Old Nan's Identity and her Unrevealed Secrets

[John Suburbs]

On 7/19/2020 at 3:58 PM, Megorova said:

Edwyle Stark, Ned's paternal grandfather, was Alysanne's nephew. He, probably, was one of those last people that called Nan by her real name. Edwyle's son, Rickard, called her Nan, while he was a child. And by the time of Ned's birth, everyone called her Old Nan and didn't knew that she used to have a different name. By that time, most likely, Ned's grandfather was either already dead, or old and senile, so he either forgot that Nan's real name is something else, or he used to call her Nan even when she was young, at that time when she was Brandon's wet-nurse (this Brandon was Edwyle's older brother, and he died aged three, from summer chill). Possibly the first person that started to call Alysanne with name Nan, was little Brandon. And after him Edwyle, who was even younger than little Brandon. Edwyle knew that this Nan person is his aunt, and when he grew up and got married and had his own child, this child, Rickard, also knew that this Nan person is his great aunt. But after that nobody cared much, paid any specific attention to it, etc.

People forget, people don't care, information becomes lost.

Who at the Night's Watch knew that maester Aemon is Aemon Targaryen? No one!

Bloodraven knew, but he got lost beyond The Wall many years ago. Maybe, LC Mormont also knew, but he's dead. And maester Aemon himself told to Jon about his real identity. Thus, those people that knew Old Nan's real origin, are long dead, and she herself didn't revealed who she is to Bran or other Stark-youngsters (Ned for her also was a youngster).

Information becomes lost, and maester Aemon's case is the prove of it.

Sorry Meg, I'll throw my voice (for what it's worth) in with @Kissed By Fire and others and say this does not work.

Alysanne was a highborn maid. Even in the unlikely event that she was never married off to another highborn, just the fact that her nephew grew old and senile and forgot who she was doesn't mean others in the castle did not know. She would have been a person of status at Winterfell and everyone would have known who she was, including Edwyle and Brandon as they grew older.

She most certainly would not have become anyone's wetnurse. She would have had wetnurses of her own. 

And people don't forget or just stop caring about the lineages of the highborn, especially the paramount house. This is vitally important information to ascertain inheritances and even the lordship should things get murky. 

The only possible way this could happen is if Alysanne committed some heinous act of treason or thoroughly shamed herself in some way (far more than just having a child out of wedlock) that they had to send her away, and then for some reason, while she was still young enough to nurse a child, she decided to sneak back into the castle, which would not have a single person who could identify her, and assume this subservient role just to be the one to tell Stark children their bedtime stories.

[Mourning Star]

Though Old Nan did not think so, and she'd lived longer than any of them. "Dragons," she said, lifting her head and sniffing. She was near blind and could not see the comet, yet she claimed she could smell it. "It be dragons, boy," she insisted. Bran got no princes from Nan, no more than he ever had.

I would certainly be surprised if Old Nan wasn't related to the Targaryens...

Possibly one of Egg's sisters? Maybe the one who brewed the love potion, Rhea?

[Megorova]

I think that after Alysanne's family found out about her relationship with Dunk, they sent her away to the Twins castle and married her to one of Freys. Possibly Franklyn Frey, Walder's uncle.

Thus Old Nan's name is Alysanne Frey, née Stark.

My theory is based on this clues:

Hodor's real name is Walder (popular name amongst Freys).

Hodor is a stableboy and Duncan the Tall's descendant. In The Hedge Knight novel prince Aerion confused Dunk with a stableboy and told him to take his horse to a stable.

In The Mystery Knight novel Walder Frey's older sister was getting married because Walder caught her having sex with a kitchen scullion. On the wedding night their father said - "I shall want a grandson before the year is out." Though events of that novel weren't happening in the beginning of a year, so it's unlikely that newly married Lady Butterwell could have given birth before that year ended, unless she was already pregnant, and the father of her child was that scullion from the Twins. The same situation could have happened between Alysanne, Dunk and Franklyn Frey. When Alysanne was sent to the Twins to marry with a Frey, she was already pregnant, and later gave birth to Dunk's children, twins, a boy and a girl. Walder's father said - "I shall want a grandson before the year is out. Twins would suit me even better". If my theory about Dunk's parents is correct, then there's a high possibility that Dunk had twins - because his father's firstborn were a pair of twins, and his grandfather (Aegon IV) had several pairs of twins.

Why I think that Alysanne married with Franklyn Frey - during the wedding tournament at Whitewalls Franklyn defeated Harbert Paege, and then was defeated by John the Fiddler.

Family sigil of House Paege is "Twining red-and-white snakes, on a black field. (Sable, two serpents argent and gules entwined palewise)".

Franklyn Frey defeated a guy whose sigil was entwined red and white snakes on black field (Snakes/dragons, Blackfyres, Red Dragons).

From ASOIAF-Wikipedia - "Big Walder Frey quarters the arms of his father, Ser Jammos Frey, with those of his mother, Sallei Paege, and his grandmother, Alyssa Blackwood.^[2]Hoster Frey is the squire of Ser Damon Paege.^[7]"

Damon is similar to Daemon (popular name amongst Blackfyres).

Big Walder Frey's grandmother is Alyssa Blackwood (Walder Frey's fourth wife). Alysanne Stark's/ Old Nan's grandmother was Alys Karstark, and Alys' mother possibly was Alys Stark, daughter of Cregan Stark and Alysanne Blackwood. Brienne, who is Dunk's and Old Nan's descendant, had a sister named Alysanne. And Hodor's real name is Walder, possibly because he is related to Freys. GRRM likes to play with names like that, he planted them like a trail of breadcrumbs.

The Fiddler was actually a Blackfyre in disguise, and if my theory is correct, then he is also Dunk's half-brother. Thus Franklyn was defeated in tournament by one of Blackfyres (Daemon II), and later was cuckooed by another Blackfyre (Dunk), and had to raise another man's children, same as Ambrose Butterwell, the tournament's host. And it was Dunk who carried Lady Butterwell née Frey to her husband's bed on their wedding night, and could be that she was already pregnant then. Maynard Plumm asked Dunk - "Was there any flour on her teats when you got the smallclothes off her?". Dunk delivered "spoiled goods" to Lord Frey's son-in-law, and a year later Lord Frey's brother had to marry with a pregnant woman (Alysanne Stark/Old Nan) that was deflowered by Dunk.

Also there's not that many Franklyns amongst characters of ASOIAF and side-books - only four. And one of them - Franklyn Fowler is the father of Fowler twins. Franklyn Frey, from the Twins castle, fake-father of Alysanne's twins/Dunk's children.

Or I'm totally wrong about this, and Hodor's name is Walder just because, without any significant reason, and it's not a clue that Old Nan possibly was married with a Frey.