Estuaries of the Seven Kingdoms, Part 4: The Fate of Ashara Dayne (rough cut)

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The Fate of Ashara Dayne

Please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 first!

Following the Battle at the Trident, Ned Stark took his army to KL as quickly as possible, chasing the remaining Targaryen army, consisting of Dornishmen led by Oberyn Martell.

Ned found KL fallen, and when seeing how Robert accepted the murders of Targaryen childrens and Elia, was worried about Lyanna and what might become of her (not sure yet).

Outside KL, Ned meets Oberyn somewhere along the way and tells him of the murders.  In response, Oberyn tells Ned about Lyanna at the Tower of Joy.

At Storm's End, Ned has Oberyn contact Paxter Redwyne to have him pick up Lyanna and Ashara to escape Robert.

Oberyn sends Ned to the Tower of Joy, and agrees to meet him there to take Lyanna and her son.  Ned tells Oberyn about Ashara's rape and pregnancy.  Oberyn arranges pickup.

At Tower of Joy, Ned's group overcomes the fight and finds Lyanna and Jon.  Lyanna dies, Jon agrees to care for him... he has been planning to send him to Dragonstone, but she makes him promise to care for him as his own child.

Ned rides with Jon to Starfall.  Tells Ashara about the murder of the children and Elia, and has her accept her to escape the nation.  She agrees, but he has to take her daughter to the Redwyne fleet now, and leaves Jon with Wylla.  Claiming heartbreak, Ashara jumps into the water outside Starfall and is rescued by the Redwyne fleet.  She is reunited with her baby girl and a single boat takes her and her baby to Dragonstone.

The Baratheon fleet has not yet been built -- they lack ability to attack Dragonstone.

Upon Dragonstone, Ashara and her baby arrive.  The Queen and the real Danaerys die in childbirth, and Ashara poses as a wetnurse for Danaerys, lying to Ser Willem to take her and her baby to Essos, where at Braavos they arrive.

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Championnat_Red_Bull_Cliff_Diving_World_Series_2013_-_Arr%C3%AAt_de_La_Rochelle_%28104%29.JPG/2560px-Championnat_Red_Bull_Cliff_Diving_World_Series_2013_-_Arr%C3%AAt_de_La_Rochelle_%28104%29.JPG]

Why did Mandon Moore try to kill Tyrion?

 

[Søren Niedziella from Denmark, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons]

The Attempted Murder

Through most of his combat in the Battle of the Blackwater, Tyrion Lannister was accompanied closely by 2-3 other figures:  his squire Podrick Payne, Ser Balon Swann, and Ser Mandon Moore.  While fighting on the "Bridge of Ships," Moore makes a brutal attempt on Tyrion's life only to be knocked into the water by Pod where he drowns.

 

[Charles Clifford, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]

The Search for a Man without a Past

After awakening to discover his nose being 2/3 shorter than it was before he woke up, Tyrion asked "Ser Bronn" investigate Moore and his past.  Bronn had littlle luck, finding that he had few to no friends and very little record of any activities outside his guard duties.  Tyrion remembers how Jaime had told him that Mandon Moore was the most dangerous of any of the Kingsguard, because he never made any of his intentions known.  He was not loved by the smallfolk, nor close to any of his brothers on the kingsguard.

Why Would a Nobody Try to Kill Tyrion?

 

[Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

How would a man known by apparently no one in King's Landing earn a spot on the Kingsguard?  

To be honest, Mandon Moore's past is not entirely secret, nor is he really a "nobody."  As Jaime recognized, he was a dangerous and secretive man with strong martial skill.  However, we do know something about his family:  House Moore.

The Moores are a noble family from the Vale of Arryn.  According to GRRM's semi-canon The Sons of The Dragon novella, the Moore family has a history in the Kingsguard, serving under Maegor the Cruel.

"Lord" Petyr has an established history of having secret arrangements where armed men work for him, including infiltration of the Kingsguard -- the Kettleblacks, for example.  Littlefinger came to court after his appointment as head of customs at Gulltown, where his financial wizardry impressed Jon Arryn, whose wife Lysa had suggested the appointment.  While Jon Arryn was Hand of the King, Robert Baratheon brought Littlefinger to court, within three years rising to Master of Coin.

While we don't know when Ser Mandon came to King's Landing, we know he wore a white cloak when the story begins.  It's likely that Ser Mandon became a member of the Kingsguard at the suggestion of Littlefinger, whose record of financial performance had (rightly) impressed the Hand and the King.

Alongside his official duties, Littlefinger also grew sources of income and wealth -- his brothels being the best known.  Brothels were also a source of intelligence for Littlefinger, allowing him to listen to the causal talk of his patrons.  As we learn when Catelyn first enters King's Landing, Lord Petyr had staff monitoring the gates of the city as well (though he probably expected Catelyn to arrive after having Lysa lie to her about who had killed Jon Arryn!).

