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You are more ignorant than a child, ser knight. There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows.
~ Melisandre to Davos Seaworth.

Shadows are minor antagonists in the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its television adaptation, Game of Thrones. They are a form of magic used by shadowbinders of Asshai in Far East Essos. Red Priests think they are servants of the Lord of Light, as light is what casts shadows.

Biography[]

Renly's death TV series

Renly's death in the TV series.

Melisandre and Stannis Baratheon had sex, with Melisandre promising to give Stannis 'a son.' After the failed parley between Stannis and Renly, Melisandre is revealed to be pregnant. She gives 'birth' to a shadow that infiltrates Renly's camp and cuts his throat in front of Catelyn Stark and Brienne of Tarth. Renly's Kingsguards, Loras Tyrell, Ser Robar Royce, and Ser Emmon Cuy blame Brienne for the murder of the king. A few houses from the Reach and almost all of the stormlands go in support of King Stannis I, while Loras flees back to the Reach with Randyll Tarly, Mathis Rowan, and Arwyn Oakheart.

Sara K

In the novels, Shadow Assassins are literal shadows and extremely quick and hard to see (image: Stannis' shadow in Renly's tent).

After Renly's assassination, Storm's End is besieged by Stannis and his army. During the siege, Stannis and Melisandre kept having sex in the camp. Ser Cortnay Penrose, who was left in charge of the castle, refuses to yield Storm's End and Robert Baratheon's legitimized bastard, Edric Storm. Ser Davos Seaworth arrives after delivering Stannis' message to the realm and, at night, sails with Lady Melisandre into a cave under the stronghold. She disrobes, and Davos watches in horror as a woman gives birth to a shadowy creature. As the shadow emerges, Davos recognises the man who cast it, Stannis. The shadow goes to slay Penrose, allowing Stannis to take Storm's End.

Davos is so disturbed by the appearance of the shadow creature, and he and another knight convince Stannis not to bring Melisandre along when their fleet and army attack King's Landing. The king agrees with them, as he doesn't want people to think he won the throne via sorcery. He sends Melisandre back to Dragonstone with Edric Storm.

Catelyn and Brienne were the only witnesses ot Renly's murder. The event had scared them for a long time and keeps haunting Brienne's dreams. In Riverrun, Catelyn writes a letter to her son Robb, warning him about Stannis being a bigger threat than the Lannisters, as Stannis had promised Catelyn, during the parley that he would come for Robb Stark too. Catelyn was shocked and left immediately, abandoning any idea of talking with Stannis, thinking he had made a deal with "dark evil forces".

In the novels, it is unknown what Stannis was doing in private during his depression after losing the Battle of the Blackwater, but in the TV adaptation, during the events of Season 3, Stannis is extremely depressed as well as angry, and he asks Melisandre to make him another "son" to slay Joffrey Baratheon as well as Robb Stark. However, she refuses him, explaining that creating a shadow creature drains some of a man's life energy, and she fears that if Stannis attempts to create another with her, it will kill him. Instead, she has Gendry brought to Dragonstone, since he also has king's blood, being the son of Robert Baratheon.

In season 5, she tries to make a shadow assassin with Jon Snow, but he refuses. In the third book, Melisandre admits to Davos that Stannis' fires now burn so low that she dares not draw off any more to make another son, as it might well kill him. She indicates she can make more shadow assassins with another man, implying Davos, but the prisoner rejects her offer, believing their union would only result in horror.

