Howland Reed is the KotLT - Proof by Canon

[James West]

Fake it till you make it doesn't work with horses.  A crannogman doesn't have the time nor the resources to master a good seat.  He would have had to cheat and use mind control over the horse. 

[LynnS]

1 hour ago, James West said:

Fake it till you make it doesn't work with horses.  A crannogman doesn't have the time nor the resources to master a good seat.  He would have had to cheat and use mind control over the horse. 

The story doesn't say he couldn't ride a horse, only that his people ride a boat more often than a horse.

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Bran II

"Then, as now," she agreed. "The wolf maid saw them too, and pointed them out to her brothers. 'I could find you a horse, and some armor that might fit,' the pup offered. The little crannogman thanked him, but gave no answer. His heart was torn. Crannogmen are smaller than most, but just as proud. The lad was no knight, no more than any of his people. We sit a boat more often than a horse, and our hands are made for oars, not lances. Much as he wished to have his vengeance, he feared he would only make a fool of himself and shame his people. The quiet wolf had offered the little crannogman a place in his tent that night, but before he slept he knelt on the lakeshore, looking across the water to where the Isle of Faces would be, and said a prayer to the old gods of north and Neck . . ."

The story says old gods gave strength to his arm but says nothing about the horse.  Maybe he didn't need help with horse.  

Meera suggest they steal horses.  The crannogmen can't be completely unfamiliar with them.

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Bran I

"If we were eagles we might fly," said Jojen sharply, "but we have no wings, no more than we have horses."

"There are horses to be had," said Meera. "Even in the deep of the wolfswood there are foresters, crofters, hunters. Some will have horses."

"And if they do, should we steal them? Are we thieves? The last thing we need is men hunting us."

 

[direpupy]

5 hours ago, LynnS said:

The story doesn't say he couldn't ride a horse, only that his people ride a boat more often than a horse.

The story says old gods gave strength to his arm but says nothing about the horse.  Maybe he didn't need help with horse.  

Meera suggest they steal horses.  The crannogmen can't be completely unfamiliar with them.

 

In support of this there is Ned thinking about how he and his friends got to the Tower of Joy and leave again see quote's below, so Howland at the very least knows how to ride a horse. So really its just a question of how well can he ride one.

A Game of Thrones - Eddard X

In the dream his friends rode with him, as they had in life. Proud Martyn Cassel, Jory's father; faithful Theo Wull; Ethan Glover, who had been Brandon's squire; Ser Mark Ryswell, soft of speech and gentle of heart; the crannogman, Howland Reed; Lord Dustin on his great red stallion. Ned had known their faces as well as he knew his own once, but the years leech at a man's memories, even those he has vowed never to forget. In the dream they were only shadows, grey wraiths on horses made of mist.

 

A Game of Thrones - Eddard X
 They had been seven against three, yet only two had lived to ride away; Eddard Stark himself and the little crannogman, Howland Reed. He did not think it omened well that he should dream that dream again after so many years.

[LynnS]

13 minutes ago, direpupy said:

In support of this there is Ned thinking about how he and his friends got to the Tower of Joy see quote below, so Howland at the very least knows how to ride a horse. So really its just a question of how well can he ride one.

A Game of Thrones - Eddard X

In the dream his friends rode with him, as they had in life. Proud Martyn Cassel, Jory's father; faithful Theo Wull; Ethan Glover, who had been Brandon's squire; Ser Mark Ryswell, soft of speech and gentle of heart; the crannogman, Howland Reed; Lord Dustin on his great red stallion. Ned had known their faces as well as he knew his own once, but the years leech at a man's memories, even those he has vowed never to forget. In the dream they were only shadows, grey wraiths on horses made of mist.

I'm also wondering about Howland's opponents.  We are not really told anything about them except for their houses and their badly behaved squires.  We assume that just because they are knights that somehow it makes them peerless.  But are they really all that skilled themselves?  Being a knight isn't a guarantee of anything.  Were they too fat, old or drunk to sit a horse?  I think Howland spent the first day of jousting watching them in action.  Could it be that he thought the only advantage they had over him was the strength of his arm?

