Game Of Thrones Season 6: 8 Things You Need To Know About Tower Of Joy
Promise me, Ned.
Tower of Joy?
Tower of Joy!
TOWER. OF. JOY!!!
Insert a bunch of random emojis, and that was my reaction to the trailers for Game of Thrones Season 6, which briefly previewed the infamous battle alongside many other hugely exciting events, such as Tyrion freeing the dragons, the White Walkers on the move, and an incredibly massive battle.
While they were the big talking points, it's the promise of the Tower of Joy that is particularly exciting, especially if you're a book reader (or at least aware of the context of it and what it means). The show hasn't delved too deeply into flashbacks before this year, save for Maggy the Frog, but that's changing now Bran has returned. And if there is one flashback they should definitely be showing, it's this one.
Now that we've had a couple of episodes, and already seen Jon Snow's resurrection, the next episode is promising us this very scene. Titled Oathbreaker, the teaser for episode 3 shows us a bit more of this scene, with our best look yet at the young (though older than the one we've already seen this year) Ned Stark. The dialogue is taken straight from the book, with Arthur Dayne's "Now it begins," and Ned's response: "Now it ends."
This should be an incredible scene to witness anyway, but it's also going to have real significance for the show moving forward.
8. Rhaegar's 'Kidnap' Of Lyanna
Rhaegar Targaryen's alleged kidnap of Lyanna Stark (Ned's sister, who we saw in Home) is a major part of modern Westerosi history, as it's one of the events that can be attributed to the start of Robert's Rebellion, and the eventual usurping of King Aerys II Targaryen.
This took place shortly after the Tourney at Harrenhal, where Rhaegar had crowned Lyanna (who was betrothed to Robert Baratheon) the Queen of Beauty, ignoring his own wife Elia Martell.
This led to Brandon Stark riding to King's Landing to confront Rhaegar, who wasn't actually there. King Aerys took him prisoner, and ended up killing him and his father, thus marking the beginning of the rebellion.
One of the big issues with this telling of events, or at least the kidnapping, is that it's all told from Robert's point-of-view - a man angry and upset over losing the woman he loved. It flies in the face of everything else we hear about Rhaegar, who was supposedly a kind-hearted and rather noble person. The counter argument is that Rhaegar and Lyanna were truly in love, and she went with him willingly to the Tower of Joy, a place where he could keep her safe.
Whatever the reasoning, it's Rhaegar taking Lyanna there that led to the war, and to the events at the Tower of Joy.