#especially since rhaegar and lyanna stayed in a tower rhaegar called the tower of JOY. like hello?? sounds like he was happy with lyanna

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

answering I have no point of view of rhaegar but the mentions are from people who were in love with him joncon, cercei or people like barristan who is an ass kisser who follows the megalomaniac daenerys who believes that rhaegar was perfect, besides he says that he could not be happy something like that following ned is not a reliable point of view either because he arrived when lyanna was dying neither viserys or the maniac daenerys are not reliable because they believe in the propaganda that her brother fought for the woman he loved a means to justify his crimes 2 being a tough stubborn and intelligent girl does not make you not be a victim of manipulation or grooming of what he did he let a girl die alone he fought for her father he made a child live with the stigma also his guards took ned away from his sister in a traumatic moment. 3 of course he didn't plan to die because he's like his sister Daenerys who believes that everything revolves around them and that they alone can save the world because in their megalomania they believe that they could get away with it, he was so arrogant to believe that he was going to be victorious

ned is not a reliable point of view ned is a hypocrite who let his wife mistreat his nephew who let horrible things happen who basically dismissed lyanna's feelings about robert who said that brandon and lyanna sought their endings who blamed lyanna's savagery on her sister and not the idiot who took advantage of her she the one truly responsible was rhaegar so ned who is not an example of morality when it comes to jon or lyanna because he failed them both

I know it was a fever dream but it doesn't change anything. He was irresponsible for taking her to Dome. It's a land where she would be far away from everyone and dangerous because of his wife's family. It could put Lyanna and Jon in danger because he was even a fool to take a girl that he turned into his lover to his wife's land. I'm not a fan of Elia Martell. In fact, she's a tertiary character that I don't care about.

anon,

glad you seem to know what a period is, though i wish you used it more often.

also, you’re delusional, and frankly, i don’t think you’ve read a single Daenerys chapter.

[ktwrites]

Ours is the Song- Chapter 5

Rating: T Summary: Daenerys seeks Bran's help to find answers to the questions she's been plagued with since before arriving at Winterfell. Read it on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

The vastness of Winterfell never ceased to amaze Daenerys. She was not sure what she had expected the first time she visited, but the sprawling castle complex and its surroundings had taken her by surprise. She walked through the Godswood alone, save for two Dothraki guards who followed her at a distance. By now they knew when to give their queen the space she desired. Trees of ash, hawthorn, oak, ironwood, sentinel, and soldier pine dotted the forest, as snow shrikes sang above her, but it was the ancient weirdwood, the heart tree she sought out.

She had excused herself once she finished her breakfast, leaving Jon alone with his sisters. They had spent so much time apart that she thought they deserved some time alone to discuss anything they might now wish to bring up in front of her. It was difficult, at times, to watch them together. Jon had been close with some of his siblings growing up. She had never known what that was like. She had been close to Viserys out of necessity, not affection, and Dany often felt undue pangs of jealousy at the easy way the Stark siblings fell back in line with each other.

In truth, Missandei was the closest thing she had to a sister. She trusted her above almost everyone else and she was one of the few people Dany knew she could speak freely to, especially when they were alone. They talked about their hopes, fears, and dreams for a better world that might one day come when the Long Night was over.

Perhaps she had spent too much time in the North, but Dany did not seem to mind the cold anymore. She had grown used to it. It made her feel strong. The cold as Winterfell was nothing compared to the cold atop the Wall and beyond. There, the wind crept inside everytime she opened her mouth and stole her breath away. At Winterfell, the cold was calmer, less harsh and there was always the promise of a bath at the end of the day to warm her and soothe her tired muscles.

The heart tree loomed before her in the wood, tall and pale. But for the crimson color of its leaves the tree might have been able to blend into the snowy surroundings. Sitting beside it, as she had hoped and expected, was Bran. Dany made her way over to him and waited for him to acknowledge her, though he never did. To be disregarded by any other person might have made Dany cross, but Bran was different and, after all, she had come to seek his help.  

“You probably know why I was looking for you,” she said at length when the silence grew too long. 

