The Only Death in Game of Thrones that Made Me Cry

While Game of Thrones is known for featuring multiple brutal deaths throughout the show, the only one that truly broke me was the death of a child, named Shireen Baratheon. She was one of the few kind souls in the show that was pulled into the war in Game of Thrones, and she was the daughter of Stannis Baratheon, one of the few players in the game that was determined to win. Shireen Baratheon had contracted greyscale, a deadly disease that could kill anyone, but somehow, she was able to survive, and part of her body was now permanently greyscale.

Despite this outcome, her pure heart never changed. She became close with Davos Seaworth, developing a granddaughter and grandfather bond, and she treated anyone with kindness. She was deeply loved by Stannis and his wife, so it deeply shocks me with what her father was willing to do to his own daughter. Once he comes across a rocky road for his men, a snowstorm that is blocking off his own army to reach Ramsey Bolton, one of the worst villains in the series, he is truly at a loss with how to solve this massive problem.

One solution arises, from an unlikely person that many people in the show struggle to trust. A witch named Melisandre, tells Stannis that in order for his army to succeed and get through the snowstorm, he must make the ultimate sacrifice. Desperate for anything at this point, and the fact that Stannis had a thing for the witch, he agrees to the plan. Even his wife agrees to the plan, a broken woman that was perfectly fine with Stannis cheating on her with the witch. (She truly believed that the witch was doing her sacred duty, instead of it obviously being seen as an unfaithful act committed by her husband).

Stannis orders his men to bring his daughter outside, to tie her up to a stake. Shireen screams towards her parents, as Stannis allows the burning of his own daughter.

The screams of Shireen broke me, and this act is when I no longer gave a damn about Stannis, his army, wife, or the damn witch. I wanted them all dead after this horrific act, and sure enough, I got my wish for the majority of them. Stannis' wife is so guilt ridden over the burning of her daughter, that she ends her own life. Stannis proceeds with his army, making their way to Ramsey Bolton. They are all killed offscreen, due to a deadly strategic technique that Ramsey had done with his army for the fight. (This would be shown later with Jon Snow's battle against Ramsey).

Stannis is later found by Brienne of Tarth, and she states to him that she is there to kill Stannis, as revenge for getting her king, Renly Baratheon, killed. Stannis accepts his fate, no longer caring about what awaits him, after he had lost his entire family, due to his own fault for listening to the witch.

I could not get over how stupid Stannis was for this. He was willing to murder his own daughter, to ensure that his army would make it all the way to Ramsey Bolton? His death was inevitable, and it should have only been his death. Instead, he took down his entire family with him, leaving Stannis a broken man right until the very end.

I freaked out when Davos Seaworth discovered Shireen's death, and I think he would have certainly killed the witch if he was allowed to. That was the first time I had ever seen her show a moment of weakness, Seaworth was one of the few men that never fell for her 'charms.'

Shireen's death haunted me the first time I saw her die. I can't stand it when kids get killed in shows like this, and Shireen really deserved so much better.

Unfortunately, she was another victim in the Game of Thrones, one that never deserved her dark fate.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn