Is Melisandre Shiera Seastar? How S06E02 could play out

Potential Spoilers Below

Most of the theories that I have come up with comes from the books.  GRRM seems to have left out an important detail from the books that he gave in an interview concerning the descriptions of notable Targaryens and Targaryen bastards in particular.

After watching season 6 episode 1 and finally getting the corroboration that Melisandre was indeed older than her appearance suggested.  I then started focusing on the fact that she seemed shaken by the fact that Jon Snow was dead.  If she had the power to just bring him back that fact wouldn’t have shaken her so much.  Then it left me thinking who else could bring him back and to me the logical choice, since I believe that ASOIAF is based upon TWOT, would be another woman like her to bring him back if not Melisandre herself.  I started thinking about her as an Aes Sedai and the logical choice would be another female Aes Sedai.  From that I made the assumption that it would be Old Nan since her appearance is a dead ringer for how Melisandre looks in her true form.  I didn’t think about someone maybe closer to the situation at hand.  It wasn’t until last night that I got the clue that I was missing.  I read somewhere that Melisandre’s description matched that of Shiera Seastar.

Melisandre

Melisandre true appearance

Jon Snow - dead for now

Old Nan

Shiera Seastar

Maester Cressen’s description of Melisandre:

Maester Cressen

“Maester,” said Lady Melisandre, her deep voice flavored with the music of the Jade Sea. “You ought take more care.” As ever, she wore red head to heel, a long loose gown of flowing silk as bright as fire, with dagged sleeves and deep slashes in the bodice that showed glimpses of a darker bloodred fabric beneath. Around her throat was a red gold choker tighter than any maester’s chain, ornamented with a single great ruby. Her hair was not the orange or strawberry color of common red-haired men, but a deep burnished copper that shone in the light of the torches. Even her eyes were red . . . but her skin was smooth and white, unblemished, pale as cream. Slender she was, graceful, taller than most knights, with full breasts and narrow waist and a heart-shaped face. Men’s eyes that once found her did not quickly look away, not even a maester’s eyes. Many called her beautiful. She was not beautiful. She was red, and terrible, and red.”

I then searched all my books but couldn’t find a description for Shiera Seastar.  I then went to the internet and I found a description that GRRM had given in an interview.

March 07, 2006
SHIERA SEASTAR
[Note: The following continues GRRM's series of descriptions of notable Targaryens (and Targaryen bastards) for Amoka.]

Lady Shiera was the natural daughter of King Aegon IV by the ninth and last of his mistresses, Lady Serenei of Lys, the last daughter of an ancient but impoverished line of Valyrian nobility. "Sweet Serenei," Aegon called her, but about his court she was considered cold and haughty, and some said that she was much older than the king, and preserved her beauty by the practice of dark arts. Considered by many the most lovely of Aegon's mistresses, Sweet Serenei died in childbed, bringing forth the last of the king's "Great Bastards," the daughter she named Shiera, Star of the Sea.

King Aegon IV

Lady Serenei of Lys

Shiera was born with one dark blue eye and one bright green one, but the singers said that this flaw only accentuated her loveliness. She was the greatest beauty of her age, a slender and elegant woman, slim of waist and full of breast. She had the silver-gold hair of the Targaryens, thick and curling, and wore it very long. At some points in her life it fell well below her waist, almost to the back of her knees. She had a heart-shaped face, full lips, and her mismatched eyes were strangely large and full of mischief; her rivals said she used them to melt men's hearts. Even at an early age, she was a great reader. She spoke a dozen tongues and surrounded herself with ancient scrolls. Like her mother, she was reputed to practice the dark arts. Though she never wed, she had many offers, and several lovers through the years. Duels were fought over the right to sit beside her, men killed themselves after falling from her favor, poets outdid each other writing songs about her beauty. Her most ardent admirer was her half-brother, Bloodraven, who proposed marriage to her half a hundred times. Shiera gave him her bed, but never her hand. It amused her more to make him jealous.

