There is no doubt that Melisandre, a.k.a. The Red Woman, is incredibly powerful. I mean, she can birth killer shadow babies and see visions of the future in fire, which is pretty damned impressive for a woman who was once a peasant slave. There is another, less mystical, way in which she may also be powerful…she might just qualify as a cult leader. Her religion in and of itself doesn’t seem any more a cult than the rest of the religions in Game of Thrones, but as advisor to Stannis Baratheon, Melisandre runs things in a manner that heavily mirrors that of a cult.
Wicked Nerdery 