Confrontation at the Tower of Joy

After the Sack of King's Landing and the rebel army's entry into the city, Tywin Lannister laid the bodies of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's wife and children before the newly crowned King Robert Baratheon. The brutality of the act sparked a rift between Robert and Eddard Stark, who left the court and rode south.

Before returning to Winterfell, Eddard broke the Siege of Storm's End. He then gathered a handful of northern men, Howland Reed among them, and rode into Dorne toward the Tower of Joy, where Prince Rhaegar was said to be holding his sister Lyanna.

Outside the tower, Eddard and his companions came face to face with three knights of the Kingsguard standing watch over Lyanna: Ser Arthur Dayne, Ser Oswell Whent and Lord Commander Ser Gerold Hightower. A few words passed between them about where each side had stood during the war — the Trident, the fall of King's Landing, the flight to Dragonstone — before neither gave ground.

Ser Arthur Dayne drew Dawn, the pale blade known as the Sword of the Morning. "This is going to end right now," Ned answered. Of the fight that followed, seven against three, only Eddard Stark and Howland Reed walked away alive; all three Kingsguard died defending the tower.

Inside the tower, Eddard found Lyanna dying. Before her death, she made him promise her something; what exactly he swore is never told. Eddard had the tower pulled down and raised burial mounds for the men he had lost in the fight.

He carried Lyanna's body north to be laid to rest in the crypts of Winterfell, beside their father Rickard and their brother Brandon. Along the way he stopped at Starfall to hand Ashara Dayne her brother Arthur's sword, Dawn.

Years later, Eddard's execution left Howland Reed as the sole survivor of that night, and the only witness who could tell what truly happened at the Tower of Joy.