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R+L=J v.153


Jon Weirgaryen

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I won't presume to answer for Unmasked Lurker.

 

But for my own logic: the idea seems to be that Aerys may have ordered Hightower to bring Rhaegar back. Would want the KG back at KL with Rhaegar. And maybe with Rhaegar in upcoming battles.

 

Were that the case, but Rhaegar wanted the KG to say in Dorne, now the KG (particularly Hightower) have opposing orders. Really think Hightower would want to follow Aerys over Rhaegar. So, Rhaegar may have needed leverage. The KG are supposed to follow orders no matter what. But if there are conflicts--the KG are people, not automatons.

 

Would also explain some of the conversation Ned has with the KG at the tower. How they are not pleased at being kept "far away" from where they should have been.

 

But if there was no conflict in the orders, you are right. And the KG could just be there because Rhaegar said "stay."  And we don't know there was a conflict in the orders. But, given what we do know of the political and military situation, and Aerys' personality, just seems like there might have been a conflict. 

 

That's my take, at least. 

 

I agree that they did not seem to be very happy with their current "doorman" duties. 

I am not happy to see Arthur died in this meaningless war due to some magic or arrow of Howland Reed. It is a shame for the Dawn. 

But once KG were with Rhaegar, they had to follow his order, unless Aerys gave a very clear order: Hightower, go find and summon Rhaegar back and make sure yourself also come back (or with Authur and Oswell)

Probably not. Aerys likely just assume Rhaegar would take them with him as usual. Who would think Rhaegar would leave them at TOJ when he needed to go to a battle? And who would think Rhaegar would go without a KG with him?

Aerys sent him to summon Rhaegar, but whatever Rhaegar decided, which did not directly contradict with his father's order, KG had to obey. 

In fact, even Aerys gave some sort of different order, Rhaegar had the authority to adjust them based on the circumstances. 

This is how a general works with army when he is far away from the king. His order is the final order because things change. 

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I have been meaning to ask you a question about this analysis for a long time. You argue that W&D went with R to KL to trap H at ToJ. But if that is the case, then why doesn't H merely go back to KL as soon as W&D return to ToJ?

Timing is very important to why Hightower would not leave and return to King's Landing. It seems possible, from what little we know of the timing, that Rhaegar could have stipulated when Whent and Dayne were to arrive back at the tower. That would presuppose that Rhaegar had a reason to delay Hightower's return until after the baby was born. Based upon Rhaegar deciding to go into hiding, it seems likely that he wanted to announce the marriage after the birth, when nothing could be done to prevent it.

The theory that makes sense to me (and would not depend on whether W&D went with R to KL) is that R refused to agree to return to KL unless H agreed to stay at ToJ until R got back or otherwise got word to H that it was OK to return to KL.

Then you would need to assume that Rhaegar had command over Hightower, which I do not believe. Hightower was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, more or less equal to the Hand of the King. There has to be a very strong reason for Hightower to remain, because his duty is to see to the King's protection. If that duty extended to the King's family, Lyanna qualifies if Rhaegar and she had married. I try to look at this whole segment as each member of the Kingsguard would view the situations, at each step. Lord Commander Hightower is the strongest anomaly, and reveals much about how the sitautions developed.

Because H's mission was to get R back to KL and because the King was guarded by Jaime, H agreed, and as a man of honor, kept his word (until it became irrelevant after the deaths of R and the other royals and then stayed to protect the new king). Why is it more persuasive to you that H only stayed because W&D went with R to KL -- given that H still stays even after W&D get back -- rather than that R forced H to promise to stay as a condition to get R back to KL?

I believe that you will find the answer above. Hightower is not just a Kingsguard, but is the Lord Commander, and has an office equal with the Hand of the King. I do not believe that Hightower would be bound by any of Rhaegar's orders, unless the King himself had ordered him to obey Rhaegar's commands.
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No, I do not neglect.


