Renly's Peach Explained

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[lerspinez]

"Only Renly could vex me so with a piece of fruit"
Anyone with a younger sibling can relate to Stannis.

[Zafersernikli]

“Renly’s peach” sounds like a nickname Loras uses for something

[squidikka]

"I swear, I will go to my grave thinking of my brother's peach."

I need to take a break from being online... I've got too much brainrot not to have laughed as hard as I did at this.

[awesomehpt]

The Baratheon brothers would have been unstoppable if they had just worked together.

[highlandoutsider]

"its something that has fascinated the ASOIAF fandom for years"
not just us, Loras too 😅

[japre]

Unfortuntely the budget only allowed Starbucks or a peach, so no peach.

[erikvaldes]

Damnn Stannis pulling out a knife when Renley pulls out the peach really does empathize they’re different way of thinking

[TedsAssassin]

Surely the peach is also a way for Renly to remind Stannis that he has the backing of House Tyrell? Renly specifically mentions the peach comes from The Reach

[falgalhutkinsmarzcal]

I always thought the peach was meant as a juxtaposition to the onions that Stannis had to eat to survive the siege of Dragonstone, and therefore the peach and onion contrast the differences of the two brothers and how Life itself treats them. Renly is handed Life's sweetest pleasures and receives the love of people without enduring much adversity whereas Stannis must suffer badly just to eat onions, working hard through thankless tasks without earning much renown among the people. Renly's sweet peach life is short-lived, but Stannis's duty is basically dehydrated onions with a long shelf life. Not everyone would choose onions over peaches, but with Winter coming the onions would be the better option.

Edit to add that it was the siege at Storm's End, not Dragonstone. Stannis is grinding his teeth somewhere right now.

[mil_enrama]

Thank you so much for pointing out that renly might have just been eating a peach, and Stannis can't even imagine that possibility. We are all Stannis, I suppose

[toonbat]

The peach reminds me of Prince Doran's personal guard Areo Hotah in the Water Gardens. He longs to eat the ripe blood oranges, but never takes the initiative. It's not like he's forbidden from doing so, and later that night he admonishes himself for not picking up the oranges that had fallen to the ground. My impression was that he was so devoted to duty that he could not bring himself to do almost anything he wasn't specifically commanded to do.

[joseph-fernando-piano]

Stannis: "I will go to my grave thinking about my brother's peach..."
Loras: "Yeah, me too..."

[cardenova]

Well, we have to remember the siege of Storm’s End that effectively traumatized Stannis, at least in regards to food. We’re told repeatedly how dire his situation had become and how his wife never truly recovered from the starvation. Immediately after the siege was lifted, Storm’s End was granted to Renly instead of the brother who actually endured and coordinated the siege, an insult that haunted Stannis.

Additionally, Renly repeats how it’s from the Reach: the very region they’re effectively sparring over, and that Renly had initially secured.

[matthewgard]

You had me at "Renly's peach"!

[whittenaw]

I always saw the peach as renly's peace offering, as him offering either happiness and a good life or the sword. Of course when Stannis declined the peach, he was embracing the sword

[LordMorltha]

GEORGE, PLEASE!

THEY'RE EXPLAINING PEACHES NOW!

**PEACHES**

FINISH THE DARN BOOK, GEORGE!

[Dezzerray]

I don't know about the peach, but I heard Ser Loras could eat a peach for hours.

[MazdaChris]

Renly basically telling his brother to, as the young people put it, 'touch grass'.

I think it's a great literary device from GRRM, and a really good example of why his writing is so compelling. The meaning behind the peach isn't really the point. In great writing, the solution to a conundrum is never as important or interesting as how people go about solving it. What's important is how Stannis reacts to it, giving us an insight into how this man's mind works. His constant brooding analysis over minutiae. His feelings about his brothers and how he sees himself. Stannis, the lifelong outsider, immediately assumes it's a joke at his expense, or a cryptic message he's not capable of understanding.

It goes to the the core of who Stannis is, what motivates and drives him. When Stannis is asked why he wants so badly to be king, his response reflects this - what he wants or doesn't want, doesn't matter. In his mind, he's Robert's heir, and so he IS king, whether he wants it or not. It's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of duty. Stannis is a tragic, Shakespearean character, locked into the path towards his own destruction by his own sense of destiny. And so when Renly asks him to support him, he reacts in kind - he simply has no choice in the matter. Renly is his brother, who he loves, even admires in a way. But Renly isn't king. And a true king does his duty above all else - even if it means never tasting a peach.

[josephscales]

Stannis’ only understanding of power is by the sword (hard power). He doesn’t understand alliances (soft power). He thinks Renly is pulling his sword. In fact, Renly is producing the fruit of his alliances.

[nickcastings]

I don’t know if this has been said before, but the narrator has a perfect voice in my opinion, one I feel I have heard before, relaxing but also informative, excellent narration very professional!