[direpupy]

4 minutes ago, LynnS said:

I'm also wondering about Howland's opponents.  We are not really told anything about them except for their houses and their badly behaved squires.  We assume that just because they are knights that somehow it makes them peerless.  But are they really all that skilled themselves?  Being a knight isn't a guarantee of anything.  Were they too fat, old or drunk to sit a horse?

They where 3 of the 5 champions who had survived the first day of jousting, seeing how this was a huge tournament, the biggest in a generation with huge prices three times the norm and drawing people from every corner of the realm, they had to have had some considerable skill.

[LynnS]

1 minute ago, direpupy said:

They where 3 of the 5 champions who had survived the first day of jousting, seeing how this was a huge tournament, the biggest in a generation with huge prices three times the norm and drawing people from every corner of the realm, they had to have had some considerable skill.

OK sure.  Howland seems to think they only outmatch him in strength.  This is what he prays to the gods to provide.  So it's possible that he does receive a power-up from the gods in the same manner as Hodor.  Martin never tells but did he show us what that would look like with Bran and Hodor at the BR's cave?  Even if it isn't Bran himself, what of the other Gseers on the Isle of Faces? 

[direpupy]

8 minutes ago, LynnS said:

OK sure.  Howland seems to think they only outmatch him in strength.  This is what he prays to the gods to provide.  So it's possible that he does receive a power-up from the gods in the same manner as Hodor.  Martin never tells but did he show us what that would look like with Bran and Hodor at the BR's cave?  Even if it isn't Bran himself, what of the other Gseers on the Isle of Faces? 

As far as i can tell he never thinks on they ways they would outmatch him only that he is not cut out to be a jouster and it is never stated that he prays for anything but vengeance. There is the bolded part in the second quote below but that could just be a generic phrase and not literaly fisical strength.

Meera does however leave it explisitly open who has answered the prayer, so that does leave the door wide open to someone like Bran or the Green Men.

A Storm of Swords - Bran II

His heart was torn. Crannogmen are smaller than most, but just as proud. The lad was no knight, no more than any of his people. We sit a boat more often than a horse, and our hands are made for oars, not lances. Much as he wished to have his vengeance, he feared he would only make a fool of himself and shame his people. The quiet wolf had offered the little crannogman a place in his tent that night, but before he slept he knelt on the lakeshore, looking across the water to where the Isle of Faces would be, and said a prayer to the old gods of north and Neck . . ."

A Storm of Swords - Bran II

"Whoever he was, the old gods gave strength to his arm. The porcupine knight fell first, then the pitchfork knight, and lastly the knight of the two towers. None were well loved, so the common folk cheered lustily for the Knight of the Laughing Tree, as the new champion soon was called. When his fallen foes sought to ransom horse and armor, the Knight of the Laughing Tree spoke in a booming voice through his helm, saying, 'Teach your squires honor, that shall be ransom enough.' Once the defeated knights chastised their squires sharply, their horses and armor were returned. And so the little crannogman's prayer was answered . . . by the green men, or the old gods, or the children of the forest, who can say?"

[Moiraine Sedai]

The list of candidates is narrowed by the height of the knight. Benjen should make the list ahead of Howland. 

[LynnS]

1 minute ago, direpupy said:

Meera does however leave it explisitly open who has answered the prayer, so that does leave the door wide open to someone like Bran or the Green Men.

 Not many will want to step over that line with me until they have TWOW in their hands.  Too risky.   The thing I'm most curious about concerning Howland is what happened on the Isle of Faces.  Who and what are the green men.  What magic did Howland learn from them and did he talk to Bran?

[LynnS]

6 minutes ago, Moiraine Sedai said:

The list of candidates is narrowed by the height of the knight. Benjen should make the list ahead of Howland. 

Some people have also suggested Ser Shadrich, the Mad Mouse.  Then again ,they have also suggested that he might be Howland.

[direpupy]

2 minutes ago, LynnS said:

 Not many will want to step over that line with me until they have TWOW in their hands.  Too risky.   The thing I'm most curious about concerning Howland is what happened on the Isle of Faces.  Who and what are the green men.  What magic did Howland learn from them and did he talk to Bran?

I'm not convinced as of yet either, but i do find this very interesting and believe strongly that in a debate you should not just mention the things that support your idea, but also if you find something that supports they others theory. 

I hope we will find out at some point what happened on the isle.

