The Game of Thrones season finale was brutal, taking out six characters in one episode. The first character to die was the fanatically religious queen Selyse Baratheon, but the most gruesome death was saved for Ser Meryn Trant.
Selyse Baratheon was first introduced to us in Season 3 as Stannis’ wife and mother to Shireen. We learn that she bore Stannis three sons that were all stillborn. Selyse keeps her sons preserved in her chambers where she is confined. Her husband visits her after the Battle of Blackwater and it is then we meet Tara Fitzgerald.
Selyse is portrayed as more faithful to the Lord of Light than Stannis, as she was actually the one who invited Melisandre to Dragonstone. She is also rather distant of her infected daughter, Shireen who we, as the audience, sympathize for. This puts us at odds with Selyse for all but the final scene with Shireen. Fitzgerald delivers an extremely powerful performance in displaying the unconditional love Selyse felt for Shireen regardless of her affliction, gender, or grief for her late sons. After a final scream of anguish, (truly great work on Fitzgerald’s part) it is Shireen’s death that brings Selyse to take her own life.
Fitzgerald is a familiar face in British film and television. Recently, she was featured in Exodus: Gods and Kings as Miriam. She’s set to appear in the film Legend and is currently working on the film Blackbird with Indira Varma.
Tara Fitzgerald did an exceptional job bringing Selyse Baratheon to life. Her chemistry with Stephen Dillane (Stannis) and Kerry Ingram (Shireen) seemed effortless like they could be a real family (maybe a dysfunctional family minus the suicide and burning alive). She acted in such a way that we could see she really understood her character and I look forward to her future endeavors.
Ser Meryn Trant has been with us since the very first season where he debuted in the appropriately named episode “The Pointy End”. It’s only right that his story for us began with being assigned to apprehend Arya Stark, and it ended by her hand. During his attempt to capture Arya, Meryn butchered her beloved sword master instructor Syrio Forel whom she avenged. Trant was also rather infamous for beating Sansa on several occasions as per the late King Joffrey. He continued said fetish of beating little girls until he found himself dying at one of their hands.
Ian Beattie did a tremendous job in portraying such a despicable character when in reality he is quite sincere. He recently discussed his final scene and had absolutely nothing but kind words for Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and the rest of his beloved cast.
Before Game of Thrones, Beattie was in the 2004 film Alexander. He was also featured in the television series Vikings this year and has filmed a role in the movie The Truth Commissioner which comes out next year.
While it was satisfying to see Arya exact her revenge, it’s a loss to see such a talent leave the show. Beattie brought to life one of the first villains on both Arya and the audience’s list and his gruesome bloodbath will forever live in Game of Thrones infamy. We will miss Ian Beattie and look forward to his future works as an actor.
Hodor
I will miss Ser Meryn Fucking Trant, Beattie was absolutely fantastic in this role!
Too old ! Sorry but couldn’t help myself,i wish them best in their future roles and careers !
Surely you mean 5 people were taken out, not 6.
#stannislives #onlytrueking
Both Fitzgerald and Beattie will be missed. Fitzgerald was a fantastic fanatic and even the breaking down before Shireen was burned seemed real because she was able to deliver it so well.
hodor,
Hey,maybe he comes back as a wight with his entire army considering they weren’t burned,i guess that kinda counts as alive ?
hodor,
I’ll really miss Stannis if I’m honest. I wish they’d actually shown his death.
Chekhov’sOlly,
Yeah let’s save this for Dillane’s curtain call lol.
Sue the Fury,
Yeah sorry, I get a bit carried away because of my love for the Mannis haha.
I hate how the Stannis fans hate Brienne now,newsflash he was bleeding to death and would have died anyway or heck even worse,Ramsay found him. Brienne founding him was both a curse and a blessing .
Edit:Sorry this is the last post on Stannis
Tara Fitzgerald seriously looks like Emilia here.
I’ve not seen this mentioned before but the role of Selyse was recast. If you look closely at the first scene with Stannis and Melisandre burning the statues of the Seven on the beach (S02E01) there is a woman who is not Tara Fitzgerald who is clearly supposed to be Stannis’s wife. At the end of the scene Stannis reaches his hand out to her to leave with him and she follows. She is the only woman on the beach besides Mel.
The show-runners actually made me feel sorry for Meyrn Trant, at least in the meta sense. They greatly and suddenly vilified his character in order to justify Arya’s horrific murder, and I didn’t find that entertaining.
