And Lewyn Martell's secret paramour is....
Jul 26, 2016 18:55:52 GMT
Maester Flagons and Weasel Pie like this
Post by Some Pig No Doubt on Jul 26, 2016 18:55:52 GMT
**This idea was kickstarted by THIS post and subsequent discussion at Westeros. For the record, I do not and never have subscribed to the theory noted in the linked post, so I began musing on other possibilities. Then, out of nowhere, lightning bolt!! 
I should also note that the following is completely conjectural and based on no evidence whatsoever...but it works, so I roll. 
It begins with this passage from AFFC, The Soiled Knight (C.13); pillow talk between Arys Oakheart and Arianne Martell.
Speculation has raged on who this paramour of a KG might be, resulting in many arguments over the definition of "old" from the very relative and very subjective viewpoint of 22yo Arianne. Many names have been bandied about, from Rhaella Targaryen to the aforementioned Ashara Dayne, and I think the most popular or most subscribed-to theory is Olenna Tyrell, which isn't outside the realm of possibility at all. However, one name has never been mentioned...so I'm going to mention it today. It fits based on Arianne's criteria of being 1) still alive ("She is..."), 2) of advanced age ("...an old woman now"), and 3) had good genes ("...she was a rare beauty").
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
Malora Hightower
That's right, the Mad Maid.
Malora is the eldest daughter of Lord Leyton Hightower. We don't know much about her beyond that, specifically her age or who her mother is (Lord Leyton is currently on his 4th wife but we don't know anything about them either - Malora is probably from #1 or #2), but we can get a guesstimate of her age based off a few of her known relatives. Her younger sister Alerie is married to Mace Tyrell - Mace is in his mid-40s in present time, and Alerie is said to be younger than her husband, but their eldest child Willas is in his mid-to-late 20s, so Alerie is very late 30s or just over 40. Sisters Alysanne and Lynesse are younger than that. Ergo, Malora is over 40 at the current time, maybe even older. Let's split the difference and say she's a minimum of 45, simply for ease of calculation. I personally think she's older because reasons I'll get to in a minute.
So if Malora is at least 45 in year 300 (b. 255), she would have been in her mid-20s during Robert's Rebellion. Now, let's back up for a second and eyeball the appearance of some of her siblings.
Alerie: Alerie is tall, dignified, and handsome, with long silver hair.
Baelor: aka "Baelor Brightsmile". Quite comely, was a contender for Elia Martell's hand in marriage until he cut one in front of her.
Lynesse: Lynesse is very beautiful with golden hair, skin the color of cream, and soft hands. Jorah believes Daenerys resembles Lynesse, and Dany's no dog.
My point here is that there's a good chance that a young Malora Hightower was quite attractive, perhaps even a "rare beauty". So....this begs the question: why would the very attractive oldest daughter of one of the wealthiest and most powerful lords of the Reach not be married off into another noble house? Lord Leyton brokered some good deals for his other kids - Tyrell, Redwyne, Fossaway, Rowan, Ambrose - but his first daughter gets squat? Why?
I propose that Lord Leyton couldn't marry off Malora because she was soiled. Specifically, she was already a kept woman, the paramour of Kingsguard Sworn Brother Prince Lewyn Martell.
Lewyn was the younger brother of Doran Martell's mother. We don't know how much younger, but I think it's safe to assume that Lewyn is probably Doran's age or older - my thought is that he's probably in between Doran (b. ~247) and Barristan (b.~236). I like 242 as a birth year for Lewyn - a bit older than nephew Doran and niece Elia, but still young enough to be a confidant for the 20something Targ brat pack. Lewyn would be in his late 30s during Robert's Rebellion - and would having a girlfriend close to his niece's age be that weird?
Couple more things: We know that Lewyn was in King's Landing from at least 280-283, and may have been there even earlier. We do NOT know where Malora was, however. She locked herself in the tower with Lord Leyton during the Greyjoy Rebellion in 289, but her whereabouts prior to that are unknown. She could have been in Oldtown...or she could have been holed up somewhere in King's Landing close to her lover, only returning home to the Reach after his death at the Trident.
Okay, one last mega tinfoil and then I'll be done.
