Hashara

Hashara is the het ship between Howland Reed and Ashara Dayne from the Game of Thrones fandom.

Canon
Canonically, there is only one indication that Howland and Ashara knew each other.

When Howland's daughter, Meera Reed, narrates the story of the Tourney at Harrenhal to Bran Stark, she lists many of the guests, including:

The crannogman saw a maid with laughing purple eyes dance with a white sword.

Some readers have observed that an unusual level of detail is given to Ashara's appearance, especially as Howland's daughter two decades later knew what he thought of Ashara. Some have taken this to mean that Howland was infatuated with Ashara, or consider that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

The A Feast for Crows Appendix claims that Howland is presently married to a woman called Jyana, with whom he has two children, Meera and Jojen. Meanwhile, most of Westeros believes that Ashara gave birth to a stillborn daughter and committed suicide at her home of Starfall (which Howland was stationed near to) the end of Robert's Rebellion, although the truth of this account is debatable.

Fanon
Because of the ambiguity of Ashara's death, some fans have formed a theory that Ashara is still alive, living as Jyana Reed. Some of the evidence of this theory entails Ashara apparently giving birth to a daughter, and Meera being the same age as that daughter (Bran notes that she is around the same age as Jon Snow, who was born around the same time). Additionally, some speculate that since Howland saved Ned Stark from Arthur Dayne, Howland might have been able to put Arthur off guard thanks to some hidden knowledge (like being secretly married to his sister Ashara).

There is also the observation of Barristan Selmy that Daenerys "wants fire, and Dorne sent her mud. You could make a poultice out of mud to cool a fever. You could plant seeds in mud and grow a crop to feed your children. Mud would nourish you, where fire would only consume you, but fools and children and young girls would choose fire every time." Proponents of this theory argue that it would be especially ironic if Ashara chose to be Lady of Greywater Watch, an especially muddy place, as Barristan once loved Ashara himself.

Some fans are less certain on this theory, but might like the idea that a young Howland was infatuated with Ashara during the tournament.

The pairing is quite rare, however. There are only 14 fanfics on AO3 as of December 2020, and it is usually complementary to other shippings such as Rhaegar and Lyanna rather than being entertained in its own right. Still, there are indeed some that entertain the "Jyana Reed" theory.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Ashara/Howland tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Ashara/Howland tag on FanFiction.Net

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