Towards Dunharrow
As she kept sewing, Théodred watched Elia from his bed, taking a break from whatever he could do until his stomach wound had healed even more. He could see on her body language that despite putting up a brave front for their younger children and their people, she was not able to keep that mask up around him. After all, when you have been married for many years, the mood and feelings of the other partner could often be read easier.
"Was I wrong for the outburst earlier?" she finally wondered with an unsure voice, "I have tried to put the whole deal with Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark in the past where it belongs, but…"
She lost her words, and looked so uncharacteristically vulnerable that she for a moment reminded her husband of what she looked like at their first meeting.
"Expecting someone to ignore that they once came very close to death thanks to the actions of someone else, is very insensitive towards the wronged person in question. Because of that selfish man you once called your first husband and a narrow-minded girl, who throught that he was the help out of a unwanted marriage, you and your children was almost murdered in a very brutal manner. Had not Rhaenys opened up that portal between Fangorn and the Red Keep long enough for me to arrive and save you three, there is no doubt that none of you would have been alive at the end of that horrible day. Would you expect me to forgive Saruman for almost killing me by the use of his Uruk-hai, Elia? That I would ignore him being the man behind the dead Rohirric families that have been killed so far, all because his creatures caught up with them before they managed to escape to Dunharrow?"
"Forgive Saruman and ignore what he has done towards Rohan and its people!?" Elia exclaimed loudly when she heard his words, ignoring the sewing so she would not pick herself in a finger with the needle, "What sort of nonsense is that?! You would be a fool to do so, and come off as a weak King in the eyes of our people!"
"Exactly, And I can tell that there is something troubling you, Elia." he responded, patting his hand on the blanket as a way of bidding her to come over and sit down at the edge of the bed instead of the corner so they did not have half the room between them.
"You had the rant against Lyanna Stark because the war against Mordor is awakening the unwanted memories of the last months as the wife of Rhaegar and how Lyanna is connected to that situation, correct?"
Holding a grudge against others was a serious flaw at times, Théodred knew that, but when said grudge was a result of not just one very public humiliation but having to suffering it twice and a serious near-death experience that indeed would have been lethal in another outcome, it was harder to blame Elia for the thick scars those memories had left on her. After all, she would have been dead thanks to the long-reaching actions of Rhaegar and Lyanna.
"Yes, Théo…the main reason for that rant against Rhaegar and Lyanna…I am having nightmares about the past again at night, ever since you got injured. And not only am I frozen stiff and unable to move, forced to see uncle Lewyn as he is being slain at the Trident alongside the Dornish soldiers, and seeing Rhagar win the duel against Robert, before he turns towards me with the same look of madness as Aerys in his eyes…"
She had to swallow, the words felt stuck in her throat and she actually dreaded saying them. Even him gently holding her hand in his own as support, did not feel like the usual comfort. Her hands was trembling as she tried to tell her husband of the scenario that kept coming back in the nightmares:
"...and he is coming towards you, where you lies unprotected on the ground, from the injury that the Uruk-hai caused you, his sword bloody from killing Robert and poses it ready for a killing strike that will take your life, all while Lyanna is standing somewhere behind him…laughing in mockery towards me, saying that I am worth nothing and that I would be better off dead, or as a passive servant, nothing else than a enslaved handmaiden, towards her and Rhaegar, my children robbed from me and never allowed to escape the shadow of the "superior" son that Rhaegar is saying that Lyanna will bear him."
Théodred winced in compassion at hearing her confessing this, seeing how Elia was near tears from having to remember the ghost scenes. No wonder Elia had needed to get that rant out of herself, with such nightmares haunting her at night. After all, Aerys had been only one thought of imagined treason away from burning Elia alive as a accomplice to Rhaegar in a possible coup to remove her father-in-law from power, and the same risk had fallen upon Rhaenys and Aegon despite their tender age, for Aerys never acted as if they were worthy of the Targaryen name and being his own children. Her life among the Targaryens had been a living nightmare during the Rebellion, and the current situation in the wider parts of Middle-earth had triggered those memories once again.
"I am sorry that my injury awoke the nightmares that take the form of your worst fears, Elia."
"It is not your fault…"
And even if both of them were long dead, Théodred could understand the unspoken meaning of himself getting murdered by Raegar in the nightmare and Lyanna mocking Elia as this happened. It was her worst fears taking that form of Rhaegar and Lyanna, because Elia feared to lose him alongside everything that was meaningful in their marriage, and that loss would feel like those two had gained a victory from beyond the grave.
