The Best Melisandre Quotes

Melisandre: The night is full of terrors, old man. But the fire chases them all away.

[Melisandre enters the Brotherhood's hideout unannounced]
Beric: Forgive my manners. I don't see many ladies these days.
Thoros: Lucky for the ladies.
[Melisandre walks over to Beric and examines his scars]
Melisandre: [to Thoros] How many times has the Lord brought him back?
Thoros: Six.
[Melisandre looks shocked]
Melisandre: [in High Valyrian] That's not possible.
Thoros: [in High Valyrian] The Lord has smiled upon me.
Melisandre: [in High Valyrian] You should not have this power.
Thoros: [in High Valyrian] I have no power. I ask the Lord for His favor, and He responds as He will.
[Thoros sits down by the fire]
Thoros: [in English] I've always been a terrible priest. Drank too much rum. Fucked all the whores in King's Landing. It's a terrible thing to say, but... by the time I came to Westeros, I didn't believe in our Lord. I decided that He, that all the gods, were stories we told the children to make them behave. So I wore the robes, and every now and then, I'd recite the prayers. It was just for show. A spectacle for the locals. Until the Mountain drove a lance through this one's heart.
[Thoros points at Beric]
Thoros: I knelt beside his cold body, and said the old words. Not because I believed in them, but... he was my friend. And he was dead. And they were the only words I knew. And for the first time in my life, the Lord replied. Beric's eyes opened. And I knew the truth: our God is the one true God... and all men must serve Him.
Melisandre: [to Beric] You've been to the other side?
Beric: The other side? There IS no other side. I have been to the darkness, my lady.
[pause]
Beric: He sent you to us for a reason.
Melisandre: You have someone He needs.

Jon: [as the elevator goes up] Are you cold, my lady?
Melisandre: Never. The Lord's fire lives within me, Jon Snow. Feel.
[takes his hand and holds it against his cheek]
Melisandre: Are you a virgin?
Jon: No.
Melisandre: Good.
[enigmatic smile]

- How many of your brothers do you think you can trust?
- Trust?
- The men in this room.
Davos: Does the wolf know you?
- We need all the help we can get.
Melisandre: Ser davos.

Arya: You said we'll shall meet again.
Melisandre: And here we are. At the end of the world.
Arya: You also said I'll shut many eyes forever. You were right about that too.
Melisandre: Brown eyes, green eyes... and blue eyes.

Melisandre: [about to lit fire] Lord of Light, protect us!
Shireen: [to be sacrificed] Please, father, please!
Melisandre: For the night is dark and full of terrors!

Jon: My lady. You weren't at the war council.
Melisandre: I'm not a soldier.
Jon: Any advice?
Melisandre: Don't lose.

[repeated line]
Melisandre: The night is dark and full of terrors.

Melisandre: This War of Five Kings means nothing. The true war lies to the north, my king. Death marches on the Wall.

Melisandre: What do we say to the God of Death?
Arya: Not today.

Melisandre: The Lord of Light has made good on his promise, my King. His fires have melted the snows away. The way ahead is clear.
Stannis: [gruffly] We ride for Winterfell.
Melisandre: And you will take it. The Lord has shown me Bolton banners burning. You will receive what is yours by right.

Renly: Can that truly be you?
Stannis: Who else might it be?
Renly: When I saw your standard, I couldn't be sure. Whose banner is that?
Stannis: My own.
Renly: I suppose if we use the same one, the battle will be terribly confusing. Why is your stag on fire?
Melisandre: The king has taken for his sigil the fiery heart of the Lord of Light.
Renly: Ah, you must be this fire priestess we hear so much about. Mm, brother... now I understand why you found religion in your old age.
Stannis: Watch yourself, Renly.
Renly: No, no, I'm relieved. I never really believed you were a fanatic. Charmless, rigid, a bore, yes, but... but not a godly man.
Melisandre: You should kneel before your brother. He's the Lord's chosen. Born amidst salt and smoke.
Renly: "Born amidst salt and smoke." Is he a ham?
Stannis: That's twice I've warned you.
Catelyn: Listen to yourselves. If you were sons of mine, I would knock your heads together and lock you in a bedchamber until you remembered that you were brothers.
Stannis: It is strange to find you beside my brother, Lady Stark. Your husband was a supporter of my claim. Lord Eddard's integrity cost him his head, and you sit beside this pretender and chastise me.
Catelyn: We share a common enemy.
Stannis: The Iron Throne is mine. By right. All those that deny that are my foes.
Renly: The whole realm denies it from Dorne to the Wall. Old men deny it with their death rattle and unborn children deny it in their mothers' wombs. No one wants you for their king. You never wanted any friends, brother, but a man without friends is a man without power.
Stannis: For the sake of the mother who bore us, I will give you this one night to reconsider. Strike your banners, come to me before dawn, and I will grant you your old seat in the council. I'll even name you my heir... until a son is born to me. Otherwise, I shall destroy you.
Renly: Look across those fields, brother. Do you see all those banners?
Stannis: You think a few bolts of cloth will make you king?
Renly: No. The men holding those bolts of cloth will make me king.
Stannis: We shall see, Renly. Come the dawn, we shall see.
Melisandre: Look to your sins, Lord Renly. The night is dark and full of terrors.
[Stannis and his party ride away]
Renly: [to no one in particular] Would you believe? I loved him once.

