Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5014364-20151004141909/@comment-15030876-20160315111728

Honestly, I think choosing a side is missing the point. The animated feature only reinforced my view —if the narration tried to hammer a point home, that was it! It was a pointless war, in which they weren't fighting over differing ideologies but two dynasties that would most likely rule very similarly. I side with Shireen on this:

"I wouldn't have chosen either. It's all the choosing sides that made everything so horrible."

That said, Stannis' retort also holds some truth: "Sometimes a person has to choose. Sometimes the world forces his hand. If a man knows what he is... and remains true to himself... the choice is no choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny... and become who he is meant to be. However much he may hate it." Yet, more often than not that line of thinking results in sacrificed daughters and equally horrifying decisions, so I still side with Shireen's more idealistic view on the subject.