"I do not know if it will help much against the nightmares, but let me remind you what the law says here in Rohan, my dear Sun Princess: You would have been legally allowed to leave Rhaegar in a divorce after that he so openly abandoned his legal wife and young children, he would have been declared a criminal for having seduced a underage girl as well breaking a legal betrothal between two other families, and Lyanna would have found herself stripped of her noble status for endangering so many people with her choice of action, as well finding out exactly what sort of lifestyle she would have without the protection of a powerful family or husband. Based on what lord Vorien Dayne confirmed from the Tower of Joy, Rhaegar would also have been castrated for "murder by childbirth" because the sixteen-year-old Lyanna was underage by the Rohirric laws when she died in childbirth, before getting his head separated from his body with a axe for the same crime."
Oh yes, even with her tears now falling freely, Elia did imagining their respective shocked reactions at hearing the outcome of the judges, to how Rhaegar would have faced death for his crimes, and even if she had survived the dangerous childbirth with his illegitimate daughter whose Targaryen looks revealed her paternity to the point that there was no mistake about who the sire was, Lyanna would be struggling to survive as a completely ordinary peasant girl without the expected protection as a daughter of House Stark, working as a maid on a bigger farm in order to feed and clothe herself, as well finding out just how much chores around the house and everything else a peasant woman would have to do everyday just for basic survival.
"...I am really grateful that Rohan and Gondor would not let him slip away from any form of punishment for his idiocy, or that Lyanna would have to face the fact that her actions can affect so many more people than those intended…"
Her tears were still flowing freely, but a burden had been lifted from her shoulders now when her husband knew about the nightmares and while they could not yet hug due to his injury, just seeing him alive was enough for her to feel better.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
At the same time, the Hornburg:
They talked then together as they ate, until presently Éomer spoke.
"It is near the hour that we set for our going, fedra," he said, "Shall I bid men sound the horns? But where is Aragorn? His place is empty and he has not eaten."
"We will make ready to ride if we are to arrive at Dunharrow before it is time for the Rohirrim to ride together towards Gondor," Théoden agreed, "but let word be sent to the Lord Aragorn that the hour is nigh."
Théoden with his guard and Merry at his side passed down from the gate of the Burg to where the Riders were assembling on the green. Many were already mounted. It would be a great company; for Théoden was leaving only a small garrison in the Burg, though aided by the Dornishmen that Oberyn would leave there, and all who could be spared were riding to the weapontake at Edoras. A thousand spears had indeed already ridden away at night; but still there would be some five hundred more to go with the former king, for the most part men from the fields and dales of Westfold.
A little apart the Rangers sat, silent, in an ordered company, armed with spear and bow and sword. They were clad in cloaks of dark grey, and their hoods were cast now over helm and head. Their horses were strong and of proud bearing, but rough-haired; and one stood there without a rider, Aragorn's own horse that they had brought from the North; Roheryn was his name. There was no gleam of stone or gold, nor any fair thing in all their gear and harness: nor did their riders bear any badge or token, save only that each cloak was pinned upon the left shoulder by a brooch of silver shaped like a rayed star.
Théoden mounted his horse, Snowmane, and Merry sat beside him on his pony; Stybba was his name. Presently eomer came out from the gate, and with him was Aragorn, and Halbarad bearing the great staff close-furled in black, and two tall men, neither young nor old, so much alike were they, the sons of Elrond, that few could tell them apart: dark-haired, grey-eyed, and their faces elven-fair, clad alike in bright mail beneath cloaks of silver-grey. Behind them walked Legolas and Gimli. But Merry had eyes only for Aragorn, so startling was the change that he saw in him, as if in one night many years had fallen on his head. Grim was his face, grey-hued and weary.
"I am troubled in mind, lord," he said, standing by Snowmane and his rider, "I have heard strange words, and I see new perils far off. I have labored long in thought, and now I fear that I must change my purpose. Tell me, Theoden, you ride now to Dunharrow, how long will it be ere you come there?"
"It is now a full hour past noon," said Éomer as he looked up at the sky to confirm what time it was. "Before the night of the third day from now we should come to the Hold. The Moon will then be one night past his full, and the muster that my cousin commanded will be held the day after. More speed we cannot make, if the strength of Rohan is to be gathered."
Even with the many members of House Martell using the portals to transport Dornish soldiers and riders faster from all across Dorne, gathering with the Rohirrim together would take time. Aragorn was silent for a moment as he heard the guessed travel time.
