Fans of 'Game of Thrones' were all equally horrified of the events that transpired regarding the young Shireen's character, however showrunner Dan Weiss believes that frequent viewers shouldn't be shocked at the show's grim tone.

For those that haven't seen or weren't briefed on the horrific scene, Stannis Baratheon's daughter Shireen was shown burned at the stake at the hands of her own father, hoping her sacrifice would bring good fortune to his troops.

"Horrible things happening to people in this show, and this is one that we thought was entirely [narratively] justified," Weiss told EW. "It was set-up by the predicament that Stannis was in. It will be awful to see, but it's supposed to be awful."

In the interview, the showrunner took note of the fact that people are unjustly selective on deciding which character deserves what. He reminds viewers that Stannis has been burning innocent victims at the stake since season 2 and the collective response has never been this harsh.

"It's like a two-tiered system," he noted. "If a superhero knocks over a building and there are 5,000 people in the building that we can presume are now dead, does it matter? Because they're not people we know. But if one dog we like gets run over by a car, it's the worst thing we've ever seen. I totally understand where that visceral reaction comes from. I have that same reaction. There's also something [expletive] about that. So instead of saying, 'How could you do this to somebody you know and care about?' maybe when it's happening to somebody we don't know so well, maybe then it should hit us all a bit harder."

He goes on to add, "People who watch Game of Thrones don't see the same world as Stannis and Melisandre. To those characters, magic is real and it works. That's something fun about this genre because when magic is real and you can see it with your own eyes in the show, it gives you a window into the heads of people who believe irrational things on faith. I can't really get my head around how those people operate in our world, as they're so completely disconnected from the way I process the world. So in a strange way, fantasy is a cock-eyed window into the heads of people who would do something terrible for an irrational reason."

'Game of Thrones' prepares for its season finale this coming Sunday.