Source: buzzfeed
This season on Game of Thrones, Jon Snow experienced possibly the greatest character development ever. He started the season dead and ended it as King in the North. This was a huge season for Jon (and Jon fans); after years of relatively bad luck (and you know, being murdered), Jon left the isolated Night’s Watch to help his sister Sansa take back Winterfell from the despicable Ramsay Bolton…and they succeeded.
At the beginning of the season, after Jon was resurrected, I kept expecting to be shown the real reason for why he was brought back and why he had to die in the first place. Did his rebirth activated his Targaryen gene? Could he survive fire now, too? Was his death necessary for him to fulfill the “Prince who was Promised” prophecy? Are we supposed to see Jon as a Jesus-like character, who was resurrected to fulfill his true purpose after being betrayed?
We still don’t know. What we do know is, he’s not tied down by the Watch anymore, he’s retaken Winterfell and is King in the North, and we finally found out who his mother is. The widely popular fan theory R+L=J turned out to be true! Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen are Jon Snow’s parents. Ned Stark pretended to be his father to protect baby Jon from the wrath of Robert Baratheon. If Rheagar and Lyanna were secretly married before he was born, Jon would no longer be a bastard, and have just as strong a claim for the Iron Throne as Daenerys. The setback here is only Bran knows the truth…so we have no idea how this revelation will affect his story going forward.
It’s important to remember though, that Jon has risen from bastard, to Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, to King in the North without an important name. The game of thrones is all about these important names fighting for the crown, yet here we have Jon, who’s last name is Snow, in this extremely powerful position. Remember when Daenerys told Tyrion she wanted to “break the wheel”? In a way, I think Jon has done it. He’s made great allies who have helped him get where he is, but he’s the one that’s risen from no one. He’s humble, honorable, bold, and good hearted. All he needs are some advisors who know how to play the game, and he could finally bring Westeros some peace and prosperity (assuming he beats the White Walkers first).
