Is Melisandre 400 years old?

[SeanF]

Lamprey, she bleeds, which argues against her having died. She also remembers events from her childhood.

Bronn Urgandy, I think she has genuinely prolonged her youth, as she suffers none of the ailments of old age. She may glamour her appearance, although she was selected as a temple prostitute, which suggests she was good-looking to begin with.

[Mithras]

Lamprey, she bleeds, which argues against her having died. She also remembers events from her childhood.

Bronn Urgandy, I think she has genuinely prolonged her youth, as she suffers none of the ailments of old age. She may glamour her appearance, although she was selected as a temple prostitute, which suggests she was good-looking to begin with.

Beric bleeds as well. And she cannot remember those events exactly. She wants to get rid of the necessity to sleep so that she does not dream. It is obvious that she is trying to supress traumatic memories.

[SeanF]

Lamprey, out of interest, where does it say that Beric bleeds? I certainly remember Coldhands remarking that, after death, the blood flows into the limbs and congeals.

Dying could certainly be one traumatic memory. So could her childhood, if she was taken from her mother very young, and then made to work as a prostitute from an early age.

[rodrik Cassel]

nope.

[Morienthar]

From what we got from her POV's it sort of suggests that she is reasonably young maybe in her early 40's or at the most 50. Unless she is lying to herself.

[Iona]

Lamprey, out of interest, where does it say that Beric bleeds? I certainly remember Coldhands remarking that, after death, the blood flows into the limbs and congeals.

Dying could certainly be one traumatic memory. So could her childhood, if she was taken from her mother very young, and then made to work as a prostitute from an early age.

On Beric bleeding, there's at least one example when he's preparing for the duel against the Hound.

Unsmiling, Lord Beric laid the edge of his longsword against the palm of his left hand, and drew it slowly down. Blood ran dark from the gash he made, and washed over the steel.

And then the sword took fire.

And to disprove he's similar to Coldhands or other wights that have all the blood in their extremities, here's what happens when the duel ends.

... but the burning sword snapped in two, and the Hound’s cold steel plowed into Lord Beric’s flesh where his shoulder joined his neck and clove him clean down to the breastbone. The blood came rushing out in a hot black gush.

[SeanF]

Iona, many thanks.

[jet199]

On Beric bleeding, there's at least one example when he's preparing for the duel against the Hound.

Unsmiling, Lord Beric laid the edge of his longsword against the palm of his left hand, and drew it slowly down. Blood ran dark from the gash he made, and washed over the steel.

And then the sword took fire.

And to disprove he's similar to Coldhands or other wights that have all the blood in their extremities, here's what happens when the duel ends.

... but the burning sword snapped in two, and the Hound’s cold steel plowed into Lord Beric’s flesh where his shoulder joined his neck and clove him clean down to the breastbone. The blood came rushing out in a hot black gush.

This actually fits with Mel's bleeding as her blood burns and smokes. I doubt she is just having her period.

[Andros Sotherton]

Yeah, I don't really buy her being ridiculously old. Doesn't she have her period during her vision in ADWD? I think there's certainly some sort of glamor bestowed upon her by Rhaegar's ruby but I'm not sure she's 400 years old.

Woah, wait a minute! Rhaegar's ruby?

[Mithras]

Mel is the daughter of Shiera and Bloodraven which makes her old but not that old.

This actually fits with Mel's bleeding as her blood burns and smokes. I doubt she is just having her period.

In the post I linked, I gave more evidences of what Mel felt was in agreement with Beric's description of resurrection by fire.

[Rooseman]

From what we got from her POV's it sort of suggests that she is reasonably young maybe in her early 40's or at the most 50. Unless she is lying to herself.

What makes you say that? If anything, her POV does suggest that she's way older than she appears.

[Mikkel]

Woah, wait a minute! Rhaegar's ruby?

I'm pretty sure there's no reason to believe Melisandre's rubies are in any way connected to Rhaegar's - or if there is it's the first I've heard of it.

[SeanF]

Despite looking like she's in her thirties, she makes a very curious comments in her POVs;

That said, we don't really know how old she is, since even she seems to have lost track of her age.

"R'hllor provided her with all the food she needed *but that was something best concealed from mortal men* " implies that she's no longer mortal.

[SeanF]

Beric bleeds as well. And she cannot remember those events exactly. She wants to get rid of the necessity to sleep so that she does not dream. It is obvious that she is trying to supress traumatic memories.

At the end of the paragraph about her needing little sleep, and fearing to dream, we get "Melony" she thought "Lot Seven" repeated for the second time. If she is suppressing traumatic memories, they must relate to her enslavement.

[Thucydides]

I'm pretty sure there's no reason to believe Melisandre's rubies are in any way connected to Rhaegar's - or if there is it's the first I've heard of it.

Yeah, there's really no more chance that Melisandre's rubies come from Rhaegar than the rubies in the hilts of Tywin's red/black swords that he crafted from Ice. Nor is there any reason to suppose that Rhaegar's rubies are magic or related at all to the God of Fire.

Let's face it, there are plenty of rubies in Westeros.

[Thucydides]

At the end of the paragraph about her needing little sleep, and fearing to dream, we get "Melony" she thought "Lot Seven" repeated for the second time. If she is suppressing traumatic memories, they must relate to her enslavement.

During my first read, it was her "Lot Seven" memories where it first occurred to me that she was using a glamor, because otherwise you'd be able to see her slave tattoo.

(I studiously avoided reading Internet articles about ASoIaF while I was still completing my first read, after I inadvertently read a major spoiler looking for info on a confusing passage about halfway through A Game of Thrones.)

[Not Dead Just Broken]

I'm pretty sure there's no reason to believe Melisandre's rubies are in any way connected to Rhaegar's - or if there is it's the first I've heard of it.

I thought that was just kind of assumed. There's a strange amount of Fire and Blood associated with Melisandre:

Here's Maester Cressen's description from ACOK:

As ever, she wore red head to heel, a long loose gown of flowing silk as bright as fire, with dagged sleeves and deep slashes in the bodice that showed glimpses of a darker bloodred fabric beneath.

A little later in ACOK, Davos:

Melisandre was robed all in scarlet satin and blood velvet, her eyes as red as the great ruby that glistened at her throat as if it too were afire

Here's Jon's description of Mel from ADWD:

the red priestess was fire, and her hair was blood and flame.

Fire and blood. Fire and Blood. Fire and Blood. Now, this could just be a Mel is the daughter of Shiera Seastar thing. However, in all three of those quotes, either just before or just after the character describes the ruby at her neck. Fire and Blood + Ruby = Rhaegar, at least in my mind.

[Fire Eater]

I think she died at least once and was resurrected Beric style. That explains a bit about her memory supression but the curious thing is that she does not seem to remember anything about dying. That is most probably because fire consumes.

That's what I think as well, especially when, as Sean F. points out, she says "but that was something best concealed from mortal men." She uses the word "mortal," possibly meaning she is immortal in the undead sense. She possibly does practice a few glamours on herself, or the very least spells to preserve her appearance.

[Catastrophe]

GRRM said that he doesn't write POV chapters for undead characters, so that rules out Mel being a revenant like Beric or Catelyn. Honestly, I think she's just a middle-aged woman whose glamours probably don't make her look all that different from her true appearance.

[danm_999]

"R'hllor provided her with all the food she needed *but that was something best concealed from mortal men* " implies that she's no longer mortal.

Another good catch.

Someone who thinks of themselves as having done something for years beyond count, and different from mortals, is probably rather old.