And yet Summerhall was the place the prince loved best. He would go there from time to time, with only his harp for company. Even the knights of the Kingsguard did not attend him there. 

 
This quote shows that no one accompanied Rhaegar to Summerhall, not even the Kingsguard. That does not mean, however, that a KG would otherwise always accompany him, and it most certainly does not mean, that Dayne and Whent always accompanied him.

Where is "there"? It is at Summerhall. The Kingsguard do not accompany Rhaegar at Summerhall. It says that the Kingsguard are only excused while the prince is at Summerhall, since he has his harp for company. It does not say that he travels to Summerhall without his kingsguard, and it does not say that he travels away from Summerhall without his kingsguard. Notably this is during peace time, and during the rebellion it is significantly less likely that any royal is going to be left unguarded.
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Forgive me because I'm an old man ,but I have looked high and low but  I have seen the passage where Ned says he looked like Jon but I haven't found the passage where they say Jon and Arya were identical .Please point me in the right direction .

 

I don't have it marked on the book but, if I'm not mistaken, it happened in a dialogue Sansa had with her mother in book 1. She told Cat that she hated Arya and that she might be a bastard too because she looks very much alike Jon and not like her or Robb. Then Cat points to her that Arya has got Lyanna's looks.

 

______

 

The way I see it is that the KG is sworn to obey the king and we know from Ned that those were the most loyal men, so, would they take orders from Rhaegar if those orders were against the ones they got from the king?

 

I'm a bit dumb when it comes to the timeline of events so pardon me :drunk:  but the king was already dead when Lyanna gave birth, right? How could Rhaegar and the 3 KG in the ToJ know that?

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The statement of ToJ is that


But eventually his father sent Ser Gerold Hightower to recall Rhaegar to his duties, though Rhaegar ordered Ser Gerold, Ser Arthur, and Ser Oswell to keep guard over Lyanna in the south.

To me, this does not suggest that Whent and Dayne first travelled to KL.

It does not say that they did not. When we consider that the rebellion is going on, Rhaegar is certainly not going to travel without his bodyguards. Arthur is worth how many men? Barristan fought his way out of Duskendale, towing King Aerys, single handedly. If I am Rhaegar, I am going to take Arthur and likely Whent as well.
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This is the sentence I am talking about:



He sent his pregnant queen, Rhaella, and his younger son and new heir, Viserys, away to Dragonstone, but Princess Elia was forced to remain in King’s Landing with Rhaegar’s children as a hostage against Dorne. 

Explain to me the logic in mentioning Viserys as heir, while at the same time stating that Aegon was still alive at that point in time?

I never suggested that Yandel was logical. I am suggesting that he intends to mislead his audience, and that this is a suspect sentence, just as suggesting that Aerys offed Elia and the kids. Just as ignoring that Tywin presented Elia's and the kids' corpses as coronation presents to Robert.

So, are you conceding that Aegon comes before Viserys in inheritance?
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Annotating ML:

 

- The office of the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is not 'more or less equal to the Hand of the King'. That is a notion that is completely at odds with everything George ever wrote. What is true - and demonstrated in the books - is that the King's Hand speaks with the King's Voice and can thus order around the Kingsguard as if he was the King himself (e.g. given Lord Tywin as Hand on numerous occasions as well as Lord Rivers during the Second Blackfyre Rebellion in TMK).

 

- What is true is - assuming the SSM on Rhaegar giving orders to the knights at the tower is actually correct - that Hightower apparently chose to obey an order given to him by Prince Rhaegar. We don't know why Hightower did that. Perhaps it was because he felt Rhaegar had the authority to do so, or perhaps he just liked following Rhaegar more than his mad sovereign. We simply don't know.