As a man who made use of secret arrangements with armed men, it's very reasonable to believe that Baelish was the patron who brought Ser Mandon to King's Landing and who held him in debt, whether tangibly or not.

Motives for the Attempted Murder

Why would Littlefinger want Tyrion dead?  There's a simple answer:  having been Catelyn's prisoner and enduring harsh treatment and trial at the Eyrie, Tyrion knew that Littlefinger was the source of the lie that sparked the War of the Five Kings.  Tyrion commented that "he knows that I know" shortly before the Battle of the Blackwater, where Ser Mandon tried to kill him.  Quite simply, Littlefinger could have ordered (or otherwise induced) Moore to eliminate a threat to his standing and reputation.

There might be more nuanced considerations as well, such as Littlefinger wanting to eliminate people clever enough to figure him out.  But quite simply, had Tyrion revealed the lie about the dagger used to kill Bran Stark, Petyr Baelish would face questions he really did not want to answer.

Estuaries of the Seven Kingdoms, Part 3: The Life of Ashara Dayne

 

[Egon Schiele, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Read Part 1 and Part 2 first!!!

The Life of Ashara Dayne 

I reconstructed the biography of Ashara Dayne based on the evidence in the novels, some supplemental information from The World of Ice and Fire, and the kind of geographic evidence about mountain estuaries described above.  

 Growing up at Starfall

As a Dayne, Ashara's childhood home would be Starfall, ancient seat of her family.  We don't know anything about her parents, but we do know some things about her brothers and her sister.

 Ashara was a girl with two brothers.  The oldest one became father to Edric Dayne and the other was Arthur Dayne -- so the Sword of the Morning was a second son, never to inherit the seat of his family.  Becoming a member of the Kingsguard would not be a typical way for the oldest sons of nobles (note the exception of the Lannisters, in which Tywin was angry), so it seems that Edric's father was the oldest son of his parents.  Catelyn's description of Ashara as the "beautiful young sister" implies that Ashara was younger than Arthur.

 Ashara also had a sister named Allyria Dayne, the aunt of Edric Dayne.  As an adult, she was betrothed to Beric Dondarrion, who took Edric as his squire.  It was Allyria who shared Ashara's story with Edric, rather than his own parents.

 The location of Starfall tells us that the Daynes were likely to have experience walking and hiking through mountains, potentially in rock climbing as well.  They also are likely to have the water-related skills such as swimming, fishing, boating, and even cliff diving.  Depending on the height of the Red Mountains near Starfall, the Daynes may also have experience with sledding in the snow, downhill skiing, or other alpine activities.

 In that Starfall itself is accessible to the mainland only via bridge as the Torentine River is too turbulent for boat use near the castle, the Daynes are unlikely to make direct use of the river other than as a defensive barrier.  Most water uses would likely be focused on the Summer Sea or upstream along the Torentine.

 

Service at Court

Both Barristan's comment that she was not long at court when she visisted Harrenhal and Catelyn describing her as the "beautiful young sister" when Ned visited her at Starfall suggests that Ashara was probably a teenager aged 16 or older when she came into Elia's service as a lady-in-waiting.

As Rhaegar was the Prince of Dragonstone, it's likely that Ashara resided there, instead of at King's Landing.    According to The World of Ice and Fire, Aerys II did not attend his son's marriage to Elia Martell, fearing assasination.  With increasing strain on the relationship with Aerys, Rhaegar and Elia took up residence on Dragonstone, where their first child, Rhaenys, was born.

Traveling to Harrenhal from Dragonstone would require at least part of the journey to be via boat.  It's not clear whether a ship leaving the island would make for the nearest port (Duskendale) or a port closer to Harrenhal, such as Maidenpool near the mouth of the Trident.

It's not at all clear that Ashara Dayne would have ever met King Aerys II and Queen Rhaella.  Following Aerys' insulting comment that the baby Rhaenys "smells Dornish," it's unlikely that Elia and Rhaegar would bring their later son Aegon to court as well.  As such, it's likely (given her newness at court at the time of Harrenhal, according to Ser Barristan) that Ashara began her service to Elia on Dragonstone, and did not visit the Red Keep prior to the Harrenhal tourney.

 

The Tourney at Harrenhal

Looking at the descriptions of the Harrenhal tourney, we can quantify some of the schedule.  

We know that at the opening ceremony of the joust tournament, Aerys II raised Jaime Lannister to the Kingsguard, whom he sent to King's Landing shortly thereafter (documented in World of Ice and Fire).  When the Knight of the Laughing Tree (KOTL)won several jousts, Aerys II was outraged, believing the mystery knight to be Jaime Lannister in a mocking suit of armor.  As such, he ordered his kingsguard to defeat the mystery knight the next day, but when morning came, the KOTL had disappeared.  Only after the knight's disappearance did Aerys order "his men," including Rhaegar, to search for the Knight of the Laughing Tree.  We also know that Rhaegar and the Kingsguard competed in the joust, winning in the end.  As such, it's likely that the search for the Knight of the Laughing Tree didn't commence until after the third day of the joust competition.

