Howland Reed

Howland was small and out of place among the nobles gathered at Harrenhal for the great tourney. A group of squires turned on him until Lyanna Stark stepped in on his behalf.

Days later an unknown rider, his armor painted with a laughing tree, appeared at the jousts to challenge those who had mocked Howland. He won his bouts and rode off before anyone learned who wore the helm.

When the war broke out, Howland took up arms alongside Eddard Stark. With the fighting all but decided, he was one of six men who followed Eddard to a remote tower in search of Lyanna.

Three knights of the Kingsguard stood waiting there, unwilling to let anyone pass. Only Eddard and Howland walked away from the fight; Eddard himself later said it was Howland who kept him from dying at Arthur Dayne's hands.

Once the war ended, Howland returned to the Neck, and as far as anyone knows he has not left it since.

With Eddard now dead, he is the only living person who was there for what happened at the tower, and afterward.

With war between the kingdoms about to flare up again, Howland did not travel himself to renew his house's oath. Instead he sent his two children, Jojen and Meera, to pledge loyalty to Robb Stark as King in the North.

Meanwhile the crannogmen stayed behind, holding the causeway through the Neck against any force that tried to cross it, whether it came from Lannister lands or from the Iron Islands.