Sigh, Rhaegar's motivations at Harrenhal remain my biggest bugaboo. The only consolation I can find, is that his actions really don't make sense under any theory.
What I've argued, is that there was no abduction, and that Rhaegar, being a fan of prophecy (fantasy) was quickly and easily caught up in the Green Man ritual. He became the fool/king for a day, while Howland pulled the strings.
And I suspect Lyanna was far more involved and aware than Rhaegar was.
I agree that the Bael the Bard story is relevant, my point is that our Bael isn't Rhaegar, it's Howland.
Yup. And though the maids always loved Bael in his songs, we've no reason to think Lyanna was not willing.
Only Howland and Ned know/knew Lyanna's fate. Is it too crackpot to think she just changed the L in her name to a J? Meera's birth would fit into the timeline a bit easier if her mother wasn't at Greywater Watch. :::
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
6) As I stated above, I think that there is a connection between Rhaegar's song of Ice and Fire and the Reed's oath which culminates in Ice and Fire. I think that Rhaegar may have made a connection between his Prince that was Promised, his three headed dragon, and the underlying meaning of the Reeds' oath.
I can't imagine GRRM would have put ice and fire there if it wasn't meaningful. Whatever happened at the ToJ, Howland is the one with the answers -- and I'm not just talking about the mundane events there.
10) Putting Lyanna in a location like the Isle of Faces, also helps with the idea that the rebellion started on a false premise. I never understood under the traditional theory of R+L why Rhaegar and Lyanna wouldn't have made their presence known after Brandon was imprisoned. Putting Lyanna in a locale like the Isle of Faces makes sense that she would not have been aware of the chaos caused by her actions.
It's one of the big problems for any theory of what happened. I'd hate to think that GRRM just didn't think of it. A visit to the Isle of Faces is a tempting thought whatever parentage theory you hold to. Lady Dyanna quoted the following, speculating on a connection between Arya and Jenny:
The dwarf woman studied her with dim red eyes. “I see you,” she whispered. “I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death …” She began to sob , her little body shaking. “You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours.
Interesting context for this is that the Ghost had already recognised Arya, and called her to come closer with a smile. Only after studying Arya does her mood change. Why would Arya "smell of death" more than all the other killers present? Or Dondarion, who's died several times? One thing we know about Arya's face is that it reminds people of Lyanna. Food for thought.
In both Meera's story and Eddard's TOJ dream Howland is not lord Reed. It could very well be that Howland only became Lord of Greywater Watch because the rest of the Reeds died in the Rebellion or shortly thereafter. Regardless, his status as lord is post Rebellion, not pre. So someone died to make him Lord of Greywater.
Sure, but to be Lord Reed eventually, he'd still have to be a Reed. It's hard to see why he wouldn't be the last crannogman in line to the Lordship if he has no Crannogman ancestry and is a first generation settler.
Then there's a problem with the prophecy that Rhaegar was pursuing in your interpretation: a child of Duncan and Jenny is not compatible with the Woods Witch's prophecy of a child from the line of Aerys and Rhaella.
Technically the prophecy doesn't have to refer to a descendant of Aerys and Rhaella
A woods witch had told him that the prince was promised would be born of their line.
Barristan says born of their line. Not born into their line which is a strict wording that means the prince must be a descendant of Aerys and Rhaella. Born of their line could mean a descendant, but it also just could mean that the line of Aerys and Rhaella would bring about the prince, but not necessarily that their descendant will be the prince. As in one of their descendants would do something to make the prince happen, which is a perfectly fine definition for "born" of their line (they created the prince).
It's a stretch, but I see your point. I think it would be a fairly lame trick of GRRM to put what would amount to an intentional red herring so late in the game, though. A hidden meaning like that should go in the presentation of the mystery, not so late on towards the unfolding.
[quote source="/post/6904/thread" timestamp="1439349644" Only Howland and Ned know/knew Lyanna's fate. Is it too crackpot to think she just changed the L in her name to a J? Meera's birth would fit into the timeline a bit easier if her mother wasn't at Greywater Watch. :::
If it's just a change in name, then yeah it's too crackpot. Ned undoubtedly thinks that Lyanna is dead.
On the other hand, we do have that mysterious "Ned could recall none of it".