"Three days," he murmured, "three days, and the muster of Rohan will only be begun. But I see that it cannot now be hastened."
He looked up, and it seemed that he had made some decision; his face was less troubled.
"Then, by our leave, lord, I must take new counsel for myself and my kindred. We must ride our own road, and no longer in secret. For me the time of stealth has passed. I will ride east by the swiftest way, and I will take the Paths of the Dead."
Everyone of the Rohirric men who was close enough to hear those last four days, suddenly stared wide-eyed in disbelief at Aragorn as if he had gone mad.
"The Paths of the Dead!?" Théoden whispered, and trembled.
"Why do you speak of them?!" Éomer turned and gazed at Aragorn, and it seemed to Merry that the faces of the Riders that sat within hearing turned pale at the words. Even Oberyn, who normally was rather fearless, had chosen to not challenge fate when being near that gate because ghosts and wraiths could not be killed like mortal men of flesh and blood.
"If there be in truth such paths," said Théoden in an uneasy voice, "their gate is in Dunharrow; but no living man may pass it."
"Alas! Aragorn my friend!" said Éomer, "I had hoped that we should ride to war together; but if you seek the Paths of the Dead, then our parting is come, and it is little likely that we shall ever meet again under the Sun."
"That road I will take, nonetheless," Aragorn confirmed, "But I say to you, Éomer, that in battle we may yet meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor should stand between."
"You will do as you will, my lord Aragorn," said Théoden, "It is your doom, maybe, to tread strange paths that others dare not. This parting grieves me, and my strength is lessened by it; but now I must take the mountain-roads and delay no longer. Farewell!"
"Farewell, lord!" said Aragorn, "Ride unto great renown! Farewell, Merry! I leave you in good hands, better than we hoped when we hunted the orcs to Fangorn. Legolas and Gimli will still hunt with me, I hope; but we shall not forget you."
"Good-bye!" Merry managed to say but with a bolt of sadness in his heart all suddenly. He could find no more to say. He felt very small, and he was puzzled and depressed by all these gloomy words. More than ever he missed the unquenchable cheerfulness of Pippin. The Riders were ready, and their horses were fidgeting; he wished they would start and get it over.
Now Théoden spoke to Éomer, and he lifted up his hand and cried aloud, and with that word the Riders set forth. They rode over the Dike and down the Coomb, and then, turning swiftly eastwards, they took a path that skirted the foothills for a mile or so, until bending south it passed back among the hills and disappeared from view.
Aragorn rode to the Dike and watched till the king's men were far down the Coomb. Then he turned to Halbarad:
"There go three that I love, and the smallest not the least. He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he still would go on."
"A little people, but of great worth are the Shire-folk," Halbarad nodded, "Little do they know of our long labor for the safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not."
"And now our fates are woven together," said Aragorn, "And yet, alas! here we must part. Well, I must eat a little, and then we also must hasten away. Come, Legolas and Gimli! I must speak with you as I eat."
Together they went back into the Burg; yet for some time Aragorn sat silent at the table in the hall, and the others waited for him to speak.
"Come!" said Legolas at last, "'Speak and be comforted, and shake off the shadow! What has happened since we came back to this grim place in the grey morning?"
"A struggle somewhat grimmer for my part than the battle of the Hornburg," answered Aragorn after a few more minutes to find the right words, "I have looked in the Stone of Orthanc, my friends."
"You have looked in that accursed stone of wizardry!" exclaimed Gimli with fear and astonishment in his face, "Did you say aught to him? Even Gandalf feared that encounter."
"You forget to whom you speak," said Aragorn sternly, and his eyes glinted, "Did I not openly proclaim my title before the doors of Edoras, before Queen Mother Morwen saw me and slammed her walking stick over my head for having used a false name in the court of her late husband? What do you fear that I should say to him?"
"Nay, Gimli," he then said in a softer voice, and the grimness left his face, and he looked like one who has labored in sleepless pain for many nights, "Nay, my friends, I am the lawful master of the Stone, and I had both the right and the strength to use it, or so I judged. The right cannot be doubted. The strength was enough, barely."
He drew a deep breath.
