Robert was injured on the Trident and wasn’t well enough to travel. I’m not sure why Ned had to have been tipped off. He was looking for her, you ask around, investigate, etc. Three kingsguard and noblemen would be noticed.
Makes sense that Ned goes to Storm’s End first. He’s finishing out the war. That’s more important than finding his sister. If it wasn’t, why’d he fight in any battles instead of just going straight for Lyanna the whole time?
“Not it begins” is just saying “now we’re going to fight” no? I assumed they didn’t negotiate it because Rhaegar gave them instructions to let nobody near Lyanna/the baby. We know they follow orders no matter what. Rhaegar would trust the child to the kingsguard over Ned for sure.
I think Rhaegar’s motivations for bedding Lyanna are techinically unknown, but pretty well established. He was into prophecy and knew thought that the Prince that was Promised would come from his line. He also thought that “the dragon must have three heads.” His wife had very difficult pregnancies and couldn’t bear a third child. Therefor he needed another wife. Why Lyanna specifically? That’s a bit more of a mystery. It could be because of “the song of ice and fire” but he thinks his son Aegon is related to that, and Aegon was a product of a Targaryen and a Dornish woman, so it doesn’t really fit that he’d need a Stark.
Think about Ned’s issues here: the whole war started when his sister Lyanna was “abducted” by Rhaegar, his father and older brother were killed in a malicious and derisive fashion in King’s Landing when they raised a hue and cry about the Crown Prince’s crime, and Ned’s life changed drastically since he had to take on all the responsibilities (including marrying his brother’s betrothed) of his new political position while also leading a war.
Then he came to know the location of his sister … and went to Storm’s End instead, even though this was just a side show after the war was practically over - but one that might have tied him up for quite some time, while he couldn’t know what was happening to the one beloved person that had to be on his mind the most at that point?
Even if honorable Ned felt such a strong obligation to end the siege at Storm’s End that he needed to do this, why not sent his most trusted companions (who proved themselves in the most dire circumstances) to the Tower of Joy to rescue his sister instead of doing nothing at all?
I don’t buy it.
And speaking of Ned’s well known honour … Did the Kingsguard, who all knew Ned, have any reason to assume that he was about to harm his sister or kill her son?
No. And even if they had their doubts - talking to Ned first was always the better option. But they did not do that. Instead, they chose to fight - a choice that was not likely to improve the infant’s longterm chances of survival one bit, quite to the contrary.
If there was one person on the winning side who’d try to keep the boy safe, and who’d have the resources and - if necessary - the clout to do so, it was Ned.
Choosing to force Ned into a fight was a no-win scenario for the guards, if the boy’s safety was their prime objective.
Which brings us back to other motives, most prominently: the prophecy.
We know that young Rhaegar was intrigued by the idea that he was the promised prince. He changed his mind after he had read some scrolls that convinced him, the … well … nerd, to become a warrior instead.
The he believed that his son Aegon was the promised one because of the comet in the sky at his birth. But, as you mentioned, if “his is the song of fire and ice”, the son of a Targaryen and a Martell does not necessarily fit the description, although, the House sigil of Martell fits into … but let’s not get too deep into that discussion.
If Rhaegar thought that he needed an ice princess to fulfill the prophecy, a Stark might have looked like a better choice.
And the Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy might have agreed with this interpretation since they - or their Houses - were all associated with … ancient knowledge and the practice of magic.
Which brings me to Arthur Dayne and the prophecy concerning Azor Ahai, who - as Melisandre mentioned - is identical with the Prince that was Promised:
“When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt.”
Arthur Dayne, the Morning Star, might indeed have thought that the prophecy mentions him specifically, and that his blood was needed to bring the prophecy about.
I am not saying that he was right - just that he might have believed it.
I’d very much prefer it if all those prophecies relied on self-fulfillment (there is some indication that Cersei went into this trap) and were not a sign of a deterministic universe.
Plenty of those ancient prophecies are vague enough to point to … everyone who wants to be their subject, or who can be made to believe to be the subject, like Stannis (A Storm of Swords, Chapter 78, Samwell V.):
Well, in the books, Stannis is still alive, so … but on the show, he’s toast. Of course, he is not the only candidate (A Feast for Crows, Chapter 35, Samwell IV):
So, Daenerys also fits the prophecy. And Jon. And likely thousands of other people who just don’t have any power and never even heard of such a prophecy at all.
