A shadow child[1] or living shadow[2] is a magical entity created by Melisandre, a red priestess and shadowbinder from Asshai.[3]
Attributes
[edit]Melisandre indicates that a shadow is conceived through sexual intercourse, with the father relinquishing part of his "life-fire" to create it.[4] She gives birth to a tall shadow, larger than a man, which can move swiftly.[3] The shadow bears a resemblance to its father, both in appearance[3] and a sensation experienced by witnesses.[5] When the shadow is near, winds blow, candles gutter out, and it feels cold.[5][6] The shadow can serve as an assassin, using a "shadowsword"[5] that can slice through even the finest steel;[7] or it can somehow cause a man to fall from a tower.[8] The shadow's father may sense in dreams what the shadow has done.[3] Magical spells can prevent the movement of these shadows,[3] but some magical locations can make the shadows stronger.[9]
Recent Events
[edit]A Clash of Kings
[edit]
At a feast at Dragonstone, self-proclaimed King Stannis Baratheon's mad fool, Patchface, sings a possible prophetic warning about shadows. Stannis's maester, Cressen, attempts to poison Stannis's advisor, Melisandre, a shadowbinder from Asshai, but instead dies from the poison.[10]
During the War of the Five Kings, Renly Baratheon also proclaims himself king, and refuses to bend the knee to his older brother Stannis. Catelyn Stark and Brienne of Tarth are in attendance when Renly prepares for his attack on Stannis's host outside Storm's End. Catelyn sees Renly's shadow shifting on the walls of his pavilion, and his steel gorget and throat are then cut by a "shadowsword" while his actual blade is still sheathed in its scabbard. Ser Robar Royce and Ser Emmon Cuy assume that Brienne has murdered Renly, but Catelyn insists that Renly was killed by a shadow with a sword and that Stannis is somehow to blame. As they leave the camp, Catelyn tells Brienne that she believes the shadow to have been Stannis's, and that she had felt his presence.[5]
After Renly's death, Stannis continues his siege of Storm's End. Ser Cortnay Penrose, the castellan left in charge of the castle, refuses to yield Storm's End or give over Edric Storm, the bastard son of Stannis's elder brother, the late King Robert Baratheon. A haggard, aged-looking Stannis tells his confidant, Ser Davos Seaworth, that he had been asleep, dreaming, at the time Renly died, despite the fact that he should have been preparing for battle. Stannis says that according to his squire, Davos's son Devan, he could not be wakened, and thrashed and cried out in his sleep. Stannis relates that he dreamed of Renly's death, the details of which match what Catelyn had experienced, but when he woke, his hands were clean. Stannis has continued to dream about Renly's death, but he feels they are only dreams.[3]
Stannis tells Davos that Melisandre has foreseen Courtnay Penrose's death, just as she foresaw Renly's. Stannis orders Davos, a former smuggler, to row Melisandre into a tunnel beneath Storm's End. During their journey, Melisandre tells Davos that Storm's End is protected from shadows by spells woven into its walls. In the tunnel, Davos's boat stops at the portcullis that guards the entry into the cavern beneath the castle, and he tells Melisandre that they can go no farther. The red priestess disrobes, and Davos is shocked to see that she is fully pregnant and glowing with light. He watches in horror as Melisandre gives birth to a shadow taller than a man, which pulls its way out of her. Davos recognizes the shadow as belonging to Stannis, before it quickly slips though the bars of the portcullis into the cavern.[3]
Storm's End surrenders to Stannis after Cortnay dies suddenly, with it being said that he threw himself from a tower. Tyrion Lannister refuses to believe that Cortnay killed himself, but he is skeptical of Varys's suggestion that the castellan was killed through magical means.[8]
Stannis sends Melisandre back to Dragonstone prior to his attack on King's Landing, so her dark children are not involved in the Battle of the Blackwater.[11] Stannis is defeated in the battle[12] and is forced to retreat from the capital.[13][14]
A Storm of Swords
[edit]Catelyn has nightmares about the shadow killing Renly.[15] Ser Jaime Lannister mocks Brienne when she tells him about the shadow.[6]
After Davos is rescued from Blackwater Bay, he tells Salladhor Saan that he watched Melisandre birth a horror.[16] Davos plans to assassinate Melisandre, but he is intercepted by Ser Axell Florent and arrested.[16] When Melisandre visits Davos in the dungeon of Dragonstone, she explains that she dares not create another shadow with Stannis in his weakened state, fearing the process would kill the king. The shadowbinder instead suggests that Davos could serve Stannis by sleeping with her, but Davos rejects her offer and holds fast to the Faith of the Seven instead of Melisandre's god, R'hllor.[4]
Upon Brienne's arrival in King's Landing, she is confronted by Ser Loras Tyrell over Renly's death. Loras disbelieves Brienne's story about the shadow and is prepared to fight her, but Jaime, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, orders Loras to sheath his sword.[17] When Loras meets with Jaime in White Sword Tower, he admits that although Renly had the best armor made of the finest steel, his gorget was cut through with one clean stroke. Jaime advises the younger knight to keep an open mind about the shadow, despite its implausibility.[7]
