Jump to content

Who fathered Ashara Dayne's child ?


Golden Lady

Recommended Posts

I assume the relevant quote you're talking about is

If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me [barristan Selmy] instead of Stark? He would never know. But of all his failures, none haunted Barristan Selmy so much as that.

"Ashara got pregnant by banging Stark, gods I would never have been that careless with her" seems to be the most straightforward interpretation, but the text could for example also be interpreted as "Ashara got pregnant, then sought Stark's comfort, but the klutz didn't manage to talk her out of throwing herself off a cliff". The context of Barristan's musing about his love to Ashara however does strongly suggest that the "look" should at least have some romantic overtones.

So while I find the first interpretation more plausible, I see no hard evidence against the second one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assume the relevant quote you're talking about is

"If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me [barristan Selmy] instead of Stark? He would never know. But of all his failures, none haunted Barristan Selmy so much as that.

"Ashara got pregnant by banging Stark, gods I would never have been that careless with her" seems to be the most straightforward interpretation, but the text could for example also be interpreted as "Ashara got pregnant, then sought Stark's comfort, but the klutz didn't manage to talk her out of throwing herself off a cliff". The context of Barristan's musing about his love to Ashara however does strongly suggest that the "look" should at least have some romantic overtones.

So while I find the first interpretation more plausible, I see no hard evidence against the second one.

I don't think this works. Selmy is a fanatic about vows and such and his Kingsguard vows include chastity. "Looking to" Brandon doesn't equate to a sexual episode.

My own crackpot theory is that Ashara was compelled to submit to Aerys and had his (live-born) son, who is Aegon. And she's Septa Lemore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think this works. Selmy is a fanatic about vows and such and his Kingsguard vows include chastity. "Looking to" Brandon doesn't equate to a sexual episode.

I agree that "looking to" doesn't necessarily give us the identity of her partner. However, we also learn in Dance that Barristan made exceptions for people he knew well. It's clear he held Lewyn Martell in high regard and even feels some obligation to help the prince's nephew, although he knows Lewyn kept a paramour during his time as a Kingsguard.

Where Selmy shows a lot of rigidity is in his attitude toward Ashara. He treats her as completely incapable of choosing her own sexual partners and accepting the possible consequences of her decision. Ashara, who likely had consentual sex with someone at the Harrenhal tournament, was "dishonored." He could not bring himself to consider that she might have been making an informed decision. He gives no thought to the different attitudes of the Dornish toward premarital and extramarital sex. Yet, this is the woman he claims to love.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Considering how high of regard Barristan still held Ned all those years later (allying with him on the Small Council and later defending him to Dany), it seems pretty unlikely he thinks of Ned as the father. While Edric Dayne tells a pretty interesting tale of Ned and Ashara, he's all of twelve years old, and has gotten all his information second or third-hand at best.

Brandon was a ladies man, and while it may seem abhorrent to some to bang the girl your younger brother has a crush on, she may have simply lost interest in Ned after seeing how shy he was (assuming his feelings for her were reciprocated at all). And Brandon's behavior in such a situation wouldn't be that different from the average good-looking twenty-something athletic rich kid of today's world.

I still believe Ashara is Septa Lemore, and the fate or her child is completely open for debate, but if the father was a Stark, it was Brandon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think this works. Selmy is a fanatic about vows and such and his Kingsguard vows include chastity. "Looking to" Brandon doesn't equate to a sexual episode.

My own crackpot theory is that Ashara was compelled to submit to Aerys and had his (live-born) son, who is Aegon. And she's Septa Lemore.

Very interesting.

In fact all of you have some good ideas. I'm about to start a ADWD re-read, but I'll admit the Targ angle went right over my head on the first go around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Note that Barristan believes that it's possible Ashara died out of "grief" for the man who had "dishonored" her. This doesn't mean he thinks she killed herself for grief at having been dishonored -- but at grief for the man, because he's lost to her or he's dead. I.E., Barristan believes she may have loved whoever it was.

Can anyone imagine a scenario where Ashara loved Aerys? Especially those who believe he raped her? And taking into account his insanity, his cruelty, his madness that left him so paranoid he wouldn't let anyone cut his hair or trim his nails... ?

I believe Brandon Stark and Ashara Dayne had a fling at Harrenhal, a fling that everyone sort of pinned on Ned for various reasons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...