[LynnS]

1 minute ago, direpupy said:

I'm not convinced as of yet either, but i do find this very interesting and believe strongly that in a debate you should not just mention the things that support your idea, but also if you find something that supports they others theory. 

I hope we will find out at some point what happened on the isle.

I'm on the fence on quite a few things myself. It's OK if you are uncertain.  I'm happy enough that you are considering the possibility. 

[LynnS]

Howland isn't just a banneraman of the Starks from a lowly house.  He is the high lord of his people and has a seat at the table with the other high lords.  The crannogmen along with the first men of the North stopped the Andal invasion at Moat Caitlin and the North was never conquered until Tohrren Stark kneeled to Aegon.  It isn't just Howland's reputation that is on the line.  Taking vengeance and restoring his own honor is his decision to make.  He isn't about to outsource it.  The Starks offer him equipment but they don't offer to do it for him.

[Megorova]

On 7/14/2021 at 5:36 PM, direpupy said:

I dug some more and its actually more like 11 months the tournament is announced in late 280 when the false spring starts and also takes place during the false spring. But the false spring only lasted 2 months, so the last month of 280 and the first month of 281 and the "abduction takes place right after the coming of the new year so the first days of 282

There is no way Lyanna was in the Riverlands all that time so she definitely went back to Winterfel

 

Spoiler

On the first day of 282 the snow started falling, that's when the False Spring ended. After the tournament's end the spring had lasted for less than two months. Which means that the tournament ended on the 11th month of 281. The tournament lasted 10 days, thru end of "October" - beginning of "November". The day when the Mystery Knight had appeared is a parallel to Halloween. Also it seems that for 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, GRRM was using calendars of 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984. So that day was October 31, 1981 (that was some sort of special day in occultism, that's why Rowling wrote that Harry Potter's parents were killed on 31st of October 1981, and why GRRM "introduced" KotLT also on this day).

Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna in the  middle of September of 282. After his son's birth in January of 282, Rhaegar and his companions went to Riverlands (to find there a suitable dragonseed girl that was supposed to give birth to Rhaegar's third child. Though that's my personal opinion about why Rhaegar went there. Amongst candidates were Wynafrei Whent (niece of Oswell Whent who was a Kingsguard and one of Rhaegar's friends that accompanied him to Riverlands; Lysa and Catelyn Tully (because their mother was a Whent, and Whents are descendants of the Bastard of Harrenhal, secret son of Aegon IV and Jeyne Lothston, so thru him Lysa and Cat are partially dragonseeds, same as Wynafrei); then Rhaegar went to Raventree Hall (because after the tournament Wynafrei got married with a Frey (one of those three knights that were defeated by KotLT), Cat was engaged and in love with her fiance, and Lysa recently had an abortion, so she was unsuitable as a "mother"-candidate. So when Rhaegar crossed out those three options, he went to the castle from which was his great-grandmother Betha Blackwood. She was partially dragonseed and some sort of cousin of her husband, Aegon V. Betha's mother (in my opinion) was Mya Rivers, sister of Bloodraven and daughter of Aegon IV. Aside from Betha, Mya had at least one other daughter - Melantha Blackwood. This Melantha was maester Aemon's sister-in-law (because her sister - Betha - married with his brother - Egg), and she married with Willam Stark, so she was Lyanna's great-grandmother, same as her sister (Betha) was Rhaegar's great-grandmother, so Rhaegar and Lyanna were third cousins (while Aerys II and Queen Rhaella were Rickard Stark's second cousins). That's why Rhaegar choose Lyanna as the mother for his third child - because they were bloodrelated and she was a dragonseed same as Elia).

So Rhaegar departed from Dragonstone in January of 282, from there went to Harrenhal, then to Riverrun

(he went there incognito, probably changed his looks, like dyed his hair and pretended to be a bard or a mummer. And he got unrestricted access to Riverrun because he came there together with Oswell Whent, who was a first cousin of Cat and Lysa's dead mother),

then to Raventree Hall (where he found out fom their family records that his great-grandmother, Betha Blackwood, had a sister that married with a Stark), so afterwards he went either to Winterfell or to The Wall (to talk with maester Aemon), and then he met Lyanna again

