make you cry or scream, but you never rewarded his behavior with a response. He hated when you would ignore him, and when your attention was taken away by a sunset, he became agitated and impatient.

“Just go back to the hall, Ramsay. I’ll be there shortly for dinner.” Gods, he was so stubborn, but you wouldn’t let him take this from you.

Finally, you lost your patience and took his hand. You command him to sit and put his head in your lap. He was confused, but finally obeyed. Like a spoiled child - maybe dog was a more accurate word - he was content to sit there while you pet his hair and freely watched the sky again. You can’t believe it worked.

Sometimes that didn’t work, and he brought his bow up to shoot targets he set up below. You weren’t sure when he did that. It was hard not to be impressed with his skill, especially considering how far away they were, and he was always pleased when you paid attention to his abilities. 

🥊 Exercise/Workout

You already know the sort of things he gets up to in the forest, and you’ll have no part of it. As a result of his wild upbringing and those “hunting trips”, he’s very fit and athletic. Ramsay has a lot of energy, you learned. Not even the rain and snow will keep him cooped up.

He would be so insistent on teaching you how to use a bow. If you already knew, he’d be delighted, demanding you show him and hunt with him. But if you didn’t ... You’d find yourself in the middle of several private lessons that were almost impossible to squirrel away from. Ramsay would stand behind you, giving you surprisingly clear instructions as you learned to notch arrows and aim just right. He’d even have a bow made for your size and strength.

A good way to keep Ramsay in good spirits was to endure the lessons and shoot with him. He preferred you to kill something, like a rabbit, but shooting targets was fine enough, especially as you began to improve. 

Roose didn’t think a lady should learn such things, but you were keeping his bastard out of his hair, so he didn’t complain.

💋 Intimacy 

He is rough and there’s rarely a reprieve from that. He always holds you a little too tight, kisses a little too hard, leaves one too many marks along your neck and collarbone. It doesn’t help that he has the energy level of a terrier, so he wants to keep going well after your legs are jelly. 

It surprised you how close he wanted you, how he wanted your hands on him - he’d put them there himself if he had to. He’d want you to kiss him back, to bite him, drag your nails down his back until he bleeds. Almost like with the kissing, it was like he worried you’d just disappear into the air if he let you go for a moment.

His favorite is when you’re facing him or in his lap, so he can trap you and keep you from squirming away. He doesn’t care about children or heirs, so if you don’t want him finishing inside you, he’ll listen and do it elsewhere which is fine because he likes to lick it off you.

When you try to slow him down, try to be a little more tender, it confuses him. He gets an uncomfortable knot in his stomach, and he wonders what to do. When you hold his face gently, or brush his hair away from his sweaty brow, or gently apologize for the bright red scratches you left on him... He doesn’t know what to do. It isn’t familiar... It isn’t bad, but ... 

The nights you’re most in control is when he’s utterly exhausted, totally physically spent, but still insists on being intimate with you. That’s when you can push him on his back and tell him what you want, and he’ll go along, too intrigued and tired to argue with you.

💖 Pregnancy

No surprise, Ramsay doesn’t heed his father at all when Roose goes on about producing an heir. Seven hells, he’s only a lord in title, it’s you and Roose who are doing a majority of running the Dreadfort. Roose often directed his frustrations at you - should you fail to do your duty as a proper wife, he’d find a way for you to be ... replaced.

It’s not like it was difficult to end up with child, given how often Ramsay wanted you. It happened, and when you told him, he was confused for only a moment. Ramsay simply shrugged, saying his father would finally stop bothering the two of you about it. So that was that.

He continued to not think much about it, but then you became tired. You were so tired, so fatigued, and often forgetful. You had even less patience for his shenanigans, and when he went looking for you, a handmaiden would inform him that you retired early. As you began to show, and your fatigue increased, Ramsay finally began to accept the reality. He still didn’t think much of what it meant, he thought of it more as “Y/N will be back to her regular self once that damn pup is out of her.”

(Honestly, he had so little parental love growing up, the entire idea of parenthood and children was just ... foreign. Something he couldn’t imagine.)

