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If you’re planning a battle against supernatural forces of ice, a red priestess with a magical relationship to fire should probably be on your speed dial. Fortunately for the folks at the Battle of Winterfell, as seen in Sunday’s episode of “Game of Thrones,” Melisandre (Carice van Houten) showed up offering exactly that, despite having been told that a return to the North would get her executed.
Her actions — setting weapons and trenches aflame, providing key pep talks — helped give the living a victory over the dead, but it came at a cost. As she predicted, she had to die in this strange country, and she did so willingly. During a phone interview Tuesday, van Houten looked back at her complicated character. Following are edited excerpts.
This is a huge episode for Melisandre. Do you feel that it gave you a satisfying conclusion for your character?
I sort of felt it coming, back when I said to Varys in Season 7 that we were both going to die, basically. I felt like I had it coming. And I was actually happy and quite sentimental when I read the script. I thought it could be a beautiful ending to this character. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the episode yet. I’m going to do it tonight. I’m very, very late to the party. I remember shooting it, though, very vividly. It ended on an elegant note, and it was emotional, which we haven’t seen as much in her story line. I’ve gotten so many reactions from people, too, which really means a lot, to be honest.
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I’m hoping you’re getting much kinder responses than some of the hateful ones you used to get, and sometimes still do, when people conflate you with your character.
Yeah. [Laughs] I’ve never felt personally threatened. I always just liked that they loved to hate me. I don’t mind if they hate the character, but when they start mixing my character up with myself, then it becomes a bit weird and unpleasant. And Melisandre, at least, deserved that at some point. It’s a logical, sane reaction to her deeds, to tell her to [expletive] off. If you’re burning children alive, what the hell? That’s also why I think the show is so good, because it keeps playing with people’s morals and with people’s sympathies. It confuses people about characters, and I love that, because the world’s not black and white, and people are not black and white.
I’ve also gotten some really lovely texts from Gwendoline Christie, Liam Cunningham and other cast members about how happy they are. I was just really happy that they felt for Melisandre. People underestimated her character arc and her complexity, and I was very happy that people don’t see her as a flat character or just pure evil or whatever. I was happy to be able to give her some humanity in the end.
Did you fill in the blanks for yourself in terms of what happened for her between when we last saw her, in Season 7, and this moment? She said she was heading to Volantis, and somehow between then and now, her power increased. Any idea of what happened during her time off or how she determined to be at the Battle of Winterfell at just the right moment?
You can speculate about all of that, but I don’t know. Not really. [Laughs] The character has been a mystery even to myself all these years, and I’ve struggled with her. Like, what is she about, man? What is her goal? How old is she, really?
But sometimes not knowing, I think, has helped me. I can project my own stuff onto her and use my own imagination, my own personal things. It always felt like it added up somehow, and she knew she was here for a reason, even if she couldn’t always pinpoint it. She needed the visions in the fire to tell her where to go. She needed the Lord of Light, and he or she or it guided her there. And I don’t think she thinks it’s even her doing this. She doesn’t think she has any power. She’s always been really honest about that. “It’s not me. I’m just a vessel.”
True, but she could have power that she mistakenly attributes to a god. She’s been wrong before.
Yeah. And that has definitely affected her. But bringing Jon Snow back definitely gave her some of her confidence back, I think.
What was it like shooting the scene in the trench?
That was literally the last scene I shot. It was funny because it was so undramatic, because it was happening in a big studio with lots of green screens and fake bodies. But it was also loaded with emotion because I had to say goodbye. It fit the scene for me. It was really clear to me in that moment that Melisandre wasn’t there for her own sake. She has never been in it for her own sake. And I hope you can see that emotion coming out of her, that she has to save us all, in a way. There is a lot of empathy and hope there, even if you can’t understand the words she’s praying. So it was intense.
It looks spectacular when she lights the Dothraki weapons, but that doesn’t end up doing much good. It also looks spectacular when she lights the trench, but that doesn’t last long. The most effective thing she does during this battle is give a pep talk to Arya.
Exactly! I really loved that sort of girl power moment. I’m like, “You go get ’em,” that sort of thing. “You go girl.” I think that also gave some lightness to her character and brought some modern humanity to her, which I really loved. It was just so satisfying. And I knew they were going to come back at some point to the “brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes” thing. It wasn’t random. It was significant. And of course, a lot of smart fans already picked up on that. They probably knew it before I knew it!
How did you interpret the final scene when she removes the necklace, removes the glamour illusion, walks off as an old woman and collapses? What did the final image convey to you?
My work is done here. I’ve served my purpose. I’m tired. In a way, it’s a sort of sacrifice. I mean, suicide sounds a bit too strong, but it is. She’s old. She longs for peace. She’s done.
And yet, she’s not entirely done. There’s still so much about her that we don’t know that would have been great to explore. Her previous life, how she got to be where she was, the secrets she kept, what happened when she was a slave, what happened before she was even associated with this religion …
I agree! That has been — not a frustration, but I have longed for that as well myself. I would have loved to know more, and see more, about that. Because she’s so mysterious, it leaves you a bit hungry. But that’s okay. I sort of like that. Better that than to feel fed up!
Maybe they could fit her in one of the prequel successor series. Melisandre lived longer than most of the other characters, so she could be around during Aegon’s Conquest or the Dance of the Dragons, or other historical events.
And I can still do that! [Laughs] I’m still available to be hired as an actress. I can do more if people have fun ideas! You almost feel that she’s been burdened by this religion, so you want to see her when she started out, when she was young and innocent. I would be really interested to see her as a child, in fact. I would love that. But as much as it was painful and sad to have this end, it always feels like this is just the way it had to be. It was a great seven years, and it was the perfect time.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.