(he gave her that crown of blue roses because he knew that she was KotLT. Furthermore the Knight had disappeared before he was unmasked, because Rhaegar heard what his father was planning to do, so he sent Ashara Dayne to warn Lyanna not to return as the Mystery Knight. And that's when Ashara was seen late at night going into Ned Stark's tent (people misinterpreted why she went there, they thought that she had a affair with Ned, while the reason why she went there is to get from his tent Howland's shield, that Lyanna had returned to Howland's possessions after she posed as the Mystery Knight. If the shield would have been found there on the next morning when Aerys' people were searching thru the camp, then the Starks would have been in trouble. So Rhaegar warned Lyanna, and he couldn't have done it personally, because it would have ruined Lyanna's reputation if she was seen with Rhaegar (she was engaged, he was married, and it was a late late evening/night at that time, so instead he had sent Ashara, because she was Arthur's sister, and Arthur was Rhaegar's close friend. Ashara warned Lyanna, and then went to retrieve the shield to get rid of it. And someone saw her, going into a guy's tent. That's how Ashara got dishonored at Harrenhal)).

And that's when they (Rhaegar and Lyanna) agreed that they will elope together before she will be forced to marry with Robert, whom she detested. So they arranged her "kidnapping" on the way from Winterfell to Brandon's wedding at Riverrun, and Lyanna intentionally went off the path that led to Riverrun and went towards Harrenhal, because that's where they agreed to meet. Possibly they got married at the God's Eye and then went to Starfall, where later Jon was born on the day of the autumnal equinox - (the day when day and night are equal, and then each day becomes shorter and each night becomes longer) - 23rd of September 283/1983. So Jon is Lybra, and his guardian planet is Venus, Latin name - Lucifer, which translates as Lightbringer or the Star of the Morning, that's why Dawn of Daynes is Azor Ahai's Lightbringer and Jon was born at Starfall, under the bleeding stars (in Lyanna's "bed of blood", and there are stars everywhere in that castle's interior, so when Lyanna gave birth to Jon, the stars were bleeding), not at the Tower of Joy.

Thus -

the tournament at Harrenhal - October-November 281, Aegon's birth - January 282, Lyanna's "kidnapping" - September 282, Jon's conception  - "Christmas Eve" of 282/late December, Jon's birth - 23rd September of 283, Dany's birth - May 284 (she's Gemini), and the third dragonrider - Rhaego - was born in January, his sign of Zodiac is Aquarius, so all three dragonriders were born 8 months apart from each other and all three of them are Air signs - Jon/Lybra/September - 8 months later - Dany/Gemini/May - 8 months later - Rhaego/Aquarius/January.

The Harrenhal's tournament was held in the last months of 281. Lyanna was kidnapped nearly a year later. Between her kidnapping and the end of 282 only several battles had occured - at Gulltown (lasted 1 day), Summerhal (three battles on the same day), Ashford. Then in early 283 - the Battle of the Bells, then Ned and Cat's wedding and Robb's conception, then in July - the Battle at Trident, the Sack of King's Landing and Dany's conception in August of 283, the lifting of Storm's End's siege nearly a year after it started - early September of 283, Ned went to Starfall where Lyanna gave birth to Jon in second half of September, Dany was born 8 months after Jon at Dragonstone in May of 284.

GRRM said:

https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/1040/

Quote

All of which is a long winded way of saying, no, Jon was not born "more than 1 year" before Dany... probably closer to eight or nine months or thereabouts.

 

[LynnS]

18 minutes ago, Megorova said:

the tournament at Harrenhal - October-November 281, Aegon's birth - January 282, Lyanna's "kidnapping" - September 282, Jon's conception  - "Christmas Eve" of 282/late December, Jon's birth - 23rd September of 283, Dany's birth - May 284 (she's Gemini), and the third dragonrider - Rhaego - was born in January, his sign of Zodiac is Aquarius, so all three dragonriders were born 8 months apart from each other and all three of them are Air signs - Jon/Lybra/September - 8 months later - Dany/Gemini/May - 8 months later - Rhaego/Aquarius/January.

Unless you can provide the natal charts for all these characters; we can't say for certain what their astrological sign will be.  I'm not sure that Planetos even has the same planets or constellations as Earth or that an ephemeris and book of tables exists to do those calculations..

[Megorova]

29 minutes ago, LynnS said:

I'm not sure that Planetos even has the same planets or constellations as Earth or that an ephemeris and book of tables exists to do those calculations..