"It was a bitter struggle, and the weariness is slow to pass. I spoke no word to him, and in the end I wrenched the Stone to my own will. That alone he will find hard to endure. And he beheld me. Yes, Master Gimli, he saw me, but in another guise than you see me here. If that will aid him, then I have done ill. But I do not think so. To know that I lived and walked the earth was a blow to his heart, I deem; for he knew it not till now. The eyes in Orthanc did not see through the armor of Théoden; but Sauron has not forgotten Isildur and the sword of Elendil. Now in the very hour of his great designs the heir of Isildur and the Sword are revealed; for l showed the blade re-forged to him. He is not so mighty yet that he is above fear; nay, doubt ever gnaws him."
"But he wields great dominion, nonetheless," said Gimli, shuddering in worry for his own parents back in Erebor and what could be happening there in this moment, "and now he will strike more swiftly."
"The hasty stroke goes oft astray," Aragorn reminded them, "We must press our Enemy, and no longer wait upon him for the move. See my friends, when I had mastered the Stone, I learned many things. A grave peril I saw coming unlooked-for upon Gondor from the South that will draw off great strength from the defense of Minas Tirith. If it is not countered swiftly, I deem that the City will be lost ere ten days be gone."
'Then lost it must be," Gimli lamented in bitterness over what was about to happen. "For what help is there to send thither, and how could it come there in time? Prince Oberyn said that the fleet of Dorne is already sailing towards Gondor for help and will hopefully pick up another ally that they have found against Sauron, but he was worried about anything that could delay them."
"I have no further help to send, therefore I must go myself," said Aragorn, "But there is only one way through the mountains that will bring me to the coastlands before all is lost. That is the Paths of the Dead."
Gimli paled at hearing the name, for even Dwarfs feared wraiths that could not rest in peace and took out their anger on innocent, living people. And of course, Sauron being rather fond of using the Nine as his most feared servants of Evil, was a good example.
"The Paths of the Dead! It is a fell name; and little to the liking to the Men of Rohan, as I saw. Can the living use such a road and not perish? And even if you pass that way, what will so few avail to counter the strokes of Mordor?"
"The living have never used that road since the coming of the Rohirrim," said Aragorn, "for it is closed to them. But in this dark hour the heir of Isildur may use it, if he dare. Listen! This is the word that the sons of Elrond bring to me from their father in Rivendell, wisest in lore: Bid Aragorn remember the words of the seer, and the Paths of the Dead."
"And what may be the words of the seer?" Legolas wondered.
"Thus spoke Malbeth the Seer, in the days of Arvedui, last king at Fornost," said Aragorn:
Over the land there lies a long shadow,
westward reaching wings of darkness.
The Tower trembles; to the tombs of kings
doom approaches. The Dead awaken;
for the hour is come for the oathbreakers;
at the Stone of Erech they shall stand again
and hear there a horn in the hills ringing.
Whose shall the horn be? Who shall call them
from the prey twilight, the forgotten people?
The heir of him to whom the oath they swore.
From the North shall he come, need shall drive him:
he shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead.
"Dark ways doubtless," said Gimli in unease, "but no darker than these staves are to me."
"If you would understand them better, then I bid you come with me," Aragorn offered, "for that way I now shall take. But I do not go gladly; only need drives me. Therefore, only of your free will would I have you come, for you will find both toil and great fear, and maybe worse."
"I will go with you even on the Paths of the Dead, and to whatever end they may lead," said Gimli.
"I also will come," Legolas joined in, "for I do not fear the Dead."
"I hope that the forgotten people will not have forgotten how to fight," Gimli muttered aloud, "for otherwise I see not why we should trouble them."
"That we shall know if ever we come to Erech," said Aragorn, "But the oath that they broke was to fight against Sauron, and they must fight therefore, if they are to fulfill it. For at Erech there stands yet a black stone that was brought, it was said, from Numenor by Isildur; and it was set upon a hill, and upon it the King of the Mountains swore allegiance to him in the beginning of the realm of Gondor. But when Sauron returned and grew in might again, Isildur summoned the Men of the Mountains to fulfill their oath, and they would not: for they had worshiped Sauron in the Dark Years. Then Isildur said to their king: "Thou shalt be the last king. And if the West prove mightier than thy Black Master, this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. For this war will last through years uncounted, and you shall be summoned once again ere the end." And they fled before the wrath of Isildur, and did not dare to go forth to war on Sauron's part; and they hid themselves in secret places in the mountains and had no dealings with other men, but slowly dwindled in the barren hills. And the terror of the Sleepless Dead lies about the Hill of Erech and all places where that people lingered. But that way I must go, since there are none living to help me."
He stood up.