So, we know that the order of these events must be as follows

• Day N         Howland Reed bullied by squires, invited to opening feast that evening.
• Day N+a     Jaime raised to Kingsguard at joust opening ceremony
• Day N+a+b    KOTL appears in lists, and defeats three knights
• Day N+a+b+c    KOTL found missing; Aerys orders search after jousting ends for day

 By contrast, we know that Howland Reed found the tourney, was bullied by three squires and rescued by Lyanna Stark, who asked the crannogman to attend the opening feast of the tourney.  From Meera Reed's storytelling to Bran, we learn that "a maid with laughing purple eyes" (Ashara) danced with "a white sword" (member of the Kingsguard), "a red snake" (Oberyn Martell), "the lord of griffins" (Jon Connington), and "the quiet wolf" (Eddard Stark).  At that same feast, the northerners recognize the squires who had bullied Howland Reed earlier that day.  The Starks urge Howland to compete in the tourney, but crannogmen lack knowledge of jousting.  So we know that Ashara first met Ned Stark, Lyanna Stark, and the other northerners on "Day N."

We also learn from the Reeds story that the porcupine knight, pitchfork knight, and knight of the two towers won places among the chapmpions in the first two days of the tournament (Day N+a and Day N+a+b).  Only late in the second day of the jousting does the KOTL appear and beat them (Day N+a+b). 

The jousting took place over five days, according to the Reed account.  As such, the jousting days must have happened on Day N+a, Day N+a+b, Day N+a+b+c, Day N+a+b+c+d, and Day Day N+a+b+c+d+e.

In Ser Barristan's memory, he wonders if Ashara would have "looked to me instead of Stark."  We know that Barristan lost the final tilt against Rhaegar, so at least in his eyes, Ashara "looking to" Stark must have happened after the end of the jousting.  The "look to" Stark must have occurred on or after Day N+a+b+c+d+e, the fifth and final day of jousting and sixth day of the overall tourney. 

Putting all this information together, the sequence of events at the tourney can be ordered like this:

• Order 1:  Howland Reed finds Harrenhal tourney
• Order 2:  Squires bully Howland Reed, and Lyanna Stark intervenes.
• Order 3:  Opening feast, where Howland and Lyanna recognize squires and Ashara dances with several men. (night before joust begins)
• Order 4:  Jaime Lannister elevated to Kingsguard. (1st day of joust)
• Order 5:  Jaime Lannister ordered to King's Landing.
• Order 6:  Knights of House Haigh, Blount, and Frey score wins at the tourney
• Order 7:  Knight of Laughing Tree defeats knights of Haigh, Blount, and Frey (2nd day of joust)
• Order 8:  Aerys orders his men to defeat the KOTL
• Order 9:  KOTL found missing during next day of jousting (3rd day of joust)
• Order 10:  After jousting complete on 3rd day of joust, Aerys orders his men and Rhaegar to search for KOTL. (3rd day of joust)
• Order 11:  Fourth day of joust
• Order 12:  Fifth and final day of joust.  Rhaegar defeats Ser Barristan in final tilt, and crowns Lyanna queen of love and beauty.
• Order 13:  Ashara "turns to" Stark.

We also know, sometime prior to Ashara "looking" to Stark, that she was "dishonored by a man," though we don't know exactly when.  We can be fairly certain that this occurred after the day of the opening feast, when Ned Stark was too shy to introduce himself to Ashara.

From this order of events, we know that Ashara turned to Stark sometime after the end of the final joust.  As Ned Stark was present to witness "when all the smiles died" and Rhaegar granting the crown of blue roses to Lyanna, it is likely Ashara "looked to" Stark only after this event happened.

From Ser Barristan's memory, we can also be fairly sure that, at least at first, Ashara "looking to" Stark was not inherently romantic.  Selmy plainly acknowledges that his vows prevented him from having any relationship with Ashara Dayne.  Yet if she could still "look to" him instead of Stark, it wasn't for a romantic reason.  Similarly, while she may have had some romantic interest in Ned Stark from the opening tourney, her reasoning for "looking to" Stark after the joust was over also wasn't for a romantic reason.

It seems likely that Ashara "looking to" Stark occurred as a result of her being "dishonored" by a man who was neither Barristan Selmy nor Eddard Stark.

I will note the possibility that the "look to" Stark may have been to any of the Stark children or to "House Stark" in general.  However, such a possibility does not rule out Eddard being aware of her "look."

