Samiul Bashar Samin
Game of Thrones gave us our first big shock of the season when Melisandre removed her ruby necklace during Sunday night’s Season 6 premiere, titled “The Red Woman,” to reveal her true self: a crone. It seems the Red Priestess has been keeping up appearances using magic, or more accurately, a glamor. This isn’t entirely unprecedented, as book readers have long suspected that Melisandre’s alluring appearance was nothing more than an illusion.
But Melisandre has been low-key hinting at her old age on the HBO drama since Season 3, when she told Gendry that she was born a slave. This is given more context in A Dance With Dragons, as she recalled her early life as a slave named Melony, sold as “Lot Seven.” Here’s where things get interesting.
Melisandre was sold to the Red Temple of Voltanis as a young girl. All slaves of R’hllor have flames tattooed on their cheeks to mark their position, and according to Melisandre, when she was sold, “She was weeping, and her tears were flame.” That would imply that Melisandre was branded with the mark of a slave — as slaves often are in Game of Thrones (Jorah has the mark of a demon’s mask) — and we’ve seen nary a mark on the gorgeous Red Woman’s face since we first met her in Season 2. Again, this would suggest that she’s been using the glamor to appear as someone she is not.