"Come!" he cried, and drew his sword, and it flashed in the faint afternoon light entering the hall of the Burg from its narrow slits to windows.
"To the Stone of Erech! I seek the Paths of the Dead. Come with me who will!"
Legolas and Gimli made no answer, but they rose and followed Aragorn from the hall. On the green there waited, still and silent, the hooded Rangers. Legolas and Gimli mounted. Aragorn sprang upon Roheryn. Then Halbarad lifted a great horn, and the blast of it echoed in Helm's Deep; and with that they leapt away, riding down the Coomb like thunder, while all the men that were left on Dike or Burg stared in amaze.
And while Théoden went by slow paths in the hills, the Grey Company passed swiftly over the plain, and on the next day in the afternoon they came to Edoras; and there they halted only briefly, ere they passed up the valley, and so came to Dunharrow as darkness fell.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Early evening of March 7, Dunharrow:
As the two members of the House of Eorl present at Dunharrow, it fell to Lothíriel and Éowyn to greet the newcomers.
"I am just grateful that Elfhilda is having her nap and will not wake up for now…"
As a light supper was served for the company, they talked together, and the two ladis heard of all that had passed since Théoden rode away from Edoras, concerning which only hasty tidings had yet reached the refugee camp; better details of the battle in Helm's Deep and the great slaughter of their foes, and of the charge of Théoden and his knights, then the eyes of them shone in pride. However, when Aragorn told them that he intended to go on the Paths of the ad, the mood changed.
"Are you seeking death, heir of Isildur? For that is all that you will find on that cursed road. They do not suffer the living to pass," Éowyn spoke with coldness, her eyes hardening just like those of Morwen when she found something to be a displeasure to learn about.
"And who shall become the next heir of the royal line, if you are the only one left, my lord? Are you thinking so lowly of Lord Elrond, who you said to have fostered you? Shall his sons have to return to him with the news of you choosing death over life? When Elendil and his sons were distant descendants of his twin brother, Elros? Shall Lord Elrond have to learn that the bloodline of his brother has died out completely?" Lothíriel asked bluntly, with Elfhilda slowly awakening in her arms as she spoke. Had it been any other man, this reminder of his foster father in Imladris would have been a very well-aimed arrow of causing feelings of guilt, but Aragorn had expected some form of protest like this.
"It is not madness, ladies," he answered, "for I go on a path appointed. But those who follow me do so of their free will; and if they wish now to remain and ride with the Rohirrim, they may do so. But I shall take the Paths of the Dead, alone, if needs be."
"Geh!" Elfhilda cried out without warning as her mother and aunt gave Aragorn a shared look of disbelief over his refusal to change his mind, and despite her eyes not being able to focus on Aragorn, she still frowned in a way that non-verbally seemed to say "I am not impressed with your act of foolishness, mister!". Of course, even with no trace of her past personality left in her soul, something of the late Rhaella Targaryen still remained in her new life because she was so newly arrived into the world, being only three days old yet.
"Taking after her father in how to look like a thunder-cloud is hanging over their heads, I see," Gimli dared to laugh, and Elfhilda knotted her tiny eyebrows into an even bigger frown, as if daring the Dwarf to be laughing at her. For being such a young baby in arms, she sure had an impressive death glare already.
"...just be aware, then, lord Aragorn," Éowyn spoke after some silence, addressing him with a title, "that the ghosts of past Dornish warriors may be drawn to you summoning the dead. I would not be surprised if Prince Lewyn Martell, the uncle of Elia and her brothers, shall desire to be useful and wipe out the creatures of Evil, for he and half of their army fell in the battle where her first husband was slain. And that was not even to follow that detestable man as an army commander, but to protect Elia, who was being held as a hostage."
Elfhilda cried out again and drowned whatever her aunt had intended to say next, but the adults believe that it was just her feeling the mood around the table to be too uncomfortable for her own taste, rather than her soul reacting to the indirect mention of her past-life son Rhaegar.
"No, it is sleeping time for this young lady, I fear. And I need to sleep when she does," Lothíriel excused herself and brought her infant daughter with her. Soon the meal was finished and they went back to the tents for sleep.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
The early dawn of march 8;
The light was still grey as they rode, for the sun had not yet climbed over the black ridges of the Haunted Mountain before them. A dread fell on them, even as they passed between the lines of ancient stones and so came to the Dimholt. There under the gloom of black trees that not even Legolas could long endure they found a hollow place opening at the mountain's root, and right in their path stood a single mighty stone like a finger of doom.
