History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireLordOfLight

* AntiHero/AntiVillain: Type IV of the former or Type III of the latter, depending on your point of view.

* AntiHero: Type IV of the former or Type III of the latter, depending on your point of view.

* {{Expy}}: He has a winning Scrabble name; he is big, black, clever, dangerous and as uncanny as hell; he murders when he can, plays with words, does magical tricks both huge and parlour-sized, knows more than most in the room and seems to take enjoyment in what he does when in front of an audience... Hello, there [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]]--please don't mind us running in the other direction, old bean.

* {{Expy}}: He has a winning Scrabble name; he is big, black, clever, dangerous and as uncanny as hell; he murders when he can, plays with words, does magical tricks both huge and parlour-sized, knows more than most in the room and seems to take enjoyment in what he does when in front of an audience... Hello, there [[ranchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]]--please don't mind us running in the other direction, old bean.

* MysteriousBacker: Definitely. Her motivations become more clear in A Dance With Dragons.

* EvilRedhead--{{Ziggzagg|ingTrope}}: The trope is certainly present with her, but it's not played straight. It's hard to say she's ''evil'', exactly. Is ''is'' extremely ruthless, but she's in the morally grey area of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' universe.

!!'''R'hllor'''

[[folder: Melisandre*]]

* CannotDream: Subverted in that she tries not to sleep, as she fears to dream.

* EvilChancellor: Most people believe her to be this, as she urged Stannis to have a young boy sacrificed, although the truth is, like most of the series, more gray than that. After [[spoiler:Davos Seaworth]] spirits one of her intended victims away, she asks, "Do you really think you've saved [that victim]? If we lose, he'll die anyway." That doesn't make human sacrifice any less horrific, but she does have a point. And [[AStormIsComing winter is coming]].
* EvilRedhead: Arguable. She's not purposefully evil as much as she's extremely ruthless. She's in the morally grey area of the ASOIAF universe.

* FieryRedhead: Averted. She is cold and calculating, and on the rare occasions when she is genuinely surprised her composure barely flickers.

* TheFundamentalist: Oh, my, yes. Perhaps the biggest one in the books, even though she's not the only character with these traits. She stands out.

* HotWitch: Literally hotter to the touch than ordinary people, and also beautiful, and not at all averse to flirting with or openly propositioning men with a strong life-force she can use to make her LivingShadow assassin babies.

* LadyOfBlackMagic: She's always calm and ladylike, but as part of a low-magic setting she's usually limited to soothsaying, illusion and giving birth to deadly [[LivingShadow Living Shadows]]. Given that she's one of a handful of people to show outright supernatural abilities at ''all'', however, that says something. Her powers increase near the Wall, apparently allowing her to take out an eagle with a fireball.
* LadyInRed: Invoked. Melisandre is an object of desire for many characters who note her unnatural beauty; she garbs herself completely in red as the trope states, yet her sexual exploits are not stated proper in the books, though it's implied that she does have a sexual relationship with Stannis. She is, however, not above propositioning men to do the Snu-Snu (see HotWitch).
* LickedByTheDog: In ADWD, Ghost is immediately taken with her, although it's implied that something unnatural is going on to cause that reaction. This is especially jarring since, with his mental connection to Jon Snow, one would expect Ghost to share Jon's unease of her, so the fact that Ghost took to her disconcerts him.

* LightIsNotGood: Sometimes played straight, sometimes not. Melisandre insists that R'hllor is good and has humanity's best interest at heart, but her religious extremism and terrifying babies put those assertions in doubt. She's not good (despite what she thinks of herself) but not evil either. As she tells Davos:

* NoSocialSkills: On occasion. She's certainly courteous, but she has difficulty holding a conversation without sliding into religious rhetoric and her idea of seducing someone is straight up propositioning them and hoping for the best. This makes her very straightforward and makes it very difficult for her to convince people of what she wants them to believe.

** There's a funny line in ADWD, possibly a ShoutOut to fans who believe in the Jon Snow is Azor Ahai theory:

** Also in ADWD, it's shown that Moqorro, Victarion Greyjoy's captured R'hllor priest, is a noticeably more accurate and straightforward clairvoyant.

* OutWithABang: When propositioning Davos to help her make some shadow babies, Melisandre implies that it would be the best sex ever, but it's also made clear that sex with Melisandre draws the life out of the other participant (it's heavily implied that this is why Stannis looks so haggard and prematurely aged after having created two shadows with her, to the point where she dares not try to make a third).

** She saves [[spoiler: Mance Rayder]] and tries to save [[spoiler: Jon Snow]] despite having little reason for the first and none (that she knows of) for the second.

* UncannyValley: Comes across this way in universe. While descriptions of her by other characters note her beauty, they invariably also note that something is "off" and unsettling about her. While this is possibly just the effect of her flame-red hair, flame-red eyes and very pale skin, it is also possible that people have an instinctive aversion to something else about her, and just don't know what it is.

