Tony Black on the mystery of Melisandre…
The premiere of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, let’s be honest, threw us for a loop at the end. Hands up – how many of you thought the Lady Melisandre would have brought Jon Snow back from the death we so obviously know won’t be permanent? Check out my review of ‘The Red Woman’ for more thoughts where that’s concerned but what we have to ask ourselves, after mysterious Melisandre unmasked her true self in the creepy climatic moments, is this: what do we really know about the seductive Priestess who has disrobed and sacrificed her way around Westeros almost from day one? Who is she? *What* is she? Who does she really serve? And, crucially, what does the reveal that she’s, sans magical necklace, a withered, centuries-old living corpse of a woman, truly mean?
We first met the Lady Melisandre, played with delightful enigma and allure by Carice van Houten, way back in season two premiere ‘The North Remembers’, introduced alongside would-be King Stannis Baratheon on his exile island of Dragonstone. Immediately she is a vampish, elegant and dangerous presence, whispering in Stannis’ ear and encouraging him away from the traditional Westerosi Faith of the Seven (perhaps George R.R. Martin’s equivalent of the Roman or Greek pantheon), and rather to worship the deity she adheres to: the Lord of Light. In Game of Thrones folklore, the Lord of Light is a monotheistic God called R’hllor, a God of fire who Melisandre and the other ‘red priests and priestesses’ believe counterbalances a ‘Great Other’, a deity of cold and darkness – the ice and fire Martin has been singing about since the beginning. Faith in the Lord of Light barely extends to Westeros and is primarily worshipped in the neighbouring continent of Essos where, coincidentally, Melisandre hails from, specifically the most shrouded and enigmatic place on the map of the known world – Asshai by the Shadow, the most distant city in Essos. More on that charming city later. For now, we need to understand that Melisandre is a devout of R’hllor – so what was she doing with Stannis, who has to be one of the least interested figures in Westeros when it comes to religious practice?
This all goes back to the most ancient of prophecies in the world of Game of Thrones, and perhaps ultimately the most crucial one: the second coming of Azor Ahai, “The Prince Who Was Promised”. Martin’s canon history book, The World of Ice and Fire, tells the story of ‘The Long Night’ many thousands of years ago which saw the Others aka the White Walkers–those undead hordes beyond the Wall in the Land of Always Winter–invade the realms of men, fought back by men led by a warrior named Azor Ahai, and his glowing sword Lightbringer, in tandem with the magical Children of the Forest, believed to be the first living inhabitants of Westeros. Nobody knows if these events truly happened, the Walkers passing into myth & legend, but Melisandre sure believes she has seen not just another long night in the wake of the long summer Westeros has experienced, but equally Azor Ahai reborn in flames – reborn as Stannis. This belief drives her, and ultimately corrupts Stannis into believing he’s not just destined to rule the Seven Kingdoms as its rightful heir after brother Robert Baratheon’s death, but that he will save the realm of men from the coming darkness. You sense Melisandre believes this more than he does but nonetheless it becomes his justification for four seasons of troubling the Lannisters and the North–with a city break at Braavos–before Stannis’ death on the Winterfell battlefield after his armies are crushed by the Bolton’s. Melisandre, as of season six, knows he was a false prophet, that she got it wrong – it wasn’t Stannis she saw in the flames. Maybe what she saw wasn’t true at all. Maybe she’s been wrong about everything.
