How Tonight’s Game of Thrones Signaled a Brutal Departure from the Books 

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What follows is a spoiler-heavy discussion of the most brutal event of

Season 5, Episode 9, “The Dance of Dragons.” Please leave now if you don’t want to be spoiled.

is going to bring with it some heartache. In past seasons we saw Ned Stark, Robb Stark, Catelyn Stark, and countless others die. But tonight’s death was perhaps the most upsetting and any book reader would agree because Princess Shireen Baratheon being burned alive to further her father’s ambition? That is show invented brutality and a sign of just how dark this TV series is willing to go. Though on the “inside the episode” feature that aired on HBO, creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff said they were ”shocked” to learn this information from author George R.R. Martin implying that the burning of Shireen Baratheon is a joy book readers may yet get to experience in

. (In fact it may be tied to—spoiler alert—another main character’s fate.)

author George R.R. Martin said, “People are going to die who don’t die in the books. So even the book readers will be unhappy. So everybody better be on their toes. David and D.B. are even bloodier than I am.” Shireen certainly isn’t the first still-alive book character to get bumped off on the HBO series. But her youth and the show’s own emotionally manipulative structure make her the most shocking.

people didn’t see this coming. That shot of a pained Selyse in the Season 5 trailer and all these sentimental Shireen scenes tipped some viewers off that the princess wasn’t long for this world. In the books, Melisandre actually wants to burn Mance Rayder’s baby. Since that character doesn’t exist in a show, another innocent needed to be swapped in to show just how ruthless the Red Woman’s faith was. But the difference is, that baby doesn’t get burned.

I mean, there’s no rooting for Stannis now, is there? So much of his character rehabilitation this season was built on his fledgling relationship with young Shireen. This will be a blow for book readers who have been stumping for Stannis as a misunderstood show character for seasons now. And since he’s the realm’s best hope against the Boltons, it’s really a fight between the lesser of two evils at this point. The only trouble is, it’s a little unclear now who gets that dubious title; the ruthless flaying bastards of the North, or the man who had

finally won us over? Either way it’s morally bleak and I suppose that’s how

has of shuffling in known main characters for minor ones to further emphasize the brutality of the world seems to hit the young women of Westeros the hardest. At least Gendry (who was swapped in for a character named Edric Storm in Season 3) got to escape from Melisandre’s clutches. He may still be rowing somewhere, but at least he’s relatively unscathed. The same, of course, cannot be said for Sansa Stark and Shireen.

shot Shireen’s brutal death in the same way it did Sansa’s rape. You mostly

the suffering of the female victim while the camera focuses on the tormented faces of lookers on. In my opinion, this unfairly shifted the focus off of Sansa in Episode 6, but I think in the case of Episode 9 we can all consider it a small mercy.

There is a slight and slender possibility that Shireen might still be alive.

is very fond of faking readers/viewers out. You remember Bran’s fall from the broken tower in Season 1? It’s

(though unlikely) that something about Shireen’s greyscale will protect her from the flames. The camera cut away before they buried the body. Though, realistically, if stone men and women were fire retardant, you’d think someone would have figured it out by now.

At the very least, this particular dysfunctional parent/child relationship drama didn’t play like some cruel Father’s Day joke this year. (You’ll remember Tyrion shot his father Tywin on June 15 last season.) So, instead, it’s just another day, another fallen hero, and another devastating brutality on

. At this point, I might be rooting for the White Walkers to come vanquish them all.

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