What Really Happened to Ashara Dayne at Harrenhal

It's possible that we lack sufficient evidence to say exactly how Ashara was "dishonored."  However, I think there is ample circumstantial evidence to conclude that Mad King Aerys raped Ashara on the 3rd day of the joust.

First, Ser Barristan's passive voice in describing her being "dishonored by a man" is in keeping with his vow to protect the King no matter what and not judge him.  We read in Jaime Lannister's chapters that the Kingsguard allowed Aerys to do anything he pleased and avoided any judgment of his actions.  Lord Commander Gerold Hightower reminded Jaime that he had sword a vow to guard the king, not to judge him (ACOK, Catelyn VII).  Upon hearing Aerys brutally raping Queen Rhaella, in response to Jaime asking if they weren't also sworn to protect the queen, Ser Jonothor Darry responded, "but not from him." (AFFC, Jaime II)  When asking Rhaegar in King's Landing to allow him to fight with him instead of staying in King's Landing, Jaime was told by Ser Jonothor Darry that when he accepted the cloak, he vowed to obey.  In his dream while sleeping on a weirwood stump, Jaime sees other members of Aerys' Kingsguard (Oswell Whent, Jon Darry, Lewyn Martell, Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne) and Rhaegar Targaryen condemning him for not following his vow and protecting the king and Elia's children (whether a real prophetic dream or not, it reflects both the conflict in Jaime and the onus of the Kingsguard:  obedience even in the face of royal and family evil).  As a long-standing member of the Kingsguard with an intense commitment to his vows, Barristan Selmy could cope with the villainy of the king he swore to protect and not judge by describing Aery's actions at Harrenhal, including the rape of Ashara Dayne, as those of "a man," not someone he helped stay in power.

Second, Aerys had opportunity to commit the crime.  When he sent the Kingsguard and Rhaegar to search for the KOTL, after having sent Rhaella and Viserys to King's Landing with Jaime, Aerys was left without close oversight.  While Aerys supposedly lost interest in all other women besides Rhaella following his praying and fasting for repentance after blaming the death of his son Jaehaerys on his mistress, he had no one but himself to enforce that commitment after sending his men and Rhaegar away.  

Third, Ashara Dayne had features that reminded him of Old Valyria.  The "dancing purple eyes" described by several people looked Valyrian, though George R.R. Martin has clearly stated that the Daynes are not Valyrian.  Aerys would be extremely attracted to Ashara Dayne, particularly if he saw her spending lots of time on the dance floor with other men on the night of the opening feast.

Fourth, Aerys had the means to force himself on Ashara.  As King, he could command a new-to-court lady-in-waiting to attend him.  He had leverage on her, with her brother being one of the Kingsguard subject to his whims.  She could not accuse him of any such crime without him denying it and subject her to a charge of treason.  With Rhaegar and his Kingsguard gone, Aerys was free of curious eyes to do what he wished.

Fifth, Aerys showed contempt for Elia Martell and her children, saying that Rhaenys "smelled Dornish."  Attacking one of her ladies-in-waiting would be a way to threaten her as well.

Aerys being the man who dishonored Ashara makes Stark a good choice for her to turn for help.  The Wardens of the North were distant from court politics, and possibly could offer her protection from the predations of Aerys and the consequences of a public airing of what had happened.

Return to Starfall

We're not told how or when she got there, but at the end of Robert's Rebellion, Ashara Dayne was in her family home at Harrenhal.  Being there implies that she left Elia's service as a lady-in-waiting.

In tracing the potential pathways by which Ashara traveled from Harrenhal to Starfall, let's look at people with whom we know she had close enough contact to help.  

• First, there is her brother, Ser Arthur Dayne, but he was a sword brother of the Kingsguard; according to The World of Ice and Fire, he was with Rhaegar when he absconded with Lyanna Stark -- hardly a job he'd want his sister around for.  
• Second, there is Princess Elia Martell and the other members of her court.  Elia could offer comfort and support, but probably was herself limited to reaching out for help to members of her family unencumbered by pregnancy and motherhood.  That leads us to the third candidate...
• Oberyn Martell, brother of Elia, uncle to her children, and prince of the family to whom the Daynes were bannermen.  He offers an interesting possibility, and we can locate him in Dorne at the end of Robert's Rebellion.  It would be possible for her to escort her back to Dorne if he knew she was in trouble, but we don't have any evidence that he was part of her life between Harrenhal and the end of the war.  More on Prince Oberyn later and in other posts... 
• We also know that at the tourney's opening feast, she danced with Jon Connington, a friend of Prince Rhaegar.  While we don't know of his actions immediately following Harrenhal, we do know that he was made Hand of the King after Aerys dismissed Owen Merryweather following Robert's victories in the Stormlands.  We have no evidence about his location prior to becoming Hand.
• Lastly, she danced with Ned Stark at the opening feast.  From Ser Barristan, we know she "looked to" Stark after being dishonored.  Also, there are rumors about Ned and Ashara (1) being in love, (2) conceiving a baby together, and (3) his stealing a baby from her.  Aside from those perceptions and rumors, there are compelling other reasons to think Eddard Stark helped Ashara get home to Starfall.  

