History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireLordOfLight

!!Benerro, Flame of Truth, Light of Wisdom, First Servant of the Lord of Light, Slave of R'hllor

* PetTheDog: Many.

* WouldHurtAChild: She wants to sacrifice Edric Storm, Robert's young bastard son, believing that his kingsblood will allow her to wake dragons from stone. Davos "ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight" Seaworth scotches that plan by shipping Edric off to Lys. Later, Jon switches Mance's son (the "Prince-Beyond-the-Wall") and Craster's son, sending the former away with Sam and Gilly to prevent Melisandre from pulling a "Wake the Stone Dragons 2: Electric Boogaloo".

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

-->'''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.

-->--'''Tyrion Lannister's''' thoughts

* CrystalDragonJesus: Has a lot in common with Zoroastrianism, due to the whole "LightIsGood vs. DarkIsEvil" dynamic with R'hllor and the Great Other. Zorostrianism also places a great emphasis on sacred and purifying fire, to the point of veneration, and preaches the equality of the sexes and the holiness of sexual activity. The dualism of the religion has more in common with the heretical Christian sect of Catharism which, unlike Zoroastrianism, regards the two gods as equal, opposite forces in constant struggle. Unlike Catharism, which regarded matter and sex as abominable, R'hllor's faith advocates for sexual activity. Like Catharism, they have a strong belief that there is only one "proper" deity and another evil entity diametrically opposed to that deity. Any other faiths are snuffed out where they can be (Catharism even means "the belief of the pure ones"). So far, it's working out better for the Lord of Light than it did for the Cathars, who were wiped out during the Albigensian Crusade.

* EvilVsEvil: From what we’ve seen, the Red Priests generally aren’t nice people, but they hate slavery and are fighting against it quite fiercely. And the Others are the BigBad of the Red Faith, so there’s that.

* ContraltoOfDanger: Melisandre’s voice is quite deep and she is possibly the most dangerous of Stannis’ circle.

* InsaneTrollLogic: She will never just be wrong. Depending on what serves her purpose better, darkness is either the fruit of evil or a servant of the light (because one needs light to cast a shadow) (which is not accurate).

* AmbiguousDisorder: Shows some possible symptoms of PTSD in her POV chapter including dissociation and nightmares, quite likely due to her DarkAndTroubledPast as a survivor of enslavement. It's worth noting that religious fundamentalism is often employed as a coping mechanism by survivors of PTSD.

** She attempts to save Maester Cressen even after he tries to poison her.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: She straddles the line between this and HumanoidAbomination. She doesn't really need to eat and hopes that, one day, she won't need to sleep at all. She needs to remind herself to eat and cover up properly in cold weather as to not freak others out. Poison doesn't work on her. Her hair and eye colour are not natural hues 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. 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 ''A Dance With Dragons'', however, does confirm that she has genuine religious beliefs, feels vulnerable and uncertain about some of her visions, and has a DarkAndTroubledPast as a former slave.

* StatuesqueStunner: She's quite beautiful and taller than most men. However, when her height is noted it is not as a positive trait, and is one of the reasons why other characters find her [[UncannyValley unsettling]].

* 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, very pale skin, and unusual height, it seems that people have an instinctive aversion to something else about her, and just don't know what it is.

* UncannyValley: Downplayed. Tyrion quickly gets an acute attack of the nopes upon seeing and hearing him but puts it down to his political radar screaming out, rather than anything else. However, given he'd spent some time around Moqorro, he ''could'' have been unconsciously picking something familiarly creepy up, too.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: There's just something... rather more than normal about him. Like Melisandre, Moqorro lives [[UncannyValley in the dip]] in how he looks and people pick up on it. However, he's got a subtly-wrong shade of black going on, rather than a dodgy red. Being rather massive is a little easier for him to get away with thanks to being both male and standing next to another man-mountain like Victarion to take the edge off. However, he is still a little bit too loomingly big both in size and general attitude. Even for a bloke.

* TheEvilGenius: Depending on your view. She's one of Stannis's top advisors.

* PyschoSupporter: He becomes one to Victarion. Just like Melisandre does to Stannis, his advice often involves suggestions to burn people.

* PoisonousFriend: He becomes one to Victarion. Just like Melisandre does to Stannis, his advice often involves suggestions to burn people.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: He's described as having pitch-black skin and a mane of white hair.

* ReligionIsMagic: R'hllor's devout followers have shown magical abilities to bring people back from the dead, predict the future (with varying degrees of success), and survive without food or water for extended periods.

[[folder: R'hllor]]

%%* BlackAndWhiteMorality: A major theme, at least one Melisandre espouses.

[[folder: Melisandre*]]
!!The Red Woman, The Red Priestess, Lady Red, Melony

[[folder: Benerro]]
!!Flame of Truth, Light of Wisdom, First Servant of the Lord of Light, Slave of R'hllor

[[folder: Moqorro]]
!!The Black Flame

[[folder: Thoros]]

* {{Foil}}: To Melisandre, in outlook and power. They're prophets of the same religion, noted for their high intellect, sorcery, and uncanny, AmbiguouslyHuman appearances. Melisandre's visions tend to focus on vague, easily misinterpreted events in the mid-to-distant future, and she tends to impose her will by threatening dire apocalypse and using BrutalHonesty. Moqorro's visions are usually short-term and much more accurate, and he uses the carrot rather than the stick, promising glory and wish fulfillment while remaining vague about what that glory really is.

* GenderIsNoObject: Is one of the few religions seen that has both men and women serving on parity as priests, treats women as equals with men in other respects, and even has a female "[[HighPriest Pope]]".
* GodOfFire: R'hllor is a god of fire, as well as being a...
* GodOFLight. He seems to have actual power, occasionally bringing people back to life, and giving some of his followers the ability to ignite their weapons.
* GoodIsNotNice: If He is good that is.