Rhaegar vs Aerys: the Kingsguard

[Mad King Bolton]

I was always somewhat fascinated with the Kingsguard for the Mad King and have been curious like many about the Tower of Joy setup where 3 members of the Kingsguard were left out of the deciding battle on the Trident.  I wondered if maybe due to the brooding civil war between Aerys and Rhaegar, if Hightower and Whent were sent to there not only to get Rhaegar and bring him back to fight the rebels, but if they stayed behind on orders to kill Lyanna should Rhaegar either not come or try something underhanded.  This would have likely led Rhaegar to leave Dayne behind to protect Lyanna and account for 3 key warriors not being on the field of battle nor guarding the king.  Curious what folks think about this and if there are other repercussions or possibilities of this being an important consideration that's been somewhat unexplored regarding the Tower of Joy. Opinions? Has anyone else looked into this topic...this is only my second posting. 

[Prince Jon Targaryen]

Great post! I've looked into it. Let's look at who was where and why that might be.

First, according to A World of Ice and Fire, Rhaegar had Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent with him when he "abducted" Lyanna. We also know Rhaegar took no KG to guard Lyanna. Though AWOIAF is semi-canon, this is strange because at some point Whent and Dayne arrived back in the capital and were then ordered to go find Rhaegar along with Hightower.

The Trident: Barristan Selmy (by his account a friend and admirer of Rhaegar) was at the Trident. GRRM tells us was equally skilled as Dayne when they used longswords, but was outmatched when Dayne used Dawn, so a very deadly knight. Prince Lewyn Martel was there, who was the uncle of Rhaegar's wife Elia. He was commanded by Aerys to bring 10,000 spears to the Trident. Also appearing is Jonothor Darry, who countered Jaime when he protested while Aerys raped Rhaella. He responded that they were sworn to protect Rhaella, but not from the King. He also rebuked Jaime when he begged Rhaegar to make Darry defend the king and let Jaime fight with him on the Trident.

I feel this is interesting, and makes me wonder why Rhaegar brought Darry and not Jaime. Despite Darry being a more experienced KG, Rhaegar may or may not have known how good of a sword he was. In any case, Jaime was one of the most deadly knights in the realm before losing his hand. I would've taken him.

At the Tower of Joy was Gerold Hightower, Lord Commander of the KG, because he was commanded by Aerys to find Rhaegar. He brought with him Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent. Dayne (I'd say the deadliest knight in the KG) was Rhaegar's best friend. Along with Oswell Whent,  he "kidnapped" Lyanna with Rhaegar, thus triggering the war. All 3 were ordered to go find Rhaegar. I've heard it proposed that they found Rhaegar as commandad but stayed because Rhaegar asked them to.

i hope you respond with your thoughts!

[Mad King Bolton]

Thanks for taking an interest and for looking into it more. I can imagine that more of the details of the Tower of Joy will be visited in the next book or two, so it's worth exploring it a bit.  Some helpful points to this and I'm currently re-reading the books (very slowly) but any time I'm around the Tower of Joy I find myself paying closer attention to how it's laid out.

So that's interesting that Dayne, Hightower and Whent were all sent by Aerys to find Rhaegar as I had thought one or two of them were with Rhaegar (though it makes sense that the KG stayed in Kings landing with the king.  The key part in this I think is the part where it says they stayed because Rhaegar asked them to and this is the part that has me wondering on motives or orders. Gerold Hightower is the Lord Commander and closest to Aerys.  He HAS to obey the king's orders and have the king in mind, so with the gravity of the situation, I have to believe that he wouldn't stay by choice and would be either directly protecting the king (which was left to Jaime alone) or at the Trident fighting the deciding battle for the realm, not protecting Rhaegar's girlfriend with 3/7ths of the KG.  

My opinion is still that like how Jaime was kept in King's Landing as partial insurance to keep Tywin loyal and from turning against Aerys, at least one or two of the Kingsguard was left behind to watch Lyanna and make sure Rhaegar followed through with his duties and stayed loyal (since a budding civil war between Aerys and Rhaegar seemed likely).  

Your point about Whent being with Dayne and Rhaegar when they left with Lyanna is noteworthy too.  I wonder if he was really close with Rhaegar or if he maybe informed the king about where Rhaegar was rode in line with Hightower.  Certainly as you said, Dayne would be enough to counter Hightower if Gerold stood with Aerys and Dayne stood with Rhaegar, so if the King had Whent as well, then it would be enough to force the 3 of them to wait things out together.  

Such a fascinating part of the story. Looking forward to more opinion from you or others on this.