 

- The idea that Rhaegar was always accompanied by KG or even had a sworn shield from the rank of the KG is also not supported by the text. We know that members of the royal family (the Queen herself, and Prince Viserys) were without KG protection until Aerys decided to dispatch Jaime from Harrenhal to KL. We also know that Aerys only met in the presence of all Seven White Swords with his Hand, Lord Tywin, in the years after the death of Lord Steffon Baratheon. Unless we assume the Queen and the royal princes were present during all the meetings between the Hand and the King Prince Rhaegar was without KG protection during a number of occasions. Not to mention that the best candidate for Rhaegar's sworn shield from the ranks of the KG, Arthur Dayne, was on a lengthy campaign in the Kingswood where Prince Rhaegar was not present.

 

- Yandel mentions Viserys as Aerys' new heir prior to Aegon's and Aerys' death. And we know from Ran that this is not an intentional error. Any notion that Yandel is following an agenda here intending to thwart ML's correct interpretation of things is ridiculous. That is not part of campaign, it is fact, as simple as that. And one should not even have to discuss this.

 

- The idea that Hightower set out alone to find Rhaegar makes no sense to me. Sure, it is possible, but possible doesn't mean likely or even probable. Kings usually do not sent their representatives on a mission without any companions.

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I won't presume to answer for Unmasked Lurker.

 

But for my own logic: the idea seems to be that Aerys may have ordered Hightower to bring Rhaegar back. Would want the KG back at KL with Rhaegar. And maybe with Rhaegar in upcoming battles.

 

Were that the case, but Rhaegar wanted the KG to say in Dorne, now the KG (particularly Hightower) have opposing orders. Really think Hightower would want to follow Aerys over Rhaegar. So, Rhaegar may have needed leverage. The KG are supposed to follow orders no matter what. But if there are conflicts--the KG are people, not automatons.

 

Would also explain some of the conversation Ned has with the KG at the tower. How they are not pleased at being kept "far away" from where they should have been.

 

But if there was no conflict in the orders, you are right. And the KG could just be there because Rhaegar said "stay."  And we don't know there was a conflict in the orders. But, given what we do know of the political and military situation, and Aerys' personality, just seems like there might have been a conflict. 

 

That's my take, at least. 

My analysis is similar to this but not identical. My thought is that Rhaegar is hiding at ToJ for a reason. I think originally it was to wait until the baby is born and then present his new wife and child to Aerys at KL. I suspect that Rhaegar thought that acceptance of the second marriage would be easier if a child is already born -- especially if he could argue he created the third head of the dragon (and if the marriage is not accepted, he takes his two wives and three children into exile to prepare them for the war for the dawn, as I believe he thought was the mission for the three heads of the dragon). Then the war starts and now he has a new reason to keep Lyanna in hiding. Now Rhaegar also needs to keep her from Aerys so that Aerys does not use her as a bargaining chip against her brother, Ned, and the other Rebels. So now he has to wait until the war ends as well. 

 

Then Hightower shows up and convinces Rhaegar that the entire war effort could depend on Rhaegar returning and leading the army. Rhaegar has a problem -- obviously he wants the Targs to win the war but he also wants to keep Lyanna safe from his father. If any of the KG that have been to ToJ return to KL, Aerys might require them to reveal Lyanna's location. And she is too pregnant to travel at that point and go to a different location that could not be so reported. So Rhaegar makes a deal with Hightower that Rhaegar will allow Hightower to fulfill his mission -- to get Rhaegar back to KL -- if Hightower agrees to stay at ToJ (presumably until some future event, perhaps return of Rhaegar, perhaps when Lyanna can travel so that Hightower would not know her new location -- I am not sure when Rhaegar said Hightower could leave -- but certainly not before the baby is born and Lyanna recovered). Then, of course, everything goes sideways, and Hightower ends up guarding the person he thinks is the new King -- but we have been over that part many times before.