[quote source="/post/6904/thread" timestamp="1439349644" Only Howland and Ned know/knew Lyanna's fate. Is it too crackpot to think she just changed the L in her name to a J? Meera's birth would fit into the timeline a bit easier if her mother wasn't at Greywater Watch. :::
If it's just a change in name, then yeah it's too crackpot. Ned undoubtedly thinks that Lyanna is dead.
On the other hand, we do have that mysterious "Ned could recall none of it".
We do. And conversely, do we know Jyanna is alive?
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
2) You make an interesting point about Howland's word weaving abilities. In addition I would assume that Howland may have used a glamor (perhaps how he makes castles appear and disappear). Now what I can't figure out is what it means to turn earth to water and water to earth.
My theory is that none of the powers ascribed to Howland, who does not have green dreams, are "real magic" rather than the magic of the Crannogmen. I think it belongs to the idea of a kind of druidic "magic" based on a deep understanding of nature and knowledge of secrets known to few.
This is so tantalising; I know I'm going a bit off topic here, but bear with me:
Jojen and Meera swear by Earth and Water, Bronze and Iron, Ice and Fire. Could 'Earth and Water' represent this 'earthly' magic, while ice and fire represents the magic that is associated with the comet i.e. other wordly? I'm using 'Lucifer Means Lightbringer's essays as a basis for that last bit by the way.
Jojen and Meera swear by Earth and Water, Bronze and Iron, Ice and Fire. Could 'Earth and Water' represent this 'earthly' magic, while ice and fire represents the magic that is associated with the comet i.e. other wordly? I'm using 'Lucifer Means Lightbringer's essays as a basis for that last bit by the way.
Yeah, I think that this is a good observation though I'd put it in a slightly different order. Bronze and Iron already represent a kind of magic. Just as this idea that Howland's knowledge of the land can be a kind of magic, smithing was traditionally considered magical, and the earliest metalworkers were masters of a powerful secret knowledge. We are giving three pairings, so we should consider them as three distinct concepts.
"Earth and Water" are the nature of the world, land and sea, combined in the landscape of the swamp. The Ironmen might be closer to the sea than other men, but the crannogmen are close to both water and earth, and they understand their land deeply. This is the oldest tradition, the secrets of understanding nature.
"Bronze and Iron" are the tools of man, that the skills of smithing that sets man apart from the animals. They allow man to manipulate the environment. Smithing is the secret that allows man to shape nature.
"Ice and Fire" ? I suggest these are the tools of magic, the secrets that allow man to control and to change nature.
Not really. Harrold Hardying is set to become Lord Arryn despite not having had an Arryn ancestor for 2 generations. Lancel (well Kevan actually) claims extra authority as Lord of Darry by marrying a Frey who's mother was a Darry. Robert's claim to the Iron Throne was partly justified by the fact that his grandmother was a Targaryen. After Lord Hornwood's death all the contenders for the Hornwood lands are descendants from various female lines unless Bran gives the lands to Lord Hornwood's bastard. Cat thinks Robb should make his heir someone from the Vale who's never seen Winterfell.
I could go on, but there's plenty of examples of people in the novels who end up getting lands and titles without really having a legitimate claim to them and having to find the most backwater channel connections to get them. Howland doesn't have to have been a Reed to become Lord Reed. He just needs some claim to it, no matter how far back.
And for the sake of arguing for this essay, given that Jenny cannot possibly have been from Oldstones as Oldstones is an abandoned town with no people, I'd say Jenny has a different ancestry. And the nearest people for her to have been apart of if she actually has a connection to Oldstones is either the Riverlands or the Neck. Given that Duncan became known as the Prince of Dragonflies after he married Jenny, I'd say that Jenny was from the Neck, not the Riverlands. Which makes Jenny a crannogwoman. Which is what the members of House Reed are.
I think it would be a fairly lame trick of GRRM to put what would amount to an intentional red herring so late in the game, though. A hidden meaning like that should go in the presentation of the mystery, not so late on towards the unfolding.
It's only late in the game if you've been under the assumption that the prophecy was exactly as presented which GRRM told us all not to do. For example
"No," the old man said. "It must be you. Tell them. The prophecy . . . my brother's dream . . . Lady Melisandre has misread the signs. Stannis . . . Stannis has some of the dragon blood in him, yes. His brothers did as well. Rhaelle, Egg's little girl, she was how they came by it . . . their father's mother . . . she used to call me Uncle Maester when she was a little girl. I remembered that, so I allowed myself to hope . . . perhaps I wanted to . . . we all deceive ourselves, when we want to believe. Melisandre most of all, I think.
