A small tidbit that I remembered! A while back, when looking through ASOIAF related art, I came across the official website of artist Paolo Puggioni. He did the Tourney at Harrenhal piece for The World of Ice and Fire. While identifying the characters depicted, he talked about how GRRM was very particular about this specific art and briefed certain aspects of it to him, giving small descriptors for each character. This is some of what GRRM said:
“We’ve always imagined that the perfect image of the tourney at Harrenhal would kind of let you pick out all these figures in the stands, each with their different reactions when ‘the smiles died’. Jon Arryn and Robert and Lord Hunter joking a moment before what was happening dawned on them, Ned watching as Rhaegar was about to stop in front of his sister (who must have been seated quite close), mad Aerys glowering in the distance, Elia stiff-backed and trying to act as if nothing was wrong, Jon Connington probably looking vaguely sad (read: jealous), and so on.”
We’ve never actually gotten any indicator of Elia’s reaction to Rhaegar crowning Lyanna in the text (although we can imagine), so this is the first I’ve seen, as limited as it is. Stiff backed and trying to act if nothing was wrong. Oh, Elia. Giving nothing away, still playing her part and swallowing her humiliation as her husband disgraces her for all to witness. The dates we’ve been given tell us she was pregnant with Aegon at the time too. The argument that she might have agreed to this near unprecedented public display of humiliation has always been bizarre and baseless but this says all it needs to. Does this sound like someone who knew what Rhaegar was about to do? Someone relaxed and unfazed as her husband publicly announced his preference for another- in a world where it would ruin her- as she’s made to watch?
The moment where all the smiles died. Beautiful Elia, second on the left, watching as Rhaegar crowns another. An act so cruel that nobody could believe it was happening yet it’s still made into a romance at her expense, with her being made complicit in her own dishonour and suffering. Elia Martell deserved better.
Link to the artist’s page, where he also identifies all the characters in the piece, including Elia [x]
“First row, from the left: Ashara Dayne, Princess Elia Martell, Prince
Oberyn Martell, Brandon Stark, Lyanna Stark, Eddard Stark, and
(standing) Robert Baratheon.
Second row, from the left: Jon Connington, Prince Lewyn Martell, Lord Hunter, Jon Arryn.” – Paolo Puggioni
Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying
prince,and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath
murmured a woman’s name.
Birds flew and couriers raced to bear word of the victory at the Ruby Ford. When the news reached the Red Keep, it was said that Aerys cursed the Dornish, certain that Lewyn had betrayed Rhaegar. He sent his pregnant queen, Rhaella, and his younger son and new heir, Viserys, away to Dragonstone, but Princess Elia was forced to remain in King’s Landing with Rhaegar’s children as a hostage against Dorne.
That night at the great castle, the storm lord and the knight of
skulls and kisses each swore they would unmask him, and the king himself
urged men to challenge him, declaring that the face behind that helm
was no friend of his. But the next morning, when the heralds blew their
trumpets and the king took his seat, only two champions appeared. The Knight of the Laughing Tree
had vanished. The king was wroth, and even sent his son the dragon
prince to seek the man, but all they ever found was his painted shield,
hanging abandoned in a tree. It was the dragon prince who won that tourney in the end.
lyannas tumblr back up 