 

Timing is very important to why Hightower would not leave and return to King's Landing. It seems possible, from what little we know of the timing, that Rhaegar could have stipulated when Whent and Dayne were to arrive back at the tower. That would presuppose that Rhaegar had a reason to delay Hightower's return until after the baby was born. Based upon Rhaegar deciding to go into hiding, it seems likely that he wanted to announce the marriage after the birth, when nothing could be done to prevent it.Then you would need to assume that Rhaegar had command over Hightower, which I do not believe. Hightower was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, more or less equal to the Hand of the King. There has to be a very strong reason for Hightower to remain, because his duty is to see to the King's protection. If that duty extended to the King's family, Lyanna qualifies if Rhaegar and she had married. I try to look at this whole segment as each member of the Kingsguard would view the situations, at each step. Lord Commander Hightower is the strongest anomaly, and reveals much about how the sitautions developed.I believe that you will find the answer above. Hightower is not just a Kingsguard, but is the Lord Commander, and has an office equal with the Hand of the King. I do not believe that Hightower would be bound by any of Rhaegar's orders, unless the King himself had ordered him to obey Rhaegar's commands.

 

 

I am trying to follow this logic but I am having trouble. Please help me. I get that Rhaegar might not travel to KL without at least one if not two KG accompanying him for protection. But I don't get why that action has anything to do with why Hightower was convinced to stay. Yes, a wife of the crown prince is permitted to have KG protection -- but not ensured KG protection. Hightower could have said -- I will accompany you -- you leave one of the other KG behind -- or not -- it is not my problem or responsibility and I am LC and take orders only from the King. How is Hightower any more forced to stay at ToJ to protect Lyanna if he is not required to obey orders from Rhaegar -- as you state. There have been many children of kings and their wives who did not have KG protection -- there are only 7 KG in total, after all.

So I agree with you that Hightower is not subject to orders from Rhaegar unless Aerys explicitly states that Hightower is subject to orders from Rhaegar. I think that observation backs up my theory (not that I originated it -- just the one that makes sense to me) more than yours. Why would Hightower feel obligated to stay to protect the wife of the crown prince -- he has no such obligation and cannot be ordered to do so by Rhaegar and certainly was not ordered by Aerys to protect Lyanna. I would think that Hightower would just leave her in the care of whatever servants were there and tell Rhaegar either to leave one or both of the other KG behind -- or not -- up to Rhaegar. The reason that I find my version more persuasive is that it does not depend on Hightower being bound directly by Rhaegar's orders or some abstract obligation to guard the prince's wife (which he did not have absent orders from Aerys). Rather, Hightower needs to complete Aerys's orders -- get Rhaegar back to KL. And Rhaegar would have said to Hightower that the only way Hightower can fulfill his orders from Aerys (absent subduing and tying up the prince and bringing him back by force -- which I doubt Hightower was going to do) is if Hightower agrees to stay at ToJ until some point in the future (e.g., till Rhaegar gets back or until Lyanna can travel or something). This scenario does not rely on Hightower being directly obligated to obey Rhaegar -- rather it depends on Hightower being in a position where he needs to obey Rhaegar as the only way to realistically fulfill his mission given to him by Aerys. 

 

Your version seems like an odd game of "tag your it." Rhaegar runs off from ToJ with Dayne and Whent and Hightower, being the only KG left behind, feels obligated to guard the wife of the prince. But why would Hightower think that guarding Lyanna is more important than getting back to Aerys and KL? I don't understand how he could make this assessment. And the other KG arguably are subject to Hightower's orders, so he could order one of them to stay behind instead of him. I just don't see how Hightower could be put in a position where he feels he has to stay to guard Lyanna just because the others are going to accompany Rhaegar back to KL. Rather, what makes more sense to me is that Rhaegar extracts a promise from Hightower -- not based on Rhaegar's ability to order Hightower -- but based on Rhaegar's ability to trade completing the mission from Aerys (get Rhaegar back to KL) for Hightower staying at ToJ.

