R’hllor, the Lord of Light, the Red God, the Heart of the fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. There are many names for the Lord of Light. They change depending on who is talking about him and where they are from. In Westeros they simply call him the Red God. The Red God and the nameless Other God are part of a dualistic religion that claims that the Red God, R’hllor, the god of heat, light and life while the Great Other is the god of death and ice. R’hllor and the Great Other are locked in a battle of good and evil that will determine the fate of the world. The followers of this religion believe in a prophecy that the struggle between the two gods will end when a messiah named Azor Ahai returns with a flaming sword, called Lightbringer and raises dragons back from stone. According to Martin this religion is based loosely on Zoroastrianism where it find commonalities in the dualism of the religion as well as its use of fire in worship.

 

 

 

 

 

                In the novels thus far we have only encountered those who worship R’hllor while it would appear that no one worships the Great Other. The clergy of the R’hllor religion can be men or women and are called red priests because of the robes they wear. Warriors who protect the temples are called the Fiery Hand. There are many temples, called Red Temples, built in Essos to worship the Red God. The red temples by slaves as children and raise them in service of the church either as priests, warriors or prostitutes.  

Practices

                The Red Priests light fires every night for the Red God to pray that he brings back the sun. At this time followers will try to see visions in the fires. In some cases it appears that the fires do lend to visions. It is also believed that the Red Priests can control fire with their hands as well as perform other magic. Before the Dragons returned to the world most of the priests would perform illusions to make followers believe they had power when they did not but after the dragons returned the priests found themselves with actual powers, some even as great as raising the recently deceased.
                The Red Priests also perform rituals where they burn sacrifices as well as symbols from other religions. The Priests believe that there is a special power to the blood of kings, Melisandre even searches out King’s blood to burn in her fires to help Stannis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Although like the other religions in the series the religion of R’hllor has parallels in real world religions that is not what makes it important in the series. The dualism of the religion and the way the believers and non-believers of the religion act are the important part of the religion in the series. The religion of R’hllor is by far the religion that has the most magic and sorcery surrounding it in the series. The very premise of the religion seems to be close to the end game of the book, a battle between ice and fire, good and evil. Unlike the followers of the other religions the followers of R’hllor seem to constantly have a game plan based on the teachings of their religion. To fully explain this I will explain what a few of the followers have been doing in the name of their religion.

 

 

 

 

               Melisandre is a red priestess who is involved with Stannis Baratheon. Before the events of the books she had charmed him with tricks and flirting into believing in the Red God. She has admitted herself that before the dragons returned her powers were limited at best. As the series goes on and the dragons return Melisandre appears to become significantly more powerful. Some examples of this are her birthing Stannis’ shadow to kill his brother, being able to actually see the future as she seems to do later in the novel, she casts an illusion spell on Mance Rayder that changes his appearance as well as other seemingly magical spells. Melisandre is helping Stannis because she believes he is the Messiah, Azor Ahai, mostly because of her visions and because he is a king living at Dragonstone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Thoros of Myr is a red priest who was sent to Westeros to sway the king to his religion but he arrived long before the dragons came back to the world and as such was relying entirely on illusions, such as setting his sword on fire before battle, which did not impress the then king much. Thoros hangs around court drinking with Robert and being generally immoral until the dragons return. Eddard Stark sends Thoros out with Beric Dondarrion to find Gregor Clegane before Eddard is label a traitor. Beric and Thoros are also labeled traitors for helping Stark. Much later we catch up with Thoros who is leading the Brotherhood without Banners, a band of outlaws with what seems like good intentions, with Dondarrion who we learn has died several times only to resurrected by Thoros who now possesses actual powers since dragons came back to the world. Later Beric insists that Thoros saves Catelyn Stark who becomes Lady Stoneheart, who led the Brotherhood with less than good intentions making them a terror on the land.

 

                 Benerro, the High Priest in Volantis, is loudly spreading the word of R’hllor throughout the streets from his temple. Benerro also insists that Daenerys is Azor Ahai reborn and that the people should go to her and help her in her battles. Benerro insists that she must be Azor Ahai because she is the one who finally brought dragons back to the world long after people stop believing it was even possible.

 

                The last priest of R’hllor we get to know is Moqorro who is sent out on a ship towards Daenerys by Benerro but the ship sinks as Moqorro had seen it would in the flames. Moqorro is found by Victarion Greyjoy, an Iron Born captain and brother of the King of the Iron Islands. Moqorro quickly makes himself useful to Victarion and tells him that he can teach him how to use his dragon horn to bend the dragons to his will.

 

                Each priest we see has their own agenda that they claim is backed by the visions that they are seeing in their fires. This puts a damper on the simplistic nature of the religion of R’hllor. It no longer seems like good vs evil because it becomes hard to know which priest is right or wrong. The way the books are written you are unsure if they are actually seeing anything in the flames and if they are you are unsure if they are interpreting it right. Even when the reader starts to believe in this religion is revealed that some aspects of its “magic” are simple illusion. It is also hard to reconcile good and light with burning hundreds and hundreds or men, women and children in fires. It seems to parallel real life and not just religious beliefs. The religion of R’hllor shows how hard it can be to figure out what is right and what is wrong. I believe it also shows that just because someone believes absolutely that something is true doesn’t necessarily mean it is (Stannis and Daenerys and Aegon cannot all be the reborn Azor Ahai for example). I believe that is a good lesson when looking at religions and at life in general. R’hllor also seems to give gifts not just to the worthy, such as Melisandre who is faithful to a fault, but to those who seem less than worthy, like Thoros who was known not to pray or follow the religion much at all anymore. This feels like an added randomness to throw the reader off believing more absolutely that R’hllor has an actual purposeful hand in what is happening in the world. A better example of this is Maester Aemon Targaryen who is not even of the religion of R’hllor having dreams or visions of dragons before he knew they had come back and of Daenerys being the reborn Azor Ahai.