If you read this you'd think that the prince needs to be a Targaryen descendant as well, as Aemon says that both him and Melisandre know that one of the signs is the person having dragon's blood and Stannis has some through his grandmother. But again, if you take it as the language being deceiving, and given that we don't actually know the language just that there's something about dragon blood, it's kind of completely unGRRM to say that the prince will literally have dragon's blood and therefore be a Targaryen descendant. More likely IMO they will have dragon's blood because they killed a dragon.
And if you're looking for even more hints that there might have been early hints that we're all being misled as he wants us to
What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years.
GRRM already told us that the language of the prophecy has been misleading people. It strikes me as exactly like GRRM to throw that out there while misleading us again with some other aspect due to language.
So I don't think that a hidden meaning would be out of left field. I'd say he's planned a hidden meaning all along. I'd be disappointed if there wasn't and the promised prince was literally just a Targaryen descendant when that's what's been presented all along and he's told us that he hates that kind of prophecy.
Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
Great essay, I'm reminded of when we're introduced to the Reeds in ACOK:
He looked up and down the benches at all the faces happy and sad, and wondered who would be missing next year and the year after. He might have cried then, but he couldn't. He was the Stark in Winterfell, his father's son and his brother's heir, and almost a man grown.
At the foot of the hall, the doors opened and a gust of cold air made the torches flame brighter for an instant. Alebelly led two new guests into the feast. "The Lady Meera of House Reed," the rotund guardsman bellowed over the clamor. "With her brother, Jojen, of Greywater Watch."
Men looked up from their cups and trenchers to eye the newcomers. Bran heard Little Walder mutter, "Frogeaters," to Big Walder beside him. Ser Rodrik climbed to his feet. "Be welcome, friends, and share this harvest with us." Serving men hurried to lengthen the table on the dais, fetching trestles and chairs.
I find it rather odd that Meera is introduced first, while her brother is almost introduced as an afterthought. Either crannogmen practice Dornish inheritance custom, or Meera's the more important one because she's the heir, and beyond Dornish custom, the only other reason for her to be heir over Jojen would logically be if she's from a prior marriage.
The only other possibility would be Jojen's green dreams tell him he won't live to be lord have been shared with his family.
Or Jojen could be a bastard if Howland never remarried after Lyanna. But I noticed that intro as well. He's always referred to as Jojen Reed by Bran and Maester Luwin, and neither Meera nor Jojen ever correct them, so perhaps not. But it was an odd introduction, and I'm assuming that either Meera or Howland directed Alebelly as to their proper introduction.
There's no may pole or may king and queen at Beltane festivals either. It was distinctly a festival of a herding rather than agrarian tradition, centred around cattle being driven between two bonfires, and I've never heard of any connection with a horned deity, either. At least one pre-dating the 20th Century.
Not "no overlap", just "remarkably little". My source is observation of the actual material. There's only one named representation of Cernunnos, the Pillar of the Boatman, and there's no vegetation associated with him there. Just a horned figure with torcs on his horns. There's a few other Romano-Gaulish carvings of an unnnamed horned god that's not attested but almost certainly is Cernunnos also, portrayed with a rat, bull and stag, wearing a torc again and holding a sack, and possibly draped with a snake. That's his iconography. The Gundestrup cauldron has a horned deity some people argue is also Cernunnos, with a couple of plants around him, but again far more obvious association with animals. Again he has a torc and a snake. That figure has a remarkable similarity to the horned diety of the Mohenjo-daro seals, the lord of animals. This is all the well-attested iconography -- wealth, fruitfulness, master of animals etc, and all quite standard stuff, a herding/husbandry deity. Even the paleolithic (and now considered suspect) sorcerer of Trois Freres is clearly associated with animals.
Odin is sometimes represented as a horned deity, but he's more of the wild hunt type. Nature yes, vegetation, no.
There's a possibly horned deity who appears a few times carved on Hadrian's wall, and his iconography is spear and shield, making him likely a war god.