 

Also, your theory seems to depend on Dayne and Whent delaying their return until the baby is born so that by the time Hightower gets back to KL, they could have left ToJ. But babies don't come on exact schedules. What if the baby is born late and they get back too early? What if, as happened, even after the baby is born, Lyanna is too sick to travel? A plan that relies on Dayne and Whent timing their return to ToJ only after the baby is born and Lyanna can travel is not a very good plan, as they cannot know -- without going back to ToJ -- when the time actually has occurred. And it also means that Dayne and Whent just need to hide out somewhere protecting no one while biding their time. Seems like a waste of talent (although not the biggest issue here).

I generally agree with most all of your analysis on this board -- and this quibble is a relatively minor issue in the scheme of things. But I have seen you make your point about why Hightower stayed at ToJ many, many times, and it just never really made sense to me. And your explanation above just does not make it any clearer.

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Where is "there"? It is at Summerhall. The Kingsguard do not accompany Rhaegar at Summerhall. It says that the Kingsguard are only excused while the prince is at Summerhall, since he has his harp for company. It does not say that he travels to Summerhall without his kingsguard, and it does not say that he travels away from Summerhall without his kingsguard. Notably this is during peace time, and during the rebellion it is significantly less likely that any royal is going to be left unguarded.

But the quote doesn't say that Summerhall was the only place the KG did not accompany him. It says that no one accompanied him, not even the KG. That doesn't mean that the KG would otherwise always accompany him.

 

We've had plenty of royals who had sworn shields who were not of the KG. Joffrey Baratheon had Sandor Clegane, definitly not a KG, and not even a knight, while Rhaenyra Targaryen had Ser Harwin Strong as her sworn shield for a while. Both of these were heirs to the throne, 

 

 

 

It does not say that they did not. When we consider that the rebellion is going on, Rhaegar is certainly not going to travel without his bodyguards. Arthur is worth how many men? Barristan fought his way out of Duskendale, towing King Aerys, single handedly. If I am Rhaegar, I am going to take Arthur and likely Whent as well.

Yet, it is nowhere stated that Dayne and Whent are Rhaegar's personal bodyguards... That was my original point.

 

I never suggested that Yandel was logical. I am suggesting that he intends to mislead his audience, and that this is a suspect sentence, just as suggesting that Aerys offed Elia and the kids. Just as ignoring that Tywin presented Elia's and the kids' corpses as coronation presents to Robert.

So, are you conceding that Aegon comes before Viserys in inheritance?

No, in my haste to reply before I had to be elsewhere I left out part of my reply and somehow stopped typing mid-sentence. Apologies for that.

 

The sentence states that Viserys was the new heir, as well as showing that Aegon was still alive. If entire Westeros is aware that Aegon was heir until his death, they'll know that something is wrong with Yandels account, and are unlikely to believe anything else that he has written.

 

Yandel states Viserys was the new heir while Aegon was still alive. To me, it seems simple. Viserys was named heir over Rhaegar's son. That does not mean that Aegon was completely disinherited. It simply means that Viserys came first.

 

But let me ask you again, because I seem to recall I did so before but I can't recall I received a reply. If you were Aerys, who would you rather have as an heir? Aegon, who is related to the Dornishmen you are convinced have betrayed you? In that case, all those Dornishmen, who you suspect have betrayed you, have to do, is kill you, and their own blood will inherit the throne.. Or Viserys? In that case, you can keep the dornish grandchild as a hostage, to keep the dornish, who you mistrust, loyal to you.  In addition, there is no one who you currently mistrust who will find profit in killing you to seat your heir on the throne.

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Arthur was the closest confidant of Rhaegar. We can count Oswell as such too. We do know that Rhaegar planned to dethrone Aerys. There is no way he did not broach the subject to Arthur and Oswell. Since they did not kill Rhaegar or rat him out, then Arthur and Oswell must have been fully committed to Rhaegar. Else they would be breaking their vows by ignoring a serious threat to their lawful king. In a stiuation like dethroning a king, partial or full support of the Kingsguard is a must, especially from such renowned and beloved knights.

