R'hllor

Just who is Azor Ahai? Azor Ahai is a hero in Legends.

He had a burning sword called Lightbringer, which is in stories that the people of Asshai and followers of R'hllor often tell.

This comes up several times in Game of Thrones, which I think was good that they did.

Though I imagine several of you who have never read the books would have been confused to some degree about this.

You might be thinking that, sure, this is a crazy weapon that needed a woman's death to be produced.

But what's the big deal? Lots of important weapons kill monsters and stuff.

As I stated earlier, Azor Ahai is notable in Asshai and the followers of R'hllor.

Various books in Asshai foretell that Azor Ahai will be reborn.

In the later account, the decisive constitutional turn comes with Argyron and the warlord Raurlor, in 1032 Dala Reckoning.

R'hllor wanted conquest.

Agairon opposed him.

When the warlord attacked, the mage transformed his sword into a serpent, and its bite killed R'hllor.

Agairon then established rule shared with concealed lords while remaining its public face.

It is an arresting beginning.

George! George! Give me book six!

I mean, Aegon showing up with the Faith backing him and Dany showing up and clearly like, clearly R'hllor is going to fall in line with Dany.

They're going to find some similarities with one another, I think, R'hllor and Dany.

And, I mean, you do have to wonder, my roommate and I were just discussing a little bit of, like, the 14 Flames, R'hllor, like, you know, you have the different tenets of Christianity, right? What really is different from a Baptist and a Catholic? Well, a Baptist will never be seen wearing jeans on a Sunday, first of all.

But, like, what's the difference between a Protestant and a Catholic? Like, you just have all these, like, subsects.

of religion that all kind of are believing a similar thing and I think back to like the translation of the prophecy and how in different places you have different versions of that story you have the hero's journey in the north you have the prince that was promised you have Azor Ahai in that like you have all these different translations so you start to wonder what will Dany be When she shows up and who will support her and how is it differing and what will that do with the faith? Well, I think we know.

... is the...

I mean, like it's, it's interesting, like, 'cause the other in, like, you know, the, the religion of R'hllor, the, the religion of the Lord of Light, like, it's, it's, you know, he's, he conjures storms.

Yeah.

So, like-

Mm-hmm

...

so it's like I do wonder if there's something there, but then it's also interesting that, like, the people of, w- who worship R'hllor, like, really don't fuck with the storm god.

Or the, the, the Drowned God.

Someone from the line of Aerys II and his wife Rhaella, someone to whom belongs the Song of Ice and Fire.

These seem more recent, though, and Westerosi-based rather than ancient and from R'hllor, Doctrine, or Asshai-based, so let's leave them to one side for a moment.

Melisandre certainly seems to have...

If we also put to one side for a moment the bits of prophecy that are clearly only able to happen once Azor Ahai has already been revealed in some way, like them having the fiery sword Lightbringer, we are actually left with a very short list of clues to look out for.

Several other people have come to the same conclusion.

When Rhaegar thought his son Aegon would be the prince that was promised, it was partly because he was born at Dragonstone.

Later, Maester Aemon thinks that it is evidence that Daenerys is the prince that was promised because she was born there, and Benerro, the High Priest of R'hllor in Volantis, thinks the same.

At which point we should probably clarify that Melisandre thinking these clues lead to Stannis happens before Dany and Jon are on anyone's radar.

Well, the

Lord of Light seems like he was invented last Wednesday.

Okay.

Okay.

But it's also this kind of nihilism that we spoke to.

Because we saw him talking to Melisandre.

And she said, hey, I can give you all this religious power and the Lord of Light can help you on your way to greatness.

But...

She goes as far as to say that the princess should be killed to save everyone else, perhaps an ominous nod to her fate.

If it does indeed return in that cold climate, Melisandre would face a lot less resistance to sacrificing her to R'hllor.

She could even present it as a tragic necessity.

Her sacrifice was necessary, and perhaps could even achieve some good.

And while the Siege of Riverrun is ostensibly a Lannister-Frey alliance against House Tully, there are several lax factors in the field.

The Brotherhood Without Banners appears to be picking off Freys one by one, lighting night fires and selling R'hllor to the local villagers.

Meanwhile, former Stark loyalists, now part of the Lannister Coalition, are reluctant to do much of anything, and some of them are probably aiding the Brotherhood behind the Lannister backs.

Yeah, I love Ryman's little gambit with Edmure, how pathetic it is, how obviously pathetic it is, how it's just embarrassing everyone on the Lannister side.