Post by Maester Sam on Mar 21, 2016 1:59:15 GMT
Definitely. I've often argued that while Aerys was indeed mad and paranoid, it was not without good reason. He seems to have had but one loyal member on his small council, and was being both publicly and secretly undermined by his Hand and his son at every turn.
Don't forget his maester.
So perhaps Edric Dayne had part of the tale correct, and Ashara did indeed commit suicide because of a broken heart. While Ned was certainly an eligible bachelor, Ashara likely had a far longer relationship with Rhaegar as she was his wife's fellow-Dornish friend at court.
Exactly!! And it would give us a nice parallel to the Tyrion/Sansa/Shae situation. He is married to a good lady, but in love with her handmaiden.
Yes, I must admit this theory purposefully left that seed unspoken. I was hoping to first get folks' impression of Jaime as Rhaegar's man, then as that point was argued, I intended to add more and more to my rebuttals that supported the idea of Rhaegar as Tywin's other "son".
I like that! If we are to understand GRRM, we must think more like him. And he says his stories are like a garden; he plants the seeds but then lets the story grow as it will. (Or something like that). It's one of the things I love about this forum: that we can start discussions from scratch, without having to first disprove all of the previously "established" theories. It makes for a much more creative atmosphere if you let theories flow in whatever direction they naturally want to go ... dropping assumptions that don't fit, rather than adjusting the theory to make them fit.... and I do believe it is helping us finally make some progress on this very entangled mess!