Queen of Love and Beauty

[GhostWolfe]

[Non-canon warning: The tradition of the Queen of Love and Beauty remains mostly unexplored in the setting. The idea that a man would name his wife or the woman he intends to court is not borne out within canon, though it is certainly the most likely meaning of the tradition. One might also argue, however, that a man might crown his daughter to draw the attention of other knights, if the girl is of/approaching marriageable age; or that the victor might crown the daughter of the tourney’s host, to honour her House for holding the tournament. As such, the following is my interpretation of the tradition, and should not be taken as gospel for anything outside this setting.]


In the almost ten years since Robert’s Rebellion, the tradition of the Queen of Love and Beauty hasn’t exactly stopped, but the negative connotations still have not been shaken off, and the tradition has become somewhat subdued.

Ever since the married Prince Rhaegar presented Leanna Stark with that crown of roses, instead of his own wife, many have seen the tradition as a sign of ill fortune, especially in the neighbouring Riverlands where the Tourney at Harrenhal occurred in the year of the False Spring. Though the gossip gains less traction with each passing year, rumours sometimes still spread that unpleasantness will befall the Queen of Love and Beauty, or that the crown of roses is an omen of death.

Most people are able to ignore such rumours. After all, was it not Robert’s jealousy and wounded honor that drove him to raise arms against the Prince? While many scholars point to the Tourney at Harrenhal as the antecedent event leading to the kidnap of Lyanna and fall of the Targaryen dynasty, just as many posit that Rhaegar and Lyanna were in love, and would have run away together regardless. This second group, however, do so much more quietly, and never when they think that opinion might find its way back to the King.