 

Therefore, Arthur and Oswell must be considering Rhaegar as their lawful king even before the Tourney of Harrenhal. That means the orders of Rhaegar were of primary importance to them. It is possible that when Gerold came to the ToJ, they convinced him that Rhaegar was the rightful king. That explains why they carried out Rhaegar’s orders even after Rhaegar’s death instead of anything Aerys may have commanded to them.

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[font='segoe ui']Arthur was the closest confidant of Rhaegar. We can count Oswell as such too. We do know that Rhaegar planned to dethrone Aerys. There is no way he did not broach the subject to Arthur and Oswell. Since they did not kill Rhaegar or rat him out, then Arthur and Oswell must have been fully committed to Rhaegar. Else they would be breaking their vows by ignoring a serious threat to their lawful king. In a stiuationmlike dethroning a king, partial or full support of the Kingsguard is a must, especially such renowned and beloved knights.[/font]
 
[font='segoe ui']Therefore, Arthur and Oswell must be considering Rhaegar as their lawful king even before the Tourney of Harrenhal. That means the orders of Rhaegar were of primary importance to them. It is possible that when Gerold came to the ToJ, they convinced him that Rhaegar was the rightful king. That explains why they carried out Rhaegars orders even after Rhaegars death instead of anything Aerys may have commanded to them.[/font]


Possible. And after Hightower saw burning of Starks, I think he had good reason to support rhaegar better.
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Arthur was the closest confidant of Rhaegar. We can count Oswell as such too. We do know that Rhaegar planned to dethrone Aerys. There is no way he did not broach the subject to Arthur and Oswell. Since they did not kill Rhaegar or rat him out, then Arthur and Oswell must have been fully committed to Rhaegar. Else they would be breaking their vows by ignoring a serious threat to their lawful king. In a stiuation like dethroning a king, partial or full support of the Kingsguard is a must, especially from such renowned and beloved knights.

 

Therefore, Arthur and Oswell must be considering Rhaegar as their lawful king even before the Tourney of Harrenhal. That means the orders of Rhaegar were of primary importance to them. It is possible that when Gerold came to the ToJ, they convinced him that Rhaegar was the rightful king. That explains why they carried out Rhaegar’s orders even after Rhaegar’s death instead of anything Aerys may have commanded to them.

I doubt it. They say to Ned that Aerys would have remained on the throne if they had been there to stop Jaime. If they considered Rhaegar to be King, then after his death, Aegon (and then Jon) would have been King -- not Aerys. Personally, I don't see Rhaegar forceably removing his father as King. My suspicion is that Rhaegar was going to call a GC and either have them name Rhaegar regent on the theory that Aerys is "mad" (i.e., mentally incapacitated) or perhaps remove Aerys in favor of Rhaegar more directly. But I don't think Rhaegar was trying to get anyone -- include Dayne and Whent -- to recognize Rhaegar as King (or regent) prior to that process taking place. And their statement about Aerys remaining on the throne supports that proposition.

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Forgive me because I'm an old man ,but I have looked high and low but  I have seen the passage where Ned says he looked like Jon but I haven't found the passage where they say Jon and Arya were identical .Please point me in the right direction .

 

Sansa could never understand how two sisters, born only two years apart, could be so different. It would have been easier if Arya had been a bastard, like their half brother Jon. She even looked like Jon, with the long face and brown hair of the Starks, and nothing of their lady mother in her face or her coloring. - AGoT, Sansa I

 

"He's with the Night's Watch on the Wall." Maybe I should go to the Wall instead of Riverrun. Jon wouldn't care who I killed or whether I brushed my hair . . . "Jon looks like me, even though he's bastard-born." - ASoS, Arya VIII

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I generally agree with most all of your analysis on this board -- and this quibble is a relatively minor issue in the scheme of things. But I have seen you make your point about why Hightower stayed at ToJ many, many times, and it just never really made sense to me. And your explanation above just does not make it any clearer.