Bloodraven

As to how to paint her... she was fond of ivory and lace and cloth-of-silver (but not gold, which she considered too vulgar). Her favorite piece of jewelry was a heavy silver necklace of emeralds and star sapphires, alternating.

So was Shiera like her mother and she also practiced the dark arts to preserve her beauty?  The heart-shaped face to me is the biggest clue that they could be the same women though it isn’t concrete by any means.  The part that puts you on the wrong path is that it is thrown out there that Melisandre could have been a slave named Melony who was sold to the Red Temple at an early age.  Melisandre has memories of the name Melony and “Lot Seven” indicating that she was sold on the auction block.  What if she herself purchased the girl Melony and used her in a blood sacrifice and that is what haunts her dreams and the reason that prays for a day when she will never have to sleep again.  She could be wearing contacts of sorts to hid the true color of her eyes even when we see her true form.

“A face took shape within the hearth. Stannis? she thought, for just a moment … but no, these were not his features. A wooden face, corpse white. Was this the enemy? A thousand red eyes floated in the rising flames. He sees me. Beside him, a boy with a wolf’s face threw back his head and howled.

Stannis

The Three-eyed crow.  Bloodraven aka the three-eyed crow was said to have had a thousand eyes and one.

The red priestess shuddered. Blood trickled down her thigh, black and smoking. The fire was inside her, an agony, an ecstasy, filling her, searing her, transforming her. Shimmers of heat traced patterns on her skin, insistent as a lover’s hand. Strange voices called to her from days long past. “Melony,” she heard a woman cry. A man’s voice called, “Lot Seven.” She was weeping, and her tears were flame. And still she drank it in.”

“Dawn. Another day is given us, R’hllor be praised. The terrors of the night recede. Melisandre had spent the night in her chair by the fire, as she often did. With Stannis gone, her bed saw little use. She had no time for sleep, with the weight of the world upon her shoulders. And she feared to dream. Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night. She would sooner sit bathed in the ruddy glow of her red lord’s blessed flames, her cheeks flushed by the wash of heat as if by a lover’s kisses. Some nights she drowsed, but never for more than an hour. One day, Melisandre prayed, she would not sleep at all. One day she would be free of dreams. Melony, she thought. Lot Seven.”

So I got to thinking who else was there in Season 6 episode 1 who could be significant to the TV storyline and Davos comes to mind.  Here is what I found:

Davos

“With a smile and swirl of scarlet skirts, she was gone. Only her scent lingered after. That, and the torch. Davos lowered himself to the floor of the cell and wrapped his arms about his knees. The shifting torchlight washed over him. Once Melisandre’s footsteps faded away, the only sound was the scrabbling of rats. Ice and fire, he thought. Black and white. Dark and light. Davos could not deny the power of her god. He had seen the shadow crawling from Melisandre’s womb, and the priestess knew things she had no way of knowing. She saw my purpose in her flames. It was good to learn that Salla had not sold him, but the thought of the red woman spying out his secrets with her fires disquieted him more than he could say. And what did she mean when she said that I had served her god and would serve him again? He did not like that either.”

Salladhor Saan

So according to Melisandre the prophecy goes as follows:  “When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone”

Everyone believes that the red comet is the red star bleeding but the Dothraki named the comet shierak qiya, “the Bleeding Star.”  If you take away the letter k you have Shiera which could be Melisandre’s true name.  You throw in a battle that is about to ensue and she takes a mortal arrow wound that will eventually take her life but she uses her power to protect Ser Davos and the men in the room from Ser Alliser and the Night's Watch until Dolorous Edd returns with the Wildlings and saves the day.  After Tormund Giantsbane leads the Wildlings back to Castle Black and secure it they bring a dying Melisandre to Ser Davos and the prophecy comes together.  Melisandre aka “the Red Woman”  aka Shiera whose name means “Star of the Sea” lays there bleeding and dying “the red star bleeds.”  The “darkness gathers” could mean the “black brothers” gathering to kill the men in the room where Jon Snow body now lies. 

