Frey family reunion

The articles I’ve read don’t make it very clear. The impression I got from some of the articles are that the vaccinated are joining the asymptomatic spreaders. My state has a piss poor vaccination rate and our COVID numbers are hitting all time highs and well above other states especially those with substantially higher vaccination rates. So is that because it’s transmitting more through the unvaccinated populace, or is it that we have a larger number of unvaccinated people being hospitalized which then accounts for the larger COVID count. Or perhaps some combination of the above.

The whole bit about Robert not realizing that Lyanna was pregnant or had a child only exists at this time in the imaginations of those who believe that Lyanna secretly had Rhaegar’s child and gave Ned the child to raise as his own. It’s an assumption being made by the reader to try and fit pieces together. It’s not really established in the text what Robert knew or didn’t know about Lyanna’s condition. It may actually be a leap to assume that Robert would have any “love/rape child” of Rhaegar and Lyanna killed. After all, despite his hatred of Rhaegar, Robert was still very fond of both Lyanna and Eddard. I don’t think he would have had Lyanna’s child killed without Eddard’s blessing. ETA: Eddard seems very sure of the fact that Robert would never harm any of his family. I mean, it’s not unheard of for nobles, even former nobility, to have bastards. There is nothing to assume that they would be a danger to make a claim on the throne. Especially when there are legitimate former royals out and about. Yet Robert doesn’t make a move on them until very late. And we still have to figure out what made Robert vow to kill Rhaegar at the Trident. Specifically what he very strongly thinks Rhaegar did to Lyanna. It couldn’t have been Lyanna’s death because she wasn’t dead. But it could have been finding out that she was pregnant. Which in turn meant that Lyanna had probably been located by friendly parties where Robert would have found out about her condition. That still leaves a lot of vagueness about what happened next. I mean if a woman dies due to childbirth complications, it’s not unusual for the child to have died as well. So perhaps that’s what Robert was told. Or, he simply didn’t care what happened to the child. After all, he didn’t particularly care as to what happened to his bastards.

If that was the case then I don't think Aerys would have allowed Rhaegar to have taken command over the royal armies. I think it's more likely that Rhaegar wasn't present so Aerys appointed Chelsted, only to regret the appointment later. Which is why he didn't appoint anyone else, until after the Trident, and then only because of very special circumstances. Sure, I just don't think any actual governance was going on at this time at least not from King's Landing. Nor do I think that Aerys had any interest in in governing. And while yes, a Hand could have been useful for most kings during this occassion, most kings weren't primarily interested in blowing up their kingdom in case things turned out poorly in the war. I think that would have raised too much suspicion if Aerys had appointed his pyromancer as Hand, and created too many unwanted questions. I don't think Aerys wanted Rossart to do anything other than his pet project. So when it was time to actually blow the kingdom up, he made Rossart the Hand to give him the authority and autonomy to do whatever needed to be done to finalize the job. Up until Rhaegar's death this was just a contingency plan, hence keep Rossart's influence quiet. I think i've answered that above. Rossart was acting in secret prior to Rhaegar's death. After his death Rossart had to have the authority to finalize the plans which would probably include commanding troops in addition to his pyromancers in Rossart's command. After all they had to act quickly before too many people got wind of what was about to happen.

I've considered that as well, but I think a fair reading of the line can only allow one to conclude that her death had to have been after the Sack. As much as I would like it to be otherwise. Regardless, Robert has to have come to some type of belief as to how Lyanna died. And we know that Robert blames Lyanna's death on Rhaegar's lack of honor and associates her their time together as one of constant rape. Even Robert has to be able to conclude that repeated intercourse often leads to pregnancy which often leads to significant health issues for the mother and sometimes even death. It would also be the one spark (other than Lyanna's actual death) that could lead Robert, who despite his faults, really wasn't shown to be a monster up to the Sack, to express satisfaction with the death of very young children.

I'm a bit on the fence. I think Eddard tries to avoid a lie when he can. Hence telling Cat that Jon is of his blood and that's all she needs to know. In the argument where Eddard utters this line, they were arguing about the Lannisters lack of honor. If Robert was raging about wanting to kill Viserys and Dany, then maybe I can see Eddard trying to lesses his rage by reminding him that he already gained his vengeance on the Trident. But here, Eddard really didn't need to do this, and it appears during this exchange that Eddard was a bit angrier than Robert. So it just may be that Eddard tells Robert this because Eddard believes it as well.

