Over five years on the air, Game of Thrones has spent a lot of time on the continent of Westeros. It’s where the seat of House Stark is, it’s where the Iron Throne rules, it’s where the Wall holds back the deadly terrors that come with Winter. The show has spent a bit of time with Dany in Essos, but it wasn’t until this season, with several main characters now on the far side of the Narrow Sea, that we began to get a real cultural sense of the large continent to the east. One of the first things we ran into, during Tyrion’s ill-fated stopover in Volantis, was the sight of a Red Priestess standing in the town square, preaching the holy name of Daenerys Targaryen and her Dragons.
Religion, in the World of Ice and Fire, is a many splendored thing. There are many faiths to be found in both Westeros and Essos, and, it should be noted, few atheists. This is a world where the supernatural still holds sway and belief in the power of magic and miracles is strong. The main religion in Westeros today is the Faith of the Seven, but there are those who still worship what are known as “The Old Gods,” as well as those who worship The Drowned God on Pyke and Mother Rhoyne in Dorne. We’ll discuss some of these further in another post. Today we are turning our attention to one of the more mystical belief systems: the religion dedicated to the worship of R’hllor, known in Westeros as The Red God.
If one were to only examine the religions of Westeros, the followers of R’hllor would seem like an odd faction of cultists. As their religion revolves around fire, they might come off like slightly crazed pyromaniacs. And when we come across our first Red Priestess, Melisandre, in Season 2 (or A Clash of Kings for the book reading crowd), that’s not far off the mark. She is regarded by the maester at Dragonstone as “evil.” Davos Seaworth, a character with whom we sympathize from the start, both fears and loathes her, even as he cannot stop staring. Moreover, one of the first things we see her do is basically a fire-based magic trick to fool people into believing that Stannis Baratheon is Azor Ahai, a prophesied messianic figure. To be honest, it’s not a good first impression.
But the truth is, over on Essos, belief and worship of R’hllor is a major religion. “The Lord of Light,” as he is known, is a very popular figure, not only in Volantis, but all over Essos. He even has a following in Braavos, which is its own little corner of Essos, having been founded as a Free City from the get go and never having taken part in the slave traditions of the rest of the continent. There are Red Temples in Pentos, and Lys. (In fact, it is suggested that the main Red Temple is in Lys, but that’s a bit of conjecture from an off-hand remark.) In the books, Obara Sand also suggests that there’s a Red Temple in Dorne, though she may be referring to the same one that’s in Oldtown, which is there more for visiting sailors from Essos than for the local populace. It’s an old religion, too—even older than the Faith of the Seven.
So what is this religion anyway, the one that inspires its practitioners to burn little girls to death, and that can give someone like Thoros of Myr the ability to raise Beric Dondarrion from the dead over and over? And why is it important? From the leaked audition script last week, we now know that Tyrion and Varys will be working with a Red Priestess in Season 6. As one viewer asked me—why is this religion the one that’s championing the dragons and Dany, and not, say, the Faith of the Seven?
Red Priestess, from westeros.org
The answer lies in history: both that of the religion and that of Westeros. R’hllor is a dualistic religion—meaning one that has a light and a dark, a God and a Devil, as it were. The Light is represented by R’hllor: The Lord of the Light, naturally. The dark is represented by “The Great Other” which is, wait for it—the God of Ice and Death. Calling him “The Great Other” is important, because the White Walkers are also known as “The Others” in the books. (Unfortunately, the show had to drop that name because of a little hit program called Lost—they didn’t want people getting confused.)
You can see, just from this overview, how much this religion is based on the elements that drive our story, and that one could easily refer to the Night’s King as “The Great Other.” They have a militarized regiment, known as “The Fiery Hand.” They are also known for buying slave children and raising them into the religion. These people are known as the Slaves of R’hllor—Melisandre was formerly a member of this group.
Varys’ experience with R’hllor is instructive here. In the leaked scene from next season, the Red Priestess reveals that she knows Varys’ history. We can assume from this that the “wizard” who cut off Varys’ genitalia and fed it to the fire was a Red Priest doing blood magic of the sort that Melisandre did with Shireen. (Though most of the material involving Quaithe and her prophecies has been cut out. Most of the people involved in her prophesies, including the Lion, Griffith, Sun’s Son, and Mummer’s Dragon are all very likely cut at this point—Varys’ hatred of magic and his probable dislike of the this religion suggest that he might be “the perfumed seneschal” that Dany should guard against.)
