R+L=J

Yes and no. I think Arya likes novelty. Unlike Sansa, Arya loves adventure and pushing the boundaries of her frontier. New and exotic species of flowers are a perfect symbol for this.

I'm reminded of this passage in the Sworn Sword:
"Common boys fight with wooden swords, too, only theirs are sticks and broken branches. Egg, these men may seem fools to you. They won't know the proper names for bits of armor, or the arms of the great Houses, or which king it was who abolished the lord's right to the first night . . . but treat them with respect all the same. You are a squire born of noble blood, but you are still a boy. Most of them will be men grown. A man has his pride, no matter how lowborn he may be. You would seem just as lost and stupid in their villages. And if you doubt that, go hoe a row and shear a sheep, and tell me the names of all the weeds and wildflowers in Wat's Wood."

Arya is humble and self-aware enough to respect this fact, learn from it, and even to laugh about it when she breaks out in hives. I think Lyanna was ... fond of flowers - because she appreciated this same kind of knowledge. It speaks to a certain connection with the terrain and a familiarity with it. Most highborn lords and ladies are too caught up in heraldry and pageantry to learn such smallfolk-brand lessons.

But not Arya. I'm wondering if Lyanna too sought this type of learning. Rather than merely thinking they are pretty, I'm toying with the idea that Lyanna enjoyed blue roses because they are rare.

Sure, but Sansa isn't exactly a tomboy. She likes her sweetcakes, while Arya finds the sweet flowery smell of the bath to be repulsive.

Lemons are rare in winter, but that is precisely when the blue roses bloom. So, I am hoping Sansa will stop letting sweet delights ensnare her senses and bloom as a rare and strong beauty now that winter is come.

I certainly think so. The purple eyes in Sansa's hair killed Mad King Joffrey... but even then, she was not the assassin, but the unknowing girl (like Arya), bringing poison kisses to the feast.

Very much agree.

Well at a certain point you don't have to humor people nicely. There comes a time when people either have common sense, or they don't. LOL

No worries. Hard to remember every page of the books every time we need them.

Precisely my thinking with that ellipsis.

LOL, well I'm glad you went there because I was about to. It could even be that Benjen was bringing her flowers. Many possibilities, particularly before her disappearance.

I think Starfall makes the most sense as her location if she was pregnant. If she wasn't, any place serves. But, if she was carrying a child at Starfall, it makes a lot of sense to me that Ned would carry a sword to Starfall. Not to pay for the child, mind you, but to bring the child his father's sword (Dawn).

Now hear me out...

Once at Starfall, things (expectedly) don't go as expected... Lyanna makes him promise to raise/protect/hide the child. Ned agrees to raise him as a son of Winterfell. Relieved and fevered, Lyanna dies. Ashara thinks Ned's promise means he will be staying at Starfall with her, and that they will be raising Jon together. Ned tells her that just as there must always be a Dayne at Starfall, so too must always a Stark be in Winterfell. Ned must be Ned the Lord, and ward the North. He tells her that the child can never know he is of House Dayne. He leaves Dawn with her. Heartbroken, she leaps from the palestone sword.

This is strange indeed, as you would think the crown should be "safe" for the QOLAB to wear, not bristling with thorns.

I don't think the thorns themselves were intended to be a message, or an insult or attack in any way, simply b/c the crown would have been made before it was clear who would win the tourney. So it could have gone to any woman there (unless we buy into the magic crystals in Rhaegar's armor, which would have guaranteed him victory and thus the choice of queen).

Nevertheless, it shouldn't draw blood the moment you grasp it- it's intended to flatter the recipient, after all. It's unclear to me if this last part really happened (Ned grabbing the crown from Lyanna), or if that's his subconscious linking the events of the tourney to the ultimate outcome. I suspect the latter.

Aaand, there is a long-fallen tower right in the middle of Winterfell. Hmmm.

Agreed--though Sansa likes some pushing of boundaries, too. She's in the mess she's in partly due to that willfulness.

What I mostly meant was the novelty. Sansa, in her first POV is trying to persuade Arya of how nice it is to ride in the wheelhouse and eat lemon-cakes. Things she can't do at home. Arya wants to do the other thing the girls can't do at home--explore new territory. Including looking for flowers.

Lynn's "honored" with the rose crown, made of roses whose scent she loved. Sansa, in the Winds of Winter chapter, is being "honored" with the Giant Lemon cake (weird). They are novelties and enjoyable. But I'm really thinking that the lemon-giver will sour (bad pun) on Sansa. And she'll want home. Not treats. Lyanna my have been comforted by the roses. But she wanted home.

In the guise of something that was supposed to be a "gift."

Not sure it's a question of common sense. I'd only read the books once when I found Heresy last May. Only started re-reading recently. It's then that you see Bael really doesn't support Rhaegar as the father of Lyanna's child all that well. Not if you take the tale in context with the rest of the novels.

But you have to look at all 5 novels--especially the first 3--to see it. Look at the context. Read whole scenes. I've been chided and even flat out mocked a few times on Westeros for insisting on context. Which is fine--we all read differently. But If you don't look at context somewhat, you aren't reading a novel. Just doing a REALLY long Word Search.

So, not "common sense." Just, context. Maybe.

No, the thorns are not part of the memory. He woke up right after that, which means he drifted into a nightmare from the original memory. So I'm pretty sure that his grabbing the crown was already dream, and the thorns definitely were.

Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark.

I think that starting the first sentence with his full name 'Ned Stark' (and oddity that I only just noticed) might signify the change of perspective from memory to dream.

Don't forget Sansa, who ruined her father's life so she could run away from home...

She betrayed Ned's intent to leave KL so she could keep playing at court.