Melisandre: Burning for You
Melisandre, feeling the heat…
From George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, popularized on HBO’s GAME OF THRONES, comes Melisandre (Carice van Houten), aka, The Red Woman. Ostensibly a Red Priestess, seems to me to be far more of a fire witch than anything remotely holy.
Blur your eyes and the Lord of Light could most certainly be Lucifer (himself, you know, “the light bearer”). I think Martin’s have a sly wink with that, punking everybody with this obviously devilish witch.
There is a certain irony in this character, this witchy woman who is quick to put anyone and anything to the pyre as it suits her god. Melisandre is sultry and seductive. She is most definitely magical, gifted with some enigmatic powers of prophecy, and ability to birth shadow demons using king’s blood, and both immunity from (hello, magic necklace!) and facility with poisons and what-not.
Melisandre, witchy woman…
She works spells and curses through her Lord of Light, and everybody in Westeros who encounters her is at best weirded-out by her, or outright frightened of her. Meanwhile, Melisandre works her way through the storyline like a shark scenting for blood.
Melisandre (who has a great and evocative witchy name, btw) is always on-message and is invariably garbed in red, and radiates a sinister sexuality.
Small wonder that she was able to bring down the House of Baratheon so effectively by serving in a kind of Rasputin kind of role for Stannis et al., working her way in and leading him astray.
We shall see what Melisandre ultimately does, and what her end invariably is. Whatever the case, Melisandre’s a great fire witch and a cunning villain.
Wicked Melisandre Quotes
“The night is dark and full of terrors…but the fire burns them all away.”
“Lord of Light, come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false gods. Take them and cast your light upon us, for the night is dark and full or terrors. After the long summer, darkness will fall heavy on the world. The stars will bleed. The cold breath of winter will freeze the seas… and the dead shall rise in the North.”
For More Witches, Wicked and Otherwise
Can’t get enough of witches? Be sure to order our anthology, Wax & Wane: A Gathering of Witch Tales, for 30 spellbinding witch stories!