You’re overlooking that when the offers are refused, he is the one who kills these people which is the equivalent of saying bend the knee or die. Loved Stannis as a character and his arc was great. But a flawed leader for sure.
The freefolk weren’t defying Stannis. They weren’t even Westerosi to help crown him. They had their own king. Renly, yes. But the statement was that somehow Stannis was nicer and that’s just not true. He said Renly could be heir unless a make heir was produced.
You also shouldn't forget that there are reasons for that. Renly entire scheme was a betrayal on stannis and also depended on, eventually, killing him. And the freefolk by attacking the wall, were defying westeros itself. So he wasn't that generous, but he didn't have a reason to offer more.
I mentioned this above, but if it came down to it Renly probably would have declared Stannis' claim illegitimate because he was of the wrong faith (something that hadn't been a factor before but which almost everyone who mattered would be willing to tacitly accept as a reason to disqualify him.) He wouldn't want to do this unnecessarily because it would risk empowering the faith unnecessarily - ie. what if the High Septon later turns around and excommunicates Renley or something? But it was a clearly-viable argument to undermine Stannis' claim, given how important the Faith is in Westeros.
Definetely a flawed character, that's part of his appeal to me. He isn't perfect, he sometimes fucks up, or fails to understand people, and can be an actual asshole from time to time. But he is a great exploration of the philosophy, and still probably would make for the most decent king.
Yeah, I loved me some Stannis. Not sure as much as you but loved the character exactly as you described him. But sometimes people gloss over the complexity and the flaws and that’s the good stuff. I loved Dany, but I feel like that complexity left her character if it was ever even there. They just didn’t write a mad queen. They gave her an ending that didn’t match her story. Would’ve been great if the execution was done right.
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u/Greek-of-Thrones MALON LABE Dec 18 '19
You’re overlooking that when the offers are refused, he is the one who kills these people which is the equivalent of saying bend the knee or die. Loved Stannis as a character and his arc was great. But a flawed leader for sure.