House Martell and the great houses of the Reach bear a bit of enmity toward each other. Therefore, marriages and relationships and intermingling in general isn't really a thing...it would be, ah, 'discouraged'. If Lewyn and Malora were lovers, it would be a secret thing, even if it were prior to Lewyn's appointment to the KG. The families just wouldn't really support this affair. HOWEVER...what if they had to? Bear with me for a second.
Oberyn Martell has bastard daughters all over, and even keeps a bastard woman as a paramour. Notice though that this is all neatly contained in Dorne, and none of the Sand Snakes have mothers from any of the great houses of Westeros, so it's all cool as far as everyone is concerned. But, what happens if a Prince of Dorne knocks up his secret girlfriend from one of those great houses? Does the Lord of that great house allow the Martell to claim the child as a Sand, or will the child remain in the Reach as a Flowers, proclaiming bastardy for all to see? OR, does that ruling lord do what nobility has done for years when a wayward daughter gets in a bad way, which is send her off on "extended vacation" while some months later the ruling lady of the house gives birth to a surprise baby that no one knew she was expecting?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
Lynesse Hightower
That's right, I propose that Lady Lynesse is not Lord Leyton's daughter, she is his granddaughter. His youngest daughter, born circa 271-272 to supposedly one of Leyton's unknown prior three wives, is actually the bastard issue of Malora and Lewyn. Malora would have been ~16-17yo, Lewyn ~29-30 (or one/both of them could be older, depending on what age you're comfortable assigning to them). If Lewyn had aspirations of joining the KG or even was already in the KG, he would not have wanted to claim the child; Lord Leyton also would not approve a marriage between his daughter and a non-ruling Martell prince. So, they keep the baby, who fortunately looks like her mother, and pass it off as Leyton's newest daughter.
Fast forward to the Greyjoy Rebellion and the tourney where Jorah met Lynesse, and we get this:
"To celebrate his victory, Robert ordained that a tourney should be held outside Lannisport. It was there I saw Lynesse, a maid half my age. She had come up from Oldtown with her father to see her brothers joust. I could not take my eyes off her. In a fit of madness, I begged her favor to wear in the tourney, never dreaming she would grant my request, yet she did.
"I fight as well as any man, Khaleesi, but I have never been a tourney knight. Yet with Lynesse's favor knotted round my arm, I was a different man. I won joust after joust. Lord Jason Mallister fell before me, and Bronze Yohn Royce. Ser Ryman Frey, his brother Ser Hosteen, Lord Whent, Strongboar, even Ser Boros Blount of the Kingsguard, I unhorsed them all. In the last match, I broke nine lances against Jaime Lannister to no result, and King Robert gave me the champion's laurel. I crowned Lynesse queen of love and beauty, and that very night went to her father and asked for her hand. I was drunk, as much on glory as on wine. By rights I should have gotten a contemptuous refusal, but Lord Leyton accepted my offer. We were married there in Lannisport, and for a fortnight I was the happiest man in the wide world."
Lord Leyton brings one of his two unwed daughters to the tourney, Lynesse being around 17 and a "rare beauty" that should be a real treat for some firstborn son of a noble Reach house, but agrees on the spot to her marriage to some dude twice her age that is lord of a tiny holding on the opposite end of the continent. Does this sound like a savvy political maneuver via marriage alliance or a desperate attempt to foist a tainted kid on someone far away? If Leyton can't risk anyone finding out about Lynesse's true background, it makes perfect sense to ship her off with Jorah and makes her someone else's problem in a place where no one will ever know or dig too deeply. Also, interesting how at first chance Lynesse ditches the upright life as a married Mormont to instead become first concubine to Tregar Ormollen. Like mother, like daughter?
Anyway, after Leyton does the "take my daughter, please" routine and dumps Lynesse on Jorah the Chump, the Mad Maid retreats to the Tower and has remained there since. If Lynesse was her only child of her dead lover and Lynesse is now kicking back on Bear Island never to be seen in Oldtown again, I can see Malora basically retreating from life .... a once rare beauty going squirrelly and aging prematurely as she wanders around the Tower cooking up spells with dad. Makes one wonder if ol' Leyton is locked up in that tower because he wants to be or because he's being held captive by a daughter who wants revenge.
Let the bashing commence!
Hope you all found my crazy enjoyable if nothing else.
I should also note that the following is completely conjectural and based on no evidence whatsoever...but it works, so I roll. 
It begins with this passage from AFFC, The Soiled Knight (C.13); pillow talk between Arys Oakheart and Arianne Martell.