Ramsay hates seeing you in distress and pain. He doesn’t understand it, and it angers him that he has these feelings, but it’s true. So when you begin to really get along in the third trimester, he frightens the servants and handmaidens into making you completely comfortable, not upsetting you, walking and talking quietly, getting you whatever you need. He’d busy himself with even more hunting, getting food you especially liked, making sure it was totally cooked so the smell wouldn’t make you sick.

Roose was surprised, but pleased. At one point he made a cold, off-hand comment about how you could die in childbirth - but as long as you had a son, it didn’t matter. Ramsay turned on him so quickly, a guard almost stepped between them. Roose blinked, unaffected, but made a mental note to ensure the maester had all the tools and supplies he needed.

🏥 Taking Care of Injuries

As stated before, Ramsay hates you being hurt. He hates that he hates this. Sometimes it makes him so angry, he has to walk away. He doesn’t understand the sick feeling he gets when you’re hurt. 

The first time you cried, he was startled. For all the times he tried to do it himself, it happened when you took a bad fall from your horse. The maester was tying your ankle, worried it was broken, and you were quietly crying as he wrapped it. Ramsay was so upset, he barked at the maester to move and did it himself. 

Ramsay is very adept at first aid, actually. He has steady hands to sew up injuries, he knows how to disinfect and change out bandages or stitches. It helped keep his victims alive, after all.

When your hands were blistered from all the archery lessons, he took them in his rough, totally calloused hands and carefully popped the blisters. You flinched and tears sprang to your eyes, and he fought back the angry bile in his throat as he patiently cleaned them and bandaged them. 

Now that you thought about it, tending to your wounds was the only time Ramsay sat still and quiet.

When you pricked your finger badly from a sewing needle or a small knife, he’d hear your quiet curse and instantly go to your side. Ramsay just had to take your finger in his mouth. He always did, looking at you with those mischievous blue eyes the whole time. 

Whenever you have a bruise from something silly, like hitting a piece of furniture, he likes to press on it. He likes the discoloration on your skin, but he doesn’t like the frown you give him. So he kisses it, playing at being sweet, only to kiss up the rest of your body and take you in a needy kiss.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Tbf the heroes don't know what happened to Tenko. They look at Shiggy and see a guy who attacked USJ and tried to kill the Symbol of Peace, who organised attack on a summer training camp and kidnapped a kid, who leveled down a whole city and who now is leveling another one. They don't see a victim bc they don't know he is one. But they do see the damage he does and act accordingly.

Yeah but thats not all they see. Especially this arc. Heroes arent stupid. They have enough information to see Shigaraki as victim.

1- They know that there is no sign about Shigaraki in records which means hever never go to school like normal kids, he didnt get quirk counseling, but most importantly it means that society never support Shigaraki Tomura, if they were, they would know.

2- They know Shigaraki is mentally child and they also know that he just NEW started to grow, they immediately realized there might be some adult behind the kid. Someone who groomed him.

3- Then, later they found All For One. The person who is behind of the kid. Afo is a man who is famous with manipulating people. When they heard about this, again, they could understand. Afo made it clear that he wants Shigaraki to be successor and again another proof that Shigaraki was groomed.

4- Shimura Tenko. Allmight and Gran Torino literally know what kind of person Afo is. They even knew that Afo targeted the kid, they must’ve been understand there is something wrong with this sitution, like Shigaraki didnt become this way because he is evil but they kept it as secret. They said they will research but there is no voice since then.

5- Kurogiri. They literally saw that how Shirakumo, hero student became a dangerous villain. Not only they saw how good person can become a villain but also they saw Shirakumo is still in there. That there is a hope.

6- Noumus. Heroes knew that noumus are people who are victim of science. Shigaraki was in one of that tupes, he was being used and treated as tool but instead of thinking he might be victim, they dehumanized him more and more.

etc etc etc.

Its not that they dont understand Shigaraki is victim but easier to believe that he is not cause saving him would be hard.

Now, you might say that somes knows nothing about those informations, they dont know everything.

For the ones who knows something, they are the ones who could’ve change things but they chose not to. Like Gran Torino who knows Afo and Shimura history or Aizawa who literally ignored the evidence that Shigaraki is might be just like Eri, just like Kurogiri.

Well, for people who know none of them, i wouldnt fully blame them but problem is more like the way system is. The heroes who knows something about it, literally covered it up and didnt even warn people about it. The posibility that Shigaraki is a victim.