* {{Expy}}: He has a winning Scrabble name; he is big, black, clever, dangerous and as uncanny as hell; he murders when he can, plays with words, does magical tricks both huge and parlour-sized, knows more than most in the room and seems to take enjoyment in what he does when in front of an audience... Hello, there Nyarlathotep -- please don't mind us running in the other direction, old bean.

[[folder: R'hllor]]

-->'''Melisandre:''' ''"An onion that is half black with rot is a rotten onion. Men are good or they are evil."''

--> '''Melisandre:''' There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows.

-->'''Melisandre:''' I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R'hllor shows me only Snow.

--> '''Jon Snow''': "Dalla told me something once. Val’s sister, Mance Rayder’s wife. She said that sorcery was a sword without a hilt. There is no safe way to grasp it."\\
'''Melisandre''': "A wise woman. A sword without a hilt is still a sword, though, and a sword is a fine thing to have when foes are all about."

* {{Expy}}: Has a winning Scrabble name, big, black, clever, dangerous, uncanny as hell, murders when he can, plays with words, does magical ticks both huge and parlour-sized, knows more than most in the room and seems to take some enjoyment in what he does when in front of an audience... Hello, there Nyarlathotep -- don't mind us running in the other direction.

%%* EthnicMagician

* UncannyValley: Possibly downplayed. Tyrion quickly gets an acute attack of the nopes upon seeing and hearing him, for one thing; he seems to put it down to his political radar screaming at him, rather than anything else. However, given he'd spent some time around Moqorro, he ''could' have been unconsciously picking something familiarly creepy up, too.

* BreedingCult: Melisandre's shadow babies. It is unknown if other red priestesses have the same ability or if male red priests may impregnate women with them. This ability may well stem not from Melisandre's red priestess training but from being a shadowbinder.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Has a lot in common with Zoroastrianism, due to the whole "LightIsGood vs. DarkIsEvil" dynamic with R'hllor and the Great Other. The author also modelled it on the real life Christian heresy of Catharism which was brutally suppressed in the Albigensian Crusade.

* AffablyEvil: Is usually nothing but polite. Also takes offense to very little, including murder attempts.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: She straddles the line between this and HumanoidAbomination. She doesn't really need to eat and hopes one day she won't need to sleep at all and has to remind herself to eat and cover-up properly in cold weather to not freak others out. Poison doesn't work on her. Her hair and eye colour are not natural kinds of red, and her height is also off for most women (or even many men). She's older than she looks. There's the BloodMagic she does. And, then there's the fact that very few people in-world are actually ''comfortable'' in her presence for reasons they can't put [[UncannyValley their fingers on]]. Yeah.
** Her own [=POV=] in ADWD however confirms that she does feel vulnerable and uncertain about some of her visions and likewise she has a DarkAndTroubledPast as a former slave and likewise she has genuine religious beliefs.

* BorrowedCatchphrase: In ADWD, she uses Ygritte's "You know nothing, Jon Snow" toward Jon, which she must have learned of through supernatural means. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Or it's a creepy but meaningless coincidence.]]

* CantArgueWithElves: Skeptics like Maester Creesen, Davos and Jon Snow try to write off her visions and prophecies and challenge her intuition and wisdom, but Melisandre keeps vindicating herself. By the time of ''A Dance With Dragons'', Jon has, if not become a convert, reconciled with this, and takes her very seriously.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Was a slave as a child, became a ''very'' powerful priestess with actual powers and is now advisor to one of the most powerful men in Westeros.

* TheInsomniac: In ADWD, it is revealed Melisandre does not sleep much, often just an hour a night, as she is afraid of dreams.

* LickedByTheDog: In ADWD, Ghost is immediately taken with her, although it's implied that something unnatural is going on to cause that reaction. This is especially jarring since, with his mental connection to Jon Snow, one would expect Ghost to share Jon's unease around her, so the fact that he liked her and then looked at Jon as if he were a stranger is very disconcerting for him.

** There's a funny line in ADWD, possibly a ShoutOut to fans that believe in the Jon Snow is Azor Ahai theory:

* OutWithABang: When propositioning Davos to help her make some shadow babies, Melisandre implies that it would be the best sex ever, but it's also made clear that sex with Melisandre draws the life out of the other participant (it's heavily implied that this is why Stannis looks so haggard and prematurely aged after having created two shadows with her, to the point that she dares not try to make a third).

** She is kind to Sam and honestly prasises him for killing a Other.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: She will do anything to advance her god's cause, since she believes it's humanity's only hope of surviving the winter to come. She gives a typical defense to Jon Snow when the latter expresses skepticism about her visions, a defense that Jon Snow later comes around to agreeing:

* WorthyOpponent: What she certainly seems to view Davos as. Well, at the start, maybe not that much: he was just an obstacle to try getting rid of. Then, she realised his actual worth to Stannis and recognised that his obstruction wasn't outright malicious in any way, shape or form; nor was it self-serving (unlike a lot of others). Their relationship has mellowed into... a very odd one, as a result. Both continue to butt heads, but she actually comes across as ''liking'' him, for all she considers him misguided. Davos, however: different story. It's unlikely he'll forget or forgive the Shadow Babies or Edric Storm any time soon.

