Grahav said:
Lastly, I have a right to complain about whatever I want to complain and according to the notes and to most people I?ve read, I?m not alone. Enjoy the series whatever you want, but you?ll probably have to resign yourself to the fact that people who genuinely like the characters will be pissed at how they?ve been butchered.
You're absolutely correct that you have a right to complain about whatever you want. But I can't help but wonder if you've confusing "liking" characters for having a better understanding of them or their arcs than those who don't share your like.
It strikes me as a little too close to the "but you just don't get it!" argument.
Furthermore, does this particular instance actually impact on whether Stannis would be a good king, as you suggest, or does it merely impact on your ability to continue "liking" the character? If anything, the willingness to make hard sacrifices would seem to me to be a trait of a good king, assuming the sacrifice doesn't turn out to be completely pointless (which would in and of itself be a pretty interesting nihilistic twist). It also lends credence to the idea that Stannis might actually be Azor Ahai and thus pays off a lot of the foreshadowing present in the books.
You talk about "emotional porn", but, and I don't mean this to sound as harsh as it will, if what you want is simply to have characters you personally like continue to be likable and winning and never do stupid or regrettable things (speaking of which, you and I both know how Arya's paedo-hunting adventure is going to end) then is that not simply a different kind of emotional porn? All media is built to exploit the emotions of the audience. That's what makes it entertaining in the first place.
I mean, that Dorne subplot was dumb and took god-knows-how-many episodes of forgettable padding and hilariously poorly choreographed action sequences to basically get to an just-about-okay resolution while also writing out one of the more effective female characters at this point in the books, so it's not like I can't see where you're coming from on some things, but the kind of pseudo-elitist assumption of greater "understanding" just seems to poison every single one of these discussions. To be extremely blunt, Stannis Baratheon isn't a real person. Technically, you don't "understand" him better than anyone because there isn't a real person to "understand".
I don't "like" Stannis or Dany, not in the books and not in the TV show. I tend to resent any character I feel I'm "supposed" to like anyway and be skeptical of things which look like easy resolutions. From where I'm sitting this isn't so hard to understand.
It makes for good entertainment. 