What other reasons might there be to believe that Ned helped Ashara return to Starfall?  Well, shortly after the beginning of Robert's Rebellion, we have testimony from Lord Borrell that Ned appeared at Sisterton with a "fisherman's daughter" whom he left with a "baby in her belly" that she named Jon Snow and a bag of silver.  If Ashara became pregnant as a result of Aerys raping her, she would probably be far enough along to be notably pregnant around that time.

For Ashara to be the "fisherman's daughter" would require Ned and Ashara to have left the Eyrie together.  From the stories of Robert's Rebellion, we know that Ned traveled from the Arryn castle across the Mountains of the Moon to the Fingers, where he found a fisherman's boat to carry him to White Harbor.  While Ned is a rugged guy and was fostered at the Eyrie, Ashara grew up in the Red Mountains of Dorne and would be able to navigate the mountain journey.  

Evidence for the assertion that Ashara Dayne would know how to navigate mountains is, granted, circumstantial. But we have evidence of another character growing up near mountains and water than was skilled in climbing:  Brienne of Tarth.  As I noted in Part 1, she told Jaime that she learned to boat almost before she learned to walk, growing up on an island.  Tarth is also a mountainous island, and we see Brienne quickly reacting to the situation of being out-manned by the Tully river galley pursuing her, Jaime, and Ser Cleos Frey, after Catelyn sent them to King's Landing in A Storm of Swords:

The skiff rocked.  He heard a soft splash, and when he glanced around, Brienne was gone.  A moment later, he spied her again, pulling herself from the water at the base of the bluff.  She waded through a shallow pool, scrambled over some rocks, and began to climb.

[...]

 Ser Cleos raised a shout.  When Jaime looked up, Brienne was lumbering along the clifftop well ahead of them, having cut across a finger of land while they were following the bend in the river.  She threw herself off the rock, and looked almost graceful as she folded into a dive. 

While I grant that Brienne is unique among women in the story for her strength and martial agility, the physical familiarity of climbing steep river banks can reasonably thought to have its origins in growing up on the mountainous island of Tarth.  As such, it's also reasonable to assume that Ashara Dayne knew how to navigate mountains, having grown up in the Red Mountains.  

[https://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/2/2d/The_Vale.jpg]

The closest possible river port to the Eyrie within the fingers is Heart's Home, stronghold of House Corbray.  Assuming Ned would seek the closest possible port, Heart's Home make sense, provided he could count on help from its Lord, the father of Lyonel and Lyn Corbray.  While we know Lyn Corbray fought with Marq Grafton at Gulltown against Robert,  we learn from Catelyn that Eddard Stark's grandfather had a sister who married a Royce and had a daughter who married a Corbray (ASOS, Catelyn V), making that person a second cousin, once removed AND third cousin of Ned.  We also know that then-Lord Corbray at eventually fought for Robert Baratheon at the Battle of the Trident, and it was there that his second son Lyn seized Lady Forlorn and killed Lewyn Martell.  Were Ned and Ashara to arrive at Heart's Home appealing for help getting to White Harbor, Ned could appeal first to his familiarity with the bannermen of his foster father, Jon Arryn, as well as the (admittedly obscure) family ties between the Starks and the Corbrays.  

Heart's Home sits on the northern shore of the river flowing out of the Mountains of the Moon into the Narrow Sea.  A river flowing into a sea surrounded by mountains would not at all be unfamiliar to Ashara Dayne, who grew up on an island within the Torentine River flowing into the Summer Sea.  Assuming that her parents taught her water safety and how to navigate a boat, Ashara would be well-suited to steer Ned to White Harbor.  

Examining this map of terrain below, clipped from one on the Atlas of Ice and Fire, it's possible to see how similar are the surroundings of the Torentine and the unnamed river in the Vale flowing out of the Mountains of the Moon.  Heart's Home (or the other river strongholds) and Starfall (and the other strongholds along the Torentine) are similarly situated, albeit in different climate regions.

 

[Adapted from https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/category/geography/]

When they were hit by a storm and blown off course to Sisterton, it would raise eyebrows if the new lord of Winterfell were to accompany a visibly-pregnant young woman -- and we hear of it in Lord Borrell's story to Davos (ADWD, Davos I).  A believable cover story would be that she was simply the daughter of the fisherman who had fallen overboard in the storm -- not a single woman traveling with the noble Lord of Winterfell.  So the "fisherman's daughter" cover story was born.

