Fashion is Coming: Examining the costumes of “The Long Night”

Melisandre’s red cloak

Melisandre is one of the only characters to wear color during “The Long Night,” arriving in her trademark red attire. Although she’s done her share of evil deeds, Mel serves as a source of hope for the fighters at Winterfell, igniting the Dothraki arakhs and setting fire to Winterfell’s defensive trench, so red is an appropriate color for her. She brings the North a much-needed light in all the darkness both literally and figuratively, and her cloak represents that.

As Culturess points out, the camera angles and lighting of the episode emphasize Melisandre’s red garments, hair, and accessories. But when her purpose is fulfilled and the battle has ended, the red colors become more muted. As she walks out onto the battlefield, among the piles or corpses left from the fight, viewers can barely make out her vibrant coloring, likely because her light is about to fade out.

Melisandre’s necklace is also worth noting. We all remember how she removed it in season 6 and we saw her as the impossibly ancient women she is. Based on the fates of both Melisandre and Beric Dondarrion, we can surmise that the Red God grants chosen people longer lives for a specific purpose, and once that purpose is fulfilled, their lives are forfeit once more. It seems that Melisandre has been waiting to discover the Lord of Light’s plan for her. She first removes her necklace after Stannis Baratheon fails to take back Winterfell, a personal low point for her. She’s doubting if the Lord of Light ever really had a plan for her, but clearly He wasn’t finished with her. At the end of “The Long Night,” when she removes her ruby, she falls over dead and crumbles to dust, her mission to help the living defeat the Night King finally over.