Ashara Dayne

She was born around 263 AC, the eldest daughter and third child of the Lord of Starfall. She had two brothers, Arthur among them, and a younger sister, Allyria.

Old enough to serve, she joined the household of Princess Elia Martell, the Dornish wife of crown prince Rhaegar Targaryen, and through her earned a place among the realm's highest nobility.

In 281 AC she traveled to Harrenhal with Elia Martell's household for the great tourney held there. Through the feasts she danced with Ser Barristan Selmy, Prince Oberyn Martell, and Lord Jon Connington, and with Eddard Stark, though only after her brother Brandon asked it of her.

Years later her sister Allyria would claim that Ashara and Eddard Stark fell in love during those nights, a claim no one present at the time ever confirmed.

After the confrontation at the Tower of Joy, Eddard Stark rode to Starfall to bring word of Ser Arthur Dayne's death and return his sword, Dawn. Soon after, Ashara fell from the Palestone Sword tower into the sea below; her body was never found.

When Eddard returned to Winterfell with a baby he named Jon Snow, rumor spread that Ashara had been the boy's mother and that grief over her brother's death had driven her to the ledge. Cersei Lannister would later throw the question in his face, asking whether Ashara had jumped for the brother he killed or the son he stole. Lord Stark never answered, and he let no one keep the rumor alive.

Years afterward, Edric Dayne told Arya Stark that his aunt had died with a broken heart, and that Allyria spoke of a love born at Harrenhal. Harwin, who had heard the same story as a boy, doubted it was entirely true and preferred to think Ashara had been mourning her brother Arthur.

Ser Barristan Selmy offered a different account: to him, Ashara took her own life after giving birth to a stillborn daughter, dishonored by a Stark during the tourney, and he regretted never winning the joust that would have crowned her queen of love and beauty.