At this point, Ned had to get to Winterfell and call his banners.  Ashara was pregnant, having been dishonored and raped at Harrenhal.  In what had to be an excruciating decision, Ned gave the "fisherman's daughter" a bag of silver, with which she could buy passage down the Narrow Sea back to Dorne.  As shown in the map below, the Sisters are along one of the major trade routes in Westeros, as well as between Westeros and the rest of the world.

[Attribution:  https://atlasoficeandfireblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/westeros-trade-routes-big.png]

Traveling from Sisterton, the closest major port not engulfed in Robert's Rebellion was Braavos.  Ships from Essos routinely stop at the Sisters, so finding passage there would not be difficult provided she had ample money.  Once in Braavos, she could seek refuge in her faith, that of the Seven -- at the Sept-Beyond-the-Sea, where there might be help in reaching Starfall.  One convenient possibility is that she disguised herself as a septa there and folded in among the other members of the sept while awaiting passage on a boat back to Dorne.

[Attribution:  https://atlasoficeandfireblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/the-world-of-ice-and-fire-with-latitude.png]

From Braavos, passage back to Dorne would not be difficult to find.  Dorne was not a major theater in the war, and Ned had provided Ashara with ample silver to purchase travel.

There is one other possible pathway for Ashara Dayne to reach Starfall from Braavos.  Shortly after the fall of Dragonstone, Ser Willem Darry signed a marriage pact with Oberyn Martell for Viserys and Arianne at the Sealord's Palace in Braavos.  While there's no evidence Oberyn knew of Ashara's presence in Braavos, if she was there, but if so, he could also help escort her back to Starfall.

This theory ties together many of the loose ends around Ned Stark and Ashara Dayne.  It explains why Ned and Ashara were perceived to be in love.  It explains who the fisherman's daughter is.  It explains why the lord of House Dayne named his son and heir Edric and called him by the nickname Ned -- honoring the man who helped his sister, not aiding someone who had dishonored himself and her at a tourney one night.

So far, we've brought the story of Ashara Dayne up to time of the characters in the books of A Song of Ice and Fire.  Next, I will propose my theory of where she is "now" (as of the end of A Dance with Dragons and preview chapters of The Winds of Winter).  Stay tuned for Part 4! 

Estuaries of the Seven Kingdoms, Part 2: Ashara Dayne in the Books

 

[From a 1950 photo of Elizabeth Taylor, a woman with violet eyes.  

Attribution:  MGM. Photographer not credited (according to page 97), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Read Part 1 first

Now I have shown you the background of my theory:  that place matters deeply.  Another character from one estuary region is likely to have traveled through another:  Ashara of House Dayne.  It's in paying attention to the geography of estuaries that we can stitch together what exactly happened to her.

But first, let's review the evidence we have from all the books published so far.  Most of it comes from people who think he to be Jon's mother, or Ned Stark's love, with one exception.  We also have some other stories of unnamed women with Ned that are relevant that I'll review here.

Ashara Dayne in the ASOIAF Books

A Game of Thrones

In AGOT, in Catelyn's first chapter, we read how she believed that Ashara had been Jon Snow's mother, and the consequences of asking Ned about it early in their marriage:

Ned would not speak of the mother, not so much as a word, but a castle has no secrets, and Catelyn heard her maids repeating tales they heard from the lips of her husband's soldiers.  They whispered of Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, deadliest of the seven knights of Aerys's Kingsguard, and of how their young lord had slain him in single combat.  And they told how afterward Ned had carried Ser Arthur's sword back to the beautiful young sister who awaited him in a castle called Starfall on the shores of the Summer Sea.  The Lady Ashara Dayne, tall and fair, with haunting violet eyes.  It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face.

That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her.  "Never ask me about Jon," he said, cold as ice.  "He is my blood, and that is all you need to know.  And now I will learn where you heard that  name, my lady."  She had pledged to obey, she told him, and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name was never heard in Winterfell again.

When Ned invites Cersei to the Godswood in King's Landing to confront her with his discovery of her children's true parentage, she accuses him of hypocrisy (AGOT, Eddard),

"You've a bastard of your own, I've seen him.  Who was the mother, I wonder?  Some Dornish peasant you raped while her holdfast burned?  A whore?  Or was the the grieving sister, the Lady Ashara?  She threw herself into the sea, I'm told.  Why was that?  For the brother you slew, or the child you stole?"

A Clash of Kings

While discussing how Stannis plans to employ Edric Storm in his campaign to prove that Joffrey is not Robert's heir, Catelyn Stark's thoughts turn to how her children appear:  mostly like a Tully, but for Arya, who shows much of Ned in her features...

And Jon Snow, but he was never mine.  She found herself thinking of Jon's mother, that shadowy secret love her husband would never speak of.  Does she grieve for Ned as I do?  Or did she hate him for leaving her bed for mine?  Does she pray for her son as I have prayed for mine?

