septa lemore is ashara dayne.

[corbon]

Well we do know that Rhaegar & Arthur were close & that Ashara was a Lady in waiting to Elia, however Jane Seymour was also a Lady in waiting to Anne Boelyn & in turn she was a Lady in Waiting to Katherine of Aragon IIRC. So I'm not sure I wholeheartedly agree with your reasoning regarding the family links but the rest of your argument does bear scrutiny & I'm happy enough to consider this is a valid possibility, she's certainly a mysterious figure & I do believe she is someone we have heard about previously so It's as good a theory as any I've heard.

The argument doesnt prove anything on its own, but your statement was that you could not think of one reason why she might do that. So I provided you with background data that hints at one or more reasons, thats all.

[sskoog]

I think the Ned-Ashara-near-romance-blocked-by-external-circumstance thread is more than plausible. (Note I am *not* subscribing to N + A = J or N + A = A. Not yet, anyway.) It adds a certain tie and sympathy to the riding-to-Starfall narrative. It also jibes (relatively) well with the "shy wolf asked Ashara to dance" Harrenhal recitation. I had not previously given this serious consideration -- it reinforces the Arthur-now-alone and Guenevere-in-a-convent archetype, and I think it adds a sad sweet undertone to the plot.

But I also think two or more of these threads could be true simultaneously -- Ned had a 'thing' for Ashara, Brandon 'stepped in,' maybe Brandon dishonored Ashara, maybe there was some physical contact there, maybe a, er, lingering bit of Brandon stayed with Ashara, maybe Ashara turned to Ned for comfort after the unfortunate incident, etc. One tends to think of Lyanna when Ned talks about "the [wild] wolf blood" and how it led to doom, but there is certainly a Brandon allusion there as well, possibly even with a bitter "he stole my girl, and I was angry, but it was just his nature to be a brash hothead and it finally caught up with him" twist. Blah blah blah. (I (the poster) had a brother like this myself, who, sadly, met with a very similar fate.)

I have been trying to wrap my mind round a Wylla = disguised Ashara contingency. There are certain intuitive connections -- Ned helps this supposedly-dead noble to escape, incognito, Ned viciously goes after his men-at-arms who blab about her, Ned is able to keep his 'new baby' near her, maybe there's even a SECOND purple-eyed baby who grows up to be the Dayne kid, maybe this is how incognito-Ashara gets smuggled out to White Harbor and the "fishwife" rumors get started, etc. -- but I can't quite make it work. Various lactation and purple-eyed gaps persist, and, more to the point, Wylla falls off the map after two or three fleeting references**, whereas Ashara sees more frequent and recent attention. Anyone see more of this than I do?

[** All that having been said, two or three references IS a relatively large number, for Martin. So there could still be some significance. And, no, I'm not excluding Wylla = Septa Lemore, though to my mind that is the least likely of the three projections, unless Ashara = Wylla = Septa Lemore, heh heh, I'll stop now.]

[LadySaeryn]

When the series starts isn't Ned in his late 30s and SL is described as being past 40. I'm not so sure about this but it would be neat if it were true.

[SolomonBlack]

Unless someone can establish that contact lenses both exist and why Lemore is using them and fAegon is not then it surpasses plausibility that Tyrion could suss out one set of purple eyes and miss another entirely. You can't have great deduction missed with odious failure like that, its thematically contradictory and we know full well Tyrion took interest in Lemore and gave a pretty detailed accounting of said interest. Hence why nobody speculates about those two who drove the boat or Duck or Halfmaester.

Saying its omitted because that would be too obvious is not true, purple eyes are not that exclusive (Aurane Waters for example, Lys apparently, I believe Sweets as well) since it wouldn't seal the deal even if they were. Just make it actually plausible the way Aerys' known interest in Joanna makes those theories plausible but still unconfirmed. And it would be proper foreshadowing of the revelation.

I don't believe Martin is so terrible a writer out to outright trick us for a less important revelation then what he threw down already in that arc. I also dare say he's used up his "they were dead but.... surprise!" card on Connington, repitition on separate occasions serves little . There is zero reason to be coy about Ashara being alive if she's Lemore, unless Tyrion somehow must have a burning desire to ask about Jon Snow and not whores. And that is the sole reason to keep Ashara alive really, but also unnecessary as long as any of the Reeds are alive and less practical

This entire fascination with Ashara is misplaced. Her death is not special. Just ask Tyrek Lannister or anyone in the background that was lost at sea.

They "never found the body" as a hint is a tired old cliche anyways, having said dead person turn up hasn't been clever in awhile, while actually being dead is a display of dreary realism about how life is not so neat and tidy and sometimes you never do get that closure. Tell me which you think resembles Martin's writing more.