Nevertheless GRRM is using Earth's astrology in ASOIAF.

For example - Shiera Seastar is Cancer, her guardian planet is the Moon, and one of her heart stones is a moonstone. She's a parallel to the wife of the Sun/Lion-of-Night - Maiden-made-of-light <- the two of them caused the First Long Night. Bloodraven is Leo, his guardian planet is the Sun, amongst his heart stones are emeralds and sapphires. Bloodraven gave to Shiera a necklace with emeralds and sapphires - his heart stones, and she reciprocated by giving him a moonstone brooch (her heart stone), using which in The Mystery Knight novel Bloodraven was impersonating Maynard Plumm. Shiera is a shadowbinder Quaithe, and that brooch that she gave to Bloodraven was a shadow-artifact, same as ruby-bracelet that Melisandre gave to Mance/Rattleshirt. And this is Shiera and Bloodraven in Jon's wolf/dragon-dream:

ADWD, Jon I:

Quote

"Snow," the moon insisted.

The white wolf ran from it, racing toward the cave of night where the sun had hidden, his breath frosting in the air.

The moon in Jon's dream - Shiera was trying to reach him while he was sleeping. Shiera is the Three-Eyed Crow, and she was also using glass candles to get into people's dreams (that way she had contacted Dany several times), so she was trying to do the same with Jon. But the Ghost didn't let her. And the cave of night towards which he was running is the cave where Bran was with the Children and Bloodraven. Bloodraven is the sun (Leo, albino lion, Lion of the Night) that is hiding in a cave. And that cave is "the cave of night" because the Children created the Others and caused the Long Night.

[LynnS]

39 minutes ago, Megorova said:

Nevertheless GRRM is using Earth's astrology in ASOIAF.

I'll give you the sun and the moon; but this is off topic.

[direpupy]

3 hours ago, Megorova said:

 

  Hide contents

On the first day of 282 the snow started falling, that's when the False Spring ended. After the tournament's end the spring had lasted for less than two months. Which means that the tournament ended on the 11th month of 281. The tournament lasted 10 days, thru end of "October" - beginning of "November". The day when the Mystery Knight had appeared is a parallel to Halloween. Also it seems that for 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, GRRM was using calendars of 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984. So that day was October 31, 1981 (that was some sort of special day in occultism, that's why Rowling wrote that Harry Potter's parents were killed on 31st of October 1981, and why GRRM "introduced" KotLT also on this day).

Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna in the  middle of September of 282. After his son's birth in January of 282, Rhaegar and his companions went to Riverlands (to find there a suitable dragonseed girl that was supposed to give birth to Rhaegar's third child. Though that's my personal opinion about why Rhaegar went there. Amongst candidates were Wynafrei Whent (niece of Oswell Whent who was a Kingsguard and one of Rhaegar's friends that accompanied him to Riverlands; Lysa and Catelyn Tully (because their mother was a Whent, and Whents are descendants of the Bastard of Harrenhal, secret son of Aegon IV and Jeyne Lothston, so thru him Lysa and Cat are partially dragonseeds, same as Wynafrei); then Rhaegar went to Raventree Hall (because after the tournament Wynafrei got married with a Frey (one of those three knights that were defeated by KotLT), Cat was engaged and in love with her fiance, and Lysa recently had an abortion, so she was unsuitable as a "mother"-candidate. So when Rhaegar crossed out those three options, he went to the castle from which was his great-grandmother Betha Blackwood. She was partially dragonseed and some sort of cousin of her husband, Aegon V. Betha's mother (in my opinion) was Mya Rivers, sister of Bloodraven and daughter of Aegon IV. Aside from Betha, Mya had at least one other daughter - Melantha Blackwood. This Melantha was maester Aemon's sister-in-law (because her sister - Betha - married with his brother - Egg), and she married with Willam Stark, so she was Lyanna's great-grandmother, same as her sister (Betha) was Rhaegar's great-grandmother, so Rhaegar and Lyanna were third cousins (while Aerys II and Queen Rhaella were Rickard Stark's second cousins). That's why Rhaegar choose Lyanna as the mother for his third child - because they were bloodrelated and she was a dragonseed same as Elia).

