Lord Lannister

Kind of what I was getting at. He was with Dondarrion when all that went down. I get warding out young lords is something of a thing, but typically you want to do that in a more controlled environment with a house that's friendly to your cause. Beric was engaged to a Dayne I guess, but that's still a very odd choice to put your House's Lord out of all the possible choices.

Interesting read and thanks for sharing. I'll confess I'm not the type of fan to dig up every quote Martin ever said so I miss a lot of these things. Though I'd call that more acknowledging more than addressing. Even with the Ned connection it just seems a really bizarre thing to tell a kid. "Hey you and this other random bastard you don't know once nursed from the same teat years apart." Even if you're deliberately planting a misleading clue about Jon's parentage on the off chance he(or in this case the reader) happens to meet Edric Dayne, that's kinda just out there. Though to be fair everything about Edric is just odd and doesn't seem quite right. The Lord of Starfall squiring in the BWB for example.

Yeah, but seems odd they were somehow sharing milk from the same woman. Or if they were nursing at different times from the same woman an oddly specific thing to tell a child. As I said, just a random thought in my head, not anything I've qualified.

I've toyed with the idea of the return of magic(enabling the return of the dragons) being tied in with the Others resurgence. Haven't been able to quite line up how the dragons of old line up with that unless they were always fading throughout history until they were gone.

Careful, we're close to starting up the Janos Slynt, oppressed hero argument again.

Pinning Brandon and Lyanna's foolish actions on Ashara seems a bit harsh, but I suppose grief isn't always logical. I've toyed with the idea that maybe Ned Dayne and Jon Snow were switched as babies, but never can really nail it down in my head.

Criticize his leadership and choices all you want, but comparing Jon to the Mad King is reeks of being a hate post. At best it's disingenuous. He's a boy in his teens doing the best he can(Nevermind the NW were the ones who elected that inexperienced teen) vs a man who gets sexually aroused to the point of raping people at burning people alive. As for impeachment procedures this is Westeros. Might makes right. Bowen Marsh and Jaime Lannister initiated impeachment procedures against Snow and Aerys respectively.

No amount of tin foil theorizing will detract from the holy truth that Hot Pie is Azor Ahai Reborn. The bastard son of the Mad King was born amidst the salt and smoke of the kitchens. He shall draw Lightbringer from his ovens and slay the enemy of all, hunger. The red comet heralded the journey where he leaves his humble origins to claim his birthright. But yes, you can spin the vague prophecies to suit just about anyone. Though the Stark colors signifying salt and smoke is a new one on me.

Staying

I always thought House Dayne as a whole was one giant red herring to detract the reader away from R+L=J. It offers the reader a simple explanation for Jon's mother with the speculation of Ned and Ashara coupled with Edric Dayne being his "milk brother." That explanation even comes with the bow tie of a legendary sword on top of it.

Entirely possible, I allowed for it. Most of the Reach houses were kinda meh towards Stannis after Renly died though. A blood connection to Stannis, especially with children might cause the Hightowers to back him more firmly assuming Renly's death goes as it did. Also your name is very nostalgic for me. I loved the Baldur's Gate games.

You'll have to show me how to see visions in lightbulbs.

On paper the match seems to make a bit of sense. But yeah, I always assumed that Robert arranged his marriage with Selysse. Just kind of seems his style. Robert was always a bully to those under his power he didn't like. I don't believe for one second the sleeping with the hotter cousin in his marriage bed thing was an accident for one second. But I guess any scenario that Stannis marries someone else would require Robert to be less of a dick(or to just not care in this instance which might be easier) or Stannis to deviate from his duty to his older brother.

There are a lot of unknowns. We only hear about Lynesse through Jorah's hearsay and of course we never actually get into Stannis' head. It's definitely take someone special to get Stannis' affection and not to go crazy. Maybe that's Lynesse, maybe not. To Lynesse's materialism, I'm just going to assume Dragonstone is more nicely furnished than Bear Island. Assuming she didn't manage to work her way onto the court at King's Landing anyway. As for not wanting a song made about him, that might be true of Stannis. But I think on some level he'd be inwardly pleased to have a wife who advocates for him, recognizes his worth and wants others to see it. After all he lived his entire life in Robert's shadow along with all the slights that went with that.

Lysa had a number of miscarriages though. The speculation on that being she rid herself of any children Jon impregnated her with as a weird form of affection for Littlefinger and some kind of revenge for the tansy incident when she was younger.