Prince Duncan met and became smitten with the mysterious woman known only as Jenny of Oldstones (a witch, some say), and took her for his wife in defiance of his father the king.

The love between Jenny of Oldstones ("with flowers in her hair") and Duncan, Prince of Dragonflies, is beloved of singers, storytellers, and young maids even to this day, -TWOIAF, The Stormlands: House Baratheon

In this post my goal is to explore the information we have in the series on not only Jenny's Song, but the character Jenny of Oldstones as well.

Jenny of Oldstones

Oldstones

Oldstones is the name given by the smallfolk to a ruined castle in the northern riverlands.

"Oldstones, all the smallfolk called it when I was a girl, but no doubt it had some other name when it was still a hall of kings."

and:

Robb studied the sepulcher. "Whose grave is this?"

"Here lies Tristifer, the Fourth of His Name, King of the Rivers and the Hills." Her father had told her his story once. "He ruled from the Trident to the Neck, thousands of years before Jenny and her prince, in the days when the kingdoms of the First Men were falling one after the other before the onslaught of the Andals. The Hammer of Justice, they called him. He fought a hundred battles and won nine-and-ninety, or so the singers say, and when he raised this castle it was the strongest in Westeros." She put a hand on her son's shoulder. "He died in his hundredth battle, when seven Andal kings joined forces against him. The fifth Tristifer was not his equal, and soon the kingdom was lost, and then the castle, and last of all the line. With Tristifer the Fifth died House Mudd, that had ruled the riverlands for a thousand years before the Andals came."-ASOS, Catelyn V

If interested: Extinct Houses of Ice and Fire Part I

The Tullys camped there previously and we see Cat played as Jenny with Littlefinger

She had camped here once with her father, on their way to Seagard. Petyr was with us too . . .

"There's a song," he remembered. "'Jenny of Oldstones, with the flowers in her hair.'"

"We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky." She had played at being Jenny that day, had even wound flowers in her hair. And Petyr had pretended to be her Prince of Dragonflies. Catelyn could not have been more than twelve, Petyr just a boy.

Jenny's Background

Considered strange/loevely and mysterious or alternatively half-mad:

Duncan became enamored of a strange, lovely, and mysterious girl who called herself Jenny of Oldstones in 239 AC, whilst traveling in the riverlands. Though she dwelt half-wild amidst ruins and claimed descent from the long- vanished kings of the First Men, the smallfolk of surrounding villages mocked such tales, insisting that she was only some half-mad peasant girl, and perhaps even a witch. -TWOIAF, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V

Duncan foreswore his claim to throne for her:

Even when the High Septon, Grand Maester, and small council joined together to insist King Aegon force his son to choose between the Iron Throne and this wild woman of the woods, Duncan would not budge. Rather than give up Jenny, he foreswore his claim to the crown in favor of his brother Jaehaerys, and abdicated as Prince of Dragonstone.

Eventually accepted at court:

Jenny of Oldstones—Lady Jenny, as she was called by courtesy—was eventually accepted at court, and throughout the Seven Kingdoms the smallfolk held her especially dear. She and her prince, forever after known as the Prince of Dragonflies, were a favorite subject of singers for many years.

Brought the Ghost of High Heart with her:

Jenny of Oldstones was accompanied to court by a dwarfish, albino woman who was reputed to be a woods witch in the riverlands. Lady Jenny herself claimed, in her ignorance, that she was a child of the forest-TWOIAF, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V

The Ghost of High Heart

Proclaimed that the prince that was promised would come from Aerys/Rhaella's line:

Jaehaerys and Shaera would have two children, Aerys and Rhaella. On the word of Jenny of Oldstone's woods witch, Prince Jaehaerys determined to wed Aerys to Rhaella, or so the accounts from his court tell us. King Aegon washed his hands of it in frustration, letting the prince have his way. -TWOIAF, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V

If interested: Comparing Visions: Melisandre and the Ghost of High Heart

She still wants to keep hearing the song:

And so Lem woke Tom Sevenstrings beneath his furs, and brought him yawning to the fireside with his woodharp in hand. "The same song as before?" he asked.

"Oh, aye. My Jenny's song. Is there another?"

And so he sang, and the dwarf woman closed her eyes and rocked slowly back and forth, murmuring the words and crying. Thoros took Arya firmly by the hand and drew her aside. "Let her savor her song in peace," he said. "It is all she has left." -ASOS, Arya VIII

If interested: Woods Witches of Ice and Fire

Summerhall

While we get no actual info on Jenny's fate, Barristan seems to (wrongly) believe that the Ghost of High Heart died in the Tragedy at Summerhall:

Why did they wed if they did not love each other?"

"Your grandsire commanded it. A woods witch had told him that the prince was promised would be born of their line."

"A woods witch?" Dany was astonished.

"She came to court with Jenny of Oldstones. A stunted thing, grotesque to look upon. A dwarf, most people said, though dear to Lady Jenny, who always claimed that she was one of the children of the forest."

"What became of her?"