Because they dont actually interested in changing things or rehabilition of villains. The system is normalizied the violence towards villains that most heroes ignore the fact that villains are humans too.

You might say what else they could do? Well, many things actually cause heroes are the ones who have the power in society. They are the ones who control of the sitution.

They could talk about this subject, instead of covering up. They could research about it more. They could at least listen and trying to understand this sitution.

You might say They have no time to talk.

But funny, they have time to blame him for existing.

And yeah, i guess, burning someone alive or trying to kill him is easier than talking...

You might say But Shigaraki needs to be stop so they have no choice to do this.

Yeah, Shigaraki needs to be stopped, of course, they cant let people die. But they have no choice? This is not true.

In story, many times it shown that heroes know how to be amazing when they wanted to. They can make a lot of miracles in most impossible situtions and at least, they always try. Why? Cause they think its worth it. And in those times, they will try their best.

It’s not that they cant save Shigaraki. Its that they cant bother with it. They think its not wothy to save someone like that. They will literally ignore every evidence in front of them. Even though, Shigaraki literally showed his suffering in front of them.

You might say why they would care about murderer’s suffering but again, its about the system they are in. The way villains are treated. Just because someone is criminal or villain, it doesnt mean they deserve to die or being treated as less human being. They ignore Shigaraki cause thats how villains are treated in society and they dont plan to change it cause they are so blinded by system.

And again, they wont try to save Shigaraki cause he doesnt cry like Eri or openly asking for help. They think good people will always stay good and they will hold their feelings forever but this is impossible cause everyone has breaking point and despite heroes knows in deep that they will still ignore it.

And you might say Shigaraki and other villains didnt have to kill people etc etc but Like Shigaraki and story explained it many times;

the people in league, they were good people and they tried, they endured, until enduring pain is not being a option, since society doesnt listen, destruction is literally the only way of victims can express their pain.

So; Villains can only express theirselves with destruction cause noone will listen to them. Heroes can do something but they wont cause they dont understand the suffering of victims in society.

Now, dont get me wrong. I love heroes cause i love the idea of saving someone but in bnha, heroes are really not heroes. All hero side is have is idea of hero, ieda of justice, they are in love with idea of heroes so much, they will ignore the victims who needs to be saved.

I dont necessarely think that they are bad or good people. When i analyzie someone, i only focus that person, not all at once. Not every heroes are same kind of person. I am sure that some of them are really good intentionally people, just like Deku but some heroes are really at fault and they intentionally ignoring things and make it worse.

The problem with hero side is not that they are evil but they are in pretty messed up system and they dont even try to change it cause they dont understand how much messed up it is. Some truly dont understand, some ignores, some use this for their selfish desires, with every way, its hard to root for them when they are supporting this messed up system while ignoring victims They dont even try to understand which is so frustrating, especialy as we readers know flaws but heroes ignores and they dont even make any effort :///.

And again, i love justice, heroes etc etc but i have no intention of ignoring what they are doing right now. Cause villains at least admit but heroes always justify it and call it as justice and thats so messed up.

Lets say; I truly believe that Deku is kind, good person (he is my favorite character with Shigaraki) but i also think that what Deku doing to Shigaraki right now is wrong cause its not that Deku cant understand or do something else. He can but he doesnt see Shigaraki as worth it cause he is villain and in hero society villains are meant be destroyed by heroes. But i want Deku to face and understand this why its wrong, one day.

The reason i mostly rooting for league, despite loving idea of heroes is because league, villains are pitifull. They are live in pretty unhealthy environment, they live with heavy mental illness, they are treated as monsters and i dont see what else they could do but hero side, they are at least live in healthy environment, they have lifes, happy moments and they can do something but they chose not to. And at least, the things league, villains did are changing things, challeging the system but heroes dont do anything. I also believe that we are meant to root for Shigaraki’s group too, especially this arc.

(Hope you understand me, i dont really hate heroes and i have different opinion for every characters, i dont just divide them as villains and heroes but right now, its exteremely hard to root for them, well, i hope they can get good character developments already.)

[goddamnmuses-a]

Dan Watches: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

Alright so I did this for Episode I which you can find here. So.. here’s my weird.. live reaction/note taking/whatever this is.. to Episode ll. 

Alright so.. Once again the opening crawl is very politicy. 

