Selyse Florent
   LadySelyse Florent | |
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 by Daria Tuzova © | |
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| Alias | Selyse Baratheon[1] |
| Titles |
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| Allegiances | |
| Culture | Reach |
| Born | Brightwater Keep[2] |
| Father | Ryam Florent |
| Spouse | Stannis Baratheon |
| Issue | Shireen Baratheon |
| Books |
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| Played by |
Sarah MacKeever (Season 2) Tara Fitzgerald (Season 3 - 5) |
| TV series |
Game of Thrones: Season 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Selyse Florent, also known as Selyse Baratheon,[1] is a noblewoman of House Florent and a niece of Alester Florent, Lord of Brightwater Keep. She is the wife of Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone, and together they have one daughter, Shireen Baratheon.[3][4]
In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, Selyse is portrayed by Sarah MacKeever (Season 2) and Tara Fitzgerald (Seasons 3 - 5).
Contents
Appearance and Character
- See also: Images of Selyse Florent
Selyse is as tall as her husband, Stannis Baratheon.[5] Pinched and hard,[6] she is thin of body and face, with pale eyes, a sharp nose, and the Florent trait of too-large ears.[5] Selyse has thin lips,[7] and hair grows on her upper lip despite her plucking it daily.[5] Her smile can be thin[8] or as bright and brittle as her jewelry.[5] Her mouth is stern and her voice a whip.[5][6] Selyse is not considered a particularly attractive woman.[9]
Selyse and Stannis have a loveless marriage, and the two have little patience for each other. They have one daughter, Shireen, a sad little girl bearing a disfigurement from greyscale.[5] Selyse is a haughty and cold woman, but she is protective of her daughter.[10][8]
Selyse enjoys sewing.[1] She wears jewels[5] and an ermine mantle.[11]
History
Selyse married Stannis in either 286 AC or 287 AC.[12] During their wedding Stannis's elder brother, King Robert I Baratheon, deflowered Delena Florent, a cousin of Selyse, in the bed made for the newlyweds. Delena became pregnant and gave birth to a boy, Edric Storm.[13]
Stannis is not fond of his wife.[9] They sleep together only once or two a year,[5] and despite their hopes they have only a daughter, Shireen;[3] Selyse believes that Edric's existence has cursed them to have no sons.[6] Stannis rarely sends letters from King's Landing to his wife at Dragonstone.[5]
Some years before the start of A Song of Ice and Fire, Lord Varys informed Robert's small council that Selyse had taken up with a red priestess, Melisandre of Asshai, in Dragonstone.[9]
Recent Events
A Clash of Kings
When Melisandre attached herself to Stannis Baratheon, Selyse became her most fervent supporter and immediately took to worshiping R'hllor, the Lord of Light. Selyse's uncle, Ser Axell Florent, soon converts as well.[10]
Selyse becomes Stannis's queen after he claims the Iron Throne. Within the ranks of those who follow Stannis, those who believe in R'hllor are named queen's men after Selyse.[13] Selyse's crown matches that of Stannis, red gold with points in the shape of flames.[10] Selyse tells Stannis that the red comet is the banner of R'hllor and a sign for her husband.[5] When Stannis hosts a feast for his supporters, Selyse commands Maester Cressen to wear the helm of the fool Patchface[5] Selyse prays when Melisandre burns the statues of the Seven taken from Dragonstone's sept.[13]
In order to discredit Stannis, the small council of King Joffrey I Baratheon spreads rumors that the father of Selyse's daughter, Shireen, is not Stannis, but instead Patchface.[9]
When Stannis sails for Storm's End, he leaves Selyse and Axell on Dragonstone.[14] Selyse's influence on her husband becomes greater after Renly Baratheon is killed at Storm's End and Selyse's family from House Florent go over to Stannis. Selyse's brother, Ser Imry Florent, leads Stannis's fleet.[15] Their hopes are shattered when the fleet is destroyed during the Battle of the Blackwater.[15][16]
A Storm of Swords
After the Battle of the Blackwater and the subsequent flight by Stannis's forces to Dragonstone, Stannis remains enclosed in the Stone Drum, unwilling to speak with anyone. Selyse, with the help of her uncle, Lord Alester Florent, now the Hand of the King, holds court during Stannis's self-imposed silence.[17] Alester is later imprisoned for treason, however.[18]
The queen prays at the nightfiress of Melisandre.[19] Selyse tries to help Melisandre persuade Stannis to sacrifice Robert I Baratheon's bastard, Edric Storm. The sacrifice of Edric would supposedly wake the stone dragon statue on Dragonstone. Davos Seaworth, Stannis's new Hand, prevents this and has the boy shipped off to the Free Cities.[19]
Davos advises that the real enemy is in the north, based on a letter from Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch.[19] Stannis agrees and travels with Selyse and most of his remaining army to the Wall. Selyse and Shireen remain at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea while Stannis travels west to save Castle Black from the invading wildlings.[20]
A Feast for Crows
Selyse remains at Eastwatch while Stannis is at Castle Black.[21]
A Dance with Dragons
Selyse holds a feast for Salladhor Saan and his captains before they sail south from Eastwatch for White Harbor.[22] Selyse becomes unhappy with her accommodations at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and her treatment by its commander, Cotter Pyke. She demands that she be allowed to move into the Nightfort that was to be given to Stannis when repaired.[23] Selyse's uncle, Ser Axell Florent, begins styling himself the Queen's Hand.[23]
When it is found that the Nightfort is habitable, Selyse leaves Eastwatch for Castle Black with Shireen, Patchface, Tycho Nestoris, and serving girls and lady companions. The fifty queen's men who accompany her include knights, sworn swords, and men-at-arms, with Narbert Grandison, Benethon Scales, Brus Buckler, Patrek of King's Mountain, Dorden the Dour, Malegorn of Redpool, Lambert Whitewater, and Perkin Follard having places of honor by her side. Selyse is given the royal chamber in the King's Tower of Castle Black. Selyse and her knights are disgusted by Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun, but Shireen is fascinated by the giant.[10] Selyse is also made anxious by Ghost, the direwolf of Jon Snow, the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.[1]
