Red Priestess

[Jaime Lannisters Gold Hand]

Hi everyone, 

I was wondering who Red Priestess was and how old was she. Was lord of light misleading her with Stains visions, or was she complete fraud looking into prophecy and trying to make sense of it herself, without any divine guidance?

 

Edited April 12 by Jaime Lannisters Gold Hand

[House Cambodia]

9 hours ago, Jaime Lannisters Gold Hand said:

Hi everyone, 

I was wondering who Red Priestess was and how old was she. Was lord of light misleading her with Stains visions, or was she complete fraud looking into prophecy and trying to make sense of it herself, without any divine guidance?

 

There are multiple red priestesses; the one you are presumably referring to is the one in Westeros, Melissandre. She says she is hundreds of years old and seems to hail from (or learnt stuff at a young age) from Asshai. The common (and probably correct) belief is that she is sincere in her beliefs but reads her visions incorrectly. By the end of the story so far, she does appear to realise that maybe her certainty that Stannis is Azor Ahai is incorrect, and Jon is the Chosen One.

She does practice 'fraudulent magic' in the form of flaming Stannis' sword and calling it Lightbringer, but the shadow babies are real enough.

Whether the 'divine guidance' is real depends on whether R'hllor is real. GRRM/the text is agnostic about that - all we as readers get is what characters believe/disbelieve.