The creation of two shadow assassins drained some of Stannis' life force, making him look prematurely old (he was already described as old-looking despite being in his thirties), his hair turning grey, and aging about 20 years. Further, the creation of the shadows caused Stannis to have repetitive dark nightmares that only Melisandre can appease with sex (causing Stannis to have some kind of "addiction" to sexual intercourse with her). Stannis often dreams of killing Renly and Penrose through the eyes of the shadows.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Melisandre and Quaithe are both shadowbinders. Mirri Maz Duur also studied with shadowbinders in Asshai, so it is presumed she is one as well. Mirri is at least able to perform a bloodmagic rite of sacrifice that can summon shadows to dance. The creation of shadow assassins through sex is not considered bloodmagic, however.
    • Daenerys does not see Mirri's rite when it happens. However, in the House of the Undying, she has a vision of Mirri's summoned shadows dancing within Drogo's tent, and she describes them as "boneless" and "terrible".
    • In general, occult practices such as black magic, bloodmagic, and shadowbinding are all deemed dark arts/evil sorcery by many cultures, including Westerosi.
  • A shadow assassin is always part of the man who conceived it. Stannis is asleep when a shadow made of his own being reaches Renly's tent. And it is possible he fell asleep or was in a state of trance when he used a second shadow to assassinate Renly's castellan in the castle of Storm's End. Stannis sees himself committing the deeds, not in the form of a shadow or a demonic figure, but as himself in flesh and bone.
    • In the novels, wind enters the tent, and Catelyn, Renly, and Brienne feel a sudden, unnatural cold presence, which extinguishes some candles. Renly's own shadow behind him, visible in the tent, suddenly moves and turns into Stannis's own shadow. While Stannis's shadow drives a blade and makes a slicing gesture behind Renly, all Catelyn and Brienne see is a horrifying scene: Renly's own throat opening out of nowhere by itself, while he is wearing full green plate armor, also protecting his neck. The shadow cuts through it "as if it were soft cheese," showing that nothing can stop a shadow assassin from committing their kill.
    • While Renly's death is happening, Stannis is dreaming and seeing everything through his own perspective, as he is the shadow. He sees himself walking and entering his brother Renly's tent, going past Catelyn (who, in her POV, she thinks somehow can feel Stannis near her), then he drives a blade and proceeds to slice his own brother's throat. Stannis hears Brienne screaming before suddenly waking up, shaken. Throughout the entire event, Stannis's squire, Devan Seaworth, is unable to wake him up, no matter how violently he tries, while Stannis is thrashing in his sleep. Only after the assassination is complete, Stannis is awake.
      • The first thing Stannis does upon waking up is check his hands to see Renly's blood, only to find that they are clean. Because of this, Stannis is convinced he killed his brother in person through dark magic, so he became haunted by it.
      • Presumably, Stannis, in his POV, saw himself throwing Renly's castellan, Ser Cortnay Penrose, down Storm's End's battlements.
    • In the TV series, this was changed with Renly being unarmored and being stabbed from the back by a smoky black figure resembling Stannis, and both Brienne and Catelyn are able to see it. Brienne recognizes Stannis, while Catelyn does not. It also happens at night, while Renly is preparing to rest and removing his armor.
      • In the novels, Brienne does not immediately accuse Stannis of Renly's death, as all she sees is Renly's own throat opening by itself through his own plate armor. It is Catelyn who tells her and Ser Robar Royce that the unnatural coldness in the tent was Stannis's presence, and that she knows it was him who used sorcery. This happens at dawn, when Stannis's offer expires, and Renly armors himself in order to lead his ready troops against Stannis in battle.
  • During the parley outside Storm's End, Stannis gives Renly time to reconsider everything and come to him before dawn to bend the knee to him and accept him as king. The offer would expire at dawn. In the book version, the shadow assassin appears to kill Renly at dawn, while in the show version, it appears at night.
  • In the novels, Davos has nothing to do with Renly's assassination. In fact, Davos is not present at all during the majority of Stannis's siege of Storm's End. When Stannis at Dragonstone sends ravens and messengers across Westeros and the Nine Free Cities to expose Cersei's secret, Davos and his eldest sons are sent to spread word via ship along with literate knights. By the time Davos and the others are done with the mission and join Stannis's army outside Storm's End's castle, Renly is already long dead.
    • No one smuggles Melisandre under any cave to make a shadow to kill Renly. There is no need, as Renly is camped out in the open with no magic around him. The only thing that can stop a shadow assassin is defensive magic.
  • In the novels, Stannis commands Davos to aid in the assassination of Renly's castellan, Ser Cortnay Penrose, who refuses to yield out of fear that Stannis will kill Edric Storm, Stannis's bastard nephew.