Count Dooku I think is mentioned for the first time in it and Padme becomes a Senator instead of a Queen in it.. which.. is weird. 

The Naboo ships im not sure about.. I like the design but they seem too new and clean for being a prequel. That said they are owned by royalty so i can let it slide i guess. 

“I guess i was wrong, there was no danger at all” *EXPLOSION* ffs Jeff, you couldn’t keep your mouth shut? 

Nooooooo! Not.. Cordey? Omfg that was the worst death i’ve ever seen. Terribly acted. 

Ayy it’s the Jedi avengers, no but like why is like i presume the whole or half the jedi council in this meeting? Shouldn’t they have like 1 representative? 

Yooo thats live action Barriss Offee in the back... hey girrrll ;) 

actually she’s probably supposed to be like 13 or somehting so i take that back. 

 I love just all the traffic flying by the window

YOOOO it’s my boy Jar Jar aka Darth Plagueis the Wise, don’t @ me. 

Spice mines on the moon of Naboo you say? Isn’t Spice a drug but you mine for it.. there are drug miners in Star Wars.. good stuff. 

That elevator would be terrifying. 

Obiwan just like.. LOL I fell into a nest of Gundarks.. what a character I am. .. Love him. 

Anakin like “I haven’t seen her since i was underaged master.. now i can  get my fuck on!”

ALSO ITS BEEN 10 YEARS!?

“Ani you’ll always be that little boy” *Police sirens*

Anakins a little bitch

I think Jar Jar’s ears things are much longer.. but might just be me imagining things. 

She’s not forgotten you, she said your name.. you creep. 

Heeyy look it’s your custom star wars character Zam. 

Obiwan is so sassy

Anakin is pretty creepy towards Padme. 

Those worm things are naasty

Yo tbf that was some smooth lightsabering, they were like an inch tall and right up on Padme and he didnt even hurt her accidentally. I’d have killed her there. 

Obiwan just fucking dives out the window like its nothing. Mad man. 

Zam is the worst, instead of shooting Obiwan she shoots her own damn droid. 

Damn it Anakin, he’s told you to stay away from power couplings. 

Obiwan is just gonna be like “FFS ANAKIN!” this entire movie... well.. Saga. 

I wonder how Jedi pick their robes because like some are very similar and then theres like a few that have darker leather stuff, it’s like there’s a jedi stylist or something.. Someone make that OC. 

 Amazing catch Obi. 

So Obiwan is his real name but he goes by Ben later on and then Ben Solo is named after him but shouldn’t it be Obiwan Solo? 

A changeling, she really is a custom character. 

Yoo that Twilek wasn’t stupidly thin, I’m here for Thicc Twilek. 

What species is Death Stick guy! I wanna know what he does with his life after he rethinks it

I hope it backfires and he’s like “Hey.. I could be doing so much more” and he ends up like the head of a crime family. 

She didnt even change.. so much for changeling. 

....she did when she died i take it back. 

Damn the background Jedi are ugly. 

I like how this shows that Palpatine has already begun manipulating Anakin. 

Still dont understand why Jedi see the balance being a good thing when it’s leaning heavily towards the light side right now. 

Anakin “IM READY FOR THE TRIALS!” .. you aint. You a moody bitch.

I like Padme’s dress. 

Anakin just got warned to back down because he’s being a creep. 

Omfg whats that rape face. 

Dormy or whatever her name is, better actress than Padme. 

Poncho! Cal approves. 

WOO ITS DEX!

Jawa Juice? Ew.

Wtf is the Rishi maze?

Dex suddenly went sinister at the end, why? 

Yess the librarian! She’s the best. I think she has a badass Order 66 story if im remembering correctly. 

She’s very sure about her records though.. calm down lady. 

“No droids” says the droid to the other droid. 

So i presume the head of the Jedi Council is always the one who looks after the younglings. 

Awwh the little babies and they’re all gonna get killed by Creep Vader. 

Yoda is so soft, good dad figure. Best boy. 

They elect queens on Naboo.. thats interesting. 

I love the Jedi fighter look. 

HOLD THE FUCK UP THEY DIDNT KNOW ABOUT KAMINO 

THERE WAS A FUCKING LONG NECKY ALIEN ON THE JEDI COUNCIL IN EP 1.. 