[at the Chamber of the Painted Table, Stannis dictates a letter of declaration to Matthos Seaworth. Matthos reads the draft aloud]
Matthos: ...and I declare upon the honor of my House, that my beloved brother Robert left...
Stannis: He wasn't "my beloved brother". I didn't love him. He didn't love me.
Ser: A harmless courtesy, your Grace.
Stannis: A lie. Take it out.
[Matthos erases the word "beloved"]
Matthos: ...that my brother Robert left no trueborn heirs, the boy Joffrey, the boy Tommen, and the girl Myrcella, being born of incest between Cersi Lannister and her brother Jaime Lannister. By right of birth...
Stannis: Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. Call him what he is.
[Matthos adds the words "the Kingslayer". Cressen secretly slips a poison pill into his wine cup. No one notices him except Davos]
Matthos: ...and her brother Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. By right of birth and blood, I do this day lay claim...
Stannis: Make it SER Jaime Lannister the Kingslayer. Whatever else he is, the man's still a knight.
[Matthos adds the word "Ser"]
Matthos: ...Ser Jaime Lannister the Kingslayer. By right of birth and blood, I do this day lay claim to the Iron Throne of Westeros. Let all true men declare their loyalty.
Stannis: When Eddard Stark learnt the truth, he told only me. I'll not make the same mistake. Send copies of that letter to every corner of the realm, from the Arbor to the Wall. The time has come to choose. Let no man claim ignorance as an excuse.
Ser: Your Grace, the Lannisters are the true enemy. If, for the time being, you could make peace with your brother...
Stannis: I'll not make peace with Renly while he calls himself king.
Ser: But many have already declared for him. Mace Tyrell, Randyll Tarly...
Melisandre: Stannis does not need to beg this lord or that lord for support, the Lord of Light stands behind him.
Ser: And how many ships has the Lord of Light got in his fleet?
Melisandre: He has no need for ships.
Ser: I'm sure he doesn't, but we do if we're going to war. If not Renly, Your Grace, join forces with Robb Stark.
Stannis: Who'd steal the northern half of my kingdom. I've always served thieves according to their deserts, as you well know, Ser Davos. Joffrey, Renly, Robb Stark, they're all thieves. They'll bend the knee or I'll destroy them.

Melisandre: Everything I believed, the great victory I saw in the flames, all of it was a lie. You were right all along. The Lord never spoke to me.
Davos: Fuck him, then. Fuck all of them. I'm not a devout man, obviously. Seven gods, drowned gods, tree gods, it's all the same. I'm not asking the Lord of Light for help. I'm asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist.
Melisandre: I never had this gift.
Davos: Have you ever tried?

[Davos tosses Melisandre the now-charred stag carving he had made for Shireen; Melisandre looks down in shame]
Jon: What is that?
Davos: Tell him. Tell him who it belonged to.
[a long pause]
Melisandre: The princess Shireen.
Davos: Tell him what you did to her. Tell him!
[another long pause]
Melisandre: We burned her at the stake.
Davos: Why?
Melisandre: The army was trapped, the horses were dying... it was the only way.
Davos: You burned a little girl alive!
Melisandre: I only do what my Lord commands!
Davos: If he commands you to burn children, your Lord is evil!
Melisandre: We are standing here because of him. Jon Snow is alive because the Lord willed it.
Davos: I loved that girl, like she was my own. She was good, she was kind, and you killed her!
Melisandre: So did her father... so did her mother. Her own blood knew it was the only way.
Davos: The only way for what? They all died anyway! You said Stannis was 'the one'; you had him believing it. You had everyone fooled, and you lied.
Melisandre: I didn't lie! I was wrong.
Davos: Aye, you were wrong. How many died because you were wrong?

