[dropcap size=small]G[/dropcap]reetings fellow Westerosis and welcome to the grave of the biggest of the fan theories. We are today going to learn why the resurrection of the recently deceased Jon Snow in the wildly popular Epic Fantasy TV Show “Game of Thrones” is inconsequential to the overall story line. I understand that right now you want to pull a Liam Neeson on me, but hear me out patiently and I assure you, your opinions about my opinions are going to change drastically.
First, A little context: I don’t want to want to walk y’all through the entire story development over the 5 seasons, that’s what IMDB is for, so we will start by gathering some facts and widely accepted notions regarding Jon Snow.
1: Jon Snow is an illegitimate offspring, raised in Winterfell as a ward of Lord Eddard Stark, the disgraced former Warden of The North.
2: Jon Snow was never loved by Lord Eddard’s wife, The Lady of Winterfell, Catelyn Stark, because she believed that he was a token of her shame. For the brief moments she did care for him, were the moments Jon, still very young, was on the brink of death due to some deadly disease.
3: Upon reaching maturity, Jon Snow decided to join the Night’s Watch, a group of warriors sworn to keep watch on The Wall and protect the Realms of Men from the dangers that lie beyond; which constitutes just about everything beyond The Wall.
4: While serving at The Wall, Jon Snow lost his uncle Benjen Stark, another sworn brother of the Night’s Watch, earned himself a Valerian Steel Sword by protecting his Lord Commander from a Wight, joined a ranging party with him, got captured by a wildling, fell in love with a wilding, betrayed the wildlings and successfully defended The Wall against a wildling onslaught.
Benjen Stark
5: In this process however, he earned himself a debt to Stannis Baratheon, who urged him to recapture Winterfell which fell in the hands of the Boltons, after both the heirs to Winterfell had fallen. He persistently refused.
Stannis Baratheon and Ser Daavos Seaworth after smashing Mance Rayder’s army
6: He dies.
That’s all the concrete information about this self-righteous pretender. I know he is one of the most beloved characters in the show, and probably that’s why he had to die. He is still a pretender though, if only unknowingly. Apart from being quite a cute, skilled swordsman he is subject of a large number of fan theories, which ultimately boil down to the assumption that Jon Snow is actually Jon Targaryen. Now, all this speculation is based on whiffs of hints spread out through the show and the books, but nobody ever counter-checked them. That’s what I am going to do now.
The Theory: Jon Snow was the result of consensual coitus between Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targeryen and taken by Ned Stark under his wing because Lyanna was his sister and he was her legacy. Also she asked him to promise something.
Lyanna and Rhaegar
The Counter-Theory: Instead of speculation, it can be proven for a fact that Jon Snow cannot be a Targaryen, simply using the 6 concrete facts I mentioned already. Prepare to be blown away.
[button color=”red” size=”normal” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]Jon Snow fell sick[/button]
Never thought about it that way huh? [highlight ]No matter how twisted and inhibited their minds are, you have to agree the vitality of the Targeryans is unmatched. They are simply indestructible by the maladies that plague the human body.[/highlight] Even long after they lost their magical counterparts (Dragons), they are still Dragons in human flesh. Anybody who has read the books thoroughly would understand that Danaerys has time and again mentioned that she had never fallen sick, and later she interprets that is because the strength of her blood. [highlight ]Jon Snow on the other hand almost died in Winterfell.[/highlight]
[button color=”blue” size=”normal” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]Jon Snow got burned[/button]
If you thought the first argument was simply consequential, think about this. [highlight ]It is an established fact that a true Targaryan cannot be hurt by fire, just like fire can’t hurt the dragon. If you think back just a little, to the little incident between the Wight and Lord Commander Mormont, Jon Snow grabbed an oil lamp and burned his hand, before using it to light up the Wight and finally subdue it.[/highlight] Danny on the other hand, survived sitting in the middle of Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre. Another argument that may now arise is if no Targeryan can be hurt by fire, why did Viserys die when Khal Drogo poured a pot of melted gold on his head? Which brings me to my final argument.
[button color=”grey” size=”normal” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]He is not that important[/button]
[highlight ]He is not even a true Targaryen! Even if Rhaegar’s blood flows through his body, he does not possess any of the qualities of a Dragon.[/highlight] So all those crazy people going on and on about Jon Snow sharing dragons with Dany, that is SO not going to happen. Another ridiculous argument I hear from fan theorists is that the book series is titled “A Song of Ice and Fire”, so Ice and Fire ought to unite at some point, I say this: Ice is not a symbol for a house. Ice is the symbol of death; most probably the White Walkers; just like Fire is the symbol of vitality and lust. These are philosophical metaphors. About him returning as Azor Ahai reborn, can you quote at least one example where a character has its importance upjumped unreasonably and suddenly after season 1?
[button color=”green” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]Why am I inclined to think he won’t return?[/button]
A lot of people have their qualms about how many questions and potential plots will be left uncompleted if Jon Snow exits the scene. To them all I say is this: this is not a Lord of The Rings movie kid, it’s not meant to end at a happy note. [highlight ]Be it the show or the books, the one thing that I have learned is that death is the most powerful force in this world. Deaths have catalyzed almost every major event in the storyline.[/highlight] The death of The Mad King sets the stage, the death of Robert Baratheon begins the downward spiral into chaos, the death of Eddard Stark resulted in the most intense and morbid sequence in the show, and so on. So maybe Jon’s death would mean something in the bigger picture. Maybe the Wildlings will avenge their former comrade, and distract the already under-resourced Watch from a White Walker assault, thus beginning the most gruesome and deadly wars in the recent history of Westeros, in which only the strongest will survive. As for discovering who Jon’s parents were, you guys never even bothered to know who Podrick Payne‘s parents were.
Update: No hopes of Jon coming back as costar Maisie Williams speaks out….