“It doesn’t exactly like work like that,” Bran said with a small smile that turned slightly sad. “I don’t seek out information like that, not in the present anyway. People don’t understand what a burden this can be. I didn’t ask for this...this gift.”

“But you were chosen for it,” Dany pointed out. “They chose the right person.”

“It’s fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Sometimes I feel like it is a curse.”

“But would you be able to help me? Help me look into my past. There is so much that I don’t know, so many memories that are blurred for me. I know next to nothing about my mother, save for that she died when I was born and my brother never forgave me for it.”

“What you’re asking isn’t without its risks and dangers.”  

“I’m willing to take the risk, whatever the cost. I’ve…” she paused and glanced down at her gloved hands, searching for the right words. “I’ve been having dreams...maybe visions and I need to know why. Only you can help me. Please.”

It was not a request, it was a plea. Bran held her gaze for a moment, perhaps willing her to change her mind. Reluctantly, he placed his hand on the ancient weirwood tree and his eyes seemed to fall back into his head, showing only the terrifying blankness of the whites of his eyes. Dany had never witnessed one of Bran’s greenseeing visions and the sight frightened her. It suddenly seemed colder around her and though Bran was close to her, she felt quite alone.

The thought to wake or interrupt him entered Dany’s mind, but a yearning for the truth stayed her hands and she clasped them together tightly to keep from reaching out.

“Bran,” she whispered tentatively after minutes passed, glancing about to see if anyone else was around them. There was no one save for the Dothraki, dutifully keeping guard from a distance. She was not even sure he could hear her when he was looking into the past.

Almost as if he sensed her growing fear and discomfort Bran took a deep breath and his eyes returned to normal. He sat motionless- silent- save for the gasps of breath he was taking to regain his composure. He turned his face towards Dany, looked at her blankly and then looked away. She did not know Bran well, not even as well as she knew Sansa and Arya, but she never knew him to be uncertain, especially when it came to his abilities. He was generally blunt, to the point, and straightforward.

“Your grace, I…” he began, and it did not go unnoticed that he reverted back to formally addressing her, despite her request that he and his sisters do otherwise.

“You saw something, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he swallowed. “Many things. You mother is not Rhaella Targaryen. Your mother is Ashara Dayne.”

Dany felt as if she was under water. She could see Bran’s lips moving, but his words seemed muffled. Surely, she had misheard him. Surely, he had not understood what he saw in his vision. It was impossible, unacceptable even. And yet… a voice from deep within her knew that what he said was true. There was so much she needed to know, so many questions rushing through her head.

“Tell me everything,” she said evenly.

“Daenerys, I don’t know-”

“Everything you saw.”

“I saw the Tourney at Harrenhal,” Bran began. “Ashara Dayne was there as lady-in-waiting to Princess Elia. She was beautiful, more beautiful than the rest. Every man wanted to dance with her, but few men had the chance. Oberyn Martell, Jon Connington, Barristan Selmy, too. He was in love with her.”

“He’s the one who first told me of her, after my dream.” Daenerys noticed how Bran’s vision matched what Barristan had told her.

“And she danced with my father. They spent all night talking. When they parted after the tourney they were both in love.”

“In love?”

“It was her undoing. Not long after the tourney and the False Spring, your father, the Mad King, burned my grandfather and killed my uncle. He called for Jon Arryn to bring him my father’s head, but Arryn refused. In his anger, Aerys flew into a rage and raped Ashara, having seen her dance with Ned Stark at Harrenhal and having overheard her telling Princess Elia about him.”

“That...that cannot be true,” Dany sputtered. “Your vision was wrong. I was born during a great Summer storm to Rhaella Targaryen on Dragonstone.”

“My visions never lie. You were born at Starfall, the ancient seat of House Dayne, to Lady Ashara. You never set foot on Dragonstone until your ships arrived there from Essos.”

Dany recalled landing on Dragonstone. She remembered telling Tyrion and Varys that she always imagined it would have felt like a homecoming, but it did not feel like home.

