Because Berric did not eat, Berric did not sleep, and Berric had very few memories of his life before he died. His wounds that caused his death did not really heal and scar over, rather, the wounds were still visible. The “fan-term” for his state of undeath is “firewight”. He was not truly alive and neither is Catelyn. Stoneheart was in far worse condition because she suffered so much brain damage given the passage of time between her death and her raising. She is now a creature of vengeance and hate - a revenant now. She can barely speak because the injury to her trachea is not healed by Berric’s breath of fire.
All of Berric’s characteristics are shared by Melisandre. GRRM tells us she’s undead with the other clues she provides in her only POV chapter in ADwD. She does not eat, except only occasionally to put those around her at ease. She does not digest her food. She does not EVER sleep, struggles to remember her real name (Melony, by the way). It also fits with her never being bothered by the cold and being immune to Cressen’s poison. The unnatural heat she gives off that Jon Snow feels is a product of her glamour. She is not able to conceive no matter how often she lies with Stannis. The only thing that her womb can give birth to is pretty monstrous :)
Come to think of it, I may be wrong in this recollection, but I believe she never passes through the Wall, either. She can walk on top, but not through it. Coldhands tells us that there are spells in the Wall which prevent him from passing through it. The only undead who do got through it are able to do so because they were carried by the living.
She’s undead, a firewight like Berric and Catelyn, but in far better shape because of how she died and when she was raised by the Temple of the Red God. I would speculate that she was deliberately killed as a priestess or slave acolyte and brought back to life almost immediately after her death, with minimal brain damage and without trauma to her person (poison killed her, probably). She reveals in her POV chapter that she is VERY old, so we already know her youthful appearance is the product of a glamour.
It all fits - and there is a reason that GRRM gives us a chapter with her POV. It’s so we can deduce this and, also, so that we can see she is misreading the signs and visions she sees and that her confirmation bias has blinded her to the truth that Jon Snow is Azor Ahai.
If you re-read her chapter carefully, I think you will agree.
GRRM starts his series by showing us the wights in his first prologue. He shows us in ACoK that the undead warlocks of Qarth extend their lives by preying upon the life force of the living. George shows us the Berric is not really alive. The wights are also not really alive, though the blue-glow to their eyes is a sign of some possession. Coldhands does not have this possession and is free-willed, but still very undead.
GRRM also shows us that those who are truly raised from the dead and restored to living, breathing, life – there is a catch. They do so without their mental faculties (Drogo) and are not able to procreate (Dany tries to have sex with veg-Drogo but his body cannot be stirred). GRRM also goes to great lengths in his prologue to ADwD to show us Varamyr Six-Skins second life. That was no mere coincidence. He’s telling his readers in ADwD to “chill out”.
Put it all together and we can see that Jon Snow will be left in the ice chambers below the wall to preserve his body (the bodies put there in that chamber are mentioned more than once in ADwD for no apparent purpose – it’s a subtle Chekov’s gun), that the Night’s Watch will have a funeral for him with the words “And now his watch is ended”. When that happens, the oath Jon Snow took is fulfilled. Mel must then raise Jon from the dead, restore his body to life like Karl Drogo (with a sacrifice) and then restore Jon’s consciousness to his body. Because he is a Warg, the animal is on hand and he will not as yet have lost his grip on his humanity, it can be restored in a way that Drogo’s could not. Jon Snow will be free from his Oath to the Night’s Watch and able to take the crown of the North, to lead the Wildlings as King Beyond the Wall – and to take the Iron Throne, too.
All of which means it does not look too good for the longevity of Ghost, who is Nissa Nissa and must be sacrificed in order for Azor Ahai to be reborn.
I’m sure the name of “Ghost” was just an coincidental name that GRRM chose from the very beginning, right?
I don’t really like the theory that Tyrion is actually the son of Aerys. Rivers is the name the Riverlands bastards get, btw. A Westerlands bastard would be called Hill.
Bastards with a noble name get that claim to nobility from their father. So being a King’s Landing bastard from Aerys, I believe the name would be “Rivers”. If he was Tywin’s bastard, he’d be a Hill.
If you read Tyrion’s very first chapter where he meets Jon at Winterfell, you will see that:
1 - “Then he saw the other one, waddling along half-hidden by his brother’s side. Tyrion Lannister, the youngest of Lord Tywin’s brood and by far the ugliest. All that the gods had given to Cersei and Jaime, they had denied Tyrion. He was a dwarf, half his brother’s height, struggling to keep pace on stunted legs. His head was too large for his body, with a brute’s squashed-in face beneath a swollen shelf of brow. One green eye and one black one peered out from under a lank fall of hair so blond it seemed white. Jon watched him with fascination.”
Jon 1, Game of Thrones
2- "Jon was in no mood for anyone’s counsel. “What do you know about being a bastard?”
“All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eyes.”
“You are your mother’s trueborn son of Lannister.”
“Am I” the dwarf replied, sardonic. “Do tell my lord father. MY mother died birthing me, and he’s never been sure.”
Jon 1, Game of Thrones
3- Not only is he a dwarf, but his eyes are mismatched in colour, too. He’s a genetic mutant. This is a product of inbreeding on his father’s side.
4- “Remember this, boy. All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need be dwarfs.” And with that he turned and sauntered back into the feast, whistling a tune. When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king.
Jon 1, Game of Thrones
From the very first scene, GRRM tells us the truth.
When Tywin dies, Tyrion misremembers his father’s last words as “Wherever whores go”. In fact:
“You always were quick to grasp a situation, my lord,” Tyrion said. “That must be why you’re the Hand of the King.”
“You… you are no… no son of mine.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong, Father. Why, I believe I’m you writ small. Do me a kindness now, and die quickly. I have a ship to catch.”
For once, his father did what Tyrion asked him. The proof was the sudden stench, as his bowels loosened in the moment of death.
Tyrion 9, A Storm of Swords
The dragon has three heads. GRRM is not going to cook up yet another new Targ for us. We also know Aegon cannot be a true born Targ. If Varys had Aegon squirreled away, for real, Varys and Illyrio would have planned on restoring Aegon to the Throne from the outset as Aegon would be the heir to the Throne and the best claim. But they don’t do that, they instead bet on Viserys and ignore Dany altogether until it is too late. Only after Viserys is killed do they revert to “Aegon” as their “Plan B”. Jon Connington believes he is Aegon because Varys and Illyrio told him so, but that does not make it true. He is the “mummer’s dragon”. He’s false.
We are missing the third head of the dragon. Selmy has already hinted at Aerys lusting after Joanna and there is a period of time she is in King’s Landing without Tywin being there. She was raped and suffered in silence as to reveal the truth to Tywin would have caused Tywin to go to war against the Throne – and lose.
It also follows, consequently, that Tyrion is no kinslayer.