* ActivistFundamentalistAntics: People who worship the Old Gods, the Seven, or some other deity tolerate each other and accept the ''existence'' of those other deities to varying degrees. The worshippers of R'hllor, on the other hand, stubbornly criticize anyone who has faith in another religion.

* TheSacredDarkness: R'hllor's shadows are said to be this compared to the darkness of the Great Other.

* UncannyValley: Possibly downolayed. Tyrion quickly gets an acute attack of the nopes upon seeing and hearing him, for one thing; but, he seems to put it down to his political radar screaming at him rather than anything else. However, given he'd spent some time around Moqorro, he could have been picking up something else familiar, too.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: She straddles the line between these tropes. She doesn't really need to eat and hopes one day she won't need to sleep at all and has to remind herself to eat and cover-up properly in cold weather to not freak others out. Poison doesn't work on her. Her hair and eye colour are not natural kinds of red, and her height is also off for most women (or even many men). She's older than she looks. There's the BloodMagic she does. And, then there's the fact that very few people in-world are actually ''comfortable'' in her presence for reasons they can't put [[UncannyValley their fingers on]]. Yeah.

* PetTheDog: In ''A Dance with Dragons'', [[spoiler:she has Devan Seaworth remain at the Wall so Davos won't lose another son.]] She also attempts to save Maester Cressen after he tries to poison her, and convinces Stannis to release Davos after he tries to stab her. She saves [[spoiler: Mance Rayder]] and tries to save [[spoiler: Jon Snow]] despite having little reason for the first and none (that she knows of) for the second. She's one of the few people in the books that treats Selyse with anything resembling respect. She is kind to Sam and honestly prasises him for killing a Other. When Davos calls her out for being involved with Renly's death, Stannis goes so far as to defend her and point out she was the one who convinced him to at least ''try'' to discuss terms of an alliance with him.

* PetTheDog: In ''A Dance with Dragons'', [[spoiler:she has Devan Seaworth remain at the Wall so Davos won't lose another son.]] She also attempts to save Maester Cressen after he tries to poison her, and convinces Stannis to release Davos after he tries to stab her. She saves [[spoiler: Mance Rayder]] and tries to save [[spoiler: Jon Snow]] despite having little reason for the first and none (that she knows of) for the second. She's one of the few people in the books that treats Selyse with anything resembling respect. When Davos calls her out for being involved with Renly's death, Stannis goes so far as to defend her and point out she was the one who convinced him to at least ''try'' to discuss terms of an alliance with him.

While R'hllor is introduced later in the series and seems like a foreign import in comparison to the Seven, it should be noted that every red priest or priestess depicted "on-screen" has been shown to work supernatural feats, something no septa or septon has been seen to equal.

A red-clad sorceress and Shadowbinder from the mysterious land of Asshai, Melisandre is an adviser to Stannis Baratheon and his wife. She is a priestess of R'hllor, the Lord of Light, and while various organizations claim (with varying degrees of probable truth) to use "spells", (such as the Faceless Men, pyromancers and certain armorers,) she is one of the few indisputably magical characters in the entire series, apart from [[spoiler: other worshippers of R'hllor, and (depending on how you define "magic") the skinchangers like Bran, and greenseers like Jojen Reed]]. Melisandre preaches a message of tolerance and peace... by having people burned alive for the greater good. Her goal is to prepare the world for the War for the Dawn to save humanity from the threat of the Others.

* EthnicMagician: Yup. He'd be pushing for MagicalNegro. In another world, with a nicer god and certainly ''without'' the DragonWithAnAgenda vibes he gives off. So, an almost total inversion of that ''particular'' trope, then; which lands him here.

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[[folder: R'hllor]]

* CastingAShadow ''and'' LightEmUp: R'hllor is the god of both flame and shadow, shadow in this case being directly caused by light, and it is not considered the same as "darkness".
* EvilVersusOblivion: So what if the God of Flame is evil? Winter is coming.
* GoodIsNotNice: If He is good that is.
* JerkAssGods: R'hllor is believed to appreciate human sacrifices, and his followers need little provocation to start burning non-believers.
* LoveGoddess: Melisandre thanked R'hllor for "the heat in our loins", so it is a fertility deity.

* {{Seer}}: Visions? Ambiguous language? Mysterious powers? All checked.

[[folder:Thoros of Myr]]

* {{Foil}}: With Davos. Both grew up very poorly off (though Melisandre worse off), both loyal to Stannis to the end (and are the only ones truly respected by him), both generally kind and subservient to others, and both will fight for what they believe in without fail. The similarities end there.

[[foldercontrol]]