Released in 2011,Game of Thronesdominated popular culture all through the 2010s. Based on the book seriesA Song of Ice and FirebyGeorge R. R. Martin,audiences fell in love with Westeros and its complicated web of political intrigue, gruesome depictions of warfare, andmysterious magical elements. Yet the part that stood out the most was the characters. Unsatisfied with a simple good vs evil story, Martin made each character morally complex and multifaceted, making audiences even more invested in their stories.
Sadly, all of this came crashing downin the show’s later seasons, where the complicated writing and morally gray decision-making were tossed aside so that the showrunners couldmove onto new (and now cancelled) projects. Many characters lost the traits and storylines that made them so beloved: intelligent characters like Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) and Varys (Conleth Hill) became idiots, while heroic characters either became bit players in the endgame, like Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) or had their heroic elements stripped away for lackluster reasons,like Daenerys Targaryen(Emilia Clarke). One character had been on a downward trend since Season 6 of the show, to the point of becoming a background extra in the final seasons.That character was everyone’s favorite lowborn knight, Ser Davos Seaworth(Liam Cunningham).
Game Of Thrones
Nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.
Who Is Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight?
Before the events ofGame of Thrones, Davos lived in Flea Bottom, the worst slum in Westeros' capital city, King’s Landing. Illiterate and dirt poor,he worked on his father’s crabbing boat in his youth, before turning to smuggling as an adult. He made friends with pirates, such as the flamboyant Salladhor Saan (Lucian Msamati) and eventually married and had a son, named Matthos (Kerr Logan).When Robert Baratheon(Mark Addy) began his rebellion, his younger brother, Stannis (Stephen Dillane), defended their castle of Storm’s End from the armies of Mace Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths). Cut off from supplies, the defenders would have starved to death, had Davos not had a moment of compassion. Using a ship with black sails,Ser Davos snuck past the Tyrell navy and provided much-needed food for the defenders. In gratitude for this, Stannis granted Davos a knighthood, but also took the tips of Davos' left fingers as punishment for his smuggling. All in all, Davos considered it a fair trade, as it gave his family a better future.
By the time audiences meet Davos in Season 2, he has become one of Stannis' closest and most trusted advisors, and Matthos is a young man and member of Stannis' court. He supports Stannis when he makes a claim to the Iron Throne following Robert’s death and uses his skills in persuasion to convince other minor lords and Salladhor Saan to join Stannis' cause.However, he faces complications in the form ofa Red Priestess of R’hllornamed Melisandre(Carice van Houten). She convinces Stannis and Matthos to convert to R’hllor and promises quick solutions to the conflict, though they come with high prices.
Why Did Audiences Like Davos in ‘Game of Thrones’?
Davos gave audiences a unique perspective compared to the other prominentGame of Thronescharacters.His commoner origins meant that he looked at the world closer to the ground level than the highborns who were accustomed to ruling over others. He was looked down upon by the other noble houses, who mockingly called him “Onion Knight,” due to the onions he smuggled to Stannis. This caused Davos to doubt himself and show an extreme level of humility in a show full of characters driven by ego and narcissism.
Despite this humility, he always stuck true to his moral compass and tried to ensure that Stannis did the same. Time and time again,Davos would get into heated and tense arguments with his king and tell him hard truths concerning his plans. Sometimes he even defied Stannis, such as when he stole awayGendry (Joe Dempsie), Robert’s bastard son, whom Melisandre was going to use in a blood ritual that would have granted Stannis victory.Yet never did Davos doubt his actions or falter in his conviction.He remained loyal and true to Stannis, and if he acted against Stannis' interests, it was because he knew that it was evil and that, if the king committed, he would grow corrupt. This honesty and lack of regard for his own life convinced Stannis to make Davos his Hand of the King, and he proved himself a skilled diplomat on more than one occasion.
This focus on morality and anchoring of Stannis' more strict and rigid tendencies also led to a fantastic rivalry with Melisandre.The characters felt like two sides of the same coin: both wanted the best for Stannis and offered what they believed was sound advice. Where they differed was that Melisandre claimed to be acting in the interests of her God, while Davos acted in the interest of the common man. Since neither could fully remove the other, they formed a complicated dynamic that left one constantly guessing who Stannis would listen to and what the consequences of that decision would be.
Finally, Davos developeda sweet relationship with Stannis' daughter, Shireen(Kerry Ingram), following the death of Matthos in the Battle of the Blackwater. He showed her the love and affection she didn’t receive from her cold and distant parents. In return, Shireen taught Davos how to read, and came to look at him as a father figure.It was a beautiful relationship that once again showed Davos' kind heart.
How Did ‘Game of Thrones’ Ruin Davos' Character?
The end for Davos came from Stannis' defeat at the climax of Season 5, following his decision tosacrifice Shireen for better weather. With Stannis gone, the writers decided to attach Davos to Jon, even though the two men had barely any interaction. Yet Season 6 begins with Davos willing to stand and fight alongside Jon’s friends to defend his body from the traitorous Ser Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) and the other mutineers who killed him.Why Davos was willing to die for a stranger instead of going home to his wife is never given.
Following Jon’s revival, the writers tried to have Davos return to his role as the moral anchor and voice of the common man, but apart from the scene where Davos convinces Jon to pick himself up after his failure, their interactions feel hollow.Jon lacks Stannis' righteous but unwavering will.He’s never been one to consider hard choices like sacrificing an innocent life if it meant winning the war. Jon is, instead, the type who will happily lay down his own life if it means protecting others. As such, Davos cannot act as his conscience or get into heated moral debates. This leaves him as little more than Jon’s hype man to characterslike Lyanna Mormont(Bella Ramsey).
Davos also seems to get over his hatred of Melisandre very quickly and convinces her to revive Jon, an act that feels contrived given that, if Davos were going to ask for someone back from the dead, it would either be Stannis or Matthos.This marks the end of their rivalry, as aside from the Season 6 finale when Davos confronts Melisandre about the death of Shireen, the two stop coming to blows or feeling like an angel and devil fighting for one man’s soul. There is some attempt to attach this dynamic to Jon, but he rejects Melisandre’s rhetoric and banishes her at the end of the season. When Davos next meets Melisandre, it’s atthe Battle of Winterfell, where she arrives to ignite the swords of the Dothraki cavalrybefore they engage in one of the most pointless suicide charges in all television. After the battle, Melisandre simply wanders into the snow and dies, robbing audiences of the chance to finally see her and Davos resolve their grievances.
Perhaps the best example of how the show ruined Davos was in Season 7, where he smuggled Tyrion into King’s Landing to convince his siblings to a peace summit. When Tyrion comments that the last time he was in King’s Landing, he killed his father, Davos says that the last time he was there, Tyrion killed Matthos. If this was Davos written when the writers cared,there would be raw emotion equal to when he tried to stab Melisandre when she brought up Matthos' death in Season 3, or when he demanded she be executed for the death of Shireen in Season 6. Instead, it’s a throwaway line that is swiftly forgotten, so that Davos can magically find Gendry and recruit him to Jon’s cause.Davos no longer has agency and nothing interesting to say or fight for. He simply goes from one place to another on the whims of the more important characters. It’s a shameful waste for one of the most honest and devoted people inGame of Thrones.