.... some bullshit. 

I should really look into Sifo Dyas

And Why are there not more Clones in Star Wars... 

Other than like.. .. spoilers for.. you know what nevermind. 

I DONT LIKE SAND! HE SAID THE THING

Anakin you creep

Why the fuck would Padme even lean in at all? He’s been nothing but a creep and she’s shown 0 interest in him at all so far. 

The Camino people are pretty chill. 

That was the first bit of actual chemistry between Padme and Anakin 

Omfg the pear, fuck off. 

Also forgot to comment but theres some clear like.. oohhhhhh moments im having with how order 66 got set up. 

Has Padme had an outfit change again?

She’s got her sexy outfit on to turn him down.. seems right. 

Her make up is a bit.. much

Sooo the force is weaker with the jedi because the light sides had it so good for so long that the force is trying to balance out and bring it back the other way, makes sense. 

It’s actually his connection to his mom that brings him towards the darkside to start.. nice. 

Padme trying to be inconspicuous is super conspicuous 

I like that the droid said okey dokey. 

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY WATTO

YAAAAY ANI SPEAKING HUTTESE

I love how Watto is happy to see Ani. 

Watto doesn’t deserve the shitty life he ended up with. 

Love some New Zealander up in my Star Wars. 

Seismic charges have such good sound design. 

Thats one hell of a missile. 

Eyyyyy it’s c3p0 it’s amazing how much i’d forgot of this. 

Tusken Raiders are dicks. They know sign language but they’re dicks. 

Even Anakin is like “These are good people”, good. They’ll raise your son. 

Is that general grevious’ voice? 

What the fuck are these aliens

Awwwh noooo she waited just to die in her sons arms. 

Tbf i’d go full darkside if someone tortured my mom. 

You know what.. this Ani is nothing like the ones from the cartoon, he seems like less of a whiney bitch in the clone wars but we’ll see.. 

Cleg Lars’ hover chair is pretty dope. 

Anakin got over hating Obi Wan real quick. 

Even captured Obiwan is a sassy boy. 

Jar Jar as badass as he is.. is basically putting the Sith Lord in charge. 

So far if you dont know that palpatine is the Sith there isnt really anything obvious telling you which is pretty interesting. 

Padme has had another outfit change, another iconic look. 

And so behind the adventures of r2 and c3po

C3PO had a costume change, he’s been watching Padme. 

The fake out they have you thinking Padme is covered in magma is pretty good

Okay then suddenly she loves him.

Also bye bye lightsaber

Genosians are pretty gross

In my head they were always the same as Toydarians for some reason

I like that bug monster, i remember killing them in one of the older battlefront games.. as maybe Aayla Sekura but maybe i made that up. 

Anakin surely got the best one to fight. He basically tames it.

The fucking peck on the cheek, was that needed? 

Droidekas are still cool as fuck. 

Suddenly Jedi. 

The Jedi that made it up to Dooku is terrible, he cant even reflect a few blaster blasts.

Well.. Jango lost his head. 

The smile on that green jedi’s face is beautiful, what a beautiful alien man. Kit Fisto.

Obiwan is an icon. 

Dooku is pretty reasonable all things considered. 

Woo clones!

“Around the survivors, a perimiter, create.” Yoda.. just speak normally damnit. 

Yoo what if Jaro Tapal shows up in the new Clone Wars cartoon season.. i’d lose my shit. 

I like Dooku’s bike. 

Anakin you dumb fuck. 

I always thought Dooku’s curved lightsaber was weird. 

Rey should have done this sick ass catching the lightning trick instead of the two lightsabers. 

Jedi flips all over the place woop. 

As obvious as it is that Palpatine is the hooded Sith, i feel like they dont show his full face because i feel like a little kid might not be able to tell. 

I kinda like how it shows a bunch of clones (the basic start of the stormtrooper) and then star destroyers and it’s like.. heres where the empire started. 

Aaaaaand they’re married? so yeah.. congrats Ani you creeped your way into being a husband. 

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

I don't forget. Just believe that his obsession for law is for achieving justice as ultimate goal. Laws = Means, Justice = Goal. I don't think he would have followed Robert if Robert was the lawbreaker. Note: I did not put Joffrey because boy or not, he knew his power and did what he did. His hypocrisy is l-obster-ovable sometimes but not this. Edric is not at fault, why Myrcella and Tom are? If he gets Tommen at Rosby, he kills a kid??? How's that just? Stannis does bend for justice. I... HOPE.

