Haus Berlin

„Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man‘s nature.“ Since we got only few quotes from Lyanna, this one comes close to a main theme. Of course she directed these words against Ned‘s best friend Robert. But if the tale about the Knight of the Laughing Tree has one thing to say about Lyanna and an other friend of Ned, then it’s that yes, indeed love can change a man‘s nature. We see it with Howland Reed who was too shy to even defend himself against three squires when Lyanna first met him and who kills three Kingsguard men the last time he met Lyanna. The nature of the knight with a laughing white tree on his/hers shield is widely believed to be discovered by Rhaegar. It gives R+L=J it‘s main impulse. The same could be true for Howland, though. Lyanna‘s kidnapping next to Harrenhal not a year after the tourney could serve as a cover-up for a pregnancy. Only it seems Rhaegar never went to the tourney for entertainment purposes as Howland did, but staged the biggest tourney of it’s time to bind the realm together against his father - who happened to be there himself. The closest thing to his plan would then be to cause more disarray between the whole watching realm and the royal family. A budding romance between already betrothed Lyanna and one of her father’s lesser bannermen allows Rhaegar to present the young woman with a powerful defence against a marriage she doesn’t want and to play himself the part of a villain to cause rise against a system no one wants. We got the worst case scenario of the ploy: Rhaegar and his kin did not survive the uproar his father originally caused and Lyanna... Let’s hope to learn more about the best case scenario soon.

I don't expect Jon's resurrection, but I watch out for a very much altered Jon all the same. What if Melissandre puts him under her glamor? Reading his/her mind would be something very bewildering.

Sweetrobin x Sansa

Although I see her ending in Casterly Rock, I expect the Quiet Isle to play out somehow. Maybe nothing big happens at all. But to obscure the whole Kettleback case Cersei has to marry him and is sent to the island. Some temptation for the Hound.

Thank you for that question, @Alyn Oakenfist. It got me thinking if this might be a case of "kill two birds with one stone"? So, was Cersei dressed to kill that one night in Eel Alley? Jaime freshly knightened and soon to be married off: not so good. She in love with Rheager who is known to leave his wife, just not for her: worse in comparison. Jaime, who tends to think about their relationship in the terms of "squirt of seed in Cersei's cunt", excepts one night as especially passionate. Cersei woke him up again and again. This certainly is not the way for a well trained highborn maiden to stay intact for her later marriage, it is more a way to ensure pregnancy. And why would Cersei want that? Over and over again it is highlighted how very much alike Jaime and Rhaegar look. What if Cersei wanted to pretend that the prince she loved loved her back? What if Cersei made use of the Lyanna scandal to claim Rhaegar's unfaithfullness for her own case and serve "his" child as a proof? What may have pleased Rhaegar in look for a third head of the dragon, mocked Robert who then had to look into the faces of three Lannister children. I can't see 15 years old Cersei as a natural seducer who got all that she wanted. I see a girl who doesn't know what drives her love interest and who is full of insecurities fueled by her twin's success. What Jaime experienced that night maybe never meant him. Cersei was happy to accept marriage even with Robert and as it turned out Jaime was only good enough for her in comparison. Cersei's lie about her true love evolved since Jaime found her painting of Rheagar when they were six.