“My father sent word to your mother,” Bran continued. “He warned her to flee King’s Landing before it was sacked. After the war he found my aunt, Lyanna, dying from giving birth to Jon. He promised to care for him as his own. In order to reach her in the Tower of Joy he had to slay the Sword of the Morning, Ashara’s brother, Arthur Dayne. He wielded the greatsword Dawn. My father took Dawn back to Starfall and found that your mother had given birth to you.

“He knew that Robert, having slain Rhaegar on the Trident, would never let you live if he found you and so he helped you and your mother escape by boat to Sunspear. For a Targaryen, the sea was less treacherous than the land and was less likely to betray than a man who knew what a dead Targaryen babe was worth.”

“Why Sunspear?”

“Despite Rhaegar slighting Elia, Dorne and the Martells were still loyal to the Targaryens. You stayed with your mother and grew up in anonymity near the Water Gardens. Fittingly so, as they were made for the first Daenerys who was married to Maron Martell. You lived in a large house with-”

“A red door,” Dany finished and Bran nodded.

“You remember.”

“That’s all. I would run in the grass and play in the water. There was a lemon tree, but that...that was in Braavos.”

“Lemons don’t grow in Braavos. It was very near Sunspear.”

“How did I end up with Viserys?”

“Your mother and the Martells knew the older you became, the harder you would be to hide. Oberyn Martell himself delivered you to Viserys and Willem Darry in Braavos. While he was there, Oberyn and Darry signed a pact betrothing Viserys to Arianne Martell. You remained with Viserys from that time on.”

“And whatever happened to Ashara Dayne? Is my mother dead? Is she alive?”

“She’s alive,” Bran said. “Although you’ve known her by another name. Quaithe, I believe.”

“That’s enough,” Dany replied, lifting her hand to silence him. Even that small gesture seemed to take great effort. She turned to leave, to be anywhere else, to have time to process everything he had just told her.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I just need to be alone.”

XXXXX

The Targaryens burned their dead. The reasoning why had been lost over the years, summed up as tradition. Now, in a world where the dangers of reanimation by the White Walkers was a reality, cremation seemed practical, logical, and necessary. They had even burned Cersei Lannister’s body when she was found dead of mysterious circumstances by her brother Jaime after Dany’s armies had defeated the Lannister forces and she had taken King’s Landing. The concept of burying the dead the way many Great Houses in Westeros such as the Starks did was foreign to Dany. The first time Jon had shown her the crypts was almost unsettling for reasons that she could not quite explain.

She was not entirely sure how she ended up down there, but she stared up at the cold stone statue of Ned Stark. She remembered someone telling her that it did not look like him, it captured none of his warmth. Dany had not known the difference then, but now after seeing him so clearly in her dreams she concluded that whomever carved his likeness clearly had not known him, or at least, had not known him very well. Her mother had known him well, or at least well enough to trust him with news of her daughter’s very existence.

How did one man hold two of Westeros’s biggest secrets? She wondered as yet another tear slid down her cheek. Somehow, she had managed to keep her composure until she was alone, but once the torrent of tears began, they had been difficult to stop. At some point, in an attempt to stop the sobs from wracking her body, she lowered herself to the stone floor. Now, she lacked the will or want to pull herself back up again.

Queen of Nothing, a harsh voice from her past whispered in Dothraki.

She barely heard the boots echo on the cobbled floor as they walked towards her. Dany did not need to look up, she knew who it would be before her husband even sat down next to her and patiently waited for her to speak to him.

“Bran told you then?” she asked.

“He did,” Jon nodded slowly.  

“How can you even look at me?”

“What?”

“Who am I even?”

“You’re my wife. You’re the Queen.”

“Your wife,” Dany snorted. “You didn’t even know who you married. I don’t even know who I am. Regardless of Aerys being my father, I’m a bastard. I have no real claim to the Iron Throne. What kind of a queen is that?”

“You and I are the same,” Jon pointed out. “This may surprise you, but I didn’t fall in love with you for your crown, or even your dragons. There’s no hidden agenda there. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you at all. But I fell in love with a woman, the most passionate women I’d ever met.”

He paused and turned her face towards him.

