Who is Game of Thrones' new Red Priestess Kinvara?
Look out Melisandre, there's a new witch in town...
Red Priestess Kinvara breezed into the Great Pyramid of Meereen in Game of Thrones episode five, quickly rendering Varys speechless after indicating that she knew a whole lot about his unfortunate past thanks to her hotline to the Lord of Light.
So who is this apparent badass, who looks like she could give Melisandre a run for her money in the enigmatic fanatic stakes?
Who is Kinvara?
High Priestess of the Red Temple of Volantis, the Flame of Truth, the Light of Wisdom, and First Servant of the Lord of Light, Kinvara has enough titles to make Daenerys jealous.
The show is now moving ahead of George RR Martin's source books so we don't know a huge amount more about Meereen's Red Priestess but from her ominous introduction, we wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her.
“We serve the same queen,” she tells Varys. “If you are her friend, you have nothing to fear from me.”
Plus, we've totally clocked that necklace, just like the one Melisandre wears – and we all remember what happens when she takes it off...
Who is Ania Bukstein?
The 33-year-old Israeli actress who plays Kinvara has mostly starred in homegrown film and TV, so this may well be the first time you've seen her on screen. It's worth knowing, though, that in 2007 she won an Israeli “Woman of the Year in Cinema” award. Sounds like Ania could be as formidable as her character...
She's also a singer
Here's Ania at the piano with a cover of The Weekend's Can't Feel My Face...
And here she is with one of her electro-tinged numbers in Hebrew. As one Facebook fan put it, "I don't understand anything, but I like the song..."
So she's on social media?
Yes, Ania’s quite active on Facebook, where she shares a lot of her music, although many of her posts are of course in Hebrew. But no worries, you can follow her on Instagram and stare into those hypnotic eyes to your heart’s content.
