In 281 AC, at the tournament of Harrenhal, the heir to the Iron Throne Rheagar Targaryen
was named champion, earning the right to bestow a crown of blue roses on the woman he believed
to be the Queen of love and Beauty. To the shock and anger of many, prince Rhaegar
chose to pass over his wife Elia Martell, instead crowning Lyanna Stark, daughter to
the Lord of Winterfell and betrothed of Robert Baratheon, Lord of the Stormlands.
Sometime later the two would disappear together, with many believing Rhaegar kidnapped her
and was raping her in the south. Others, believed that Rhaegar truly loved her, with some suggesting
she may have loved him as well. In any case, war soon followed, after Mad
King Aerys II torchered and murdered Lord Rickard Stark and his heir Brandon, causing
Houses Baratheon, Stark, Arryn and later Tully to raise their banners.
The war led to the death of thousands, culminating in the Battle of the Trident when Robert Baratheon
killed Rhaegar Targaryen, and the rebel army defeated loyalist forces.
Robert was injured in the battle, and so sent his most trusted friend Eddard Stark to the
capital of King’s Landing, where he found House Lannister, having already sacked the
city and murdered the King in the name of the Rebellion.
With the war all but over, Lord stark marched an army south and lifted the Tyrell siege
of Storm’s End, freeing the forces of Stannis Baratheon.
Then leading a small party to Dorne searching for the Tower of Joy, where he hoped to find
his sister Lyanna. However when Lord Stark and his companions
arrived, they found the tower guarded by 3 loyalist Kingsguard and a battle ensued.
Eddard Stark fought alongside Howland Reed, Lord Willam Dustin, Ethan Glover, Martyn Cassel,
Theo Wull, and Ser Mark Ryswell. While Lord Commander Gerold Hightower fought
alongside his sword brothers Ser Oswell Whent and Ser Arthur Dayne, known too many as the
Sword of the Morning. After a vicious confrontation, all were dead
save Eddard Stark and Howland Reed. Ned ran up the steps to find his sister Lyanna dying
in pool of blood. Although she was very weak, she spoke some final words to her brother,
asking him to make a promise. When he agreed, she became calm, and took his hand smiling
up at him before passing away. Ned was later found by Howland Reed who separated
him from his dead sister, with the Lord of Winterfell so shaken he could not move, and
later could not remember what happened after she died.
Ned then took the Sword Dawn, which was carried by Ser Arthur Dayne, back to House Dayne out
of respect for the man and his family, before returning North with the body of Lyanna, accompanied
by Howland Reed and a baby boy, claiming he was Jon Snow, his bastard son with a wet nurse
named Wylla, but refusing to speak further on the issue.
Although nearly all of Westeros believes Jon Snow to be the illegitimate son of Eddard
Stark, some have come to suggest that the Lord of Winterfell may have misled everyone
about the boys parentage, in order to respect the promise he made to his sister Lyanna on
her deathbed, where she may asked him to keep her child safe, who had been fathered by Rhaegar,
knowing that if Robert Baratheon learned of the boy's existence, he might have the child
killed for his Targaryen blood. This would mean that Jon Snow is really the
child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, who may also have been married beforehand,
creating an argument that Jon may have a stronger claim to the iron throne than Daenerys Targaryen,
who would be his aunt, a younger sister of his father Rhaegar.