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What is Mel?


ummester

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We know she was sold to the Red Temple as a slave called Melony. We can assume that this was probably a long time ago.



We know she is currently a shadowbinder and Red priestess. She seems to have immense arcane knowledge and actual arcane power, being able to birth deadly shadows, control the light and see 'futures' in the flames.



We know that the Red faith believes R'hllor is locked in struggle with The Great Other and that Azor Ahai will stand for R'hllor and wield lightbringer to determine the fate of the world. It seems as if Mel subscribes to this basic theology and has painted Stannis as Azor Ahai.



Why is Mel fanatical to the Red faith, when she obviously has more knowledge and power than a Red priest/priestess? Is the Red faith therefore tied to Asshai?



Are Mel and Quaith working towards the same goal?



Are Mel and Bloodraven working towards the same goal?



What does Mel look like? Is she alive, dead, possessed? What do you think her real face is like?


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We have a Melissandre POV so her beliefs seem genuine, if misguided. How old she is, why she barely needs to sleep, doesn't need to eat, what's the deal with her ruby, why she doesn't feel the cold and other things are a different matter.



And Mel is genuinely trying to fight the Others so, as long as that's Bloodraven's goal (and Bloodraven is one of the few men truly loyal to the realm, so I guess it is), they are working towards the same goal - but Melissandre's fanaticism blinds her.


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She doesn't need to eat, doesn't feel the cold, doesn't need to sleep, she's dead. Or undead. Her Ruby gives her power as does fire. You cannot have shadow without light, so fire is one of her weapons, she can create shadow creatures from the flame.



Blood means life, as does fire. Fire and blood means power over life and death. Fire and blood are the Targaryen words. I would say that sums up power and life, but, it can also bring death. Too much fire brings death, lack of blood means death. Its all in the balance and how to use it.



I don't know that Mel and Quaithe work together. Mel seems to work only for the Lord of Light and against the Great Other.



I do find it interesting though that Dany had a dream where she was mounted on Drogon and she was racing toward the Trident, only this time she was Rhaegar. The enemy were all dressed in armor of ice and she was able to melt them all and turn the Trident into a roaring Torrent. I don't know that its foreshadowing, but it sure does sound as though Dany will fight against the Others.


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She doesn't need to eat, doesn't feel the cold, doesn't need to sleep, she's dead. Or undead. Her Ruby gives her power as does fire. You cannot have shadow without light, so fire is one of her weapons, she can create shadow creatures from the flame.

Blood means life, as does fire. Fire and blood means power over life and death. Fire and blood are the Targaryen words. I would say that sums up power and life, but, it can also bring death. Too much fire brings death, lack of blood means death. Its all in the balance and how to use it.

I don't know that Mel and Quaithe work together. Mel seems to work only for the Lord of Light and against the Great Other.

I do find it interesting though that Dany had a dream where she was mounted on Drogon and she was racing toward the Trident, only this time she was Rhaegar. The enemy were all dressed in armor of ice and she was able to melt them all and turn the Trident into a roaring Torrent. I don't know that its foreshadowing, but it sure does sound as though Dany will fight against the Others.

She does need to sleep, but very little. She hopes she'll be able to stop sleeping altogether eventually.

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Shadowbinding and being a red priest are 2 different things. There are red temples in many of the major cities in Essos, if not all of them and given travel times they are not as intertwined as the Vatican is with its bishops around the world today.



GRRM has said that Mel is rogue, she was not sent by Benerro, and the majority of red priests obviously do not think Stannis is AA.



I personally believe Mel is dead, but I don't think we have enough info to really know what's going on.



1 of the reasons Jon may be AAR is that Mels visions of Stannis have led her to Jon.


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We have a Melissandre POV so her beliefs seem genuine, if misguided. How old she is, why she barely needs to sleep, doesn't need to eat, what's the deal with her ruby, why she doesn't feel the cold and other things are a different matter.

And Mel is genuinely trying to fight the Others so, as long as that's Bloodraven's goal (and Bloodraven is one of the few men truly loyal to the realm, so I guess it is), they are working towards the same goal - but Melissandre's fanaticism blinds her.

Could not have put it better.

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I believe Mel is long dead. She is the fire counterpart to a white walker as LS is this to an ice wight.

The same goes for Moquorro.

Fwiw, grrm said the others themselves were not dead/undead.

Wiki...http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Others#cite_note-7

The Others are not dead. They are strange, beautiful think, oh the Sidhe made of ice, something like that a different sort of life inhuman, elegant, dangerous.