“One day I spoke to Missandei. Davos was there, too. We asked her why she served you. Do you know what she told me? She said you were the queen they chose. Did you become the Khaleesi because they all bowed and bent the knee to House Targaryen? No. The gods know the Dothraki don’t give a shit about that. Being a Targaryen didn’t earn you respect in Meereen. Aegon took the throne without a claim or a right to it. He united the Seven Kingdoms.”

“I’m not Aegon.”

“No, you’re better. You told me when we met that you endured all you had because of faith in yourself.”

“I had faith in a person who doesn’t exist.”

“No. You’re still Daenerys Targaryen. You still endured everything that happened to you. You are the rightful queen now, even more so because you’ve earned it.”

“What will I tell the people? Who would believe it?”

“Tell them the truth. Once this is all over people won’t care how pure your blood is. Seven hells, some who still only see you as a Targaryen might even be relieved. Your mother was a Dayne. Arthur Dayne was one of the greatest knights Westeros has ever seen.”

“The Mad King’s blood still flows through our veins. People might still resent it.”

“The Northerners will believe Bran when he tells them everything. They might even love you more for being the daughter of the woman Ned Stark once loved. Everyone knew he loved her.”

Dany glanced up at the statue of Ned again. “He helped send me away.”

“To protect you.”

Everything Barristan said made sense now. Everything Varys told her about Ned Stark trying to convince Robert not to have her assassinated...it all made sense now.

“He sent you away to keep you safe,” Jon repeated. “He had no idea what Viserys would do. To him, I’m sure the further away you were from Robert, the better off you were.”

“Part of me knows you’re right.”

“I’m not saying it shouldn’t still hurt.”

“Bran warned me. He said it was dangerous. I knew better. But my dreams…” Dany trailed off. “I needed answers and so I didn’t listen to him.”

She felt sick to her stomach as her emotions churned and roiled inside of her. If I look back I am lost, she thought and nearly laughed in disgust at how true that rang in her mind. Everything she had believed as a child was a lie. Every story Viserys ever told her was a fallacy. The resentment he bore towards her made sense now. It was not because of her that his mother died. She had not even thought to ask Bran about what really happened on Dragonstone the night Rhaella Targaryen died. A bastard sister was only useful to Viserys in as far as she helped get him a crown. When he saw her rise in prominence among the Dothraki, any affection he must have felt for her wore thin. She was but a pawn to him. Dany wondered what he would think of a bastard queen sitting on the Iron Throne with a bastard king at her side.

I took this throne, she thought. With fire and blood and I would take it again.

“Daenerys, let’s go up,” Jon urged.

“Ned Stark risked everything for me,” Dany said, ignoring the request. “The daughter of the man who killed his father and brother.”

“Bran said he loved your mother. Nothing would change that. He didn’t see you as the Mad King’s daughter. He saw you as Ashara’s daughter. He couldn’t keep her safe, so he wanted to keep you safe. Maybe if it wasn’t for me he would have taken you up North, raised you as his own.”

Jon paused for a moment and tried to smile.

“With this hair?” Dany asked, twirling a lock of her silver-gold hair between her fingers and nudging him. “Everyone would have known I was a Targaryen.”

“He just wanted to get you away from Robert.”

“Do you think he knew what he was sending me into? Do you think my mother knew?”

“Absolutely not. He’d never knowingly send anyone he cared about into danger. He couldn’t have known then what Viserys would become.”

“Every story by my brother…” she took a deep breath and sighed. “Every story Viserys told me was a lie. She was never our mother. She was only his mother. Maybe this isn’t even her ring. No wonder he hated me so much when he had to sell Rhaella’s crown.”

“Viserys needed you just as much as you needed him,” Jon repeated.

“I never grew up with a mother,” Dany said. “Why does it feel like I’ve lost something all over again?”

“I think I know a bit about that.”

“Of course you do. I’m sorry, Jon.”

“Don’t be, but I do understand how you feel. The feeling of a lost connection. Sometimes I wish I knew Lyanna was my mother from the time I was young, to know that she was somebody, or that I was somebody. Bran and my father both said that she was like Arya.”

