31 Things We Learned from the Game of Thrones Women

Carice van Houten as Melisandre in HBO’s Game of Thrones

24. Don’t allow blind certainty to overrule your better judgment.

Melisandre

Melisandre’s rise and fall lies within the Lord of Light. She found her power as a priestess, and lost it in uncontested faith. She was convinced that Stannis was the prince who was promised, and when it came to pass that he wasn’t, so many had already been sacrificed in his name. Shireen’s execution was the tipping point. It was this too that cut off Melisandre’s power just as she was regaining it following Jon’s resurrection.

“If he commands you to burn children, your lord is evil,” Davos condemns her in the Season 6 finale. By then, Melisandre knows there is fault in her faith, but still she hasn’t abandoned it entirely. Her faith in a god that may or may not be real brought a slow, painful death to an innocent. Whatever your beliefs, there are some lines between right and wrong that shouldn’t be so hard to distinguish.

She holds to her beliefs, no matter how messed up they may be, and though it is wrong, it is admirable in a way. She wants to stay strong with what she knows and she doesn’t stop moving and working towards her end goals. Melisandre’s methods may not be great and her lord is evil but her determination is something to admire.