The night was dark and full of naked Melisandre on the "Game of Thrones" Season 6 premiere. After disrobing and removing her necklace in the final moments of the show, the Red Woman revealed she's actually old as heck. Though it's not specified, she could be around 400 years old, according to reports.
Melisandre's necklace is apparently what's allowing her to appear young, since she changes after removing it. In George R.R. Martin's books, an item like that is called a glamour (a trinket used to conceal your identity).
That's all great and cool, but there's a problem. Melisandre has had her necklace off before. Just look at Season 4, Episode 7, "Mockingbird." Selyse even walked in the room, but our Red Woman still looks like Melisandre!
After the show, a lot of people were calling "Shame!" on HBO. Could this be the biggest plot hole the North has ever seen? Mayhaps. But there could be an explanation after all.
When you re-watch the Season 4 scene, a couple things stand out. First, Melisandre puts a potion in the water with her. This could perhaps contain something that's keeping her looking young. Alternatively, because of Selyse's uncomfortable reactions in that scene, the shots of her focusing on Melisandre's body and the Red Woman's speech about committing deception, some fans believed that Selyse was seeing Melisandre in her true form, as Vanity Fair pointed out.
Adding support to this, at one point Melisandre tells Selyse, "You don't need powders and potions, my queen. You don't need lies."
(Warning: There's a naked person in the scene below!)
In HBO's "Inside the Episode," showrunner David Benioff said, "There have been a few hints before that Melisandre is much older than she appears. Going back to a very early conversation with George Martin about her, she's supposed to be several centuries old, so we always wanted to show her true age and were waiting for the right moment, and this was it for us."
If this reveal has been planned since the beginning like Benioff suggested, it seems unrealistic that the show committed a continuity error this drastic. But what do you think? Does Selyse see Melisandre as she truly is? Is the potion in the water keeping her young? Or is this plot hole big enough to fit a White Walker army through?
"Game of Thrones" Season 6 airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
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