So Rhaegar departed from Dragonstone in January of 282, from there went to Harrenhal, then to Riverrun

(he went there incognito, probably changed his looks, like dyed his hair and pretended to be a bard or a mummer. And he got unrestricted access to Riverrun because he came there together with Oswell Whent, who was a first cousin of Cat and Lysa's dead mother),

then to Raventree Hall (where he found out fom their family records that his great-grandmother, Betha Blackwood, had a sister that married with a Stark), so afterwards he went either to Winterfell or to The Wall (to talk with maester Aemon), and then he met Lyanna again

(he gave her that crown of blue roses because he knew that she was KotLT. Furthermore the Knight had disappeared before he was unmasked, because Rhaegar heard what his father was planning to do, so he sent Ashara Dayne to warn Lyanna not to return as the Mystery Knight. And that's when Ashara was seen late at night going into Ned Stark's tent (people misinterpreted why she went there, they thought that she had a affair with Ned, while the reason why she went there is to get from his tent Howland's shield, that Lyanna had returned to Howland's possessions after she posed as the Mystery Knight. If the shield would have been found there on the next morning when Aerys' people were searching thru the camp, then the Starks would have been in trouble. So Rhaegar warned Lyanna, and he couldn't have done it personally, because it would have ruined Lyanna's reputation if she was seen with Rhaegar (she was engaged, he was married, and it was a late late evening/night at that time, so instead he had sent Ashara, because she was Arthur's sister, and Arthur was Rhaegar's close friend. Ashara warned Lyanna, and then went to retrieve the shield to get rid of it. And someone saw her, going into a guy's tent. That's how Ashara got dishonored at Harrenhal)).

And that's when they (Rhaegar and Lyanna) agreed that they will elope together before she will be forced to marry with Robert, whom she detested. So they arranged her "kidnapping" on the way from Winterfell to Brandon's wedding at Riverrun, and Lyanna intentionally went off the path that led to Riverrun and went towards Harrenhal, because that's where they agreed to meet. Possibly they got married at the God's Eye and then went to Starfall, where later Jon was born on the day of the autumnal equinox - (the day when day and night are equal, and then each day becomes shorter and each night becomes longer) - 23rd of September 283/1983. So Jon is Lybra, and his guardian planet is Venus, Latin name - Lucifer, which translates as Lightbringer or the Star of the Morning, that's why Dawn of Daynes is Azor Ahai's Lightbringer and Jon was born at Starfall, under the bleeding stars (in Lyanna's "bed of blood", and there are stars everywhere in that castle's interior, so when Lyanna gave birth to Jon, the stars were bleeding), not at the Tower of Joy.

Thus -

the tournament at Harrenhal - October-November 281, Aegon's birth - January 282, Lyanna's "kidnapping" - September 282, Jon's conception  - "Christmas Eve" of 282/late December, Jon's birth - 23rd September of 283, Dany's birth - May 284 (she's Gemini), and the third dragonrider - Rhaego - was born in January, his sign of Zodiac is Aquarius, so all three dragonriders were born 8 months apart from each other and all three of them are Air signs - Jon/Lybra/September - 8 months later - Dany/Gemini/May - 8 months later - Rhaego/Aquarius/January.

The Harrenhal's tournament was held in the last months of 281. Lyanna was kidnapped nearly a year later. Between her kidnapping and the end of 282 only several battles had occured - at Gulltown (lasted 1 day), Summerhal (three battles on the same day), Ashford. Then in early 283 - the Battle of the Bells, then Ned and Cat's wedding and Robb's conception, then in July - the Battle at Trident, the Sack of King's Landing and Dany's conception in August of 283, the lifting of Storm's End's siege nearly a year after it started - early September of 283, Ned went to Starfall where Lyanna gave birth to Jon in second half of September, Dany was born 8 months after Jon at Dragonstone in May of 284.

GRRM said:

https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/1040/

 

The piece of text that says the snows started falling at the end of the year is a known contradiction that does not fit with the rest of the text and was actually put on a list to be altered in later additions of the world book because it was a hold over of a earlier draft, just like Viserys being 7 in that chapter while he was actually only 5.

[Megorova]

50 minutes ago, direpupy said:

The piece of text that says the snows started falling at the end of the year is a known contradiction that does not fit with the rest of the text and was actually put on a list to be altered in later additions of the world book because it was a hold over of a earlier draft, just like Viserys being 7 in that chapter while he was actually only 5.