Like many religions, the worship of R’hllor also has a messianic element. It holds that the struggle between the dark and the light will go on until Azor Ahai, a legnedary figure, is reborn and claims his sword, Lightbringer. See also: that fire-based magic trick Melisandre performed when we first met her. Also, Thoros armed Beric with a flaming sword. Fiery swords turn up a lot in this religion.
As for the history, you may recall from out Night’s King explainer last month who Azor Ahai was. When the White Walkers last descended on Westeros during the Age of Heroes, Azor Ahai was the one who lead the charge against them with a flaming sword, which he tempered by plunging the blade into the living heart of his beloved wife. As we explained then, many of the Great Houses currently at large in Westeros date back to this time, and the Stark words “Winter Is Coming” seem to have been taken less as a statement about the inevitability of the changing seasons, and more as a warning that all this has happened before, and it will all happen again.
It’s interesting that R’hllor’s basis in religious myth comes directly from a fight that happened, so far as we understand it, on Westeros, yet it’s most popular on Essos (although it should be noted the books indicate that the effects of the Long Night were felt on Essos, even if most of the fighting occurred elsewhere). This suggests that those who suggest that all Dany has to do is stay on Essos to remain safe from the coming White Walker hordes may be very wrong.
So why isn’t Melisandre on board with the rest of her brethren on this subject? Why does she insist that Stannis is Azor Ahai reborn, even when she knows her “proof” of him drawing Lightbringer is merely a dumb show? After Stannis’ defeat in the Season 5 finale, many have called her a charlatan. But would a charlatan have committed to the point of birthing a shadow baby and killing a King? Would she have ridden with him to the Wall and declaimed to all and sundry his power? I say no. And I believe that the books back me up on this. Melisandre is not a charlatan, but a fool. She asked the Lord of Light to show her Azor Ahai reborn. He showed her Stannis. Who among us wouldn’t assume that two and two add up to four?
But the gods work in mysterious ways. Melisandre saw Stannis, but that didn’t mean he was Azor Ahai reborn. All it meant was that he was someone she had to encounter on her way to finding the true messiah. Stannis was a step on the ladder, not the top rung. As to where that ladder is taking her—possibly to the late Jon Snow, as some have theorized—remains to be seen. Most of the Red Priests and Priestesses now assume that Daenerys Targaryen is Azor Ahai reborn. It would seem that Melisandre is discredited for having championed Stannis, but numbers don’t necessarily make her colleagues right.
As for why the Red Priests and Priestesses (save Melisandre) are preaching that Dany is Ahai reborn, that stems from her rebirth of the dragons. One of the strange quirks of this Red God religion is that, although it is based on the historical myths of Westeros, much of its power is derived from dragons. It should be remembered that the Age of Heroes happened centuries before the Age of Valyria, when Dragons were first born and tamed, so there weren’t any dragons around during the last Long Night, nor was there any Valyrian steel (hence the Night’s King shock at seeing Jon’s sword defeat one of his White Walker generals).
But Dragons are “fire made flesh” and as their power grew, so did the power of this fiery religion. It’s not stated explicitly in the show, but the books make it clear that Thoros’ power prior to the Dragons being reborn was nothing to write home about. He couldn’t convince Robert Baratheon to worship the Lord of Light, and he himself had basically given up on his faith until he raised Beric from the dead, a feat that occurred only after the dragons were born. In the books, both he and Melisandre muse to themselves that they feel their powers growing stronger “ever since the comet in the sky appeared,” the same comet that heralded the birth of the dragons. Though neither of them put two and two together, others in Essos have drawn the connection and realized that their magic is tied to these beasts. Therefore, it’s also tied to Dany.
It’s clear from the dialogue next season that whoever leads the Red God movement has made the same connection. They will want the dragons to grow as large as possible and fly as free as they can. It will also put the priests of R’hllor in direct conflict with anyone who is anti-dragon. (The maesters of Oldtown, for instance.) So although they seem to be strange, and most people on Westeros aren’t inclined to believe in them or their fiery sacrifices, it seems like the this religion will be the one that intertwines most with our coming battles of Ice and Fire, and we should expect its adherents to follow Dany when she finally crosses the Narrow Sea, and to make a serious go at converting the people of Westeros when they arrive.