Pre-E09, it wasn’t even clear if Trant deserved death. Yeah, he was a thug cop for a thug king and may have killed Arya’s friend who was defying the king with deadly force, but that’s hardly justification for murder, let alone a grisly one. Thus it appears the show-runners felt they had to up the ante, which they did to a ridiculous level. I’d have preferred that Trant be left a bit more gray than painted sadopedo black just before he was murdered.
Will miss both of them. Not quite sure I bought Selyse’s complete 180 in about 30 seconds though (that’s the character, not the actress, put the torches down). Ep10 was almost a beating down of Stannis to the point of ridiculous plot. Ah well. Tara has been in so many great movies before this show, and I’ll look forward to seeing her again.
Meryn fookin Trant, you bastard. Well done, Ian!
Vinny Chase,
I think she looks like she could be Lena Olin in that picture.
I thought both actors did an extraordinary job. Fitzgerald’s last moments, when she was screaming for Shirren, even though I couldn’t stand Selyse, tore out my heart. Ian Beattie, well, I just recall how surprised I was when I saw him in interviews. He seemed so fun and pleasant. To me, that’s a huge testament to his great work.
Both actors will be missed!
Tara Fitzgerald had a fairly thankless task for most of the time with such a relatively one-note character, but she really made the most of it. The Dance of Dragons finally showed the more complex, compassionate side of Selyse, even if for a split moment. I suppose the conversation with Mel in the bath in the previous season was interesting too – she conveyed a slight element of doubt in that scene which made me wonder if she truly believed everything Mel told her.
It never ceases to amaze me the quality of the acting in the ‘lesser’ roles – we are truly spoiled.
I never particularly cared for Selyse (though her last moments made me care a bit), but Tara played the part fantastically, especially at the end.
Ian Beattie REALLY made me hate Meryn Trant and cheer his death, so huge kudos to him.
(I do think his scenes in the last couple episodes WERE necessary, as they gave a means for Arya to get close to him, so he wouldn’t have his armour and big f*ckin’ sword).
Will Charlotte Hope get a Curtain Call? I thought she did a great job as Myranda.
Two wonderful actors, both of them beautifully conveyed their characters.
Selyse’s cry was heartbreaking, Tara was great in all her scenes and Ian really made us hate Meryn Trant.
The cast is generally great and these two were really amazing.
Ser Meryn Trant.Ian truly made me hate his character with a passion.That’s a testament to his great work on this show.Same goes for Jackie Gleeson as Joffrey.Ian is such a funny,gentle dude behind the scenes.Wish him all the best.
Selyse was a religious fanatic and never liked her thanks to her relationship with Shireen.Part of my favourite group of actors on the show aka Team Dragonstone.Their chemistry was evident and glorious since day 1.Will miss their scenes dearly.Well done Tara.
They both did a great job with their roles and I wish they could have had more screen time.
It’s a shame the seasons are only 10 episodes* because there are so many great actors who deserve more screen time on this show.
* Yes, I know that 10 episodes are all that the time and budget allow.
Stannis fans hate Brienne now? Are they high?!
Last I checked, Brienne is still an honorable warrior trying to make amends for what she feels is her failings, while Stannis has, you know, BURNED PEOPLE ALIVE.
It has to be drugs. They have to be high on drugs. Right?!
Uh…he beat up 13 year old Sansa multiple times. He ripped her dress open and hit her with the flat of his sword in front of the court. I don’t think his liking to hurt little girls is completely out of left field.
Ian did a great job portraying Meryn Trant.
Both were really great secondary characters, will miss their presence.
People started to hate Brienne when she beat the Hound last season. They don’t like that the show portrays her as a better fighter than their faves. I don’t know.
Ian for Euron Greyjoy!!!!! Great actor, too small a role as Trant.
Probably had something to do with Shireen calling out for her “mommy” right before being put to death, which was actually great writing and probably the only thing that could solicit and justify such a response from a misguided and jaded mother.
Sorry to see Tara go. She did crazy justice. Too bad Ian didn’t have more lines. His delivery was perfect.
So very true. Fitzgerald and Beattie were excellent in roles that were not likely to make them fan favorites. They delivered in every scene.
Its always hard to lose the larger-than-life characters that populate this show. However, it is the smaller roles – and often unsympathetic ones – that provide greater levels of intensity.
Best of luck to Fitzgerald and Beattie.
Aisling,
Yeah, I don’t really get those people.
Pretty much anyone could have beaten Stannis in the condition he was in…
I don’t see how that makes Brienne such a great fighter.
And the only reason she beat the Hound was because he was wounded.