He was 7 not in 281, but when Aerys' people were pushing him to name Viserys as his heir, already during Robert's Rebellion, in 283, when Viserys was 7. GRRM several times did the same thing - he "placed a cart before the horse" and wrote together about two events that had occured not at the same time, though nevertheless were written by GRRM together, and this made readers confused. Like this:

Quote

With the coming of the new year, the crown prince had taken to the road with half a dozen of his closest friends and confidants, on a journey that would ultimately lead him back to the riverlands. Not ten leagues from Harrenhal, Rhaegar fell upon Lyanna Stark of Winterfell, and carried her off, lighting a fire that would consume his house and kin and all those he loved—and half the realm besides.

Two events - 1. Rhaegar's departure from Dragonstone, 2. Lyanna's kidnapping - written together. Actually 1 and 2 had occured months apart, but because of the way GRRM wrote them together, readers thought that those two events happened one soon after the other, and some of them even thought that Lyanna was thus kidnapped in the beginning of 282, and thinking backward that between her kidnapping and the tournament at Harrenhal nearly a full year has passed, they mistakenly thought that the tournament also had occured in the beginning of a year, not near the end. They thought that the tournament was held in the beginning of 281, and Lyanna was kidnapped in the beginning of 282, while actually both of those events had occured close to the end of the year. And Jaime's traveling in that year (between his knighting and his joining the Kingsguards) is an evidence of that.

Though, back on topic

@LynnS No one is arguing with you that that great helm that Meera has, is (possibly) the same helm that was worn by the Mystery Knight at the Harrenhal's tournament. Though, just the mere fact that the helm used to belong to that Knight, and now Howland's children have it, does mean that Howland is that Knight. Could be that the Knight left the helm and Howland took it. Lyanna is KotLT, that's why it was mentioned in the books that she was secretly training with her brother, and that she was a "Lyanna is noted to have been a skilled rider who loved to ride.^[18][19] According to Harwin of Winterfell, Lyanna rode "like a northman",^[18] while Barbrey Dustin describes her as a centaur,^[19] and Roose Bolton states that Lyanna was "half a horse herself".^[20] According to a semi-canon source, Lyanna also practiced at tilting at rings.^[21]"

[LynnS]

38 minutes ago, Megorova said:

@LynnS No one is arguing with you that that great helm that Meera has, is (possibly) the same helm that was worn by the Mystery Knight at the Harrenhal's tournament. Though, just the mere fact that the helm used to belong to that Knight, and now Howland's children have it, does mean that Howland is that Knight. Could be that the Knight left the helm and Howland took it. Lyanna is KotLT, that's why it was mentioned in the books that she was secretly training with her brother, and that she was a "Lyanna is noted to have been a skilled rider who loved to ride.^[18][19] According to Harwin of Winterfell, Lyanna rode "like a northman",^[18] while Barbrey Dustin describes her as a centaur,^[19] and Roose Bolton states that Lyanna was "half a horse herself".^[20] According to a semi-canon source, Lyanna also practiced at tilting at rings.^[21]"

Lyanna may have been more skilled than the average girl at riding such that she was compared to a centaur, that doesn't give her any magical powers over a horse.  It only gives her some skill.  It also doesn't mean she would take it upon herself to enter the tourney to teach the knights a lesson.  That's not something Howland would appreciate and it would shame him further.  He is the only person who can take vengeance and reclaim his honor.  I think the Starks recognize that and leave the decision to him.  They offer the equipment, they don't offer to do it for him. 

Howland doesn't tell his kids this story to make Lyanna the hero.  He tells it to them as a lesson in bravery and courage about the little crannogman.  It's about overcoming the odds when they are not in your favor.  It's an important lesson for them to remember as they will be sent at some point to help Bran.  Meera goes with bronze and iron to protect Bran.  Jojen is there to teach and guide him. Still they say it is his decision to become a GSeer.  How does Jojen know this?  Because when he started to have green dreams he consulted with his father; who already knows that it is Bran's destiny is to become a GSeer. 

As for the helm,  the knight left the tourney after his victory and didn't show up again.  Nobody knew what happened to him.  All he left behind was the shield.  So chances are it's the same greathelm in Meera's possession as well as the same shirt of bronze scales.