#shoutout to miniaturewizardstudentsworld for helping fill in some missing details of this theory for me

[rise-my-angel]

It is much easier for me to believe that Lyanna was manipulated by Rhaegar in some way, if not outright kidnapped. You won't believe me but I have seen people argue that since we know her personality was like Arya's so how could she "allow" herself to be kidnapped 🤦🤦 as if Arya doesn't get kidnapped so many times. The biggest evidences though for Rhaegar being a sinister figure are found all over Sansa's story. Bael-ish kidnaps Sansa, Joffrey sings a song for her and Marillion offers to make a song for her, calling her a rose, and all these men sexually assaulted her. Tyrion on their wedding, wears rubies and he forcibly married her.

My best guess for what actually happened is that the only way in which Lyanna "allowed" herself to get kidnapped, was by not pulling out a sword she didn't have/was not trained to even use, and fight back against grown men trained in combat.

So, here's my theory:

What likely happened, (in my opinion just to cover my ass), is that Rhaegar at the tourney at Harrenhal gifts the crown of love and beauty to the already betrothed 14 year old Lyanna, since he likely knows that Elia will not be able to have more children after Aegon is born, considering she known to be prone to illness and was in medical distress for some months after giving birth to Rhaenys. And at this point he is obsessed with this prophecy and he thinks he needs three heads of a dragon, i.e three children born of his line. And he will need a third child from someone after Elia can't give him more. So, he chooses Lyanna and has to bide his time.

It isn't an unreasonable guess to say that it probably was becoming more well known that Lyanna didn't want to marry Robert due to his irresponsible appetite for bedding many women. It makes sense people could put that together, Lyanna is dedicated to her family and Robert would undoubtedly be unfaithful their entire marriage. If Rhaegar has developed an obsession with her being the one to provide him that third child, it makes sense he learns she is unhappy in her betrothal.

Likely somewhere around the Vale is where this happened, considering the timeline of where all of the Starks currently were at the time she disappeared. So when she is in the south, Rhaegar has a lot more resources to do this. So he waits for a time Lyanna is alone and approaches her. Now she's just a 15 year old girl now suddenly alone with the Crown Prince, likely as intimidated as she is a little star struck considering who he is. Rhaegar needs to lure her away far enough that she won't just run for help. So he promises that as the prince, he can help legally break Lyannas unhappy betrothal for her but does not tell her how.

Offer her something she wants without details and get her to come with him. By the time Lyanna likely put together this isn't what she thought it was and that she's too far away from her family to be safe, is when the actual kidnapping occurs. She goes with him willingly thinking he wants to just help her with something in her life, with no way of knowing he was about to separate her from her family.

By the time Lyanna realizes she is in a bad situation, she's too far away from anywhere she knows to get help and has no choice but to go with him. She is 15 years old, she's just a girl now fearing for her life if she tried to run or fight now. And by the time he takes her to Dorne, he keeps her in a tower with three of the best Kingsguard to ensure she does not escape and no one comes to get her out. He then stays there until he knows shes pregnant, a situation she also likely did not fight back on because of how isolated and powerless she already is here. She is all alone, fighting back could mean her life.

Then of course, word gets out of what Rhaegar has done, Brandon Stark, who has no way of knowing he's taken her to Dorne, goes to Kings Landing to try and demand his sisters return, accompanied along with their father to help and the rest is history.

Make no mistake. They never spoke before that day.

Rhaegar was the Prince and heir to the Iron Throne, who is married to a Dornish Princess and now has 2 children of his own including his own son and heir. Lyanna is a 14-15 year old girl, and the firstborn daughter of a major Northern house who live a thousand miles apart in completely different regions of the country. They would NEVER have been able to share any correspondence together and no one knew or would have found out long before that day.

Ravens dont just fly to the person the letter is for, it goes through a system of people, usually a Maester who facilitates the incoming and outgoing letters, who then either himself or a squire, hand delivers the letter to the correct person. Note most times especially in the first season, when important letters are delivered to the Starks its by either Maester Luwin or Grand Maester Pycelle, and the letters seals have already been opened, hence why they know who to deliver the letter to. Example: How would Luwin have known the letter at the start of the series was from Lysa or how would he have known it specifically was for Catelyn if he did not have to open it first to read its contents to find out.

SOMEONE in the Stark household would have realized that the 14-15 year old Lyanna was receiving letters from the Prince, if not just someone important from Kings Landing, and stepped in then and there. And if he wrote her out of the blue, the first thing Lyanna would have done was tell her family that the PRINCE had sent her a letter. We know the Starks are all very honest with each other, if he wrote her out of the blue, she would've told her brothers.

Also, there are spies everywhere in Kings Landing. If Rhaegar was sending secret letters, someone would've found that out and to whom. Note Catelyn had said she doesn't trust a raven to carry the words to Ned about the attempt on Brans life, or her saying Lysa's head would be on a spike if the wrong person read her letter about the Lannisters. Meaning even she well knows that it is very easy for letters to get into the wrong hands.

Someone (lets be real, probably Varys) would have learned Rhaegar was sending letters to Lyanna. Which in the well over a decade after her death, would have said something to SOMEONE that they were sharing correspondence. Davos line in season 2 of "Lord Varys knows what you had for breakfast three days ago. There are no secrets here." Is clear cut enough to imply that even a man who grew up in Flea Bottom, knows that if you live in Kings Landing, Lord Varys knows you and your secrets already.

Rhaegar was not sending secret letters to Lyanna and no one knew or no one said anything in the conflict that followed or in the decades since.

Lyanna did not run away nor go to him willingly, she would have no way to even communicate with the Crown Prince and heir to the Iron Throne without a single soul learning that information. Her family would have found out and the Starks would have done something about it then and there.

Lyanna likely went with him thinking that he was taking her somewhere reasonable to help her legally end a betrothal she didn't want, not knowing it meant he was taking her away from her family and by the time she realized, she was likely too powerless and in lands she's never been in before to try and run.

Also Lyanna deeply cares about her brothers. The story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree is all the evidence needed to show that she is deeply loving and loyal to her family and the people of the North. She would not run from them just beacuse of a betrothal she didn't like, she loved her brothers dearly.

She was taken from them. She was tricked into walking into a kidnapping under false pretenses. Rhaegar was a fully grown man in a position of great power who used Lyanna's young naivety and venerability to his advantage.

Lyanna did not need to be carried away kicking and screaming for it to still be a kidnapping.

Also the idea that Lyanna did not want to marry Robert because he already had bastards and slept around, would leave her entire life and family behind to run away with a man who is married with 2 children is braindead.

And if I even hear the word annulment, I will explode into rage like I'm Oberyn Martell's fucking head.