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  ===Background===
  Melisandre was born an unknown number of years before the start of the series, possibly with the name "Melony".  As a child slave, she was sold to the Red Temple and trained for the priesthood.  Believing Stannis Baratheon to be the reincarnation of Azor Ahai, a mythic messiah prophesied by her faith, she travels to his island stronghold, Dragonstone, during the events of ''A Game of Thrones''.  Tywin Lannister indirectly mentioned her as "a shadowbinder from Asshai" during a private conversation with Tyrion Lannister after the Battle in the Whispering Wood.
  Also known as "The Red Woman", Melisandre possesses magical abilities that can cast glamour and manipulate fire and shadow, has prophetic visions by looking into fire, and takes an aggressively militant stance against the other religions of Westeros.  She is described as a beautiful voluptuous foreign woman with red eyes and red hair, always dressing in red robes and wearing a red gold choker set with a large ruby, and rarely sleeps or eats.  Melisandre is introduced in ''A Clash of Kings'' and serves as the third-person narrator for one chapter of ''A Dance with Dragons''.