Shireen: [brought to the stake] Where's my father? I want to see my father!
Melisandre: It will all be over soon, Princess.

- Men: Lord, cast your light upon us!
Melisandre: For the night is dark and full of terrors.
- For the night is dark and full of terror.

- Sire, I served you well.
- Crowd: [Chanting]
- Lord of light, show us the way.
- Lead us from the darkness.
- Selyse, you're my sister!
- Yours are the stars that guide us.
- Tell him!
- Tell him!
Melisandre: Lord of light, protect us, for the night is dark and full of terrors.

Melisandre: We all must choose, man or woman, young or old, lord or peasant, our choices are the same. We choose light or we choose darkness. We choose good or we choose evil. We choose the true god or the false.

Melisandre: [to Gendry] Death is coming for everyone and everything. The darkness will swallow the dawn.

Melisandre: [entering] Lord Commander.
Jon: How can I help you?
Melisandre: Come with us when we ride South. No one knows the castle as well as you do. It's hidden tunnels, it's weaknesses, it's people. Winterfell was your home once. Don't you want to chase the rats out of it?
Jon: Castle Black is my home now. The Night's Watch take no part in the wars of the Seven Kingdoms.
Melisandre: There's only one war. Life against death. Come, let me show you what you're fighting for.
Jon: You're gonna show me some vision in the fire? Forgive me, my lady... but I don't trust in visions.
Melisandre: No visions. No magic. Just life.
[bares her upper body, and his touch roams over her]
Melisandre: Do you feel my heart beating? There's power in you. You resist it, and that's your mistake. Embrace it!
[sits on his lap]
Melisandre: The Lord of Light made us male and female. Two parts of a greater whole. In our joining, there's power. Power to make life... power to make light... and power to cast shadows.
Jon: I don't think Stannis would like that very much.
Melisandre: Then we shouldn't tell him.
Jon: I can't.
Melisandre: Why?
Jon: I swore a vow. I loved another.
Melisandre: The dead don't need lovers. Only the living.
Jon: I know. But I still love her.
Melisandre: [feigns that she is about to kiss him, stands up, goes to door, turns back] You know nothing, Jon Snow.

Melisandre: [to Stannis] I've been fighting far longer than you.

Melisandre: I saw him in the flames fighting at winterfell.
- I can't speak for the flames, but he's gone.

Melisandre: [to Gendry] You are more then they could ever be. They are just foot soldiers in the great war. You will make kings rise and fall.

Melisandre: Lord of Light, come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false gods. Take them and cast your light upon us, for the night is dark and full or terrors. After the long summer, darkness will fall heavy on the world. The stars will bleed. The cold breath of winter will freeze the seas... and the dead shall rise in the North.

Melisandre: [to Davos] There's no need to execute me, Ser Davos. I'll be dead before the dawn.

- Take him and lock him in a cell.
- Your grace!
- Come on.
- You've chosen the darkness, ser davos.
- She will destroy us all!
Melisandre: I will pray for you.
Davos: Your grace!

[as Melisandre is about to mount her horse and leave, Arya stops her]
Arya: You're a witch! You're going to hurt him!
[Melisadre turns to Arya. She grabs her chin and looks at her closely]
Melisandre: I see a darkness in you. And in that darkness, eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes. Eyes you'll shut forever. We will meet again.
[Melisandre and her companions leave with Gendry. Arya is confused]

Stannis: What do you mean to do with him?
Melisandre: You know what I mean to do with him.
Stannis: Then why bathe him and dress him in fine clothes? If it needs to be done, then do it. Don't torture the boy.
Melisandre: Have you ever slaughtered a lamb?
Stannis: No.
Melisandre: If the lamb sees the knife, she panics. Her panic seeps into the meat, darkens it, fouls the flavor.
Stannis: And you've slaughtered many lambs.
Melisandre: And none have seen the blade.

Melisandre: [to Varys] I have to die in this strange country. Just like you.