They were uncomfortable thoughts, and futile.  If Jon had been born of Ashara Dayne of Starfall, as some whispered, the lady was long dead; if not, Catelyn had no clue who or where his mother might be.  And it made no matter.  Ned was gone now, and his loves and secrets had all died with him.

A Storm of Swords

While we can't be sure it refers to Ashara Dayne, on their flight north from Winterfell, Meera Reed tells Bran what seems to be the story of the Tourney at Harrenhal, in which she describes a crannogman's experience (A Storm of Swords, Bran).

"The crannogman saw a maid with laughing purple eyes dance with a white sword, a red snake, and the lord of griffins, and lastly with the quiet wolf, but only after the wild wolf spoke to her on behalf of a brother too shy to leave his bench."

Later in ASOS, Arya meets Lord Edric Dayne, squire to Lord Beric Dondarrion in the Brotherhood without Banners who is "promised" to his aunt.  They have a conversation about Arya's father's visit to Starfall near the end of Robert's Rebellion.  Following Ned Dayne's recollection of his being "milk brothers" with Jon Snow, having had Jon's (supposed) mother Wylla as a wet nurse, he announces his identity to Arya, expecting her to recognize the name...

"There was an Arthur Dayne," she remembered.  "The one they called the Sword of the Morning."

"My father was Ser Arthur's elder brother.  Lady Ashara was my aunt.  I never knew her, though.  She threw herself into the sea from atop the Palestone Sword before I was born."

"'Why would she do that?" said Arya, startled.

Ned looked wary.  Maybe he was afraid that she was going to throw something at him.  "Your lord father never spoke of her?" he said.  "The Lady Ashara Dayne, of Starfall?'

"No.  Did he know her?"

"Before Robert was king.  She met your father and his brothers at Harrenhal, during the year of the false spring." 

"Oh."  Arya did not know what else to say.  "Why did she jump in the sea, though?"

"Her heart was broken."

Sansa would have sighed and shed a tear for true love, but Arya just thought it was stupid.  She couldn't say that to Ned, though, not about his own aunt.  "Did someone break it?"

He hesitated.  "Perhaps it's not my place..."

"Tell me."

He looked at her uncomfortably. "My aunt Allyria says Lady Ashara and your father fell in love at Harrenhal --"

"That's not so. He loved my lady mother."

"I'm sure he did, my lady, but --"

"She was the only  one he loved."

Following that conversation, the former Stark man Harwin rides up to Arya and converses with her, offering a few more thoughts and opinions about the history of her father and Ashara Dayne.

"I'm not afraid," she said.  "That boy Ned said..."

"Aye, he told me.  Lady Ashara Dayne.  It's an old tale, that one.  I heard it once at Winterfell, when I was no older than you are now... I doubt there's any truth to it.  But if there is, what of it?  When Ned met this Dornish lady, his brother Brandon was still alive, and it was him betrothed to Lady Catelyn, so there's no stain on your father's honor.  There's naught like a tourney to make the blood run hot, so maybe some words were whispered in a tent of a night, who can say?  Words or kisses, maybe more, but where's the harm in that?  Spring had come, or so they thought, and neither one of them was pledged."

"She killed herself, though," said Arya uncertainly.  "Ned said she jumped from a tower into the sea."

"So she did," Harwin admitted... "but that was for grief, I'd wager.  She'd lost a brother, the Sword of the Morning."

A Dance with Dragons

From Ser Barristan Selmy, in the chapter called "The Kingbreaker," we read his recollections of Ashara Dayne and the Tourney at Harrenhal.

"If I had been a better knight... if I had unhorsed the prince in that last tilt, as I unhorsed so many others, it would have been for me to choose the queen of love and beauty...

Rhaegar had chosen Lyanna Stark of Winterfell.  Barristan Selmy would have made a different choice.  Not the queen, who was present.  Nor Elia of Dorne, though she was good and gentle; had she been chosen, much war and woe might have been avoided.  His choice would have been a young maiden not long at court, one of Elia's companions... though compared to Ashara Dayne, the Dornish princess was a kitchen drab.

Even after all these years, Ser Barristan could still recall Ashara's smile, the sound of her laughter.  He had only to close his eyes to see her, with her long dark hair tumbling about her shoulders and those haunting purple eyes.  Danaerys has the same eyes. Sometimes when the queen looked at him, he felt as if he were looking at Ashara's daughter.

But Ashara's daughter had been stillborn, and his fair lady had thrown herself from a tower soon after, mad with grief for the child she has lost, and perhaps for the man who had dishonored her at Harrenhal as well.  She died never knowing that Ser Barristan had loved her.  How could she?  He was a knight of the Kingsguard, sworn to celibacy.  No good could have come from telling her his feelings.  No good came from silence either.  If I had unhorsed Rhaegar and crowned Ashara queen of love and beauty, might she have looked to me instead of Stark?

He would never know.  But of all his failures, none haunted Barristan Selmy so much as that.

