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What other marriage options were there for Lyanna Stark?


Alex13

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I was wondering what are the theories of Lyanna not being betrothed to someone else, such as Elbert Arryn or Baelor Hightower? What other marriage prospects would have been viable for Lyanna?

I understand that the Starks already had a relationship with House Arryn, due to Ned being fostered there, but a marriage would have been a more serious alliance. And by marrying Lyanna to Elbert, the North, Riverlands and Vale, would be been connected by marriage to one another and it also makes sense, as these three regions are easily connected to one another, by the Riverlands, which shares borders with both regions; which would have made trade and military assistance, much easier. As opposed to a marriage alliance between the North and Stormlands, which where separated from the Riverlands, by the Crownlands and the Reach.

Plus, House Arryn is far older than House Baratheon and they were kings of the Vale, before the conquest. The major advantage that Robert had, was that he was second cousin to Rhaegar, thus tying House Baratheon to House Targaryen by blood. 

In the books, we don't really know anything about Elbert. We don't know if he was betrothed or married.

As for Baelor Hightower, i imagine that a prospective marriage for Lyanna to the heir of Oldtown would have been appealing for Rickard, considering that it would have created ties between the North and one of the oldest and richest houses in the realm and it would have also tied them to the Tyrell's, due to Alerie Tyrell being Baelor's sister. And it could have also led to more trade for the North. 

Although i imagine that the major difficulties in marrying Lyanna to Baelor, were the fact that she was a follower of the Old Gods and the Hightower's are tied closely to the Faith of the Seven and due to the distance between the North and the Reach/Oldtown. 

And how would a betrothal between Lyanna and Elbert, Baelor or someone else, might have affected events? Would she still have run of with Rheagar, considering that her betrothal to Robert and Robert's personality, were factors in her decision? Or would she have done her duty and married her betrothed?

 

 

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All of this assumes Lyanna would marry who she was told. From everything we're told she was fiercely independent and willful. I suppose it's possible the largest consequence of an alternate betrothal for Lyanna would be on Robert. Lyanna wouldn't be fixated in his mind as his idealized version of a woman that got away. His character flaws would certainly still be there, the drinking and sleeping around were prevalent well before Lyanna's death, but he might not have been so embittered and hateful of the Targaryens. Heck, he might not have even been enraged enough to seized the throne. 

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She could have been, but she wasn't, so at this point it is mostly pointless to theorize about why didn't "X" happen. A NOT can't be proved with what we have in the story. There is no way to find out and it will almost certainly not be relevant to the story.

At best, the pool of people = Any noble male, maybe head of a family.

If it comes up that someone else offered a proposal to Rickard for Lyanna's hand and it was rejected, then there is somewhere to start.

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Almost any noble would be enough for Lyanna, keep in mind not often the highlords married each other, most times they marry their vassals, and even one time the lord of Winterfell married a Royce, so if another kingdom's vassal was fit enough to marry the lord of Winterfell, almost any lord would be considered a "fit" for Lyanna, except for really minor lords like the lords of The Sisters or lords that are considered upjumped like the Freys.

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Hard topic. Going off what we are told, in the books, especially about southern ambitions, a Lannister. Powerful, well money’d, with naval power. Tywin or even a second son would be acceptable IMO If the ambition was just aligning the houses. Beautiful Lyanna could have a lot of suitable Lords.
 

Off book, horse faced Lyanna may have been a hard sell. If hoar-se :D Ryswell refers only to her looks and not her pedigree. Even harder sell of a Bastard. 
 

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There were many options available but Rickard Stark and Robert Baratheon wanted to build a blood alliance in order to overthrow the Targaryens.  Lyanna could have married a northern boy.  Somebody who worshipped the same gods.  Her father and Robert had other plans.  Wolf and Stag got their chance, which was thankfully brief, to run the kingdom and they made a mess of things.  

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2 hours ago, Moiraine Sedai said:

There were many options available but Rickard Stark and Robert Baratheon wanted to build a blood alliance in order to overthrow the Targaryens.  Lyanna could have married a northern boy.  Somebody who worshipped the same gods.  Her father and Robert had other plans.  Wolf and Stag got their chance, which was thankfully brief, to run the kingdom and they made a mess of things.  

I suspect that Jon Arryn was evil mastermind behind the rebellion against Targs. So it is possible that it was he who gave idea to Robert about possible marriage with Lyanna. 

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On 9/22/2020 at 3:42 AM, Alex13 said:

I was wondering what are the theories of Lyanna not being betrothed to someone else, such as Elbert Arryn or Baelor Hightower? What other marriage prospects would have been viable for Lyanna?