A Feast for Crows
[edit]Brienne is haunted by Renly's death. During her quest for Sansa Stark, Brienne dreams of Ser Jaime Lannister being slain in the same manner as Renly.[18] When Brienne tells the Elder Brother of the Quiet Isle about her experiences, she includes the shadow in Renly's pavilion.[19]
A Dance with Dragons
[edit]Melisandre remains at Castle Black after the battle beneath the Wall. She thinks she would be able to create great and terrible shadows at the Wall,[9] which she considers to be a "hinge of the world".[20] With Stannis away on campaign, Melisandre observes that her bed has seen little use.[9]
Quotes
[edit]
The shadows come to dance, my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord. The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord.[10]
Something dark and evil had happened here, she knew, something that she could not begin to understand. Renly never cast that shadow. Death came in that door and blew the life out of him as swift as the wind snuffed out his candles.[5]
—thoughts of Catelyn Stark
Catelyn: I swear it, you know me, it was Stannis killed him.
Robar: Stannis? How?
Catelyn: I do not know. Sorcery, some dark magic, there was a shadow, a shadow. A shadow with a sword, I swear it, I saw.[5]—Catelyn Stark and Robar Royce
I dream of it sometimes. Of Renly's dying. A green tent, candles, a woman screaming. And blood. I was still abed when he died. Your Devan will tell you. He tried to wake me. Dawn was nigh and my lords were waiting, fretting. I should have been ahorse, armored. I knew Renly would attack at break of day. Devan says I thrashed and cried out, but what does it matter? It was a dream. I was in my tent when Renly died, and when I woke my hands were clean.[3]
Davos: A shadow is a thing of darkness.
Melisandre: You are more ignorant than a child, ser knight. There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of the light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows.[3]—Davos Seaworth and Melisandre
Melisandre had thrown back her cowl and shrugged out of the smothering robe. Beneath, she was naked, and huge with child. Swollen breasts hung heavy against her chest, and her belly bulged as if near to bursting. [...] Her eyes were hot coals, and the sweat that dappled her skin seemed to glow with a light of its own. Melisandre shone.[3]
—thoughts of Davos Seaworth
And Davos saw the crown of the child's head push its way out of her. Two arms wriggled free, grasping, black fingers coiling around Melisandre's straining thighs, pushing, until the whole of the shadow slid out into the world and rose taller than Davos, tall as the tunnel, towering above the boat.[3]
—thoughts of Davos Seaworth
—thoughts of Davos Seaworth
Davos: You are the mother of darkness. I saw that under Storm's End, when you gave birth before my eyes.
Melisandre: Is the brave Ser Onions so frightened of a passing shadow? Take heart, then. Shadows only live when given birth by light, and the king's fires burn so low I dare not draw off any more to make another son. It might well kill him. With another man, though... a man whose flames still burn hot and high... if you truly wish to serve your king's cause, come to my chamber one night. I could give you pleasure such as you have never known, and with your life-fire I could make...
Davos: ...a horror. I want no part of you, my lady. Or your god. May the Seven protect me.[4]
—Melisandre and Davos Seaworth
All the candles were guttering out and the cold was thick around her. Something was moving through green darkness, something foul and horrible was hurtling toward her king. She wanted to protect him, but her limbs felt stiff and frozen, and it took more strength than she had just to lift her hand. And when the shadow sword sliced through the green steel gorget and the blood began to flow, she saw that the dying king was not Renly after all but Jaime Lannister, and she had failed him.[18]
—dream of Brienne Tarth
She was stronger at the Wall, stronger even than in Asshai. Her every word and gesture was more potent, and she could do things that she had never done before. Such shadows as I bring forth here will be terrible, and no creature of the dark will stand before them.[9]
—thoughts of Melisandre
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 5, Davos I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 42, Davos II.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 25, Davos III.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 33, Catelyn IV.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 11, Jaime II.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 67, Jaime VIII.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 44, Tyrion X.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 31, Melisandre I.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 58, Davos III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 62, Sansa VII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 64, Arya X.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 65, Sansa VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 2, Catelyn I.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 10, Davos II.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 62, Jaime VII.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 9, Brienne II.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 31, Brienne VI.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 3, Jon I.