If you want to find a precedent for the medieval green man appearing in northern European and particularly British church carvings, you should really be looking at classical rather than native traditions. The leaf-masks of Bacchanalian/Dionysian traditions are an obvious precursor. I think you'll have a hard time finding any pre-Christian evidence for the iconography being remotely widespread outside the classical tradition. You'll find some goat-horned satyrs with entangled vines, but they're more Pan than Green Man.
Kingmonkey i'm sorry to tell you but your observation is a bit off its a visual pattern that you see that ignores what you don't and that's something a person like me can tell you .It has nothing to do with vegetation vs animals.The horned god doesn't represent just animals he represents the cycle of nature life death rebirth which "includes" animals and vegetation.No matter how he's depicted a few plants or no plants.Him sitting in the middle of a forest or not having a few vines out of him etc.Iconography doesn't come into play.Knowledge passed down for what he represents is and even -the excuse my term- muggles got that more or less right.Same thing with the green man,iconography doesn't tell the whole picture which is what i'm not getting from you.He's not a rep of foilage but of a cycle of a relationship.The seasons and how eveything vegetation,animals even us are affected by it.
So when it comes to this story and how GRRM is using it, then FFR use of the Green man is a correct one and that exludes Rhaegar. To reduce the horned god archetype to a dude riding a horse i think is a desperate attempt to make Rhaegar fit into something he doesn't ,sorry but he doesn't, not in this archetype at all. His archetype is at the tourney yes,but it isn't the green man,or horned god etc.
ETA: I thought i had put this in but i didn't.Did you know when the cattle were passed through the bonfire they were adorned with vegetation?
Jojen and Meera swear by Earth and Water, Bronze and Iron, Ice and Fire. Could 'Earth and Water' represent this 'earthly' magic, while ice and fire represents the magic that is associated with the comet i.e. other wordly? I'm using 'Lucifer Means Lightbringer's essays as a basis for that last bit by the way.
Yeah, I think that this is a good observation though I'd put it in a slightly different order. Bronze and Iron already represent a kind of magic. Just as this idea that Howland's knowledge of the land can be a kind of magic, smithing was traditionally considered magical, and the earliest metalworkers were masters of a powerful secret knowledge. We are giving three pairings, so we should consider them as three distinct concepts.
"Earth and Water" are the nature of the world, land and sea, combined in the landscape of the swamp. The Ironmen might be closer to the sea than other men, but the crannogmen are close to both water and earth, and they understand their land deeply. This is the oldest tradition, the secrets of understanding nature.
"Bronze and Iron" are the tools of man, that the skills of smithing that sets man apart from the animals. They allow man to manipulate the environment. Smithing is the secret that allows man to shape nature.
"Ice and Fire" ? I suggest these are the tools of magic, the secrets that allow man to control and to change nature.
I agree with you here,something we talked a lot about on Heresy and have a little formula
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes"--Sherlock Holmes"
Heretics will have heard me said that my personal favorite scenario would be Howland + Lyanna, and I've made little quips here and there, like "what happens on the Isle stays on the Isle" and that Howland could have skinchanged/bog-deviled Rhaegar to make him lose his mind during the false spring. wolfmaid7 will vouch for me that I was another proponent of the idea that GRRM was doing his own version of the Beltane Ritual with the tourney and "abduction" of Lyanna. But, compared to this essay, all of that speculation was child's play. This is brilliant stuff FFR. :::
Of course this is the famous scene where the Starks find the dead mother Direwolf, killed by an antler. Now I'm not going into BC terrority and get too into the plot significance, but I do want to comment on the symbolism behind this. My first assumption is that it symbolised some type of conflict between House Baratheon and House Stark, but now I wonder. If Howland stands for the Green Man in our story, and if Lyanna stands for the idea of the mother Direwolf, then this scene could have additional relevance if my theory is correct. Howland (and agent of the green men who are adorned with antlers according to folklore)impregnates Lyanna which ultimately causes her death.
I've often locked horns with BC over this damned antler. And if I jumped into Heresy right now, I have no doubt we could start arguing about it at this very instant, even if it wasn't the topic of discussion. LOL
But I cannot deny how wonderfully this fits. Braavo again Ser.
"The Lady Meera of House Reed," the rotund guardsman bellowed over the clamor. "With her brother, Jojen, of Greywater Watch."