It is possible that Aerys ordered Hightower to do two things, find Rhaegar and have him return to King's landing, and bring Lyanna to him. (It is not my favorite, but certainly makes the explanation of the conditions that Ned notes much easier.) Lyanna being too pregnant to make the trip back at the time, Hightower remains with her, to ensure that she returns to King's Landing with him, fulfilling this order.

On the other hand, the way that I have always viewed this, is that since we have so few Targaryens Aerys has made it a stipulation that each one outside the Red Keep required a guard. That would be reasonable, but not a necessity for why Hightower was trapped. Hightower would certainly realize that leaving a member of the royal family in the open, during the rebellion would be a severe dereliction of his duty, or the duty of any kingsguard.

Hightower arrives at the tower and asks Rhaegar, he cannot order the crown prince, to return to King's Landing. Rhaegar says, "Very well, but my lady wife requires protection, as do I when on the road. You must remain and guard her until I can send my kingsguard back." Why not Hightower instead of Whent or Dayne? Because we learn that Whent and Dayne are specifically tasked with guarding Rhaegar, and following his orders. They have not turned against Aerys, as some will suggest. They do not favor Rhaegar over Aerys, they simply have been ordered to follow Rhaegar's orders by the king, and been made responsible for his safety. Hightower cannot leave Lyanna unprotected, nor can he countermand Aerys' order to Whent and Dayne to see to Rhaegar's safety. He is trapped by the situation.

As far as scheduling the return of Whent and Dayne, it is not necessary for them to arrive exactly the day of the delivery. It merely needs to be within a window of time where Hightower cannot return to King's Landing before the birth. We are kept in the dark about when Hightower locates Rhaegar, and when he actually returns to King's Landing. Jaime does not mention him a fortnight before the sack (I still believe that Aerys cannot afford to go without a Hand for more than 24 hours), yet he talks with him, presumably the next morning. Too many things happen in a compressed timeline, thanks GRRM. ;)
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The sentence states that Viserys was the new heir, as well as showing that Aegon was still alive. If entire Westeros is aware that Aegon was heir until his death, they'll know that something is wrong with Yandels account, and are unlikely to believe anything else that he has written.
 
Yandel states Viserys was the new heir while Aegon was still alive. To me, it seems simple. Viserys was named heir over Rhaegar's son. That does not mean that Aegon was completely disinherited. It simply means that Viserys came first.

Yes, that is what the sentence states, I am calling in Yandel's veracity. No one in the Seven Kingdoms (except Yandel) has ever suggested that Viserys would precede Aegon in line for the throne. Does that make Yandel correct in that sentence? Not in my opinion. There must be some explanation for why a maester would write that sentence, that being that Aerys had some way to ensure that Viserys followed him to the throne. Might that be killing Aegon?

ETA: auto-correct.
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It is possible that Aerys ordered Hightower to do two things, find Rhaegar and have him return to King's landing, and bring Lyanna to him. (It is not my favorite, but certainly makes the explanation of the conditions that Ned notes much easier.) Lyanna being too pregnant to make the trip back at the time, Hightower remains with her, to ensure that she returns to King's Landing with him, fulfilling this order.

On the other hand, the way that I have always viewed this, is that since we have so few Targaryens Aerys has made it a stipulation that each one outside the Red Keep required a guard. That would be reasonable, but not a necessity for why Hightower was trapped. Hightower would certainly realize that leaving a member of the royal family in the open, during the rebellion would be a severe dereliction of his duty, or the duty of any kingsguard.