    • Melisandre can feel that Storm's End's walls have been made with ancient and powerful defensive spells, long forgotten and still active, from the age of the First Men, under House Durrandon. Because of that, she cannot send a shadow assassin to pass through the castle. Stannis sends Davos to use the same secret boat route he once used to deliver food to Storm's End's garrison. Davos escorts Melisandre to a now barred cave passage that leads straight to Storm's End's moat. As the bars are not made of magic, Melisandre births hers and Stannis's second shadow. When the shadow is freshly made, it appears in a smoky, demonic form, like in the TV series, and Davos recognizes Stannis's face and physique on it.
      • This second shadow assassin doesn’t use a blade to murder Penrose. Instead, it throws Penrose down the castle's walls while he is standing atop the battlements at night, making him fall to his death. When word of Storm's End's fall and Penrose's sudden, mysterious death reach Riverrun, Catelyn already guesses how the castellan died.
  • Cortnay's death as the shadow assassin is deemed suicide by the public. Varys, however, correctly tells Tyrion that the castellan did not seem lost in despair at all, as he wanted to challenge Stannis in single combat. Due to the two ominous and convenient deaths of Renly and Cortnay, which granted Stannis's strength at the right time, Varys concludes that Stannis is serving himself with the dark arts, and thus he stresses that Tyrion must stop him, as he believes there can be nothing worse than sorcerers sitting on the Iron Throne and associates powers like firemagic with demons and other dark forces.
  • In the novels, while none of Stannis's men dare to publicly claim that either Renly or Cortnay's mysterious deaths are the work of their king, most of his war council at Storm's End speaks against bringing Melisandre along in the assault of King's Landing. Lord Bryce Caron especially advises Stannis to ship the Red Woman back to Dragonstone with Edric, or else history will forever claim it was sorcery that won Stannis the Iron Throne. And Stannis immediately agrees with such thoughts, although he later regrets caring about this.
    • In the TV series, it is only Davos, having witnessed the shadow assassin, who advises Stannis not to bring Melisandre along to King's Landing. In the novels, Davos never speaks against bringing Melisandre and only opposes her after the Battle of the Blackwater.
  • In the TV series version, Selyse is aware of Stannis cheating on her, and Melisandre herself tells her she made a shadow assassin with him. In the novels, there is no evidence that Selyse even knows that Melisandre is her husband's mistress, and she might not even suspect it due to Stannis's public reputation of not being interested in sex. Selyse knows that Melisandre had a hand in Renly's death, and possibly Cortnay's as well, but it is not said if she knows what kind of sorcery was used for the kills or if she knows how shadow assassins are made.
  • While it is strongly implied they are still having sex regularly, even at Castle Black, Melisandre tells Davos she no longer dares trying to do shadowbinding mating with Stannis for a third shadow assassin, as she fears it will kill him. She offers to make one with Davos, who fearfully turns said offer down. It is hinted that conceiving two shadows drained some of Stannis's life force, and his hair has gone gray, even though he is in his mid-thirties. Stannis's followers and allies believe this was caused by stress over his defeat in King's Landing.
  • The shadow assassin that killed Renly kept haunting Catelyn and still haunts Brienne.
    • Catelyn became terrorized by Stannis and claims he made a deal with dark, evil forces. Renly's death caused her to instantly flee from Storm's End with Brienne and her escort party, no longer even trying to negotiate with Stannis for an alliance and not wanting to stay with him. Catelyn ended up associating Stannis with sorcery and demons, picturing him as a "dark sorcerer," Tywin Lannister, and warning her son Robb and her brother Edmure not to try seeking an alliance with him. A chill went through her mind as she remembered Stannis's cold promise to her that he would come for her son too, picturing the chance of a shadow visiting Robb as well. When learning about Stannis's defeat in the Battle of the Blackwater, Catelyn felt more relief than sadness, thinking that Stannis was a friend to Robb as much as Tywin was.
    • In Brienne's recent nightmares, she sees herself desperately trying to defend Jaime from various threats, such as the Brave Companions. But in the end, Stannis appears in the form of a shadow and slices Jaime's throat.
  • In the House of the Undying, Daenerys has a vision of a "blue-eyed king" raising a red sword and casting no shadow. The description matches Stannis, who wields the magic red sword Lightbringer and has deep blue eyes, darker than the typical Baratheon eyes. He is said to look like night itself and is compared to hollow pits. It is unknown if the lack of shadow is meant to be literal and a reference to Stannis's use of shadowbinding powers, or if it has a different significance.

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