The red comet as seen from the
Red Waste, the North and from Dragonstone

Ser Alliser with men of the Night's Watch

Dolorous Edd

Wildling Camp

Tormund Giantsbane

Castle Black

“Then Bowen Marsh stood there before him, tears running down his cheeks. “For the Watch.” He punched Jon in the belly. When he pulled his hand away, the dagger stayed where he had buried it.

Bowen Marsh

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered.”

Jon Snow being stabbed by the Night's Watch

Ghost

Bowen Marsh’s tears could account for the “salt” and Jon’s wounds could account for the “smoke.”  Ser Davos approaches Melisandre and she whispers something in his ear and then he gives last rights to Jon Snow whose soul transfers back from Ghost into his body and he is reborn.  Melisandre glimpses Jon rise smiles then dies knowing her sacrifice was worth it.  Ser Davos serves her god again as she saw in her flames.

This is just my interpretation of what could happen in Season 6 episode 2 in light of the Shiera Seastar connetion.  With all that said the previous years DVD cartoon history always seem to play into the next season.  Shiera and Bloodraven could be Rhaenyra and Aegon II Targaryen of the present day when speaking of the “Dance of Dragons.”

Young Rhaenyra

Aegon II

I always have a Wheel of Time connection and here it is: 

“He twisted in his saddle, half reining his stallion around, and suddenly grunted, his eyes growing wide. For an instant, she did not understand. Then she saw the arrowhead sticking out from the front of his right shoulder.”

“Without thought, she embraced the Source, and saidar filled her. It was as though she were back in the testing again. Her weaves flashed into being, first of all a clear shield of Air to block any more arrows away from Lan, then one for herself. She could not have said why she wove them in that order. With the Power in her and her sight sharpened, she scanned the trees where the arrow had come from, and caught motion just inside the edge of the forest. Flows of Air lashed out to seize the man just as he loosed again, the shaft going up at an angle as his bow was snapped tight against his body. Just heartbeats, that all took, beginning to end, as fast as anything she had woven in testing. Just enough time for two arrows fired by Ryne and Bukama to strike home.”

Ryne

Bukama

“With a dismayed groan, she released the bonds of Air, and the man toppled backward. He had attempted murder, but she had not intended holding him up as a target for execution. He would have been executed, once they had carried him to a magistrate, yet she disliked having been part of carrying out the sentence, especially before it was given. To her mind, it came very near using saidar as a weapon, or making a weapon for men to use in killing. Very near.

Still holding saidar, she turned to Lan to offer Healing, but in spite of the arrow sticking from him front and back, he gave her no chance to speak, wheeling his mount and galloping to the edge of the trees, where he dismounted and strode to the fallen man followed by Bukama and Ryne. With the Power in her, she could hear their voices clearly.”

“Caniedrin?” Lan said, sounding shocked.

Caniedrin

“You know this fellow?” Ryne asked.

“Why?” Bukama growled, and there came the thud of a boot meeting ribs.

A weak voice answered in gasps. “Gold. Why else? You still have . . . the Dark One’s luck . . . turning just then … or that shaft . . . would have found . . . your heart. He should have . . . told me … she’s Aes Sedai . . . instead of just saying … to kill her first.”

A representation of the Dark One breaking free

As soon as she heard those words, Moiraine dug her heels into Arrow’s flanks to gallop the short distance, and flung herself from the saddle already preparing the weave for Healing. “Get those arrows out of him,” she called as she ran toward them, holding up her cloak and skirts to keep from tripping. “If the arrows remain, Healing will not keep him alive.”

“Why Heal him?” Lan asked, sitting himself down on a storm-fallen tree. Its great spread of dirt-covered roots rose in a fan high above his head. “Are you so eager to see a hanging?”

“He’s dead already,” Ryne said. “Can you Heal that?” He sounded interested in seeing whether she could.”