Hey, wait a minute...
"With her brother, Jo(je)n..." That's a very simple reduplication of morphemes I never noticed before. I'm ashamed! Jon-Jon - Jo-Jon - Jojen. Jojen has his eyes open, Jon has his eyes open.
"The Lady Meera (Arya) of House Reed (House Pointy-End, House Needle)," the rotund guardsman (GRRM) bellowed over the clamor. "With her brother, Jojen (Jon), of Greywater (Stark Snow) Watch (Night's Watch)."
GRRM bellowed over the clamor!!!!
Dude i thought we lost you where have you been hiding yourself? Yeah i can vouch for you.Your little jokes at times have some brilliant insight.Its the kind of thing that makes you sit up and say hmmmmm.I've been really busy myself flu season is coming up and we want to try and get a handle on that.
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes"--Sherlock Holmes"
In folklore and mythology, the Green Man is an ancient pagan god/hero/outsider, a man whose death and rebirth represent winter and spring. A variant of the Green Man is found in mythology and religion from dying and rising gods such as Attis, Osiris, Tammuz, Bran the blessed, and Jesus Christ. He’s found in pagan rituals celebrating the Corn Kings and the Spring Queens; The Lords of May and Maidens in the Bower.The archetype manifests in tales of Green jack, Robin Hood, Robin Goodfellow, Herne the Hunter, and Gawain and the Green Knight. His tale is sung in the Ballad of John Barleycorn, a version of the Corn King.
I don't know if this will drastically affect what you've written but in traditional Beltane rituals all that i know of the Green man isn't an outsider. He IS the big deal and one of the central figures involved in the whole ritual.Nothing gets done until he gets done.....you know what i mean
I think Martin is creating a type of May Day ritual with his Harrenhal tourney. It’s held during a false spring, and it entails the crowning of a Queen of Love and Beauty, which is Westeros version of the May Queen. Even the image of Rhaegar’s lance with the crown of roses on its tip is basically a May Pole held horizontally. And if we continue the symbolism, Howland Reed fresh off his stay from the Isle of Faces is our Green Man, the outsider coming uninvited into the May Day celebration.
I think you are spot on identifying the tourney as a Beltane ritual.One clarification though and that is i'm not sure if the lance thing is a bit of juicing but in the series Ned doesn't speak of a lance being involved when Rhaegar lay the crown.
In the tale of TKOTLT, Martin even develops a basis for a relationship between his May Queen, Lyanna, and his Green Man, Howland Reed. Lyanna comes to Howland’s rescue when he is attacked by the three squires, she invites him into her family, and helps nurse him back to health. If she is indeed the Knight of the Laughing Tree, she even fights for his honor. Despite the fairly strong foundation for a possible romantic relationship between two people, the reader does not easily come to this conclusion. The reason for this is Martin has inverted our gender stereotypes with his tale.
I think this is a good indicator,especially given how GRRM likes to switch gender roles.Also,Meera's story indicates that Howland could have had a lil feelings for Lyanna.
nd the reader isn’t the only one who jumps to this conclusion. Martin has a number of his characters jump to the same conclusion, from Viserys to Barristan to Kevan Lannister, a number of persons who were not in Rhaegar’s inner circle assume that Rhaegar and Lyanna had a torrid love affair which resulted in Robert’s rebellion.
It seems that the common assumption is that Rhaegar fell madly in love with the little tomboy and throwing caution to the wind procures a crown of blue winter roses, and crowns her in front of his father, his wife, and the lords of the realm.
Yep no arguement from me on how wacko that sounds.
Perhaps Rhaegar’s inner circle knew that Rhaegar was crowning Lyanna on behalf of Howland. This would explain why there is apparently no repercussions from Elia and her Dornish entourage (especially her brother) over Rhaegar’s actions. It would also explain why Connington never once thinks of Lyanna when he thinks about Rhaegar.
Perhaps there is a clue here. The knight gives a rose to our maiden in what superficially appears to be a romantic gesture. But the knight in reality has no romantic interest in the maiden. On the other hand, Littlefinger, who like Howland is short of stature and a bit of an outsider, is the one who truly desires the maiden.