Also his first concern with Tommen is that “Westeros needs a man, not a boy”, and the incestuous conception only second, and look how he tells it “another monster IN THE MAKING” that is, and given his experience with Aerys, to me, that he does make a rationale around it. That if you are born of incest (despite this not being so true) you are more likely to be a monster. But well, as you can note, my babbling is a HOPEFUL, too much hopeful one…

I say some fans forget Stannis’s hard view on justice because they do, I’m sorry. Notably, there is a great difference between justice and mercy.

During the High Holidays, Jews pray for God’s mercy, not his justice, because we know that under strict justice, sinners deserve death. When the shofar is blown on Rosh Hashana, there is a prayer: “Today is the birthday of the world, and all its creatures stand to be judged. Some as children, some as servants. If you see us as your children, have mercy upon us, as a father has mercy on his children. If as servants, we look to you in prayer until you temper your justice with compassion, and decide in our favor.” (The tune it’s sung with is heartwrenching, and often brings tears to my eyes, though tbf the sound of the shofar blowing has got my emotions up high already.) Note, “justice tempered with compassion” is one of the meanings of the Hebrew word tzedek… often translated as righteousness. Similarly, a word derived from that one, tzadik, is usually translated as “a righteous man”.

For Stannis, justice = executing examples of treason. Mercy = realizing those examples are innocent children and sparing them from death. Stannis is justice, Davos is mercy. That’s the whole point. That’s the whole entire point of Davos’s chapters in A Storm of Swords, especially Davos VI, where Stannis learns Joffrey’s dead, and Melisandre tries to persuade him that now more than ever they need to conquer King’s Landing by waking the stone dragon via sacrificing Edric, and Davos argues against it one last time before he reveals that he’s gotten Edric the heck out of Dragonstone and most importantly gives Stannis a better more merciful life’s mission with the letter from the Night’s Watch.

I’ve said many times the Amazon UK interview with GRRM is a favorite. That’s the one where GRRM says this terribly important statement about Stannis (and about the threat of the Others vs the game of thrones):

And it is important that the individual books refer to the civil wars, but the series title reminds us constantly that the real issue lies in the North beyond the Wall. Stannis becomes one of the few characters fully to understand that, which is why in spite of everything he is a righteous man, and not just a version of Henry VII, Tiberius or Louis XI.

People, particularly Stannis stans, seize on GRRM saying that Stannis is a righteous man, and that is true and very important to remember. However, what they fail to notice is “in spite of everything”. In spite of everything else about Stannis, his jealousy and bitterness and pettiness and regimentality and hard-assed view of law and justice, all his flaws. Furthermore, why did Stannis become one of the few characters to understand the real issue in the series is the threat of the Others? Because Davos read him the letter from the Night’s Watch.

“Yes, I should have come sooner. If not for my Hand, I might not have come at all. Lord Seaworth is a man of humble birth, but he reminded me of my duty, when all I could think of was my rights. I had the cart before the horse, Davos said. I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne.“ Stannis pointed north. “There is where I’ll find the foe that I was born to fight.” –ASOS, Jon XI

Why is Stannis a righteous man? Because Davos made him become one. He showed Stannis the correct path was his duty and not his rights, and not merciless justice, but justice tempered with compassion and mercy.

(But note that once they separate, Stannis starts fading back away from this mercy; all the more so once he believes that Davos is dead, executed by Wyman Manderly because of the mission Stannis sent him on.)

Specific rebuttals under the cut:

“I don’t think he would have followed Robert if Robert was the lawbreaker.”

“It is every man’s duty to remain loyal to his rightful king, even if the lord he serves proves false,” Stannis declared in a tone that brooked no argument.A desperate folly took hold of Davos, a recklessness akin to madness. “As you remained loyal to King Aerys when your brother raised his banners?” he blurted.[…“T]he truth is a bitter draught at times. Aerys? If you only knew… that was a hard choosing. My blood or my liege. My brother or my king.”