“Moiraine’s shoulders slumped. Caniedrin’s eyes, open and staring up the branches overhead, were already glazed and empty. Strangely, despite the blood around his mouth he looked a beardless youth in his rumpled coat. Man enough to do murder, though. Man enough to die with a pair of arrows transfixing his chest. Dead, he could never tell her if it was this Gorthanes who had hired him, or where the man might be found, A nearly full quiver was fastened to his belt, and two arrows stuck upright in the ground nearby. Apparently, he had been confident he could kill four people with four shots. Even knowing Lan and Bukama, he had thought so. Knowing them, he had disobeyed his instructions and tried to kill Lan first. The most dangerous of them, as he must have thought.”

“As she studied the man, it came to her that he might tell her a little, even dead. With her belt knife, she sliced away the pouch hanging behind his quiver and emptied the contents beside him amid the small weeds pushing through the mulch. A wooden comb, a half-eaten piece of cheese covered with lint, a small folding knife, a ball of string that she unwound to make sure nothing was hidden inside, a filthy crumpled handkerchief that she un-wadded with the tip of her knife blade. It had been too much to hope for a letter written by Master Gorthanes giving instructions on how to find him. Cutting the cords of the leather purse tied to Caniedrin’s belt, she upended that over the litter. A handful of silver and copper spilled out.  And ten gold crowns. So. The price of her death in Kandor was the same as the price of a silk dress in Tar Valon. Fat coins, with the Rising Sun of Cairhien on one side and her uncle’s profile on the other. A fitting footnote in the history of House Damodred.

“Have you taken to robbing the dead?” Lan asked in that irritatingly cool voice. Just asking, not accusing, but still . . . !”

“She straightened angrily just as Ryne snapped off the feathered end of the arrow jutting from Lan’s back. Bukama was knotting a narrow strip of rawhide behind the arrowhead. Once he had it tight, he gripped the cord in his fist and gave one quick yank, pulling the arrow the rest of the way through. Lan blinked. The man had an arrow pulled out of his body, and he blinked! Why that should irritate her, she did not know, but it surely did.”

“Ryne hurried back to the road while Bukama helped Lan off with his coat and shirt, revealing a puckered hole in his front. Likely the one behind was no better. The blood that had been soaking into coat and shirt began to pour freely down his chest and ribs. Neither man asked for Healing, and she was of half a mind not to offer it. More scars decorated Lan than she expected on a man so young, and a number of partly healed wounds crossed by neat dark stitches. Seemingly, he angered men as easily as he did women. Ryne returned carrying bandaging cloths and mouthing bread for a poultice. None of them were going to ask for Healing until the man bled to death!

“Will you accept Healing?” she asked coldly, reaching toward Lan’s head. He shied back from her touch. He shied back!”

“Day after tomorrow in Chachin, you may need your right arm,” Bukama muttered, scrubbing a hand under his nose and not meeting anyone’s eyes. A very peculiar thing to say, but she knew there was no point in asking what it meant.

Chachin

After a moment, Lan nodded and leaned forward. That was all. He did not ask or even accept her offer. He just leaned forward.”

“She clapped her hands on his head in something near to a pair of slaps and channeled. The convulsion when the Healing weave hit him, arms flinging wide, ripped him out of her grasp. Very satisfying. Even if he did only breathe hard rather than gasp. His old scars remained, the half-healed wounds were now thin pink lines—the stitches that had been on the outside, now loose, slid down his arms and chest; he might have difficulty picking out the rest—but smooth skin marked where the arrowholes had been. He could meet the wasps in perfect health. She could always Heal him again afterward, if need be. Only if need be, however.”

Summary:  Where Lan was hit with an arrow before Moiraine could put up a shield and she healed him; it could be 180 degrees different with a twist in the TV show.  Melisandre gets hit with the arrow as she protects Ser Davos.  Ryne wanted to see if Moiraine could heal the dead man; impossible for all but the Dark One in TWOT.  Ser Davos will unleash his inner "Red Priest" and breath life back into Jon Snow.

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the idea’s of others.  Most believe that since I present my idea’s as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.