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prophesize truly, although the Red Priestess has some embarrassing moments when she sees correctly but interprets wrong. For instance, she sees a girl in grey and assumes it’s Arya Stark, but it isn’t—many brown-haired girls can wear grey after all. Likewise, she appears to be correct about the hero with a flaming sword, but there’s significant evidence that it won’t be her chosen king, Stannis. Thoros of Myr, who travels among the Brotherhood without Banners, is a red priest from the same order.
    Several characters such as Bran, Daenerys, and occasionally Jon have prophetic dreams. These are given to them by their wolves or through the magical Targaryen birthright. (Jaime’s dreams, by contrast, appear to be products of guilt rather than omens of the future). Martin has commented that all the Stark children have the wolf powers—for instance, little Rickon also dreams of his father’s death and Arya slowly begins to communicate with her wolf. Sansa may have lost this potential with her own wolf’s death in season one.
    In the second book (or episode 3.2), Jojen Reed arrives to be Bran’s friend and tutor. He too has true dreams. Many of these dream prophecies have already come true, and all of them indicate the events to come.
    Of course, Martin notes that prophecies can still surprise people, warning that “Not all of them mean what they seem to mean…”
Prophecies are, you know, a double edge sword. You have to handle them very carefully; I mean, they can add depth and interest to a book, but you don’t want to be too literal or too easy… In the Wars of the Roses, that you mentioned, there was one Lord who had been prophesied he would die beneath the walls of a certain castle and he was superstitious at that sort of walls, so he never came anyway near that castle. He stayed thousands of leagues away from that particular castle because of the prophecy. However, he was killed in the first battle of St. Paul de Vence and when they found him dead he was outside of an inn whose sign was the picture of that castle! [Laughs] So you know? That’s the way prophecies come true in unexpected ways. The more you try to avoid them, the more you are making them true, and I make a little fun with that. 14
    Many of the presented prophecies have come true—five of the seven books have been released after all. The more important prophecies (without significant spoilers) are presented in this chapter for fans who would like to explore their text and discover the shape of what is to come.

Chapter 3: The Coming of the Chosen One
    [M ild book five spoilers of a new character and some revelations that may or may not be true]
In the ancient books it’s written that a warrior will draw a burning sword from the fire, and that sword shall be Lightbringer. Stannis Baratheon, warrior of light, your sword awaits you. (2.1)
    With these words, Melisandre the Red Priestess calls Stannis to be the Chosen One and prophesized king. Melisandre also warns that the seas will freeze and “the dead shall rise in the North” (2.1). The time has come for a champion to heal the world. In the books, Melisandre goes into more detail:
“When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.”
“There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world. In this dread hour a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him.” (II:110)
    However, there’s a dark side to the prophecy:
To fight the darkness, Azor Ahai needed to forge a hero’s sword. He labored for thirty days and thirty nights until it was done. However, when he went to temper it in water, the sword broke. He was not one to give up easily, so he started over. The second time he took