She couldnt even beat Boromir…
Selyse was a despicable character for most of the time, but I really liked all of those little scenes with her at dragonstone and later at Castle Black.
And I actually had a feeling the promotional photo with her in the snow could have to do with Shireen. She conveyed well her doubts and ultimately her change of heart when it came and the followup was a logical resolution.
So well done, Tara Fitzgerald.
A thing I always liked about Tara Fitzgerald’s portrayal is that, even though every word out of Selyse’s mouth was loyal to the cause, you could tell the difference between pure certainty and when she wavered. None of the people around Selyse ever called her on those differences, but we noticed.
Fitzgerald and Beattie were both fantastic and I hope this opens up many doors for them! Cheers!
Tara Fitzgerald was soooo good. She was an easy character to dislike- a fabatic, and one of the worst moms on the show, but not as fun to watch as, say, Lysa. Selyse was a more subtle character, and Fitzgerald did a great job communicating her insecurity and sadness with few words.
Favorite scene: recently rewatched “Mockingbird,” where Melisandre talks to Selyse into bringing Shireen with them to the Wall (more horrifying in retrospect). That’s one of Selyse’s more vulnerable moments, and she hit it out of the park.
Ross,
Exactly! I’m actually amazed how much the actors bring to the table even for the smaller parts. Tara gave an amazing performance, it’s sad seeing it go largely unappreciated.
If there is a Dillane curtain call, we riot!
#teamstannistothebitterestend
#onetrueking
Meryn Fuckin’ Trant!
These two were great in their respective roles.
#respectthecast
#toomanyhashtags?
My love for Stannis is never-ending. My hatred for Brienne is nonexistent. Brienne was loyal to the wrong king, but she’s still a badass. In my dreams, she changes her heart and supports Stannis.
I always find it pretty funny when ‘news’ stories about actors in Game of Thrones say something like “So-and-so will be a household name now!” or “their careers are set!”…..and it’s Sean Bean, or Iain Glen, or Ciaran Hinds, or even Lena Headey, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, etc. Actors who are established and respected and have a filmography a mile long, but mostly aren’t American (aside from Dinklage). Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that new fans are seeing these people for the first time, but it kills me how few reviewers and critics seem to be aware of our ‘cross the pond’ talent who have been active and lauded for decades in movies, television, and theatre – just maybe less so in Hollywood. 😉
But then, I’m an avid anglophile from the great colony of Canada, who probably spends too much time watching and reading all things British, and is aware that David Tennant isn’t ‘that Doctor Who guy’ anymore.
I know I’m preaching to the choir on THIS board, and definitely GoT has been a massive leg up for quite a few of the younger/newer stars who are starting out and have had less experience. But the other day I read a review that asked where Stephen Dillane had been ‘hiding all these years’, and I felt like choking a b*tch. LOL.
The Long Night,
Brienne is good people, and loyal to a fault even when that loyalty is mildly questionable. She ‘killed’ my favourite guy back in Season 4, but damn what a great fight it was, and a rare instance where I felt the storyline was a major improvement in the show.
She kicks ass and is strong as a horse, but has that vulnerability that shows through that makes you want her to succeed.
And Gwen Christie just has so much darn fun with it all. 🙂
Tara Fitzerald did a great job. Mostly a one-note religious zealot character, but one could see a strange uneasy vibe about her only child right from the last season, when she wanted to leave Shireen behind at Dragonstone, and had gone to tell that to the Red Witch, but was otherwise persuaded. She seemed to keep a close eye on Shireen this season, mistrusting people like Gilly, when it was Stannis who she should have feared.
I have rewatched Mother’s Mercy many times, but I always fast forward through Meryn Trant’s death scene – it just makes me uncomfortable with its prolonged violence, and gory details. Even though the character completely deserved death. So kudos to Ian Beattie for such bringing to life such a hateful character.
My favorite moment:
Selyse: Did you see, Ser Davos? They’re with our lord now. Their sins all burned away. Did you see?
Davos: I’m sure they’re more than grateful, my queen.
Pigeon,
Canada represent! What what!
Good points there 🙂
Kudos to these two great actors who did those roles so well. This show is blessed with wonderful cast from protagonist to extras!
The Long Night,
#toomany
#protestkitharingtoncurtaincallforlife
Pigeon,
Agreed. The Hound-Brienne fight was a great moment. Side note, I always thought Gwendolyn and Ian would be the most fun to go out for drinks with.
