Matching 50 Game of Thrones characters with 50 European countries

Azerbaijan: Melisandre

There is perhaps no other country in the world that dotes as much on fire as Azerbaijan. Fire is tangled up with virtually every aspect of the country’s history and culture. It was here that the first fireplace was invented. It’s also home to many Zoroastrian fire temples, the first of which date to the days of the Persian Empire. Most significantly, Azerbaijan is famous for its continually burning Yanar Dag, a hillside engulfed in flames thanks to natural gas seepage. For these reasons, the country’s popular nickname is “The Land of Fire.”

While there’s a whole lot of fire imagery in Game of Thrones, only one living character seems truly obsessed with the stuff: the Red Woman, Melisandre. Melisandre is a Red Priestess of R’hllor, as well as an advisor to Stannis Baratheon. She serves the Lord of Light and spends her days burning people alive as sacrifices to her god. It’s easy to imagine Melisandre setting up camp near the Yanar Dag and being content.

Azerbaijan is also famous for its strong sense of superstition and its rich folklore. Melisandre, too, draws on a deep well of history, showing people that things they thought had perished from the face of the planet are not gone. She’d fit right in in Azerbaijan.