I've always thought it was weird when Jojen and Meera Reed do their little vow to Bran together:
>"I swear it by earth and water," said the boy in green.
>"I swear it by bronze and iron," his sister said.
>"We swear it by ice and fire," they finished together.
It's one of the only times the books' title words, "ice and fire" are explicitly mentioned in any of the books, the other time being in Daenerys vision of Rhaegar in the House of the Undying.
Unfortunately, it's kinda been spoiled in the first episode of HOTD that "A Song of Ice and Fire" is the name Aegon, the Conqueror gave to a prophetic dream he had. You know the one: a Long Night; evil rises in the North, the Prince who was Promised, "the dragon has three heads", etc.
Most important, this prophetic dream has been a closely guarded secret, passed down in the Targaryen family from King to heir since Aegon I.
So I wondered, when did that passing of this secret end? Did it end? Obviously it was never passed down to Daenerys. We don't even know if her brother, Viserys knew.
But Rhaegar knew. He specifically says it in Dany's dream in the House of the Undying, and was likely told when he was the favored heir of the Mad King. So what? Did the secret die with Rhaegar on the Trident? Was it lost forever when Rhaegar, the Nerd, got a swirly from Robert, the Jock?
And then it hit me. Rhaegar probably told Ser Arthur Dayne or Lyanna or both about Aegon's Dream (ASOIAF) (perhaps the first non-Targaryens to know?) before he went off to war, knowing he may not come back. Ser Arthur was his closest friend, and Lyanna his lover/baby momma/probably his wife.
So when Ned and Howland Reed survive the showdown at the Tower of Joy, they probably learn about Aegon's dream from Lyanna or Ser Arthur before those two die.
It's possible when Lyanna said "promise me, Ned," she may have been asking Ned Stark to not only keep Jon's Targaryen parentage secret to save him from Robert's wrath, but also to protect this secret of ASOIAF that no one else knows.
If Howland Reed knows about ASOIAF (Aegon's dream), that explains how Jojen and Meera know about it (or at least they've heard of it). That's the theory. I always knew Howland might reveal Jon's Targaryen lineage in TWOW. But I didn't put it together until now that Howland knew the specific details about Aegon's dream and how it was passed down the Targaryen line.
This opens up other questions, which I may consider in future posts. Questions like:
- how much specific detail about ASOIAF do Jojen and Meera know? Could Meera tell Bran about Jon and ASOIAF?
- Did Aegon IV tell Daemon Blackfyre about ASOIAF? If so, who via the Blackfyre line might know about Aegon's Dream in TWOW? Varys? Aegon VI? Illyrio?
- If Ned knew about ASOIAF, wouldn't he have been more likely to believe Gared's tale of the Others in the beginning of AGOT? Did Ned refuse to believe the prophecy?
- What role does prophecy play in the series? Is GRRM saying those who follow prophecies are doomed like in Dune?