Deesensfan,
#noted
I also protest all curtain calls for the “mostly dead”. 🙂
The Long Night,
yes pleaseeee
The Long Night,
Rory and Jason for me!
http://40.media.tumblr.com/8b52e884e96eb64978a667eea01dea41/tumblr_nl6safTBNs1slzc2ao1_500.jpg
Pretty sure Tampa was a write off. LOL.
http://40.media.tumblr.com/b079f0227a17bbc85a8ed6f576aad588/tumblr_msq7ov7v6H1s23fdao1_540.jpg
Tara was soooo good. Her Selyse was a black hole of depression and she nailed it.
Good to a fault? Like when she murdered two innocent members of Renly’s Kingsguard (Emmon Cuy and Robar Royce…these folks had names and families, you know) in order to spare herself a trial? Yet everyone hates Stannis for killing one person in order, in his mind, to save the world? Weird. I guess that only goes to show how people just moral situations differently based on whether they involve people they “know” like Shireen or don’t, like Emmon and Robar. Moral universalism be damned, I suppose.
Chad Brick,
Good in the GoT world, yes. Perhaps loyal to a fault would be a better choice of words.
I liked Stannis, wtf? Never compared them.
Chad Brick,
Agree 100%. I wouldn’t have minded the violence of the scene as much if they hadn’t gone to such great lengths to ensure the majority of viewers would approve of it. And it’s certainly not the first time they went out of their way to paint minor villains as despicable as they could in order make a protagonist’s morally ambivalent actions seem more justified (see: Season 4, Craster’s Keep).
Surprisingly cheap storytelling for a show that prides itself on its moral gray areas.
[Although if Trant’s only vice was beating up young girls, by GoT standards he probably was a saint.]
Didn’t know that being a traitor and a turncloak means to be good and honorable.How many lords did Brienne served?Like,lords who fought against each other.I lost count.How many oaths she took did she respected?None seems like a good guess.Maybe one for the TV show if she kills Stannis(we don’t see it).Not much of an improvement since she abandoned Sansa for that.
Tara Fitzgerald has cheekbones that can slice glass ! 🙂
I first saw her in the 1996 ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ tv mini-series adaptation from the BBC,which she starred in alongside Toby Stephens.
She was fantastic in it and i’ve been a fan ever since.A pity she did not have a more meatier role, so she could show off her serious acting chops.
Ser Gerold Dayne,
Well, her oath to Renly came before her oath to the Stark girls…both of whom preferred she fuck off, so ‘abandoning’ Sansa is hardly true, when she stared out the window for weeks on end and only to leave it to carry out her first promise.
But we can’t all like the same characters, thank goodness.
Who could forget the lovely Tara in ‘Brassed Off’? She’s always been one of my favourite actresses on TV and she was just as proficient live on the stage too. I thought she did a great job in showing Selyse as someone unlikeable, plausibly unhinged ( the foetuses in a jar, shudder) after being suckered in by Melisandre but insecure and still showing her humanity intact at the end.
Ian Beattie really comes across as a very likeable fellow out of character but made an excellent job of showing Meryn F. Trant as another bullying non entity with a false sense of his own authority acting with impunity hiding behing the protection of his position in the Kingsguard. Maybe being killed by any boy whore with a sword would have been a more apt ending, but so glad that he got his due at the hands of Arya!
Thanks to Ian and Tara for being part of the insanity that is GoT! 🙂
Still hoping the Mannis wasn’t shown because he wasn’t actually killed…..
Anyways 2 small but important characters in regards to some of the stories and that was some serious overkill by Arya.
Tara and Ian were amazing ! Always a fascination how the show can get top-notch actors for smallest role !
We will miss them !
So I guess next CC is Neil and Charlotte, then one for Stephen…
Will there be a Kit one I wonder ! ^^
All I’ll say is thank you to Ian and Tara for their fantastic performances. (And that Ian seems like a really fun guy based on his interviews.)
I am very happy for these CC because, exactly like it was for Janos Slynt, I will miss them, even if they were not positive at all! Great acting is great and Tara and Ian are amazing professionists.
Did I miss something here? Didn’t Meryn F’n Trant kill Syrio? Or is that one of those we didn’t see the body so we don’t know that Syrio is dead things? Even though D & D have said that Syrio IS dead. So yeah, he kills people who are innocent too. Syrio was teaching Arya, not any threat to the King at all. Arya never had a kill list UNITL Trant killed Syrio…. “you were the first on my list” What the hell. And any man who gets his rocks beating on little girls? Yeah, time to flush that human!!
Are we gonna get a curtain call for Arya’s eyes?
