Betha and Melantha Blackwood

[Ice Turtle]

Egg married Betha Blackwood and house Targaryen continued trough Jeahaerys II., Aerys and Rhaegar.

Willam Stark married Melantha Blackwood and house Stark continued trough Edwyle, Rickard and Eddard.

This means that Betha and Melantha were probably from the same generation. Could they be sisters? Do you think they were closely related to Bloodraven and will it all ever have any plot relevance in the main series?

Also Betha's nickname Black is same as nickname of Alys Blackwood who married Cregan Stark few generations back, though their children did not continue the Stark line.

[Modesty Lannister]

Aegon V was born in 200 AC and died in 259 Ac in Summerhall.

Betha married Aegon in 220AC when she was 19 (Wiki of Ice and Fire), which means she was one year younger than him.

Melantha Blackwood was grandmother of Rickard Stark and we have no precise timeline for her birth and death. Richard's birth year is placed between 230 and 249 AC, which is a huge time gap. Brandon, his firstborn, was born in 262 AC. So, if Melantha had her son Edwyle at the earlier possible age of 13, and Edwyle's wife Marna Locke had Rickard when she was 13, the latest possible date of Melantha's birth can be 26 years prior to the birth of Rickard, which can be then placed between 204 and 223 AC. So, technically she could have been Betha's sister, niece or even aunt since 223 AC is the latest possible date of her birth, which could have happened way before 204 AC.

Bloodraven was born in 175 AC. His mother Melissa, the sixth mistress of Aegon IV and her birth was placed in between 156 and 160 AC, which means she could not be older than 19 when she had Bloodraven. And he was the last out of four children she bore Aegon IV.

Technically, Bloodraven could have been Betha's uncle or even great-uncle since he was the youngest of Melissa's bastards.

That is less certain in Melantha's case.

- if Melantha had been Betha's aunt, Bloodraven could either be her half-brother (if Melissa happened to be her mother after she went back to her family and possibly remarried), first cousin or an uncle

- if Melantha had been Betha's sister or first cousin, Bloodraven could have been her her uncle or great-uncle

- if Melantha had been Betha's niece, Bloodraven would be her great-uncle or great greta-uncle

Anyway, the point is that they were all related, which makes Starks and Targaryens related through Blackwoods and that is very important for the story, because Bloodraven serves not only as a plot link, but as a blood link between two families. So, he actually gets a good motive for helping Bran.

Also, if we believe R+L=J, Bloodraven is a second link between the two magical families and comes from an ancient family strongly linked to CotF (sigil, petrified wierwood tree, Raventree as the name of the seat, ravens flocking on it etc.)

Good catch.

[Ice Turtle]

Thanks for help. Blackwoods are very intriguing family and I hope we will see more of them.

[The Wondering Wolf]

Melantha Blackwood was grandmother of Rickard Stark and we have no precise timeline for her birth and death. Richard's birth year is placed between 230 and 249 AC, which is a huge time gap. Brandon, his firstborn, was born in 262 AC. So, if Melantha had her son Edwyle at the earlier possible age of 13, and Edwyle's wife Marna Locke had Rickard when she was 13, the latest possible date of Melantha's birth can be 26 years prior to the birth of Rickard, which can be then placed between 204 and 223 AC. So, technically she could have been Betha's sister, niece or even aunt since 223 AC is the latest possible date of her birth, which could have happened way before 204 AC.

Edwyle's father Willam died fighting wildlings in 226 AC, so his youngest child Jocelyn would have been born in 227 AC at the latest. Edwyle was at least one year older than his younger sister, so he wasn't born later than 226 AC. That means Melantha wasn't born later than 213 AC. But it seems more likely that she was born some years before.

[Modesty Lannister]

Edwyle's father Willam died fighting wildlings in 226 AC, so his youngest child Jocelyn would have been born in 227 AC at the latest. Edwyle was at least one year older than his younger sister, so he wasn't born later than 226 AC. That means Melantha wasn't born later than 213 AC. But it seems more likely that she was born some years before.

Great catch. Thanks for narrowing it down. See, every piece of information is a jewel. I wish we would be so diligent with our own real historical sources.

[Bironic]

We know that Aegon V helped the north during a hard winter, and that some lord didn't like that all that much. I thought this "special relation" between Aegon and the north was because of his journey there during his youth or perhaps it was Aemons influence. But now there is another reason to help the north "the Blackwood connection".