That's what we know explicitly about Ashara.  To summarize:

• Age:  Probably in her teens at Harrenhal Tourney.  Catelyn describes her as young.  According to Selmy, she had only recently arrived at court as a lady-in-waiting for Elia Martell.  Had she lived to appear in the ASOIAF books, she would her be in her 30s or early 40s.
• Appearance:  At time of Harrenhal Tourney, dark hair, shoulder-length or longer.  Purple eyes described as "haunting" (Cat and Barristan), "laughing" (Meera), and like Danaerys' eyes (Barristan).
• Childbearing:  According to Cersei and Barristan, she bore a child.  Child was either "stolen" by Ned Stark or a stillborn daughter, according to Barristan.  Catelyn has heard rumors that she was Jon Snow's mother.
• Death:  according to Edric Dayne and Cersei, she threw herself into the sea.  Edric Dayne and Barristan both claim she threw herself from a tower, which Edric Dayne names the Palestone Sword of Starfall.  Catelyn believes her to be long dead.

Other relevant texts

Because Ashara Dayne is suspected by Catelyn to be Jon Snow's mother, it is relevant to also review those passages pertaining to Jon Snow's mother.  Note that I believe in the R+L=J theory, but the confusion around who Jon's mother is and the fact that Lady Ashara gets mentioned provides some clues about what really happened to Ashara.

 

Ned Stark's Cover Story to Robert Baratheon in AGOT

On the Kingsroad south from Winterfell following his acceptance of Robert's nomination to be Hand of the King, Ned and Robert discuss extramarital relationships.  While Responding to Robert chortling about the two of them running off to find some wenches, Ned replies...

"Would that we could," Ned said, "but we have duties now my liege... to the realm, to our children, I to my lady wife and you to your queen.  We are not the boys we were."

"You were never the boy you were," Robert grumbled.  "More's the pity.  And yet there was that one time... what was her name, that common girl of yours?  Becca?  No, she was one of mine, gods love her, black hair and these sweet big eyes, you could drown in them.  Yours was... Aleena?  You told me once.  Was it Merryl?  You know the one I mean, your bastard's mother?"

"Her name was Wylla," Ned replied with cool courtesy, "and I would sooner not speak of her."

"Wylla.  Yes."  The king grinned.  "She must have been a rare wench to make Lord Eddard Stark forget his honor, even for an hour.  You never told me what she looked like..."

Ned's mouth tightened in anger.  "Nor will I.  Leave it be, Robert, for the love you say you bear me.  I dishonored myself and I dishonored Catelyn, in the sight of gods and men."

"Gods have mercy, you scarcely knew Catelyn."

"I had taken her to wife.  She was carrying my child."

 

The Fisherman's Daughter

While in Sisterton, Davos Seaworth talks with Lord Borrell.  Their conversation includes the following.

 ...Lord Godric rubbed his chin.  "Still... in this world, only winter is certain.  Ned Stark told my father that, here in this very hall."

 "Ned Stark was here?"

 "At the dawn of Robert's Rebellion.  The Mad King had sent to the Eyrie for Stark's head, but Jon Arryn sent him back defiance.  Gulltown stayed local to the throne, though.  To get home and call his banners, Stark had to cross the mountains to the Fingers and find a fisherman to carry him across the Bite.  A storm caught them on the way.  The fisherman drowned, but his daughter got Stark to the Sisters before the boat went down.  They say he left her with a bag of silver and a bastard in her belly.  Jon Snow, she named him, after Arryn."

 

Wylla the Wet Nurse

When Arya is speaking with Edric Dayne, he also tells her about a woman named Wylla, with some information that Arya finds very surprising.

"My lady?"  Ned said at last.  "You have a baseborn brother... Jon Snow?" 

"He's with the Night's Watch on the Wall."  Maybe I should go to the Wall instead of Rivrerrun.  Jon wouldn't care who I killed or whether I brushed my hair.  "Jon looks like me, even though he's bastard-born."  He sued to muss my hair and call me 'little sister.' "  Arya missed Jon most of all.  Just saying his name made her sad.  "How do you know about Jon?"

"He is my milk brother."

"Brother?"  Arya did not understand.  "But you're from Dorne.  How could you and Jon be blood?"

"Milk brothers.  Not blood.  My lady mother had no milk when I was little, so Wylla had to nurse me."

Arya was lost.  "Who's Wylla?"

"Jon Snow's mother.  He never told you?  She's served us for years and years. Since before I was born."

"Jon never knew his mother.  Not even her name."  Arya gave Ned a wary look.  "You know her?  Is he making mock of me?  "If you lie I'll punch your face." 

"Wylla was my wetnurse," he repeated solemnly.   "I swear it on the honor of my house."

[...]

Jon has a mother.  Wylla, her name is Wylla.  She would need to remember so she could tell him, the next time she saw him."