"Summerhall." The word was fraught with doom. -ADWD, Daenerys IV

If interested: The Leadup to the Tragedy of Summerhall

As we see the Ghost of High Heart "gorged on grief" at Summerhall:

The dwarf woman studied her with dim red eyes. "I see you," she whispered. "I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death . . ." She began to sob, her little body shaking. "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!" -ASOS, Arya VIII

If interested: Arya and the Ghost of High Heart

The Lyrics

Currently the only line in the song that we know is from the ASOS, Epilogue when Merrett is about to be executed at Oldstones:

Fallen leaves lay thick upon the ground, like soldiers after some great slaughter. A man in patched, faded greens was sitting crosslegged atop a weathered stone sepulcher, fingering the strings of a woodharp. The music was soft and sad. Merrett knew the song. High in the halls of the kings who are gone, Jenny would dance with her ghosts . . . -ASOS, Epilogue

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That's it. That is all the confirmed lyrics of the song so far for the book series.

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And while the show has expanded the lyrics (performed by Florence and the Machine but written by D&D, GRRM and RD), this is what GRRM had to say (20 years ago) about the lyrics of the song in the book series:

[Summary: Lommy compliments GRRM on A Storm of Swords and asks what the chances are at getting a look at the lyrics to the song about Jenny of Oldstones.]

GRRM: The chances are not good.

I did write a few verses, but they were cut. I wanted that particular song to be very haunting and evocative, and I don't think I quite achieved that. SSM, Jenny of Oldstones' Song: 9 August 2000

But from a few things we know about the song we do know of other subject matter:

• Duncan the Small aka the Prince of Dragonflies is mentioned

If the Eyrie had been made like other castles, only rats and gaolers would have heard the dead man singing. Dungeon walls were thick enough to swallow songs and screams alike. But the sky cells had a wall of empty air, so every chord the dead man played flew free to echo off the stony shoulders of the Giant's Lance. And the songs he chose . . . He sang of the Dance of the Dragons, of fair Jonquil and her fool, of Jenny of Oldstones and the Prince of Dragonflies. He sang of betrayals, and murders most foul, of hanged men and bloody vengeance. He sang of grief and sadness. -AFFC, Sansa I

• She has flowers in her hair

Prince Duncan met and became smitten with the mysterious woman known only as Jenny of Oldstones (a witch, some say), and took her for his wife in defiance of his father the king.

The love between Jenny of Oldstones ("with flowers in her hair") and Duncan, Prince of Dragonflies, is beloved of singers, storytellers, and young maids even to this day, -TWOIAF, The Stormlands: House Baratheon

Thoughts

Since we only have the one line of the song, its really hard to theorize about as compared to other songs such as: The Seasons of My Love or The Day They Hanged Black Robin .

That said a few things should be noted:

The "Hall of Kings" and Ghosts

High in the halls of the kings who are gone, Jenny would dance with her ghosts

• This could refer to either Oldstones or Summerhall, as Jenny claims to be descendants of "First Men Kings" and Oldstones is considered "the hall of kings" (so is Harrenhal), and Summerhall is a Targaryen palace where the tragedy took place

High in the halls of the kings who are gone, Jenny would dance with her ghosts

• The same is with the ghosts, are the ghost those at Oldstones or at Summerhall

Duncan's Appearance

If Duncan appears in the song (which is likely), than if he is one of the "ghosts", that could imply Jenny is still alive (dancing with her ghost) when the song was written.

Also if interested: A Dragonfly Among the Reeds - Is Howland Reed the Grandson of Duncan the Small? - General (ASoIaF) - A Forum of Ice and Fire

Who Wrote the Song?

Singers, storytellers, etc. seem to love this story, so it is unknown who wrote it, but we do hear Tom o' Sevens playing it, as well as Marillion and numerous characters recognize it. While there are some counterpoints, its quite possible that Rhaegar wrote the song (he spent a ton of time at Summerhall) and constantly played sad songs on the harp.

The Winds of Winter, Prologue

Since we have a singer traveling with Ser Forley Prester's party to the Westerlands, its possible we get some info on the song from Whitesmile Wat. He could even be the POV.

The Ghost of High Heart/Jenny

Barristan just assumes the GoHH is dead, which would make sense (although Tyrion is aware of an albino dwarf that lives on a hill in the riverlands), but we get no confirmation of Jenny's fate outside of the ambiguousness of the GoHH's sadness (gorged on grief at summerhall).

Barristan compares a few different historic couples here:

Better for Daenerys, and for Westeros. Daenerys Targaryen loved her captain, but that was the girl in her, not the queen. Prince Rhaegar loved his Lady Lyanna, and thousands died for it. Daemon Blackfyre loved the first Daenerys, and rose in rebellion when denied her. Bittersteel and Bloodraven both loved Shiera Seastar, and the Seven Kingdoms bled. The Prince of Dragonflies loved Jenny of Oldstones so much he cast aside a crown, and Westeros paid the bride price in corpses. All three of the sons of the fifth Aegon had wed for love, in defiance of their father's wishes. And because that unlikely monarch had himself followed his heart when he chose his queen, he allowed his sons to have their way, making bitter enemies where he might have had fast friends. Treason and turmoil followed, as night follows day, ending at Summerhall in sorcery, fire, and grief. -ADWD, The Kingbreaker

TLDR: A look at the info available on Jenny of Oldstones and the song written about her.