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| “ | The war has been waged since time began, and before it is done, all men must choose where they will stand. On one side is R'hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. Against him stands the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light. | „ |
| ~ Melisandre |
The Great Other is a deity that is the personification of darkness, cold, and death in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. He is the antithesis of the Lord of Light, R'hllor, both part of a religion from Essos in constant expansion. While it is forbidden to speak his true name, he is also known as the Other, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, and the God of Night and Terror.
Beliefs[]
According to the religion of the Lord of the Light, there are only two gods: R'hllor and the Great Other, and they are known to wage an eternal war with each other over the fate of the world. While any and all forces of cold, death, and darkness are believed to be servants of the Great Other, the Shadow Assassins are the exact opposite, as they are considered to be servants of the Lord of Light and children of fire. Red priests believe that they have been given the power to see through the falsehoods of the Great Other's servants. It is also believed by Melisandre that no one could survive looking at the cold and frightening visage of the Great Other. Believers of R'hllor claim that the legendary Age of Darkness/Long Night that allegedly covered the world thousands of years ago was the work of the Great Other.
Melisandre believes that the enigmatic race of the Others are creations and agents of the Great Other, and that the undead wights of ice are also his servants. Moqorro believes that the Drowned God, the sea deity of the Ironborn, is a demon and a thrall of the Great Other.
Melisandre is assuming that two figures she saw in a vision (resembling the three-eyed-crow Brynden Rivers and Bran Stark) are champions of the Great Other to be set against Stannis Baratheon, whom she believes to be Azor Ahai reborn, the avatar of R'hllor to fight against the Great Other.
Recent History[]
A Clash of Kings[]
When King Stannis Baratheon draws out the burning red sword Lightbringer from the burning statues of the Seven, Melisandre proclaims him as the legendary hero Azor Ahai reborn. She tells the attendants at the nightfire that Stannis is the Warrior of Light who will prepare humanity against an incoming long dark winter, now that the Long Summer has ended.
While Ser Davos Seaworth is smuggling Melisandre past the wards of Storm's End (to assassinate Ser Cortnay Penrose), he feels a cold wind and believes that the god of darkness is protecting them, as the night allows them to be spotted. However, Davos' words caused him to receive a scolding from Melisandre, who warned him not to speak the name of the Great Other.
A Storm of Swords[]
After the defeat in the Battle of the Blackwater and back at Dragonstone, Melisandre tells Stannis, whom she believes to be Azor Ahai reborn, that he is the prince that was promised and is destined to fight the Other. She repeats her words to Davos, whilst he is locked in a cell for attempted murder. She explains to him that she is making Stannis understand that it does not matter if he failed to take the Iron Throne, and that Westerosi politics are worthless. Melisandre claims that Stannis instead will lead all the races and creatures of the world in a war for life, telling Davos that the Great Other is gathering his power as they speak, preparing to launch the Long Night that Never Ends, which she believes will begin during the incoming winter. Later, when Davos' cellmate, Lord Alester Florent, appeals to the Seven for mercy, his brother Ser Axell Florent tells him that there are only R'hllor and the Other.
Melisandre regularly holds nightfires every late night, to celebrate the arrival of each dawn with her fellow worshippers of R'hllor, the Queen's men, thanking R'hllor for giving them Stannis, for giving them each day and sunlight, and for protecting them from the Great Other's darkness and cold. Melisandre and Stannis believe that the The Others and their undead army are the forces of the Great Other, who will eventually attack the Wall.
A Dance with Dragons[]
While at the Wall, Melisandre continues to hold her regular nightfires with her followers. Some black brothers of the Night's Watch join them and their religion. Eventually, over 100 wildlings also become followers, praying for R'hllor to save them from the Great Other and the Long Night that Never Ends. The nightfires are held atop the Wall at Castle Black every night, which can be heard by the Lord Commander Jon Snow and the other residents below.
In Essos, the red priests of the many temples in the Free Cities preach similar things about the incoming of darkness and to fight against the Great Other. In Volantis, the High Priest Benerro has gathered a massive number of followers, as a large portion of the population follows R'hllor, especially slaves because the Volantene red priests are proclaiming Queen Daenerys Targaryen to be Azor Ahai reborn.
