The first episode of Game of Thrones season six sent fans into a tizzy after it ended with a huge reveal about Melisandre.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

SPOILER ALERT! LAST CHANCE TO RUN. 

Okay. So the episode ended with Melisandre taking off her gold and ruby choker to reveal herself as an old, old woman. 

You see her stare into the mirror at her reflection and then climb into bed to sleep. (Is she sad? Is she smirking? Does she have an ace up her sleeve?)

In 2012, actress Carice van Houten told Access Hollywood, "I don’t know how old she is, but she’s way over 100 years, so she is a wiser spirit, in a way...” After this season's premiere, showrunner David Benioff said Melisandre is “several centuries old.” 

How does she look so young? Who is she, really?

The reveal added fuel to several theories that have been floating around about the Red Priestess. Let's take a look at them —

Magic and glamour

While some connected Melisandre's youth and beauty to the choker she wears, fans pointed out this scene from season four where she is talking to Stannis' wife Selyse.

Reddit user brashendeavors had a theory to explain this :

"Selyse has this strange expression the entire time. Like she cannot look directly at Melisandre yet also cannot look away. At first you think it is that of a religious 'uptight' person seeing a naked and very sexual woman. But if you rewatch the scene, and 'pretend' to yourself that Selyse is seeing Melisandre as she actually appears, it actually fits better. WE still see the seductress, Selyse sees the hag...

I think it's clear the missing choker in the bathe scene, was not an oversight but instead was a clue for us. Mel uses tricks with most, she uses none with Selyse. It also means that Selyse is not acting under any charms, any illusions, any "ruby choker" magic mind tricks, when she agrees to take her daughter to the Wall. She already knows the truth."

But Reddit user enthusiasm 47 differed a little and added to this theory.

"The necklace isn't the only thing that can hide her youth. In the same bath scene she reveals to Selyse that she has several potions that are for deceiving people's eyes. Therefore, it is implied that there were potions that also keep her youthful. During the scene where she takes off the necklace, the camera spends several seconds focused in on the potions, I doubt that was just for cinematic effect."

We've already seen Melisandre survive poisoning in season two.

In the book A Dance With Dragons Melisandre tells Jon Snow about the illusions she can create: “The spell is made of shadow and suggestion. Men see what they expect to see … Call it what you will. Glamor, seeming, illusion. R’hllor is Lord of Light, Jon Snow, and it is given to his servants to weave with it, as others weave with thread.”

In the book, she later talks about how she made Rattleshirt look like Mance Raydar. “The bones help,” said Melisandre. “The bones remember. The strongest glamors are built of such things. A dead man’s boots, a hank of hair, a bag of fingerbones. With whispered words and prayer, a man’s shadow can be drawn forth from such and draped about another like a cloak. The wearer’s essence does not change, only his seeming.”

Dead, but not really

A few years ago, Reddit user DarthGregor speculated Melisandre could be undead, much like Berric Dondarrion who has come back from the dead several times with the help of the red priest Thoros of Myr. "First and foremost, there is the fact the Mel needs neither to eat, nor sleep. She says this is because her God give her all the nourishment she needs, but if I remember correctly, Arya mentions never seeing Berric eat. She also mentions seeing Berric close his eyes for a time, but she got the feeling he wasn't sleeping. She may not even been lying when she says "my God provides me the nourishment I need". She would have been revived by R'hollor magic, so from a certain point of view, that would fit. She is also implied to be very old, but she appears much younger than she is."

That problem being solved in "Red Woman".

Maggy the Frog

Another theory is that she's Maggy the Frog. Melisandre's revelation comes in the same episode Cersei refers to the prophecies made about her. Last season we saw a young Cersei hear prophecies about herself from the woods witch. The prophecy said three things-

"Queen you shall be . . . until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear."

"Will the king and I have children?" she asked. "Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you."

"Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," she said. "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."

Almost all of which have come true and the last one doesn't bode well for the Queen Regent.

Secret Targaryen

Too many secret Targaryens theories, I know. This one is S+B=M. It says that Melisandre is the daughter of Shiera and Brynden Rivers, both bastards of Aegon Targaryen IV. Brynden 'Bloodraven' Rivers later goes onto become the Three-Eye Raven (Bran's mentor this season). The theory also ties Melisandre with the prophecy about the return of Azor Ahai, the bleeding red star thought to be referring to her. "It is written in prophecy as well. When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone." 

Which one sounds most likely to you?