"I never had the honor to know Prince Lewyn," Ser Arys said, "but all agree that he was a great knight."
"A great knight with a paramour. She is an old woman now, but she was a rare beauty in her youth, men say."
Prince Lewyn? That tale Ser Arys had not heard. It shocked him. Terrence Toyne's treason and the deceits of Lucamore the Lusty were recorded in the White Book, but there was no hint of a woman on Prince Lewyn's page.
"A great knight with a paramour. She is an old woman now, but she was a rare beauty in her youth, men say."
Prince Lewyn? That tale Ser Arys had not heard. It shocked him. Terrence Toyne's treason and the deceits of Lucamore the Lusty were recorded in the White Book, but there was no hint of a woman on Prince Lewyn's page.
Speculation has raged on who this paramour of a KG might be, resulting in many arguments over the definition of "old" from the very relative and very subjective viewpoint of 22yo Arianne. Many names have been bandied about, from Rhaella Targaryen to the aforementioned Ashara Dayne, and I think the most popular or most subscribed-to theory is Olenna Tyrell, which isn't outside the realm of possibility at all. However, one name has never been mentioned...so I'm going to mention it today. It fits based on Arianne's criteria of being 1) still alive ("She is..."), 2) of advanced age ("...an old woman now"), and 3) had good genes ("...she was a rare beauty").
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
Malora Hightower
That's right, the Mad Maid.
Malora is the eldest daughter of Lord Leyton Hightower. We don't know much about her beyond that, specifically her age or who her mother is (Lord Leyton is currently on his 4th wife but we don't know anything about them either - Malora is probably from #1 or #2), but we can get a guesstimate of her age based off a few of her known relatives. Her younger sister Alerie is married to Mace Tyrell - Mace is in his mid-40s in present time, and Alerie is said to be younger than her husband, but their eldest child Willas is in his mid-to-late 20s, so Alerie is very late 30s or just over 40. Sisters Alysanne and Lynesse are younger than that. Ergo, Malora is over 40 at the current time, maybe even older. Let's split the difference and say she's a minimum of 45, simply for ease of calculation. I personally think she's older because reasons I'll get to in a minute.
So if Malora is at least 45 in year 300 (b. 255), she would have been in her mid-20s during Robert's Rebellion. Now, let's back up for a second and eyeball the appearance of some of her siblings.
Alerie: Alerie is tall, dignified, and handsome, with long silver hair.
Baelor: aka "Baelor Brightsmile". Quite comely, was a contender for Elia Martell's hand in marriage until he cut one in front of her.
Lynesse: Lynesse is very beautiful with golden hair, skin the color of cream, and soft hands. Jorah believes Daenerys resembles Lynesse, and Dany's no dog.
My point here is that there's a good chance that a young Malora Hightower was quite attractive, perhaps even a "rare beauty". So....this begs the question: why would the very attractive oldest daughter of one of the wealthiest and most powerful lords of the Reach not be married off into another noble house? Lord Leyton brokered some good deals for his other kids - Tyrell, Redwyne, Fossaway, Rowan, Ambrose - but his first daughter gets squat? Why?
I propose that Lord Leyton couldn't marry off Malora because she was soiled. Specifically, she was already a kept woman, the paramour of Kingsguard Sworn Brother Prince Lewyn Martell.
Lewyn was the younger brother of Doran Martell's mother. We don't know how much younger, but I think it's safe to assume that Lewyn is probably Doran's age or older - my thought is that he's probably in between Doran (b. ~247) and Barristan (b.~236). I like 242 as a birth year for Lewyn - a bit older than nephew Doran and niece Elia, but still young enough to be a confidant for the 20something Targ brat pack. Lewyn would be in his late 30s during Robert's Rebellion - and would having a girlfriend close to his niece's age be that weird?
Couple more things: We know that Lewyn was in King's Landing from at least 280-283, and may have been there even earlier. We do NOT know where Malora was, however. She locked herself in the tower with Lord Leyton during the Greyjoy Rebellion in 289, but her whereabouts prior to that are unknown. She could have been in Oldtown...or she could have been holed up somewhere in King's Landing close to her lover, only returning home to the Reach after his death at the Trident.
Okay, one last mega tinfoil and then I'll be done.