“Did you ever think about asking Bran to look back more than he did?”

“Of course I did, but where would that get me? I can’t change anything that happened.”

“If I look back, I am lost.”

“Who told you that?” Jon asked.

“It’s just something I’ve always felt inside of me. I should have listened.”

“Your mother would be proud of you, Dany. Of everything you’ve accomplished.”

“I hope so, wherever she is now. I hope so. She helped me without even knowing it, or maybe she did.”

“So Bran said. If she’s reached out before, she could reach out again.”

“What would I say to her?”

“You’ll know. When the time comes, you’ll know.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“I thought I wanted to be alone. That I wanted to sort this out by myself.”

“As someone who did just that, I knew I couldn’t let you do the same. Even if I don’t have all of the answers.”

“Help me up?” Dany asked, holding her hand out to Jon.

He took her hand and helped pull her to her feet, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she stood up.

“What am I going to tell everyone? Where do I even begin?”

“You don’t have to tell them anything yet. Send Tyrion a raven when you’re ready. Take some time to yourself to let everything sink in.”

Dany nodded and let Jon lead her out of the crypts and up to their chambers.

XXXXX

Another piece of paper was tossed into the fire and Dany watched as the flames licked and singed the edges before consuming the parchment completely and turning it to ash. It was her third attempt to write a letter to Tyrion and she still could not find the right way to put pen to paper and express what she felt she needed to say. Perhaps Jon was right. Perhaps she needed more time to contemplate everything that had happened. Although she heard no sound, Dany could feel that someone was in the room with her. She did not have to turn around to know who it was. She had felt this way before on the Balerion and then again in Meereen.

“Quaithe,” she said and closed her eyes.

“Daenerys,” replied the familiar voice. The voice from my dream, Dany thought, realizing why some part of her had recognized it.

“Should I call you Ashara now?” she asked, turning around. For the first time, the mysterious woman she met in Qarth wore no mask and Dany gazed upon the face of her mother.

“The three-eyed raven told you everything then?”

“He told me enough,” Dany replied, forgetting her conversation hours ago with Jon. Forgetting to be anything but hurt and angry for the years of lost time. “He told me what I needed to know. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me yourself. You clearly had the opportunity.”

“I wanted to. I tried to. I told you to remember who you are.”

“You could have done more than speak to me in veiled language and riddles.”

“No,” Ashara said simply, moving closer towards her daughter. She looked younger than Dany had expected, not so much older than she had been in the dream she had. It occurred to Dany that Ashara was probably no older than forty, if she was even that. “I couldn’t have. You weren't ready to hear the truth. It was something you needed to seek out for yourself when the time was right.”

“How is this the right time?” Dany asked. “We are at war with the greatest enemy Westeros has ever known and I’m about to have a child. I could have done without the jarring distraction. You planted that dream, didn’t you?”

“No. Your dreams and your visions come to you of your own accord. You said it yourself once. You are no ordinary woman. You dreams come true. It is a gift of our house.”

“Is it? Or is it a curse?”

“I suppose in time you will decide that for -”

“Why did you abandon me?” Dany asked, cutting the woman off, her voice choked with a mix of sadness and anger. She watched as Ashara recoiled from the verbal blow.

“I did it to keep you safe. Because it was the only way to ensure I could always be with you. One way or another if we stayed together in Dorne Robert would have found us.”

“Why did you go to Dorne to begin with?”

“Because the North was not an option. Ned Stark would have done everything he could to protect us, but he...he had his own secrets to keep and you, with your unmistakable hair, wouldn’t have been able to be kept hidden here. Robert was so hellbent on ridding the world of all Targaryens that he would not have stopped to consider that the Daynes shares many of the same traits as the Targaryens. It would have been pointless to lie. So Ned helped get to me to Dorne. It was the last time I ever saw him alive before he returned to the North. The Martells hated Robert and the Lannisters even more than they hated Rhaegar. Oberyn had long been a friend. He was still reeling from the loss of Elia. I don’t think he ever truly recovered. I asked if he would help keep you safe. I’ll never forget what he told me. There were tears in his eyes when he said, We don’t hurt little girls in Dorne.”