I understand that the Starks already had a relationship with House Arryn, due to Ned being fostered there, but a marriage would have been a more serious alliance. And by marrying Lyanna to Elbert, the North, Riverlands and Vale, would be been connected by marriage to one another and it also makes sense, as these three regions are easily connected to one another, by the Riverlands, which shares borders with both regions; which would have made trade and military assistance, much easier. As opposed to a marriage alliance between the North and Stormlands, which where separated from the Riverlands, by the Crownlands and the Reach.

Plus, House Arryn is far older than House Baratheon and they were kings of the Vale, before the conquest. The major advantage that Robert had, was that he was second cousin to Rhaegar, thus tying House Baratheon to House Targaryen by blood. 

In the books, we don't really know anything about Elbert. We don't know if he was betrothed or married.

As for Baelor Hightower, i imagine that a prospective marriage for Lyanna to the heir of Oldtown would have been appealing for Rickard, considering that it would have created ties between the North and one of the oldest and richest houses in the realm and it would have also tied them to the Tyrell's, due to Alerie Tyrell being Baelor's sister. And it could have also led to more trade for the North. 

Although i imagine that the major difficulties in marrying Lyanna to Baelor, were the fact that she was a follower of the Old Gods and the Hightower's are tied closely to the Faith of the Seven and due to the distance between the North and the Reach/Oldtown. 

And how would a betrothal between Lyanna and Elbert, Baelor or someone else, might have affected events? Would she still have run of with Rheagar, considering that her betrothal to Robert and Robert's personality, were factors in her decision? Or would she have done her duty and married her betrothed?

House Baratheon is House Durrandon by another name and Lyanna was willful. There’s every chance that she’d r7n off if she was married to just about any other Highlord.

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On 9/22/2020 at 10:35 AM, CamiloRP said:

Almost any noble would be enough for Lyanna, keep in mind not often the highlords married each other, most times they marry their vassals, and even one time the lord of Winterfell married a Royce, so if another kingdom's vassal was fit enough to marry the lord of Winterfell, almost any lord would be considered a "fit" for Lyanna, except for really minor lords like the lords of The Sisters or lords that are considered upjumped like the Freys.

I imagine that she could be married off to a Frey, if it’s the heir. When Tytos arranged the marriage for Genna, one of her complaints was that it wasn’t the heir. And nobody felt that Robb marrying a Frey girl was a mesalliance, even though Walder forced his hand. Of course, there are several better options.

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Whoever he may be, Lyanna better like him.  She seems like the type of girl who would be happy with a common person as long as they shared something in common.  Horseback riding is one such passion.  Rickard and her family would not go along with a common guy though.  A hedge knight's life might attract her adventurous side.  Though someone laid back like Duncan would never attract her.  To me, the kind of men who would attract her are Mance, Daario, Oberyn, the rogue prince Daemon, and Aurane W.  It is a pity she died.  She would have had a good time with the Sand Snakes. 

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On 9/22/2020 at 5:50 PM, Lord Lannister said:

All of this assumes Lyanna would marry who she was told. From everything we're told she was fiercely independent and willful

It's not uncommon that willful and independent people marry who they are told. It's not like she would have other options. Disgrace was all that would follow her.

Nor her family paid attention to her complains and went on with her bethrothal anyway, if she ever told her father, we're assuming that we know much about her.

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Trying to stay in line with the average of tinfoil that seems to be the norm here now, Lyanna would most likely have married a wheel of cheese, if not the proposal from Robert.

The wheel of cheese was part of the intricate, diabolical plan to usurp the Targaryens to put in place a dynasty of cheese, wine, and bread!

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5 hours ago, Lee-Sensei said:

I imagine that she could be married off to a Frey, if it’s the heir. When Tytos arranged the marriage for Genna, one of her complaints was that it wasn’t the heir. And nobody felt that Robb marrying a Frey girl was a mesalliance, even though Walder forced his hand. Of course, there are several better options.

Yeah, you're right

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6 hours ago, Ser Leftwich said:

Trying to stay in line with the average of tinfoil that seems to be the norm here now, Lyanna would most likely have married a wheel of cheese, if not the proposal from Robert.

The wheel of cheese was part of the intricate, diabolical plan to usurp the Targaryens to put in place a dynasty of cheese, wine, and bread!

Westeros would have been so lucky to get cheese, wine, and bread instead of Stag, Wolf, and Lion.  At least the people would be fed.  

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