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Did Rhaegar and Lyanna truly love each other?


Lucia Targaryen

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First of all, I think Jon is their son (most people would agree) but I'm not convinced that Rhaegar and Lyanna had this tragic love affair.



Let's start with Lyanna. We know that she was very strongwilled and independent. We also know that she was very unhappy about her engagment to Robert (what girl wants to marry a drunk whoremongeror?).



So we get to the Tourney of Harrenhal. I want to remind everyone that the tourney took place in 281 AL. Lyanna was born in 267 AL, making her 14 at the time. So what we know is that she was so moved by Rhaegar's music that she began to cry and Rhaegar ended up crowning her the Queen of Love and Beauty.



Now, I think it's pretty obvious that Lyanna was the Knight of the Laughing Tree and she and Rhaegar got to know one another when he was sent to find the mystery knight. We also know that the tourney took place over 10 days and, as far as we know, Lyanna and Rhaegar didn't really have any further interaction but it was certainly enough time for a 14 year old girl to develop a crush on the Prince of Dragonstone.



Just because she had a similar personality to Arya doesn't mean she wasn't a little romantic. And when comparing Rhaegar to Robert, the choice is pretty obvious.



Perhaps after the tourney was over, they stayed in contact. Beautiful songs, secret messages, and a handsome prince - most girls would fall for that (or at least think they were in love).



About a year later, Rhaegar "abducts" Lyanna. I personally think she was on her way to Storm's End and since she was still writing to Rhaegar he came to save her from her up coming wedding.



So my hypothesis is that, like Cersei before her, Lyanna had a deep infatuation with Rhaegar but did she truly love him? You be the judge.



Now on to Rhaegar.



The driving force for Rhaegar seemed to be Prince that was Promised prophecy. Now Aegon was born in 282 so it seems likely that Elia was already pregnant at the tourney. A comet was seen over head the night he was concieved, leading to Rhaegar to believe he was the Prince.



Now some believe Rhaegar was already looking for a second wife at the tourney but it was only after Aegon was born that the maesters said Elia wouldn't be able to have more children.



That leads me to believe that he crowned Lyanna out of admiration for her skill and bravery as the Knight of the Laughing Tree. Perhaps he was attracted to her as well.



In Daenerys' vision in the House of the Undying, Rhaegar said "a dragon has three heads" so he needed to have one more child to fulfill the prophecy. Since he named his first two children Rhaeyns and Aegon, it seems he was looking for a mother for Visenya. The fact that Visenya was known to be a warrior may have reminded him of the she-wolf. A child with Lyanna would also incorperate the Blood of the First Men into the royal line - a connection to those who survived the first Long Night.



So let's say Rhaegar is pondering this over when he gets a raven from Lyanna begging him to help her escape her upcoming wedding. It seems like the perfect solution, even destined. Maybe he was infatuated with Lyanna, maybe during their time in Dorne he did grow to love her, but his main intention was the prophecy.



So that's my theory. Any thoughts?




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Lyanna was headed to Riverrun for Brandon & Catelyns wedding not to Storms end for her own. IIRC. I also think that Rhaegar was never in love with Elia but that they had indeed great affection for each other, I do think he and she had some encounter in the woodland grove where he told Aerys he found teh shield but no knight...It's all a bit like the traditional tales where a man spies a beautiful maiden who has slipped from her animal skin bathing in a pool and conspires to steal her away. I do think it was mutual and that she was not abducted and went willingly.


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I think they were not in love at first. Lyanna probably thought it would be fun and adventurous, as well as get her out of her betrothal to RObert. And Rhaegar seems to have just wanted a hot girl for his third dragon head.



But seeing as how Rhaegar is confirmed to have said "Lyanna" as his last word, I also believe that they came to love each other some time after her abduction.


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I think they were not in love at first. Lyanna probably thought it would be fun and adventurous, as well as get her out of her betrothal to RObert. And Rhaegar seems to have just wanted a hot girl for his third dragon head.

But seeing as how Rhaegar is confirmed to have said "Lyanna" as his last word, I also believe that they came to love each other some time after her abduction.

Is it confirmed? Was anyone we have come in contact with present when he uttered his last word? Barristan was injured and elsewhere on the battlefield, no?

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I think its likely they loved each other by the end of their time together, they had over a year together in the TOJ. But there is no such thing as true love at first sight imo, strong attraction sure but love is a thing which develops. It does not just ping into the air like an arrow from a cherub. Mutual atraction grew into love. IMO.


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I believe that Rhaegar hed his own special kind of the infamous Targ madness and he was obssessed with the 3headed dragon prophecy so she was a tool to help him. On the other hand I believe that Lyanna was infatuated with him. My problem with Lyanna is that if she went willingly or not because if she did she is single handingly one of the Top10 worst persons in the series.


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At most, they had a very strong infatuation with one another. Like others have said, I don't think they had enough interaction to truly be in love.




What? We don't believe in Love at First Sight?



In all seriousness, they definitely love each other by the time they both died, and anyone would like her after how awesome she was at the tournament at Harrenhall.






My problem with Lyanna is that if she went willingly or not because if she did she is single handingly one of the Top10 worst persons in the series.





Top 10 worst people in the series? For running off with a hot boy? For avoiding a marriage she didn't want? What would have been SO terrible?


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I doubt it. They hardly would have known each other. Besides, what Rhaegar really wanted was another child (likely he specifically wanted another daughter) and his wife couldn't give him one. Unhappy teen girls are easy to use.



I've not read anything in the books that makes me think Rhaegar was a particularly caring man, or at all thoughtful about how his actions affected others. Those are necessary qualities for a person to be capable of love.



We really don't know anything about Lyanna other than that she was a bossy tomboy who didn't want to marry Robert.


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I've not read anything in the books that makes me think Rhaegar was a particularly caring man, or at all thoughtful about how his actions affected others. Those are necessary qualities for a person to be capable of love.

Didn't they found baby Rhaella under his father's bed? That has to mean something. Maybe he did love his children after all.

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Top 10 worst people in the series? For running off with a hot boy? For avoiding a marriage she didn't want? What would have been SO terrible?

Let me see, maybe the fact that if she went willingly her actions created a chain of reaction which ended in a huge war where her family, her lover's family, her lover and thousands more people died?

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I would argue it was more Brandon and Roberts fault for hotheadingly overreacting, and Aerys's fault for turning what could have to handled as a minor squabble among young lordling into treason and burning people alive.



I'm not saying she bears no responsibility, but calling her one of the "10 worst people" for being an imperious young person in a series that has Ramsey Bolton, the Bitter, and Randyll "Rape Apologist" Tarly is a bit much.


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What? We don't believe in Love at First Sight?

In all seriousness, they definitely love each other by the time they both died, and anyone would like her after how awesome she was at the tournament at Harrenhall.

Top 10 worst people in the series? For running off with a hot boy? For avoiding a marriage she didn't want? What would have been SO terrible?

You have too high an opinion of the human race.

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