Stannis as AA & Edric Storm, Blood and Shadows

[Legitimate_Bastard]

So Mel thinks Stannis is AA, but we are given clues that he is not (sword gives off no heat, not from right line). Yet, at the same time it seems obvious there is power in the blood of Kings, or Mel & Stannis wouldn't be so hard after Edric Storm. When they do get Edrics blood via the leeching, the 3 false kings named all end up dying. 

With the shadow power Mel seems to create the baby via sexual intercourse? It leaves Stannis looking like shit afterwards, same after the Penrose killer shadow baby. Mel wants to use Davos for more after Stannis is milked dry. So why the Kings blood for one set of magic and anyone for the shadow magic.?

I know Mel is powerful but did that blood magic work at all? There are alternative explanations/arguments for all 3 of those deaths. 

Seems like the shadow magic, which could come from any old person not necessarily a king, is more effective? Then again I wonder what kind of amazing/horrendous things she could have done if she were able to follow through with her original intent and use all of Edrics blood?

[Euron III Greyjoy]

One of the most important things for a person like Melisandre is to stay useful. We know that she has visions, and I personally think that she saw the deaths of Robb, Joffrey, and Balon in the flames, and then used the leeches to make it look like she killed them herself. This way she stays useful to Stannis, and she converts more nonbelievers. 

[Legitimate_Bastard]

1 hour ago, King Aegon I Targaryen said:

One of the most important things for a person like Melisandre is to stay useful. We know that she has visions, and I personally think that she saw the deaths of Robb, Joffrey, and Balon in the flames, and then used the leeches to make it look like she killed them herself. This way she stays useful to Stannis, and she converts more nonbelievers. 

Stays useful to Stannis and increases her likelihood of running in to the actual AA. Whoever that may be.

[Moiraine Sedai]

Magic is not well-understood.  It's possible those three died from other causes.  It's war after all.  Maybe Mel saw their deaths and thought she was being asked to make a sacrifice to make them happen. 

[Gwindor]

I think it's absolutely certain that the leeches had nothing to do with the kings' deaths.

Joffrey's death was planned by Littlefinger and the Tyrells, Robb's by Roose Bolton and the Freys, and Balon's by Euron. It seems improbable that burning of some leeches could have influenced their decisions, especially considering that those plans were well underway even before the Blackwater (at least Joffrey's murder - that plot began with the Lannister-Tyrell alliance, I am less certain about the two others).

Most likely, Melisandre saw these deaths in her flames (she does see the future, although cannot always correctly interpret the visions) and made a show with the leeches to regain Stannis' trust, which she had been losing since the Blackwater.

[zandru]

On 10/26/2018 at 7:38 AM, Legitimate_Bastard said:

With the shadow power Mel seems to create the baby via sexual intercourse?

It sure looks like it to me. I think (and can't quote unfortunately) that Stannis and Melisandre shared sleeping quarters, even when Selyse was present. Melisandre was clearly trying to get into Jon Snow's pants while she was at the Wall, but he was having none of her.

I don't think Melisandre was looking for another, better Azor Ahai. She seems fixated on Stannis, and incredibly, may not recognize that her "Lightbringer" is a fake. We see her in her single chapter brooding on how she keeps searching her fires for Azor Ahai/Stannis, yet sees "nothing but Snow" with his long brooding face. If she were actually looking for a better candidate, she wouldn't have missed these obvious clues.

I agree with several others that the blood-filled leeches were probably just magician's stagecraft to "confirm" visions she had already seen, and make it look as if she was influencing events. For that matter, the whole "Azor Ahai" schtick is likely a red herring. That's an Assha'i story; the Westerosi tale of the "Last Hero" is completely different. Many readers have really taken to Azor Ahai, I've noticed, because they love the image of one of the female characters getting a white-hot sword through the heart. That would be too self-indulgent for GRRM (in my opinion, of course.)

[Legitimate_Bastard]

10 minutes ago, zandru said:

That would be too self-indulgent for GRRM (in my opinion, of course.)

LMAO yeah its GRRM, not Robert Crumb.

I have not previously considered the whole Westerosi vs. Essosi differences.

Thanks!