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A question - ASOIAF is, among other things, about a world in which magic returns. Clearly, spells that didn't work well now are much more powerful, magical stuff of all kind is more magical. So Melisandre must have been affected by that change - she must have become more powerful, able to do stronger magic. So, does anybody have a theory what she was like, what she could do at the time of the beginning of the story?


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^ Quaithe tells Danaerys in Qarth that the firemage she watches could barely make a glass candle burn, but now he can climb a ladder made of fire.



The pyromancers in Kl said that the substance was being made easier, but it was not impossible to make before hand, so I am going to assume she did have some kind of power beforehand. She was already known as a shadowbinder, so I am going to guess that she was capable of what she did with Stannis, but that the shadow was weaker in some way, she says the opposite would occur at the wall "such shadow beasts that I brought forth here would be terrible to behold, no creature of the night could stand before them".


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Mel seems to be the real power behind the "throne" and Stannis is along for the ride. Anything that he does by himself seems to end in a cock-up, such as Blackwater Bay. Like Stannis I would say that she is a "neutral" character, sometimes good and sometimes bad. I think that in TWoW Stannis with die during the battle of Winterfell and Mel will team up with Jon, he realises that they need each other. Therefore Dany, Vic and Jon will each have a red priest advising them.


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Well, let's think of things in terms of realism for a moment (in a fantasy novel, yes)



She was sold as a slave to the red church, right? I dont think it specifies what age



Couldnt her fanaticism be a result of the church's brainwashing over a scared child? her faith does appear blind. and fearful to live without.



Further, i heard it mentioned outside the books and show, that she may be several hundred years old (it is unknown thus far in the books/show).



Never forget the ruby around her neck as well, she may be, magically controlled, or she MAY be, someone else entirely (though i wouldnt see the point, but, she may definitely be controlled)



Now let's combine the two concepts, what if she was given that ruby, when she was sold to the red church, and instantly became controlled. she cant recall much before rh'llor, just vivid memories.



all heresay obviously. i think there's more to her than what we're given. now, george said thered be no NEW POV's, in the books to come. Mel's not a new pov, shemay very well be returning in page form.


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She is at least 100 years old. She wears a glamor. I suspect she was once burned alive in order to have a longer lifespan and get rid off mortal needs such as sleep and need of food and water (like Moqorro, and it's why she wears a glamor, to hide her unnaturally black skin). Her glamor-necklace radiates heat, which is why she melts the snow when she walks by (stronger glamor = radiates more heat). She was protected by poison thanks to her necklace (there are necklaces around the Jade Sea that is said to protect the weaver from poison).



Her name was once Melony. She was most probably a slave in Volantis, then she went to Asshai under uncertain circumstances and became a shadowbinder.


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She is at least 100 years old. She wears a glamor. I suspect she was once burned alive in order to have a longer lifespan and get rid off mortal needs such as sleep and need of food and water (like Moqorro, and it's why she wears a glamor, to hide her unnaturally black skin). Her glamor-necklace radiates heat, which is why she melts the snow when she walks by (stronger glamor = radiates more heat). She was protected by poison thanks to her necklace (there are necklaces around the Jade Sea that is said to protect the weaver from poison).

Her name was once Melony. She was most probably a slave in Volantis, then she went to Asshai under uncertain circumstances and became a shadowbinder.

see now im thinking like burned-charred melisandre. excellent. never even thought of that before.

let's take a gander into crackpot territory. could she have been the victim of the summerhall tragedy?

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How much older?



I'm thinking she is quite a bit older, possibly dead, with a face and body greatly changed by becoming a shadowbinder.



I think she wears her Melody face, in the same way she clings to the Red faith - as a way to make what she is acceptable to the people she interacts with.



I don't think a normal human can birth shadow assasins - I think her womb, body, face and mind are deeply corrupted by her shadowbinding experience, underneath.


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all heresay obviously. i think there's more to her than what we're given. now, george said thered be no NEW POV's, in the books to come. Mel's not a new pov, shemay very well be returning in page form.

Just the same as Sansa and Arya have alternate POV names, Mel may have the same. There may be a POV when she takes off her Melody face, as Meloch the burned demon, or something. It would not, technically, be a new POV.

I really like Mrs. Grumpy's idea that Mel was burned alive in Asshai, hence her fascination with burning. She may have been possessed by a burning ritual - made a vassal for some shadowy power.

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