I love Tara Fitzgerald. She’s quite pretty, but I love the way the show used her somewhat skeletal visage as a direct contrast to Melisandre’s more voluptuous look. She did a great job as Selyse, and was glad the show found more room for her over time. A great third-tier character, and her performance was especially strong this year. Her first appearance in “Kissed by Fire” is also part of the greatness of that episode.
Meanwhile, Meryn Fucking Trant, man. I still believe one of the show’s greatest changes was to show the Kingsguard (Ser Barristan and Jaime excluded) as not this vaunted institution full of tradition, but as what they are, a bunch of glorified bodyguards who spend most of their time beating up people smaller than they are. Most of this, of course, was personified by Meryn Trant. Ian Beattie did great work in this role, and you always knew he was a complete POS. Great work by Beattie, and I’m in league with Sandor Clegane here: Fuck the Kingsguard, and their puffed-up sense of importance. Fuck ’em.
Tara/Selyse was fantastic, and I wish we’d had a chance to see more of her. Very compelling performance.
Ian/Trant played one of my most hated characters (along with Janos Slynt). He did a good job of making Trant a completely unsympathetic bully thug. I’ve been waiting for him to die since Season 1. However, I did NOT expect him to die so brutally. It was so gross, it made me feel sick and I still have trouble watching it! Great final scene for the actor, though.
This. It’s an assassination, not a trial by combat. It was also far better than some lame-as-hell poisoning like Joffrey received (I don’t care how horrible that purple poison was, he deserved some Reek treatment in the Ramsay Cellar Freak Show).
“Use the pointy end!”
I’ve watched it several times, skipping ahead to where he orders the other girls from the room. Seeing Arya’s cat pounce to give him an eyeball close-up of the pointy end was just all kinds of awesome.
Dragging it out so he had time to know exactly why he dying, who was responsible, and why he deserved it, was one of the incredibly rare moments of the entire series that one of the villains actually got their comeuppance in such a manner.
Sure, Ian Beattie was great, which is why it’s so easy to hate the character. Trant hunting her like a rabbit was very much the pivotal turning point in the destruction of Arya’s former life and set her on the run for years before she finally made it across the narrow sea.
Sorry [not really:-p] to all those who disliked seeing her act so viciously (though it should not really have shocked anyone having seen glimpses of the soul-shattered rage simmering endlessly within her expose itself by the campfire after the red wedding and other places,) but after so long in the waiting, for Trant to essentially serve himself up like a vulnerable fat rat covered in cockels and oyster sauce; rather than force her to hunt him down in his armour and fortified surroundings at KL, that oh so sweet ice cold cup of vengeance was very much needed for her character growth to ever move on. It was a truly cathartic moment to be relished.
I don’t hate Brienne but she has gone from one of my favorites to one of my least in terms of main characters. Her story line has gone in circles and the roadtrip with Pod has been a bit of a snore. The Hound fight was awesome (though I do believe she would’ve been toast had he been a 100%) and agree that she could go toe-to-toe with most any fighter but what made me begin to not give a sh*t was when the writers brought her the Kings Landing before Joffrey’s wedding. Her “vow” to Catelyn to return Jaime for Sansa was such a blip. The writers didn’t even have her approach Sansa, instead she needed Jaime’s approval to do so after Joff’s death. Add to that, the lion’s head pommel on her sword, Lannister colors, her reveal at the inn on who she was looking for. I felt she just ended up looking stupid. She was so driven on avenging Renly, that her vow to Catelyn took a total backseat. Did make for a solid dramatic sequence though.
But back to the CC…Ian Beattie and Tara Fitzgerald deserve all the praise in the world. It was so easy to hate Trant and the ending scene between him and Arya was brutal gold. Selyse is such a sad character. Sure she was a fanatic and allowed her family members to burn but she was so brainwashed, Tara played mentally-unhinged but with a moment of clarity at the end to absolute perfection.
They may be secondary characters but this show was so lucky to have them. No matter how small, these actors made such an impact.
Couldn’t ask for anything better than what we got from Ms. Fitzgerald and Mr. Beattie.
I must admit that I didn’t expect suicide from show!Selyse; I thought she would formally sacrifice herself to R’hllor for Stannis’ cause. Maybe she did? I bet Mel and Selyse band together and sacrifice Shireen to support Stannis from afar in TWoW. Then when all fails, Selyse takes her own life.
Trant, via Ian Beattie, was an easy character to hate. It seems like his beatdown of Sansa in seasons past was not just part of his job. I’m glad Arya got her revenge for Syrio. Kudos to Ian and Maisie for providing an amazing and disturbing death scene.