Post by shymaid on May 26, 2018 8:17:34 GMT
This chapter contains lots of stuff - like most of them! We get hints of the ongoing storyline, as well as hints of several past happenings. As this is parentage, I'll keep to what I see as hints from the tourney at Harrenhal while ignoring the hints of the "royal" children. Those are most of the things I see in this.
And I'll do it in chronological order from the chapter as I found them.
The seven knights of the Kingsguard took the field, all but Jamie Lannister in scaled armor the color of milk, their cloaks as white as fresh-fallen snow.
Armor the color of milk – mothersmilk? Fresh-fallen snow kinda makes it's own connection. If Lyanna took to Arthur at Harrenhal, Jamie stood out there too as he was sent to King's Landing with only six Kingsguards remaining wearing the white armour and cloak.
Jeyne Poole confessed herself frightened by the look of Jalabhar Xho, an exile prince from the Summer Isles who wore a cape of green and scarlet feathers over skin as dark as night, but when she saw young Lord Beric Dondarrion, with his hair like red gold and his black shield slashed by lightning, she pronounced herself willing to marry him on the instant.
Who, if any, is Jeyne ment to mirror? Lyanna, or a female companion of hers? If so, was that the real girl falling for some knight, who is promised/married to someone else? But we never hear of any female companion of Lyanna's... So that raises the question of there being another female at the tourney that she mirrors. But then Jeyne is used as a Stark maid later on... Could this also be the case for Lyanna; someone impersonating her later on?
At first Jeyne is scared by a prince, before falling for a young lord and knight is interesting. The prince and black on shield and cloak makes me think of Rhaegar of course, but the knight is harder to identify. Later we learn that Beric has been betrothed for some time, so could this point to Brandon or Robert? As Jeyne gets ill in this chapter, does that tell us something about this mystery girl back in the day? It makes me think of Ashara, as many thinks something happened to her during the tourney.
A great lady knew how to behave at tournaments.
Ah, Lyanna might not have...Or at least not at all times.
Lyanna imagery at Harrenhal; and later he doesn't remember while she certainly does. Something similar with Rhaegar and Lyanna? Was it a one-way thing? Or is it opposite - Rhaegar wanting Lyanna who hardly remembers him? (I doubt Rhaegar is easy to forget, but in the line of being attracted to him it works.)
She looses all ability to speak (did Lyanna when crowned?), and when she finally looks up, LF stands over her:
Your mother was my queen of beauty once.
Then touches her hair and walks off. *creepy!*
Queen of beauty as Ned also thinks/dreams later on, so again Lyanna is there and her crowning. Doesn't imply love at all; Loras doesn't even remember, and I'm not sure if Lf really loved Catelyn. It is interesting that, as far as I could find, these two places are the only two where "love" is not used in the title! In all other uses, "love" is also there.
Sansa and Septa Mordane were given places of high honor, to the left of the raised dais where the king himself sat beside his queen. When Prince Joffrey seated himself to her right, she felt her throat tighten. He had not spoken a word to her since the awful thing had happened, and she had not dared to speak to him. At first she thought she hated him for what they'd done to Lady, but after Sansa had wept her eyes dry, she told herself that it had not been Joffrey's doing, not truly. The queen had done it; she was the one to hate, her and Arya. Nothing bad would have happened except for Arya.
She could not hate Joffrey tonight. He was too beautiful to hate. He wore a deep blue doublet studded with a double row of golden lion's heads, and around his brow a slim coronet made of gold and sapphires. His hair was as bright as the metal. Sansa looked at him and trembled, afraid that he might ignore her or, worse, turn hateful again and send her weeping from the table.
Instead Joffrey smiled and kissed her hand, handsome and gallant as any prince in the songs, and said, "Ser Loras has a keen eye for beauty, sweet lady."
She could not hate Joffrey tonight. He was too beautiful to hate. He wore a deep blue doublet studded with a double row of golden lion's heads, and around his brow a slim coronet made of gold and sapphires. His hair was as bright as the metal. Sansa looked at him and trembled, afraid that he might ignore her or, worse, turn hateful again and send her weeping from the table.
Instead Joffrey smiled and kissed her hand, handsome and gallant as any prince in the songs, and said, "Ser Loras has a keen eye for beauty, sweet lady."
She was drunk on the magic of the night, giddy with glamour, swept away by beauties she had dreamt of all her life and never dared hope for.
Does this mirror Lyanna as well? If Rhaegar did have Lyanna, the very valid argument is that she wouldn't be that interested in sharing his bed after her father and brother was killed. (That is, if she knew at the time.) But here we have a Stark girl who convinces herself that her beloved prince wasn't to blame, and could mirror the past; if Rheagar is to blame for Aerys' actions that is. Maybe Lyanna didn't see it that way. Rhaegar is said to be ridiculously handsome, so could Lyanna have thought the same? Being unable to hate him?
I included the last quote because Sansa is said to be a foil for Arya, who is stated to remind of Lyanna sometimes. Sometimes! That could point to her having some things in common with Sansa as well, and remember that Arya hasn't reached puberty yet. And we all know what puberty can do to girls and boys! As Lyanna probably hit that in the last year(s) of her life, she could be swept away by hormones. And so I also look to Sansa for clues to Lyanna. Lastly, I'd say this is one reason I might be able to see R+L at all, as I see the possibility that she was swept off her feet more than I can see her legitimately falling for Rhaegar.
Lastly, one interesting tidbit I found near the end, not exactly parentage, but I can't help myself.
"My father told everyone my bedding had caught fire, and our maester gave me ointments. Ointments! Gregor got his ointments too. Four years later, they anointed him with the seven oils and he recited his knightly vows and Rhaegar Targaryen tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Arise, Ser Gregor.'"
The rasping voice trailed off. He squatted silently before her, a hulking black shape shrouded in the night, hidden from her eyes. Sansa could hear his ragged breathing. She was sad for him, she realized. Somehow, the fear had gone away.
The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself. She found his massive shoulder with her hand. "He was no true knight," she whispered to him.
The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself. She found his massive shoulder with her hand. "He was no true knight," she whispered to him.
So, who exactly wasn't a true knight? Gregor and Rhaegar is named here (and Sandor's father, but I don't count him in), and the use is was. When Sandor was burned, Gregor wasn't knighted yet. Rhaegar was. So I started wondering if this is really telling us about Rhaegar, and a potential (much) darker side to him. So indirectly this ties to the tourney and what happened after.