House Martell and the great houses of the Reach bear a bit of enmity toward each other. Therefore, marriages and relationships and intermingling in general isn't really a thing...it would be, ah, 'discouraged'. If Lewyn and Malora were lovers, it would be a secret thing, even if it were prior to Lewyn's appointment to the KG. The families just wouldn't really support this affair. HOWEVER...what if they had to? Bear with me for a second.
Oberyn Martell has bastard daughters all over, and even keeps a bastard woman as a paramour. Notice though that this is all neatly contained in Dorne, and none of the Sand Snakes have mothers from any of the great houses of Westeros, so it's all cool as far as everyone is concerned. But, what happens if a Prince of Dorne knocks up his secret girlfriend from one of those great houses? Does the Lord of that great house allow the Martell to claim the child as a Sand, or will the child remain in the Reach as a Flowers, proclaiming bastardy for all to see? OR, does that ruling lord do what nobility has done for years when a wayward daughter gets in a bad way, which is send her off on "extended vacation" while some months later the ruling lady of the house gives birth to a surprise baby that no one knew she was expecting?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
Lynesse Hightower
That's right, I propose that Lady Lynesse is not Lord Leyton's daughter, she is his granddaughter. His youngest daughter, born circa 271-272 to supposedly one of Leyton's unknown prior three wives, is actually the bastard issue of Malora and Lewyn. Malora would have been ~16-17yo, Lewyn ~29-30 (or one/both of them could be older, depending on what age you're comfortable assigning to them). If Lewyn had aspirations of joining the KG or even was already in the KG, he would not have wanted to claim the child; Lord Leyton also would not approve a marriage between his daughter and a non-ruling Martell prince. So, they keep the baby, who fortunately looks like her mother, and pass it off as Leyton's newest daughter.
Fast forward to the Greyjoy Rebellion and the tourney where Jorah met Lynesse, and we get this:
"To celebrate his victory, Robert ordained that a tourney should be held outside Lannisport. It was there I saw Lynesse, a maid half my age. She had come up from Oldtown with her father to see her brothers joust. I could not take my eyes off her. In a fit of madness, I begged her favor to wear in the tourney, never dreaming she would grant my request, yet she did.
"I fight as well as any man, Khaleesi, but I have never been a tourney knight. Yet with Lynesse's favor knotted round my arm, I was a different man. I won joust after joust. Lord Jason Mallister fell before me, and Bronze Yohn Royce. Ser Ryman Frey, his brother Ser Hosteen, Lord Whent, Strongboar, even Ser Boros Blount of the Kingsguard, I unhorsed them all. In the last match, I broke nine lances against Jaime Lannister to no result, and King Robert gave me the champion's laurel. I crowned Lynesse queen of love and beauty, and that very night went to her father and asked for her hand. I was drunk, as much on glory as on wine. By rights I should have gotten a contemptuous refusal, but Lord Leyton accepted my offer. We were married there in Lannisport, and for a fortnight I was the happiest man in the wide world."
Lord Leyton brings one of his two unwed daughters to the tourney, Lynesse being around 17 and a "rare beauty" that should be a real treat for some firstborn son of a noble Reach house, but agrees on the spot to her marriage to some dude twice her age that is lord of a tiny holding on the opposite end of the continent. Does this sound like a savvy political maneuver via marriage alliance or a desperate attempt to foist a tainted kid on someone far away? If Leyton can't risk anyone finding out about Lynesse's true background, it makes perfect sense to ship her off with Jorah and makes her someone else's problem in a place where no one will ever know or dig too deeply. Also, interesting how at first chance Lynesse ditches the upright life as a married Mormont to instead become first concubine to Tregar Ormollen. Like mother, like daughter?
Anyway, after Leyton does the "take my daughter, please" routine and dumps Lynesse on Jorah the Chump, the Mad Maid retreats to the Tower and has remained there since. If Lynesse was her only child of her dead lover and Lynesse is now kicking back on Bear Island never to be seen in Oldtown again, I can see Malora basically retreating from life .... a once rare beauty going squirrelly and aging prematurely as she wanders around the Tower cooking up spells with dad. Makes one wonder if ol' Leyton is locked up in that tower because he wants to be or because he's being held captive by a daughter who wants revenge.
Let the bashing commence!
Hope you all found my crazy enjoyable if nothing else.
I didn't post it over there, mainly because the people involved in the discussion wouldn't give it a single iota of consideration, as is usually the case. 