Maybe not. Too much in Game of Thrones lore suggests her faith has not been misplaced, and her backstory could go someway to backing this up. Melisandre was a slave as a child in Essos, born in the aforementioned Asshai, a place tantalisingly described in the show and The World of Ice & Fire but never seen, and probably not likely to be seen; it lies near the mystical Shadow Lands, ‘under the Shadow’ (whatever that is), a great seaport often in perpetual darkness. A land with a language rarely spoken by outsiders, rumoured to contain powerful magical spells. A land with, eerily, no children. She became a ‘shadowbinder’, a priestess capable of commanding shadows to do her bidding. In disturbing scenes in season two, we witness Melisandre–impregnated by Stannis seeking a male heir–bear not a child but a shadowy creature who subsequently assassinates Stannis’ other brother, and challenger to the throne, Renly Baratheon. She wears around her neck a ruby necklace that glows whenever she conducts her magic, making human sacrifices and, in one of her darkest moments, convincing Stannis the only way the Lord of Light will help him defeat the Bolton’s & seize Winterfell is by sacrificing his sweet daughter Shireen in flame. Does this make her evil? Melisandre is cold, detached, capable of horror and brutality in the name of her God, but it all appears driven by a greater purpose, from protecting the world from the darkness and cold she is convinced, via her gift of prophecy, is coming. Importantly, she has also become aware of R’hllor’s seeming gift of resurrection thanks to a brief encounter with Thoros of Myr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZye5DQMXE
During season three, Melisandre finds herself in the Riverlands and runs into the Brotherhood Without Banners, an insurgent group effectively causing trouble in the countryside attacking hosts, led by Beric Dondarrion – formerly head of House Blackhaven, an ally of the fallen Ned Stark, and victim of Ser Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain’s rampage among the common folk. One of Robert Baratheon’s former allies, the aforementioned Thoros brings back Beric up to six times before Melisandre discovers them, stunned at his power in the name of the Lord of Light. It’s a relatively forgotten piece of the Game of Thrones mythos, with all the wars and family betrayals, but it could be among the most crucial. Melisandre witnessed Thoros restore a man in flame – is this what she saw? Azor Ahai reborn? Is Beric Dondarrion the future saviour, wielding Lightbringer against the darkness? Much as one suspects we will see the Brotherhood Without Banners again, and indeed Thoros is believed to be returning after three seasons away, Melisandre may have already found the answer to her visions, the validation of her beliefs and her prophecies, in Jon Snow. Meeting him at the Wall in season five, Melisandre took an immediate interest and believes she saw, in flame, Jon battling for his lost home Winterfell. Though she remained committed to Stannis being her own Lord of Light, his death and the apparent death of Jon has now thrown her certainties into disarray.
In ‘The Red Woman’, for the first time, we saw that the Melisandre we believed in was a falsehood. Her naked, ancient, withered old form suggests the woman we’ve seen thus far, this seductive and ruthless foreign temptress, has all been a lie. This is who she is – decayed, perhaps even close to death, maybe looking for a purpose in her life to give it meaning. Stannis, her belief she was living in the shadow of their saviour, kept her alive, kept her believing. Now, removing the symbol of her power, it appears she has rejected her God, or is on the path to doing so. Perhaps she believes R’hllor isn’t going to protect them from the darkness. Perhaps she doesn’t believe in the darkness at all anymore. Either way, Melisandre’s journey has taken an unexpected turn away from devotion, into seclusion in the depths of Castle Black. The question is, will she bring everything together and make her own destiny? If she has seen Thoros bring Beric back from the dead, and knows the power exists; if she has seen the possibility of Jon Snow as not a Lord Commander of the Watch holding the Wall up, but rather a leader of Northern armies fighting their enemies… could she not logically regain her faith in perhaps the ultimate sacrifice? A final sacrifice to R’hllor, her own life, to give Jon back his own, put him on the path to being The Prince Who Was Promised, the one she really saw in the flames – the real Azor Ahai reborn, who will fight the Walkers as we’ve already seen him do beyond the Wall, when they finally invade the realm of men once more?
The choice, ultimately, will be down to Melisandre. After all the death, horror and sacrifice she has encouraged, prompted and bore witness to, might we finally understand who she is in a selfless, final act of light and fire? Game of Thrones season six continues next Sunday, and maybe then we will find out…
Tony Black is a freelance film/TV writer & podcaster & would love you to follow him on Twitter.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