Remember at the beginning, my discussion of the Green Man? He is a figure symbolizing death and rebirth. In ASOIAF, it appears that those individuals possessing King’s blood make for a potent sacrifice in magical rituals. The Green Man is basically that, a sacrifice to help bring an end to winter and a return of Spring. So if Jon Snow is to play the part of a Green Man (or a Corn King) then my guess is his destiny is to be sacrificed to help bring about an end to a never ending winter.
A slightly different interp,but i get what your saying.
Ultimately the Song of Ice and Fire, isn’t about a legal claim to House Targaryen, and a hidden prince who will one day be rewarded the Iron Throne. This is a tale about seasons, about a never ending night and the dream of a spring to follow it. Jon Snow is a modern day retelling of John Barleycorn, the Corn King, whose death and sacrifice will be needed to see an end to a Long Winter.
Surely the standard role of the Green Man in may day celebrations was as Jack o' the Green, symbolising the wild and uncontrollable spirit of nature, who plays attendance on the Lord & Lady of May?
Actually no, the true origin is in the Oak and holly king myth the dual aspect of "The horned god" Jack o the green is a more mordern invention of the aformentioned archetype.
All in all FFR a pretty solid essay and definitely a contender for Jon's parentage.I would like to add one more point or idea on why Ned didn't talk about Jon's parents. Based on what you wrote here and taking into consideration Bran's dream of Ned.The one which disturbed him above his crow dreams.Do you think it had to do with some imtended sacrifice of Jon when he was a babe?If it does happen now,its kind of coming full circle.
1) Yea I'm kind of combinig a few things about the Green Man mythos. But there was an aspect of the green man as the outsider peering through the foliage into the village. The image that was depicted a lot on the churches. I'm also influenced a bit by the Green Man depiction from earlier festivals as the trickster element who crashes the party wreaking pranks and mischief. But I do understand that many of the current Beltane rituals focus more on the Green Man or the Horned God as a fertility figure who needs the May Queen to change him from his Winter form (of the Horned God) to his Spring form as the Green Man.
It's also my understanding that in some Beltane festivals, the green man is also brought into the festivals in a wicker cage (kind of combing the Wicker Man and Green Man aspects), before he is "freed" by the May Queen.
2) When I have time I'll have to track down the quote, but in one of the memories of the Harrenhal tourney it is stated that Rhaegar laid the crown on Lyanna's lap from the tip of his lance.
3) Thanks for the other comments, and thanks for some of the "hands on" info you were able to give me about the Beltan tourney.
4) As I stated earlier, I think that Ned's silence has a lot to do with the need to protect Howland from Robert, since Howland basically stole Lyanna from Robert, and Eddard sees how Robert's perception of Rhaegar is primarily shaped by Robert's beleif that Rhaegar was the one who stole her. But I also think it may have also had to do with an attempt to protect Lyanna's children (or any other children who may have been slated to have been sacrificed at the tower of joy). If the Dayne's and the Whent's had something to do with the tower of joy then Eddard may be keeping a tight lip on the events to avoid further bloodshed. This may be why the Dayne family seems to hold Eddard in high regard despite the fact that he killed Arthur Dayne. There also appears to be other mysteries associated with Ashara Dayne (possibly Eddard's true love) and the whereabouts of the Whent girl who was the initial queen of love and beauty at the tourney. Remember, it was Ashara that Eddard prohibited anyone from talking about at Winterfell. It's possible that he may be keeping a secret involving her as well.
1) Yea, I actually googled Grateful Dead and Blue roses, and it turns out that the album cover containing the above song has a giant blue rose on it. So imagine my surprise when I saw those lyrics. I randomly found a couple of other neat references too. Going with the theme of Lyanna as the May Queen, if you google info about the Mayflower (you know the boat that landed on Plymouth Rock) one of the more notable passengers on the Mayflower was John Howland.
Will be able to dig into your essay in detail in a few days. But for now: love the ties to the May Queen and Green Man. Strong case for a positive relationship between Howland and Lyanna--the only man Lyanna interacts with positively in the texts other than her family. And the Corn King reference works great in the context.
Kudos on the essay. It's a great read.
No I hadn't seen it. I've actually been away from the Westeros forum for a while, between work and getting a bit burned out on some of the topics that keep getting rehashed over there. But every once in a while someone still brings something interesting up, so I need to check it out, and add my lyric as well to their tune.