Eddard reminds Robert that he did so, and Robert laments that he could only do so once. Robert tells Eddard how he vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to Lyanna. 5 6 Eddard's companions found him clutching her body some time later, and the crannogman Howland Reed had to take his hand from hers. He also remembers the promise he made to her, and how the fear went out of her eyes when he made it. Eddard reminds the king that he was with Lyanna when she died and expressed a desire to be buried with her father and brother. Robert pays his respects to the woman he loved and laments that she was buried deep underground. 4 Lyanna was sixteen when she died, and she was supposed to have married Robert. Brandon was strangled by the order of Aerys II Targaryen days before he was supposed to wed Catelyn while Lord Rickard was forced to watch. Once there, Eddard and Robert walk to the end of the rows of graves to where Eddard's father, Lord Rickard, his elder brother, Brandon, and his sister, Lyanna, are buried. Cersei begins to protest, but Jaime stops her. With the greetings out of the way, Robert immediately demands to go down to the crypts to pay his respects. Robert greets Eddard and Catelyn warmly, and Eddard greets Queen Cersei and her children 3 as well. Eddard has not seen the king since Greyjoy's Rebellion nine years ago, when Eddard and Robert joined forces to deal with Balon Greyjoy, who proclaimed himself king of the Iron Islands, and Eddard took Balon's son, Theon as his ward.
Eddard recognizes Ser Jaime Lannister, Sandor Clegane, and Tyrion Lannister immediately, but the king himself, flanked by two knights of the Kingsguard 2 looks practically a stranger.
The King's party, three hundred strong, 1 arrives at Winterfell beneath the crowned stag of House Baratheon.