During the wedding of Sigorn and Alys Karstark, Selyse reverently stares into Melisandre's fire and joins the red priestess's prayers. Axell leads a toast to Stannis, Selyse, and R'hllor during the wedding feast, and in-between courses he leads his niece to the floor to begin the dancing.[7] Selyse is cold toward Val when the so-called wildling princess tells her that the free folk will not kneel to Stannis or accept R'hllor. Val expresses her concern about Shireen's greyscale to Jon.[1]
Selyse disapproves of Lord Commander Snow's plan to send a ranging to rescue wildlings at Hardhome.[8] Tormund laughs at Selyse always surrounding herself with guards.[8]
Selyse arranges the weddings of Gerrick Kingsblood's three daughters to Axell, Ser Brus Buckler, and Ser Malegorn of Redpool. She claims that Gerrick is the true King of the Wildlings, descended in an unbroken male line from Raymun Redbeard, a great King-Beyond-the-Wall. However, Tormund states Gerrick is descended from Raymun Redbeard's younger brother, the Red Raven, instead of the king, and that kingship among the free folk is not hereditary. Selyse also wants Val to marry Ser Patrek, but is rebuffed.[8]
Jon receives a letter from Ramsay Snow which claims that Stannis has been killed in battle. Ramsay demands that Jon relinquish Selyse, Shireen, and Melisandre.[8] Narbert and Benethon attend Jon's speech in the Shieldhall, but Selyse herself does not. Patrek is killed by Wun Wun outside Hardin's Tower while trying to get to Val, and Jon is attacked in the mutiny at Castle Black.[8]
Quotes by Selyse
Melisandre: R'hllor chooses such instruments as he requires. His ways are mysterious, but no man may withstand his fiery will.
Selyse: No man may withstand him!
Stannis: Be quiet, woman. You are not at a nightfire now.[6]
—Melisandre, Selyse, and Stannis Baratheon
Selyse: Robert and Delena defiled our bed and laid a curse upon our union. This boy is the foul fruit of their fornications. Lift his shadow from my womb and I will bear you many trueborn sons, I know it. He is only one boy, born of your brother's lust and my cousin's shame.
Stannis: He is mine own blood. Stop clutching me, woman.[6]—Selyse and Stannis Baratheon
We are done with Eastwatch. We did not like it there. A queen should be mistress beneath her own roof. We found your Cotter Pyke to be an uncouth and unpleasant man, quarrelsome and niggardly.[10]
—Selyse to Jon Snow
Jon: Your Grace, they are starving at Hardhome by the thousands. Many are women—
Selyse: —and children, yes. Very sad. We are sorry for the little ones, of course, but we must be sensible. We have no food for them, and they are too young to help the king my husband in his wars. Better that they be reborn into the light.[8]—Jon Snow and Selyse
Quotes about Selyse
The red woman had won her, heart and soul, turning her from the gods of the Seven Kingdoms, both old and new, to worship the one they called the Lord of Light.[5]
—thoughts of Cressen
Petyr: Ser Axell might serve for Shireen's father, but in my experience, the more bizarre and shocking a tale the more apt it is to be repeated. Stannis keeps an especially grotesque fool, a lackwit with a tattooed face.
Pycelle: Surely you do not mean to suggest that Lady Selyse would bring a fool into her bed?
Petyr: You'd have to be a fool to want to bed Selyse Florent. Doubtless Patchface reminded her of Stannis. And the best lies contain within them nuggets of truth, enough to give a listener pause.[24]
—Petyr Baelish and Pycelle
Lady Melisandre wore no crown, but every man there knew that she was Stannis Baratheon's real queen, not the homely woman he had left to shiver at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.[25]
—thoughts of Jon Snow
Those flames on her crown are the warmest thing about her.[10]
—thoughts of Jon Snow
There must have been a blizzard the day she and Stannis wed. Huddled beneath her ermine mantle and surrounded by her ladies, serving girls, and knights, the southron queen seemed a frail, pale, shrunken thing. A strained smile was frozen into place on her thin lips, but her eyes brimmed with reverence. She hates the cold but loves the flames. He had only to look at her to see that. A word from Melisandre, and she would walk into the fire willingly, embrace it like a lover.[7]
—thoughts of Jon Snow
You lied about her beard. That one has more hair on her chin than I have between my legs.[1]
This queen never fails to disappoint.[8]
—thoughts of Jon Snow
Afraid of being carried off, is she? I hope you never said how big me member is, Jon Snow, that'd frighten any woman. I always wanted me one with a mustache.[8]
Family
Behind the Scenes
Selyse's name is once misspelled as "Selsye" in A Storm of Swords.[26]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 53, Jon XI.
- ↑ George R. R. Martin's A World of Ice and Fire, Selyse Florent.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Game of Thrones, Appendix.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Appendix.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 49, Jon X.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 69, Jon XIII.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 15, Tyrion III.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 44, Jon IX.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 50, Daenerys VIII.
- ↑ See the calculation for Stannis Baratheon's wedding to Selyse Florent
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 10, Davos I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42, Davos II.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 58, Davos III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 59, Tyrion XIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 10, Davos II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 25, Davos III.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 63, Davos VI.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 75, Samwell IV.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Appendix.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 15, Davos II.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 39, Jon VIII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 15, Tyrion III.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 10, Jon III.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 5, Davos I.
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