Why Wylla?

[ATaleofSalt&Onions]

I think people have given good reasons why Ned didn’t say Ashara. I also don’t think there’s any good reason to believe that the Ashara rumors were strategically encouraged by Ned, I think that’s people overthinking things. It’s also not clear how widely believed that story is - it was a common rumor at Winterfell 15 years ago and Cersei shows it wasn’t strictly limited to there, but people forget that she throws out two other accusations before she brings up Ashara, so it doesn’t seem like she has any firm belief on the matter.

What I’m curious about is Wylla’s backstory. Was she already working at Starfall before the end of the Rebellion, or did she only start working there afterwards? And if it’s the latter, where did she come from (probably the ToJ, but before that?)? If you set aside the Doylist reasons why George  would want Ned Dayne to bring up the subject, I find it curious that he was told anything at all about Jon Snow. Ned Stark is as tight lipped as possible about the subject and Jon lives under his roof. What reason was there to tell Ned Dayne, who was born years later, any cover story at all?
 

In a vacuum that makes the most sense to me in a scenario where Wylla being Jon’s mother is a cover story the Daynes themselves were told, but in the grand scheme of things it still seems likely that they were aware of who Jon was, which leads me to believe there might not be a good non-Doylist reason for Ned Dayne being told that.

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

On 3/22/2024 at 9:02 PM, Bendric Dayne said:

If characters like Cersei and Catelyn already suspected Ashara to be Jon's mother, then why does Ned tell Robert that Jon's mother is Wylla and not Ashara if people around him already believe that to be the case? Ashara is dead so it's not like she has to go along with some lie and she did get pregnant out of wedlock so it wouldn't taint her honor any more than what it already is. Seems like the perfect person to claim as Jon's mother. Also, with Wylla being at Starfall and with Ned Dayne believing her to be the mother, it's possible that the surviving Daynes were part of the Wylla lie, so why not just say it was Ashara instead? Presumably, Ned didn't get her pregnant, but someone else did. If anything, saying it was a Stark that got her pregnant probably looks better because the Starks are a great house. So it wouldn't really do the Daynes any harm to claim that Ashara is Jon's mother and that Ned was the one that got her pregnant. I just don't really understand why Ned would go with the Wylla lie when so many other people already believe Jon's mother to be Ashara without any effort from his part on making them believe that. He should just say the mother is Ashara that way people stop wondering who it is. Isn't it more risky for Ned to keep the question open for people to keep wondering and looking for answers until maybe they stumble upon the truth? Doesn't that put Jon's life at risk? Saying Ashara is Jon's mother is the surest and safest way of putting any other rumors to bed and keeping Jon safe.

The name Wylla puts all questions about Jon' s  mother to bed . Whether his mother is Ashara or Lyanna . Nobody cares if Ned has a child with some commoner's daughter .(fisherman's daughter) .