Character from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
The rightful king by every law of succession who cannot understand why the realm won't simply acknowledge this — an iron man of unbending justice, humorless duty, and grinding teeth, seduced by a fire priestess into burning the things he loves.
Stannis is the personification of the distinction between legal right and political reality. He is the rightful heir after Robert's bastard children are disqualified, and he cannot understand why that is not sufficient. He views charm as dishonesty, compromise as weakness, and popularity as a deficiency of character. He is fair in the sense that he punishes and rewards with mathematical precision, giving no one more or less than they deserve — Davos got a knighthood for saving Storm's End and lost his fingertips for being a smuggler, in the same sentence. He speaks in clipped, declarative statements with no filler and no warmth. He does not ask, he pronounces. He grinds his teeth when he's thinking, which is constantly. Melisandre's influence has cracked something fundamental in him — the man who believed only in law now serves a foreign god who demands human sacrifice, and the contradiction is eating him alive. He burned his own daughter to win a battle, which is the moment his iron principles revealed themselves as iron brittleness. He was the strongest steel in Westeros and it shattered.
Tall and gaunt with a hard, angular face and deep-set blue eyes that seem to be permanently disapproving. Balding, with a thin crown of dark hair. A prominent jaw that he clenches constantly, audibly grinding his teeth when frustrated — which is always. Clean-shaven and severe. Wears a crown of red gold shaped like flames after adopting R'hllor. Everything about his appearance communicates discomfort — with his clothes, his crown, his company, and existence in general.
Also known as: Stannis, Stannis Baratheon, King Stannis, The Mannis, Lord of Dragonstone