Howland Reed is either the ultimate fucking red herring or some kind of fucking deus ex ultima at this point. He was a skinny dirty crannogman that somehow bested the best of knights, and was instrumental in beating the cream of the kingsguard at the Tower of Joy, AND he's the only person left who knows who Jon really is. The guy could be the ultimate Fuck You for GRRM to forget about/kill offscreen or introduce randomly in chapter 80 of book 25 to explain fucking everything.
I have ZERO delusions that any Tower of Joy flashback on the show would illuminate anything for us. Not before the shit is spelled out in the books. Because I don't think GRRM himself has even fully decided what went down. I think it'd go more like the Maggie the Frog we got this season, as a setting the tone sort of thing to bookend the season but with no new information. I'd guess we'd get flashes of it, at beast. Blueballs all around.
One thing I learned about the process - I believe it was from Lost, or maybe stories about Star Wars production or King's musings about the Dark Tower - is that these motherfuckers don't really have a grand plan all outlined out. They pull shit from ass just like Jupter's cock.I learned thatwriters do as much speculation as we do.There are plenty of examples of writers admitting as much. Nothing is set in stone - and all our speculation probably just gives GRRM obvious solutions to try to avoid. He's probably revised WoW 250 times trying to avoid fan theories that turned out to be correct.
My point of all of this is - I think Howland Reed and the Tower of Joy was supposed to be some big reveal much earlier in the story. He's the only fucker left alive who knows what went down. But I think GRRM ditched that plotline and dumped him in the SS Minnow with the rest, like the tv show, because he wants to hold on to that secret a bit longer. I think we figured it out, and he had to change it/delay the reveal to throw us off.
But holy shit, what a scene that could make. I'd give my left nut to see Arthur Dayne and his greatsword portrayed well on screen. Action scenes have been a bit hit or miss, and we're talking a fight involving what, 10 people? 7 vs 3? Pretty fucking hard to do well without weeks of choreography. Plus they'd have to bring Sean Bean back, heh. An epic 7 on 3 badasses fight could be goddamn amazing, or it could be.. uh.. Bron vs the sand snakes. It's all in how how much time they put into it.
A more likely scenario is they skip the action and cut to the bodies. Meh. But still, they fucking have to give us Reed at some point, right? He's the only motherfucker left that knows the truth. Surely the story isn't just going to forget about him. If he doesn't show up in the books or show - what the hell, right? People think he may be one character or another but nothing seems to fit.
Winds of WInter, before the tv show, please?