There is one other possibility. I think we have to ask ourselves why Robert was so convinced that Rhaegar had raped Lyanna hundreds of times? And why did Robert beleive it was Rhaegar's actions that led to Lyanna's death, despite the fact that Rhaegar would have left Lyanna long before she actually died some time after the Sack? ETA: specifically, Robert equates Rhaegar's lack of honor with Lyanna's death. I think we have to at least consider the possibility that Robert learned that Lyana was pregnant, and he learned of this before the Trident. Hence the vow to kill Rhaegar, and Robert's satisfaction at seeing Rhaegar's children dead at his feet.

I've debated this issue ad naseum with the R+L=J crowd. The whole sequence seems a bit wonky based on what we know now. When you first read the books, and hear about Robert's vow to kill Rhaegar for "what he did to Lyanna", and Eddard's confirmation that Robert got vengeance on Lyanna at the Trident, the reader comes away thinking that Lyanna had died prior to the Trident. But then we get a curveball when we learn that it was Lyanna's death after the Sack that brought Eddard and Robert back together. None of the character's words or actions really line up with the idea that Lyanna was still being held hostage at the time of the Battle for the Trident. Vows of vengeance for what happened to Lyanna, and retribution killings of Rhaegar's family looked on with approval by Robert doesn't seem to jive with the idea that Lyanna was still in enemy hands. Nor does the fact that Eddard left King's Landing in a cold rage to finish the war in the South. With no mention of also looking for Lyanna. Eddard was mad over the fact that innocent children were killed on behalf of Robert, but not apparently over any danger it could pose to his sister. That's not mentioned once, when Eddard and Robert argue over the Lannisters and their lack of honor. Logically, Robert should have been furious that Tywin had Elia and her children killed, especially what we know about the exchange of royal hostages and the need to keep the ones you have in your custody safe, to avoid retribution to the one's in enemy hands. These issues are brought up in the later books. Yet no mention of how Lyanna's fate would be in jeopardy over what happened to Elia and her children. It's all very odd, unless of course we at least consider the possibility that Lyanna was no longer considered a hostage at the time of the Trident.

Well, Ned does confirm to Robert that Rhaegar’s killing constituted vengeance for Lyanna, so there is that.

Or, Rhaegar’s sole motivation is the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning his son, but realizes all is for nought if he allows his son’s kingdom to vanish. Something that becomes a very real possibility after the Battle of the Bells

Except that Rhaegar laments that he never got around to calling one, so I think that leaves Harrenhal out.

Eddard and Robert are the two most likely candidates to take up Brandon’s cause after his death. Eddard being the next oldest brother to Lyanna and Robert her betrothed.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I've tried reading Dune on two separate occasions, and both times I've hit a wall about halfway in. Now with that caveat, I thought the trailer looked pretty cool.

I don't have an issue with a long delay between Hands. I'm assuming that Chelsted was appointed before Rhaegar's return to King's Landing. All Chelsted ended up being for Aerys, was a busy body that stuck his nose in Aerys' pet project. Rhaegar was now back in King's Landing, and basically fit the role that Connington did before him, which was command the royal armies. Which at the time was the only real need Aerys had. So, if you are Aerys, why bother to create a new Hand? You had Rhaegar to do the one thing that you needed. Let Rhaegar fight the war, while you and Rossart plot your wildfire contingency plan. And don't create a new Hand to cause trouble. So when Rhaegar dies, it's time to put the plan in motion, so go ahead and appoint Rossart as Hand to give him the autonomy he needs, and let him got to work.

The Worldbook seems to further clarify that Aerys did not appoint Rossart until after the events of the Trident: I think it’s fairly clear that the Wildfire plot was one of last resort. And it was Rhaegar’s defeat and death that led Aerys to actually giving the green light for the plan to go forward.

Probably the biggest source of inspiration for the Harrenhal tourney is the tourney of Love and Beauty in Ivanhoe. Everything is just jumbled up a bit. And in Ivanhoe, the King Prince strongly and loudly urged the winner of the tourney (in this case a Mystery Knight, who also chose a tree as his sigil) to crown a certain noblewoman in order to curry favor with her family. So the idea of Aerys urging Rhaegar to crown Lyanna, perhaps for a political purpose is an interesting one, and one that would play well off of the Ivanhoe tourney. The thing that gives me pause, though, is the Worldbook’s entry, which specifically notes that Aerys did not seem very happy with Rhaegar winning the tourney.