"My blood runs chill," said Gimli as he looked around, but the others were silent, and his voice fell dead on the dank fir-needles at his feet. The horses would not pass the threatening stone, until the riders dismounted and led them about.
And so they came at last deep into the glen; and there stood a sheer wall of rock, and in the wall the Dark Door gaped before them like the mouth of night. Signs and figures were carved above its wide arch too dim to read, and fear flowed from it like a grey vapour.
"Nanaeth is safe in Valinor, Nanaeth is safe in Valinor…" Elladan whispered to himself at feeling the unpleasant atmosphere of this place, Elrohir touching his shoulder so they together pushed down the memories of the orc attack on their mother Celebrían over 500 years earlier, how she had been captured and tormented with a poisonous wound among her injuries, and how she had never fully recovered in mind or spirit after being rescued by her sons and physically healed by Elrond.
"She is safe, brother. We were there, with our grandparents, Adar and Arwen, when she sailed to Valinor for healing in the Undying Lands."
The company halted, and there was not a heart among them that did not quail, unless it were the heart of Legolas of the Elves, for whom the ghosts of Men have no terror.
"This is an evil door," said Halbarad, "and my death lies beyond it. I will dare to pass it nonetheless; but no horse will enter."
"But we must go in, and therefore the horses must go too," Aragorn reminded them, "For if ever we come through this darkness, many leagues lie beyond, and every hour that is lost there will bring the triumph of Sauron nearer. Follow me!"
Then Aragorn led the way, and such was the strength of his will in that hour that all the Dunedain and their horses followed him. And indeed the love that the horses of the Rangers bore for their riders was so great that they were willing to face even the terror of the Door, if their masters' hearts were steady as they walked beside them. But Arod, the horse of Rohan, refused the way, and he stood sweating and trembling in a fear that was grievous to see. Then Legolas laid his hands on his eyes and sang some words that went soft in the gloom, until he suffered himself to be led, and Legolas passed in. And there stood Gimli the Dwarf left all alone. His knees shook in an uncharacteristic manner, as if he was a young Dwarf learning how to fight for the first time with real axes instead of the wooden ones used in training for young children, and he was wroth with himself.
"Here is a thing unheard of!" he told himself, "An Elf will go underground and a Dwarf dare not!"
With that he plunged in after the others. But it seemed to him that he dragged his feet like lead over the threshold; and at once a blindness came upon him, even upon Gimli Gloin's son who had walked unafraid in many deep places of the world.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note: In case it is not spelled out clean in-text, Elia does have PTSD from her time as a hostage to Aerys in the Red Keep, where the constant threat of a horrible death by wildfire was hanging over her head, and this is not something she is going to forget. She is not disliking Lyanna in a misogynist manner, but rather how Lyanna is the one Rhaegar chose over his legal wife, aka herself, a very grave situation that affected all of Westeros, and how Lyanna seems to have been blind to the privileges that her noble birth gave to her, as well the most likely result of her running away to avoid marrying Robert. In short, it is Lyanna's self-centered willfulness that Elia hates about her alongside that Rhaegar chose to hide away with Lyanna in the Tower of Joy for months while she was being a hostage to Aerys, because willfulness is not always a good trait: Willful individuals can be fiercely stubborn in their opinions and pursuit of their goals, ignoring what other people think and need. They often fiercely force their will despite obstacles or negative implications. Their behavior has obsessive and compulsive qualities in that they're unable to let go and is an obstacle to overcoming codependency and addiction.
About the Rohirric laws that Théodred is mentioning and why Rhaegar would have lost his head for his actions: Rohan is based on Anglo-Saxon England, and that historical era did indeed have some rather serious punishments for crimes. Anyone found guilty of a crime was either fined, mutilated/tortured or executed, depending on the severity of the crime they committed - there were no prisons as we know them in this time period. The fine for breaking into someone's home was five shillings, which was paid directly to the home-owner, not the Government as it would be today. If you injured a person, fines could range from 200 to 1200 shillings. For crimes that were considered minor, like stealing, or if you couldn't afford a fine, a nose, finger, big toe, foot or hand might be chopped off. And for more severe crimes, like murder or being a traitor, the punishment was death.
Oberyn not entering the Paths of the Death? Being a bit different from his canon self, he is not that reckless and knowing that his family would NEVER forgive that sort of crazy stunt, and as well that the ghost of uncle Lewyn would never let him forget it if he got killed there.