–ASOS, Davos IV

Stannis does not mention lawbreaking here, only the bonds of blood vs his duty to his king. And strictly, Robert was breaking the law by rebelling against the rightful king. Yes, many fans argue that Robert’s Rebellion was just, that Aerys broke the feudal compact when he executed Brandon and his companions and their lordly fathers without trial – but Stannis doesn’t talk about that. He only mentions choosing his brother over the king who would have had his head. Furthermore, he says, “Ser Barristan once told me that the rot in King Aerys’s reign began with Varys.” He’s not even blaming Aerys for his own crimes! It’s kind of fascinating, tbh.

“Note: I did not put Joffrey because boy or not, he knew his power and did what he did.” After Stannis finds out Joffrey’s been murdered, you can see him trying to justify that in his head, and he resorts to a memory where a Joffrey as a boy showed his budding psychopathy by cutting open a pregnant cat. Stannis never talks about the cruelties of Joffrey’s deeds as a king, none of those crimes – he doesn’t mention anything about his kingship other than being undeserving of the throne as he was not Robert’s true son, as an abomination born of incest. Stannis only tries to reconcile his mind about a murdered boy, with something terrible a boy did. Again, a truly fascinating view of the world.

“Edric is not at fault, why Myrcella and Tom are?” Yes, exactly, that’s just what I was saying. Edric is not at fault for being born Robert’s bastard, but Stannis would have sacrificed him anyway for the greater good of waking the stone dragon, if not for Davos. Myrcella and Tommen are not at fault for their birth, but they are still abominations and living examples of treason, and must be scoured. And as I said, if Stannis had been able to win at Blackwater and acquired Tommen and Myrcella for execution, I think Davos would have been able to pray mercy for them, or help them escape, as he did with Edric.

“Also his first concern with Tommen is that “Westeros needs a man, not a boy”, and the incestuous conception only second”. You literally have that backwards, I’m sorry.

“Tommen is gentler than Joffrey, but born of the same incest. Another monster in the making. Another leech upon the land. Westeros needs a man’s hand, not a child’s.” –ASOS, Davos VI

“and look how he tells it “another monster IN THE MAKING” that is, and given his experience with Aerys, to me, that he does make a rationale around it. That if you are born of incest (despite this not being so true) you are more likely to be a monster.” Stannis never mentions Targaryens ever in reference to abominations. (As he should not, since that incestuous heritage is part of his own ancestry.) He never refers to Aerys in reference to Joffrey. You’re drawing a conclusion that is baseless. Per Stannis’s own letter to the lords of Westeros, he does not say that Joffrey does not deserve the throne because he was a monster (though he was), but because he was not Robert’s son… yes, an abomination born of incest, but most importantly not Robert’s true heir.

But note, when Stannis says Tommen is a monster in the making, he’s trying to justify to himself why a boy must die (despite the fact he knows he’s a very different child than Joffrey)… but most importantly, why Edric has to die, since Melisandre has convinced him it’s the only way he can be king, with a sacrifice to wake a dragon, a dragon to scour the court. Two children must die for Stannis to be king, a third if he counts Myrcella, for his “duty to the realm”. And to his credit, he hates knowing this, he’s constantly asking Melisandre if she’s sure the sacrifice will work, that there’s no other way. That’s why when Davos reveals two things – that sacrificing Edric is impossible since he’s gone, and that his true duty is not to take the throne but to save the Watch from the wildlings and the Others – Stannis leaps at the chance. A chance to change his own definition of the most just thing to do. A chance to not kill children (even if bastards and abominations), but to kill actual monsters.

The question is, if this choice comes again – if in the most desperate of straits, Melisandre convinces him a dragon must wake to fight the Others, the foe he was born to fight, and the only king’s blood sacrifice possible is his own daughter – what will Stannis decide?

Will his choice be justice tempered with compassion and mercy, or merciless justice? If his duty to the realm, to the world, to all of humanity, requires putting his mercy aside – if there is no Davos there to be the voice of mercy as before – if one child must die to save millions… what will he choose? Will Stannis be a righteous man… or a just man?

“He is utterly without mercy. There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.”

That should stick with you. It does with me. I hope things will be otherwise. I pray things will be otherwise. But I don’t know, and it hurts.

“But well, as you can note, my babbling is a HOPEFUL, too much hopeful one…”

Yes… well… we’ll just have to see if it is too much hope, won’t we.