Theories abound as to the identity of the mysterious Knight of The Laughing Tree. So far there are two strong candidates: Lyanna Stark and Howland Reed.
At the Tourney of Harrenhal where the infamous incident of Rhaegar giving Lyanna the crown of winter roses there was a Knight that no one knew who unseated three knights then disappeared. Rhaegar went after him but all he found was a shield with the knight's sigil. I'm neither going to debunk nor try to help confirm these two theories. Just going to present my facts.
Lyanna Stark
There has to be a reason that Rhaegar gave Lyanna the Crown of Love and Beauty. It couldn't have been to gain favor with the North who are staunchly honorable when it comes to courtship. A married man giving a gift to a girl who's betrothed doesn't sound like the best way to gain their favor. Rhaegar also seems to have been respectable to women.
What Lyanna has working for her is that she's headstrong and likes to play with the boys. In Bran's vision he sees Lyanna knock her little brother down when they were playing at sword fighting. Clearly she has some skill in fighting BUT you need to account real world facts.
For one thing have you seen the armor and all the things knights have to carry? A lance? A lance is pretty heavy. You need to hold it steady while you're weighted under all that metal that's to keep you safe until you hit the ground then you're basically simple beans in a can being jumbled around and you could possibly break your neck. Not only that it's hard to see through those damn helmets. Lyanna would have to have terrific eye sight and the strength to be able to hold herself up, keep on her horse without falling off, and aim at her target all while moving.
Not to say that women can't joust. I'm sure Brienne could knock a few guys off their horses but she had years of training, building muscle mass. By all reports Lyanna wasn't big or lean. She could sword fight totally but jousting requires more effort. I don't know if Lyanna had the stamina. The will perhaps but not the stamina to be able to hold her own during a joust.
Howland Reed
But we have Howland Reed. Now he seems more plausible. Starks are by all account honest people. They don't take to hiding their identities in conflict. If someone offends them they make sure that person sees them. Starks like to be seen doing justice. But Howland Reed now that guy maybe small but he's lean and he's smart. In one of Bran's visions of the past Howland Reed stabs Ser Arthur Dayne in the back. He's also from a swampy landscape where nothing is what it seems. To stay alive in the swamps of the Neck you need to be crafty. Hiding yourself, using tricks or clever disguise to get the jump on your opponent seems to be what Reed would do when faced with a fight.
Though we have to wonder where was Howland Reed during these matches? I don't know if he was absent or present. All focus was on the matches. Was Lyanna absent as well? Ned would have noticed if his sister was gone unless she feigned illness that day though there's no account of either of those things being said. Howland could sneak away without being noticed. He wasn't from a big important family and he was kid. No one would have missed him.
Lyanna and Howland could have collaborated though it seems unlikely. Maybe Rhaegar found that it was Howland, explained why he did it and that Lyanna helped him out with those squire bullies so that could have been the reason Rhaegar gave Lyanna the crown to honor her fierceness in standing up for others. I don't know. It could be a completely different person for all we know. The reason we suspect Lyanna and Howland is because the 3 knights that the Laughing Tree Knight defeated had squires that bullied Howland at the tourney. So far that's our only lead.
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