During her stay at the Wall, Melisandre can't sleep much, as she believes that dreams were whispers of the Great Other and will drag humanity into eternal darkness, although she doesn't need to sleep much anyway, and mostly uses her bed with Stannis. In her chambers in the King's Tower, as she looks into the fires, Melisandre gets a glimpse of a white wooden face, a thousand red eyes, and a howling boy with a wolf's face. She believes that the figures she saw were the Great Other's champions. However, she may have glimpsed the three-eyed crow, Brynden Rivers, and Bran Stark.
The red priest Moqorro is afraid of the Drowned God; he warns the Lord Captain Victarion Greyjoy that the Drowned God is nothing but an evil demon in service of the Great Other, making the Ironborn deity another herald of darkness.
The Winds of Winter[]
King Euron Greyjoy tells his captive brother Aeron that humanity is currently living at the end of times, like red priests of R'hllor keep preaching about the believed attack of the Great Other. However, Euron claims that all gods are actually lies, and that he has seen how a "new god" will be born in place of all the current ones, implying that this new sole god of the world will be himself.
Trivia[]
- While the religion of R'hllor states that the Great Other brought the Age of Darkness, or Long Night, upon the world, other religions attribute the cataclysmic event to other deities and legendary figures.
- For example in YiTish legends in the Further East of Essos, the Long Night is said to have been caused by the Blood Betrayal and the actions of the Bloodstone Emperor, which caused the goddess called Maiden-Made-of-Light (representing sun, like R'hllor) turned her back upon the world, whilst her husband god, the Lion of Night (representing night, like the Great Other) came forth in all his wroth to punish the wickedness of humanity, sending his demons against them. While R'hllor and the Great Other are sworn enemies and identified as males, the Maiden-Made-of-Light is identified as a female and the Lion of Night as male, and the two are married.
- In Westeros, there is the Wall which was said to have built for protection against The Others, the believed avatars and ice demons of the Great Other. In the further east of Essos there are the Five Forts, which predate the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, believed by some to have been raised by the Pearl Emperor of the mythic Great Empire of the Dawn, to keep the Lion of Night and his demons away from all the realms of men. Similarly to how the Night's Watch now uses the Wall to defend the Seven Kingdoms from Free Folk raiders, the guardians of the Five Forts now defend the Golden Empire from raider cultures out of the Grey Waste in the east. But unlike the Night's Watch's many castles, the Five Forts can house ten thousand men each.
- For example in YiTish legends in the Further East of Essos, the Long Night is said to have been caused by the Blood Betrayal and the actions of the Bloodstone Emperor, which caused the goddess called Maiden-Made-of-Light (representing sun, like R'hllor) turned her back upon the world, whilst her husband god, the Lion of Night (representing night, like the Great Other) came forth in all his wroth to punish the wickedness of humanity, sending his demons against them. While R'hllor and the Great Other are sworn enemies and identified as males, the Maiden-Made-of-Light is identified as a female and the Lion of Night as male, and the two are married.
- Worshippers of R'hllor appear to dread the ocean, where there is only coldness and darkness in its bottom, and the Great Other's element, ice, is frozen water. Believers might regard all sea deities as demons of the Great Other. The red priest Moqorro claims that the Drowned God is real, but he is a demonic thrall of the Great Other. Melisandre is frightened by Stannis's jester and Shireen's companion, Patchface, who appears to have some ominous connection to the sea, and she had a vision of Patchface being covered in blood with many skulls around him, warning Jon Snow about this. But so far she has not openly linked Patchface to the Great Other.
- The legendary avatar of the Great Other's archenemy, R'hllor, is named Azor Ahai. If such person ever existed, and under by said name, it is likely he was a Tall Man from the Kingdom of Sarnor, an ancient nation of Essos that is nearly extinct in current day. Regardless if he or any counterpart existed, it is possible that the legend of Azor Ahai originated from Sarnor or Asshai, the latter having the most ancient books about the Long Night's tales and the earliest sacred scriptures of the faith of R'hllor.
External Links[]
- Great Other on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- Great Other on the Wiki of Westeros.