“Why not stay hidden in Dorne? Why not take me to Viserys yourself?”

“If you were to be the Targaryen Princess and Queen you were meant to be, I couldn’t be part of it. You couldn’t have memories of me. That’s why Oberyn took you to Viserys when he did.”

“Do you have any idea what I went through with Viserys and with Drogo?”

“I didn’t know what would happen when I let you go, but I know it now.”

“I never asked to be a queen. Growing up I would have been quite content with a mother, a family who loved me.”

“The gods have fashioned you for greatness, Daenerys. Your happiness was not in your past, but in your future.”

“If I look back I am lost…”

“Yes. Someday, you too will know what it is like to make a difficult decision to leave a child.”

“Never,” Dany protested. “I would never leave my child.”

“You would if it meant ensuring their safety.”

“I will be able to keep my child safe.”

“Yes,” Ashara said. “I think you will.”

“Why didn’t you help me? All those years we lived in squalor, everything that happened in Essos, why didn’t you help?”

“I tried, as much as I could. But I know what you needed to become. I trusted in the prophecies and I was right.”

“You’ll go again?” Dany’s voice was quiet, filled with the hope that she could make the visitor stay, but something deep within her already knew the answer to the question she asked.

“I’m afraid I must, but before I go, there is one last piece of wisdom to impart. Beware, Daenerys. Beware the sword of ice that will cloud your mind and pierce your heart.”

“What does that mean?”

“Dany?” Jon asked from the doorway. She had been so caught up that she had not even heard him come through the door. “Who were you talking to?”

Turning back to where Ashara stood, she found the space to be empty. It was as if no one had been there, just as it had been when she appeared to Dany at sea and under the persimmon tree in Meereen.

“A shadow. A memory,” Dany replied. She shook her head in disbelief as she faced Jon once more. “My mother.”

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Hi. I'm a bit curious why Ned stay loyal to Robert after knowing he was relief the Targaryen children were murder by the hands of Tywin. Like I know he left the capital because of this but he still help Robert and stay loyal to him. Does the books give insight?

Hello,

When Ned arrived to Kings Landing, the royal family had already been killed. Ned and Robert had a disagreement over the deaths of Rhaegar’s wife and kids. Ned thought that this action was murder, while Robert believed it was a necessity of war. That cause a temporary rift between them and the text informs us that Ned left the capital in rage. However, it’s incorrect to assume that Ned left because of that argument he had with Robert. He still needed to go and rescue his sister Lyanna, who as far as he knew was held a prisoner to the Tower of Joy. Had Ned not argue with Robert, he would depart in better terms, but still he would depart nonetheless.

[…]He remembered the angry words they had exchanged when Tywin Lannister had presented Robert with the corpses of Rhaegar’s wife and children as a token of fealty. Ned had named that murder; Robert called it war. When he had protested that the young prince and princess were no more than babes, his new-made king had replied, “I see no babes. Only dragonspawn.” Not even Jon Arryn had been able to calm that storm. Eddard Stark had ridden out that very day in a cold rage, to fight the last battles of the war alone in the south[…].

Ned and Robert are able to reconcile after Lyanna’s death when their shared grief brought them closer once again.

[…]It had taken another death to reconcile them; Lyanna’s death, and the grief they had shared over her passing.

I think that Ned was able to reconcile with Robert partly because he was close to him as a brother. Had another man expressed the same cruel thoughts about the murder of babies, Ned would find it far more difficult to put their argument behind. But Robert was someone who Ned loved, so it was easier to forgive his harsh words, especially since both of them were mourning Lyanna’s loss at the time.

However, it’s not like Ned had another choice but to reconcile with Robert. While Ned was away, Robert had crowned himself King. If Ned decided that he no longer wanted to follow Robert and be loyal to him, that would be considered treason against the crown and lead to another war.

It sort of reminds me the situation on Winterfell at the start of the first book. Robert offered Ned the title of the hand of the king, and Ned had no choice but to accept it. Because even when a Kings asks, in reality he commands.