When Rattleshirt was executed in place of Mance, was he tricked/drugged/willing into being the victim? It's been a while since I read the book, but I could never understand why he took the fall for his leader.
It all started when Stannis defeated Mance in a battle. Mance was taken captive and refused to bend his knees to Stannis so the king-from-the-south determined to punish the king-beyond-the-wall for being a turncloak, traitor, etcetera. Also, his king's blood could be used to wake a stone dragon so there it goes - Mance will be punished and at the same time, use him as a sacrifice to Rulore or rouse a dragon from stone. It's possible Madam Mel saw in her fires that this guy still has some important role to play in the future for her own ends, but she still need to obey the king's command. Maybe, just maybe, Rattleshirt was such a pain in the ass and the best way to get rid of him once and for all was for Mel to glamour him as Mance using a magic bracelet. (If not, he was just an unfortunate victim in a wrong place). Mel glamored the real Mance as Rattleshirt, too, of course. So I guess, Mel tricked Rattleshirt and he can do nothing about the magic bracelet that made him look like Mance. That's why when he was put on fire, he was denying his name and his kingship.
Edited by Queen Visenya, 13 July 2013 - 11:24 PM.