A Dance with Dragons is the fifth novel of seven planned in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by American author George R. R. Martin. In some areas, the paperback edition was published in two parts, titled Dreams and Dust and After the Feast. It was the only novel in the series to be published during the eight-season run of the HBO adaptation of the series, Game of Thrones, and runs to 1,040 pages with a word count of almost 415,000.

Stannis Baratheon is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. He is the second son of Steffon Baratheon and Cassana Estermont, as well as the brother of Robert – lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Renly – lord of Storm's End. He is the Lord of Dragonstone, and after his elder brother's death, becomes a claimant to the Iron Throne of Westeros and a key player in the subsequent civil war. Stannis's goals are frequently impeded by his lack of manpower and resources, owing to his unpopularity with other noble houses. He must therefore rely on the counsel of the foreign priestess Melisandre and his right-hand man, lowborn smuggler Davos Seaworth, who he later promotes to Hand of the King. Stannis often struggles to escape the shadow of his two more overtly charismatic brothers, particularly Robert.