Are you trying to tell me that MR is Jon's twin sister just because she has a long horse face like Lyanna?
I'm moving this discussion here so that lib doesn't throw a fit even though it is all speculation that doesn't ruin the show at this point.
Meera Reed isn't a bastard, which means that if she really is Jon's twin sister then Howland Reed's wife was in on the cover up. Are you telling me that Ned was ok with Howland telling his wife the truth but didn't himself tell Catelyn?
The Crannogmen are a weird, isolated, and mysterious people. Do you really think it's such a stretch that Howland's wife would aid in the cover up to protect the baby? I don't think that's a stretch at all. And don't you think it's kind of significant that GRRM has made the Crannogmen so weird, isolated, and mysterious? I think there is a reason for that.
All the writing about the Tower of Joy, Howland Reed being Ned's friend and only other person to leave the Tower of Joy alive (aside from the twins), the tourney at Harrenhall, the same age of Meera and Jon - that's not all a coincidence.
It's not a coincidence that HBO cast Meera to look like Jon's twin.
And I don't think it is a coincidence that GRRM ended one chapter talking about Rhaegar dying "at the Trident" and the very next page opening with Meera fishing with a trident (I'm taking credit for that discovery btw because I haven't seen it discussed anywhere else).
No, I don't think it is a stretch at all that Howland's wife would be willing to protect a baby. I am saying, why would Ned be ok with Howland telling his wife about the cover-up when Ned wasn't even willing to tell his own wife? Ned would have known that Howland told his wife because Meera was presented as their child. So Ned trusted his friend and friend's wife more than he trusted his own wife (who be all accounts he actually loved and was loyal to)? Jon could have had a better life (relationship with Catelyn) if Ned would have told Catelyn the truth. But instead he was so intent on keeping the secret that he sacrificed a bit of all of their relationships.
It all fits except Ned's inconsistency on this point.
What happened at the Tourney at Harrenhall that is significant to this theory? I can't remember.
I don't think the differing decisions of Ned and Howland would be that surprising at all. Two reasons:
1. They lead very different lives. The Starks are Lord and Lady of Winterfell. Not so easy to fake a pregnancy or keep a secret when you're constantly surrounded by and interacting with other people. By contrast, the Reeds live on some sort of floating island in a swamp. They're hanging out with Yoda or something. A lot easier to claim Meera as their own. The Crannogmen keep to themselves.
2. Ned made a "promise" to his sister. It's repeated about a dozen times in the books. That promise was almost certainly to never reveal the lineage of the twins. But Howland didn't make that promise - Ned did. So whereas the promise would be sufficient for Ned to lie about having a bastard (and boy did that promise weigh heavy on him), Reed could tell his wife.
Nothing happened at Harrenhall that directly supports the theory. But GRRM including Reed as a prominent character in the story about the Tourney, and Jojen going to great pains to tell Bran about the Tourney and his surprise that Ned never told Bran about it, doesn't seem like mere happenstance. It seems that Howland Reed is important to the story, and yet GRRM keeps him shrouded in mystery. Meera seems like the logical reason for that.
Finally, it seems more than a little convenient that Meera is accompanying Bran on his vision quest as he begins to uncover Jon's true lineage. Meera is wondering how she fits into all this and she's about to find out.