Hightower arrives at the tower and asks Rhaegar, he cannot order the crown prince, to return to King's Landing. Rhaegar says, "Very well, but my lady wife requires protection, as do I when on the road. You must remain and guard her until I can send my kingsguard back." Why not Hightower instead of Whent or Dayne? Because we learn that Whent and Dayne are specifically tasked with guarding Rhaegar, and following his orders. They have not turned against Aerys, as some will suggest. They do not favor Rhaegar over Aerys, they simply have been ordered to follow Rhaegar's orders by the king, and been made responsible for his safety. Hightower cannot leave Lyanna unprotected, nor can he countermand Aerys' order to Whent and Dayne to see to Rhaegar's safety. He is trapped by the situation.

As far as scheduling the return of Whent and Dayne, it is not necessary for them to arrive exactly the day of the delivery. It merely needs to be within a window of time where Hightower cannot return to King's Landing before the birth. We are kept in the dark about when Hightower locates Rhaegar, and when he actually returns to King's Landing. Jaime does not mention him a fortnight before the sack (I still believe that Aerys cannot afford to go without a Hand for more than 24 hours), yet he talks with him, presumably the next morning. Too many things happen in a compressed timeline, thanks GRRM. ;)

Ok. That makes more sense. I think we really are just talking about variations on a theme. For some reason, whether as the only way to entice Rhaegar back to KL or to make sure that the few Targs left have a high level of protection while D&W go with Rhaegar to KL, Hightower believes he needs to stay at ToJ. I am not sure trying to figure out exactly which scenario occurred is useful, as GRRM has not and will not give us enough clues until he is ready to tell the whole story and then we will know for sure. What matters is that it seems pretty clear that somehow Rhaegar manipulated the situation to get Hightower to stay at ToJ -- exactly how Rhaegar did that is not really central to unraveling the mystery. What matters is that Rhaegar did so (and there are a few possible ways he could have done so) and it resulted in Hightower being at ToJ when news came of the death of the royals after the birth of Jon (as seems likely from other clues we have). Thanks for the clarification.

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Yet, it is nowhere stated that Dayne and Whent are Rhaegar's personal bodyguards... That was my original point.

Oh, it makes absolutely no sense for Whent and Dayne to NOT be Rhaegar's bodyguards when they are with Rhaegar for nearly a year.
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I've long argued that Hightower might have come around to supporting Rhaegar by the time he arrived at the tower. We can't rule that out, and the idea that he gladly served Aerys if he had any shred of honor is rather unlikely. His approach to Jaime could be more about getting the boy to accustom to his life as Kingsguard. He was fifteen when he joined their ranks and ill-suited to serve a mad monarch who had a feud with his father and was prone to burn traitors alive. That is not something a young man just can stomach easily - sworn vows or not. One assumes that Jaime's looks and words gave away his feelings towards Aerys and Hightower and Darry tried to ensure that he didn't do anything foolish - not necessary murdering the king but rather running away or speaking up and getting himself killed in the process.

 

Hightower would certainly not shown his own doubts about Aerys to Jaime - just as Dayne and Whent didn't include the son of Lord Tywin in Rhaegar's plots against Rhaegar.

 

This could easily enough explain why Hightower decided to stay at the tower - because he chose to obey Rhaegar's commands and pledged his loyalty to him. He could not have been forced to stay there against his will and if he had been still Aerys' man and any suspicion that Rhaegar might act against his royal father he would have been honor-bound to stop him, disobeying any orders Rhaegar had given him in the process.

 

Not to mention that the fever dream is the only source for this whole 'we are king's men' thing. The conversation may be Ned's imagination but even if it is not - there is no reason to assume that the knights did not try to build a united front against the rebels, not mentioning their own troubles with the late king and presenting themselves as loyal servants of Aerys II. If they had learned about Aerys' death and how it happened as well as about the Sack this could also have driven them mentally back into Aerys' camp because they did not want their king and his family die such horrible deaths. The same happened with Prince Doran after the Sack. Before that, the Martells were most likely done with the Targaryens but Elia's murder and the murder of her children brought them back into camp Targaryen.

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