Terrible and Red @melisandrexrhllor - Tumblr Blog

“Everything about her was red, her burnish red hair, her red robes, her red eyes, her red fire god, she even smelled red.”

Independent and Selective Melisandre RP Blend of Book and Show Influence Religiously Wrote by Meagz Mun and Muse 30+ Blog not intended for Minors

nullachroma

Purest Death//

Watching House of the Dragon got me rewatching Game of Thrones and I realized Melissandre & Stannis has gotta be my favorite toxic hetero pairing in fiction so of course I had to make some overwrought fanart about it

depends-on-the-sellsword

Ok but "She was red and terrible and red." Is a banger of a sentence. ACoK Prologue my beloved. Chills.

#pls

argelladurrandon-deactivated202

hi! i was wondering about something and was curious to see if u had any insight: according to canon, the temples of rhllor use slaves for temple prostitutes and such, and i believe mel herself was a slave in the temples. so my question is this: why would the higher figures in the faith support dany, who wants to abolish slavery? it doesnt seem to be just a faction of followers, since the high priest of rhllor is seen giving a speech praising dany. what do they have to gain from this?

Hi! The short answer: red temples have everything to gain from supporting Dany, because they want to abolish all the darkness of the world. Slavery is part of the darkness. R’hllorism is the largest, most potent threat to the institution of slavery in the Free Cities.

Everywhere he turned, he saw tattoos. Slaves. Four of every five of them are slaves.

“The priest is calling on the Volantenes to go to war,” the Halfmaester told him, “but on the side of right, as soldiers of the Lord of Light, R'hllor who made the sun and stars and fights eternally against the darkness. Nyessos and Malaquo [the triarchs] have turned away from the light, he says, their hearts darkened by the yellow harpies from the east. He says …”

Volantis is a massive, massive powder keg. Daenerys is sweeping west, and she’s the spark needed to ignite that flame.

The long answer: There’s a bit of context needed. The R’hllor faith did not establish slavery within its temples — it’s part of a society where slavery already exists. The High Priest himself (”First Servant”) is a slave. As far as we know, you’re given to a red temple as a child, either through offering or sale. Regarding the former, children can be given to temples/gods as gifts — an honour in many real societies of antiquity. Giving your child to a god is, needless to say, a very high form of thanks or devotion. The Waif tells us this isn’t just the case for R’hllorism, but a widespread practice in temples across the Free Cities:

“When the healers in the House of the Red Hands told my father what she had done, he came here and made sacrifice, offering up all his wealth and me. Him of Many Faces heard his prayer. I was brought to the temple to serve, and my father’s wife received the gift.”

Children might also be given away in hopes of obtaining a better life, or a priestly training. Or simply because their parents couldn’t (or wouldn’t) care for them. Thoros of Myr alludes to this:

“I was born youngest of eight, so my father gave me over to the Red Temple, but it was not the path I would have chosen.”

Finally, as was the case throughout history, children might be sold off for debts or profit. This seems to be the case exclusively in Volantis, home to the biggest red temple:

All who serve within this mighty temple are slaves, bought as children and trained to become priests, temple prostitutes, or warriors; these wear the flames of their fiery god as tattoos upon their faces.

Such was Melisandre’s case. All that is to say: the red temples are not really “using” slaves. Its members happen to be slaves, since it’s a common path for slaves in that society. If you’re low or slave born and you need to pawn off a kid, your options are limited. The gods of Old Valyria are just that — for the elite descendants of Old Valyria within the Black Walls. Very few are “pure” enough enter their walls, except for the “armies of slaves” they deign to let inside. And why give your child to the gods of those who branded and abused you?

That’s where R’hllor comes in — R’hllor is a champion of slaves. R’hllor is a god of deliverance. R’hllor takes the lowest of the low in and trains them, elevates them to the light, gives them purpose. Some might say exploits them…I’ll leave that to your judgement. But that’s how the red temples ended up as numerous as they are, with the High Priest of Volantis and an army of 1,000 R’hllorian soldiers openly inciting rebellion against Old Valyria.

Now, to say R’hllorism is an abolitionist institution is a stretch, and I’ll admit it’s an inference to include slavery among the evils Benerro preaches against. But ultimately — and I’m going to be very reductive and blunt with this analogy — if you read about Volantene civilisation in particular, Daenerys’s ancestors built Rome. It’s a horrifying legacy. Imagine you’re a slave, in a temple of slaves, in a society of mostly slaves, where you’ll always be branded a slave, even if you manage to win your freedom…and then you hear about a queen of Old Valyrian blood burning slavers, the vestiges of her own family’s injustice. Well. That’s how Daenerys becomes the red temple’s messiah. She is the fulfilment of their ancient prophecy, of fire burning away centuries of darkness.

anarcho-occultism

People can say what they want about GOT Season 8 but I’m still bitter at how dirty they did Stannis in the show.

ladyofhimring

Lady Melisandre wore no crown, but every man there knew that she was Stannis Baratheon’s real queen, not the homely woman he had left to shiver at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

The Prophecy: Literally pointing towards Daenerys

Everyone: Tries to fit the prophecy towards everyone else so vaguely it might as well become a fortune cookie slip.

#Out of Fire >>> OOC

laurellerual

Many called her beautiful. She was not beautiful. She was red, and terrible, and red.

ghostgreen

I started reading A Clash Of Kings! Here’s some drawings from the prologue <3

Might even make a Rhaenyra blog?

#Out of Fire >>> OOC

YOO

#Out of Fire >>> OOC #might be coming back #HOTD is fire

iirongauntlet

religions of asoiaf — R'hllor, also known as the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow,is a prominent god in Essos, but has only a few followers in Westeros, where he is more commonly known as the red god. His symbol is a fiery heart. Red priests lead prayers to R'hllor at red temples. The religion is based on a dualistic, manichean view of the world: R'hllor, the god of light, heat, and life, and R'hllor's antithesis the Great Other, the god of ice and death. They are locked in an eternal struggle over the fate of the world; a struggle that, according the ancient prophecies from the books of Asshai, will only end when Azor Ahai, the messianic figure, returns wielding a flaming sword called Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and raises dragons from stone.