Part of the myth of the Kingsguard is that they’re completely dedicated to honor, to obeying their king/prince, and who take their oaths seriously. So it’s plausible that if Rhaegar had told them to stay with/protect the baby no matter what, that they might’ve felt honor bound to fight for it even against some who probably would not harm the child.
Or, perhaps, they had planned to restore the Targaryen dynasty, and the baby would become the new king. In that case, giving the baby up to one of the men behind the rebellion would obviously kill that plan.
I don’t think that’s it at all. Only Ned knows about the baby. He didn’t even tell Catelyn, who could’ve made Jon’s life a lot easier if she wasn’t an orphan-hating bitch, so it’s unlikely Ned told anyone else.
The Night’s Watch is still considered honorable/important enough that a Stark is always on the wall. Ned’s brother was not a social outcast or anything of the sort, but went to serve on the wall. They probably paint a much rosier picture in Winterfell of the Night’s Watch than the more realistic view Tyrion would have.
Ned’s honor wasn’t well known and he wasn’t well known to the Kingsguard at that time. Ned was 18 (I think) at the time and a second son. Not terribly important. It’s possible or maybe probably he had never met any of those Kingsguard before the Tower of Joy.
Robert was only a year older than Ned, and both had become prominent rebellion leaders; Stark’s political and military contributions to the downfall of their king should have been known to members of the Kingsguard.
Whether they had learned by then that Ned had been the only rebellion leader to show open disgust with Tywin’s butchery in King’s Landing - and of the royal family in particular - is unknown, but you seem to dismiss the presence of a character witness in closest vicinity to those guards: Lyanna Stark.
And both, Ned’s leadership in the rebellion and his relationship to Lyanna, gave them motivation to learn as much about him as they could since it was likely that they’d face him eventually if they continued to stay* near the Stark girl.
And even if we assume that Arthur was too arrogant to be interested and Oswell too inexperienced, Gerold Hightower was neither.
No, I don’t consider ignorance a likely reason for the Kingsguards’ behaviour.
Dedicated? No doubt. Arthur and Oswell might have even been involved in Lyanna’s disappearance; regardless, they were closely associated with Rhaegar. And Gerold Hightower was fiercely loyal to his oath: “to protect the king and the royal family with his life, to obey his commands, and to keep his secrets”.
Those men might have believed that a fight to the death was the only option left. They were fighters, after all. Their side had lost, their king and prince were dead, and everything they might have believed in was in ruins. They might have felt honour-bound to fight to their deaths, or simply desperate.
And yet, they had ample time to come to grips with the situation and consider their options.
If their first priority was the protection of royal family, trying to talk to Ned first was without doubt the better option. If they considered Lyanna part of the royal family now, then so was Ned, which should have given them pause. If only the baby was royal family in their mind, Ned was still the only surviving brother of the infant’s mother. Was Lyanna not expected to react adversely if they killed him?
Ha, Lyanna … her role in the whole matter is the greatest mystery to me. Was she a frivolous Juliet to a reckless Romeo as her age and their behaviour suggests? Was she really taken and just another victim of Rhaegar’s obscure motives - or was she his accomplice from the start or later? Did she know what had happened to her family and the whole of Westeros? Was she horrified, resigned or unaffected?
I doubt that she was as innocent in the matter as Ned claimed her to be and Robert wanted to believe, but we don’t know yet.
Anyway, back to the Kingsguard: Keeping a secret might be a better explanation for their course of action … which leads us to the question: What secret? And was Lyanna’s death then truly the result of a complicated child birth?
Again, we don’t know.
But all oddities considered, the official version never made sense to me.
Though, they might have intended to leave the Tower of Joy. Or Lyanna. Or both. We don’t know their orders and motives in the necessary detail to speculate about their plans.
“Open Spoilers”? About the fact that there’s a shocking end-of-season reveal? Like has happened in almost every end-of-season show since the first? What are you talking about?
I guess the fact that there’s a big reveal at some point in the series is a spoiler in and of itself?
Sorry, I didn’t realize, and I apologize to everybody whose viewing experience has been totally ruined by having this information.
Also, in case you didn’t know, somebody gets killed in one of the episodes.
