Jon Snow was apparently written to be the hero of Game of Thrones, but he ended his days dividing fans everywhere. Upstanding, honest, and a fine warrior, he was raised as a bastard in House Stark, while in fact – secretly – he was the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. This is an irony that triggers discussions to this day and that will be addressed in the Snow series if he leaves the paper. And if it depends on House of the Dragon, Westeros is far from tranquility with a Stark as king, after all, Aegon I’s dream predicted that it was ‘necessary’ to have a Targaryen on the throne, and now there is no more throne, and the only Targaryen is exiled beyond the Wall. We will get there.

Actor Kit Harington, who will return to live as Jon, is who he knows best today, at least in the series version (in the book, it is quite different). He commented on where we said goodbye to him, a man broken and turning Queenslayer (as well as Kinslayer) out of love for the Starks. “At the end of the show, when we find him in that cell, he’s getting ready to be beheaded, and he wants to be. He’s finished. The fact that he goes to the Wall is the greatest gift and also the greatest curse,” he said at the GOT fan convention. “I think we wanted some kind of smile that things are okay. He’s not well,” he added.

Jon’s true identity is crucial to the Game of Thrones story and is still the biggest secret in the books. It was the love of his parents – Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark – that destabilized the realm that had barely held up under the madness of Aerys, the Mad King. As they fled, no one knew what had happened and it was soon believed that Rhaegar, a married man, father of two, and heir to the throne, had kidnapped Lyanna out of vanity. There was never time for them to explain that he had annulled their first marriage and that he and Lyanna had officially and blessedly made a union. Robert Baratheon, Lyanna’s fiance, started the rebellion that would take the life and the throne of the Targaryens, including killing Rhaegar. Lyanna’s father and brother were also killed because of the ‘misunderstanding’, as well as Rhaegar’s first wife and two children were also murdered. So when Ned Stark became one of the few to know the truth, it’s no surprise that he kept the secret, as Lyanna asked on her deathbed.

Were it not for Bran Stark’s ability and curiosity to wander through time, perhaps the truth would never come out. It was only released – quickly and at the worst of times – 25 years later, when the kingdom of the Baratheons (or rather, the Lannisters) was tottering and Daenerys Targaryen had returned to Westeros with three dragons, precisely to recover her family’s crown. Jon quickly understood the adage “Be careful what you wish for”. He just wanted to know who his mother was, but ended up repeating the effect of his origin on the lives of people he loved. In other words, he brought death with him.

The ending shown in the Game of Thrones series made the whole love story between Rhaegar and Lyanna one of the most inconsequential and inexplicable of the entire saga, something that the House of the Dragon tries to recover and even rewrite. It was said that Rhaegar “was obsessed with the prophecy of the Prince Who Was Promised”, a long story about the struggle between Life and Death that would have happened thousands of years before the arrival of the Targaryens in Westeros, but it seems strange that 1) he was obsessed with that and 2) had seen in Lyanna the answer to the prophecy. As the prophecy was altered along the way to accommodate the changes in history, the romance that united Fire and Ice was one of the biggest disgraces of the entire franchise.

Summing up the prophecy, it would only be the Prince Who Was Promised who would defeat the Night King so Jon Snow’s arc seemed to be that of the savior of the world, perhaps sacrificing the love of his life to help humanity. Unfortunately, to revert expectations, it wasn’t the ending we got, although by leading the living in the fight against the dead, Jon has effectively fulfilled part of his role. Ultimately, Daenerys understood that the prophecy was genderless and that she was the Princess Bride, but it was Arya who flew to kill the Night King. Everything seemed irrelevant: prophecies, secrets, or ambitions.

I’ve already reviewed Jon’s journey and his reluctance to take the responsibility that was his for Blood. He certainly saw himself as upstanding, but his lack of pulse hastened the realm’s destruction and his belated choice to defend the Starks ahead of the Targaryens. And end his days exiled, isolated, and defamed.

The discovery of Jon’s parentage in Game of Thrones only really flipped the narrative about Ned Stark. The man who always chose Duty over Love, who didn’t lie even when his life was on the line, spent a lifetime with the most devastating secret in history kept just for himself. Everything Ned said or didn’t say gained perspective, including his judgment of Jaime Lannister. Ned knew the secrets and what you did for love.

Jon forgave his uncle/father, who, in his view, made a moral and personal sacrifice out of love for him, without ever failing. Ned had promised to reveal the truth the last time they were together, and that was all Jon needed to know: Ned never broke his promises and had promised to tell the truth. All of this weighs heavily on how we look at Jon or Aegon Targaryen. It was exciting to hear him confess to Stannis that his biggest dream was to be Jon Stark, and it was equally amazing to hear him tell Daenerys that his real name was Aegon Targaryen. And in the end, he followed Jon Snow.

There wasn’t enough time for Jon to understand the slightest bit of what it meant to be a Targaryen. He is the only one who can still continue the House, which would be extinct with Daenerys (since he could no longer have children). But Kit Harington himself analyzes that he does not see himself as a prince or heir and is not worthy of being a Stark; he follows as a northern bastard. Honestly? Tragic and very sad.

With the Prophecy of Blood and Ice that became known in House of the Dragon, Jon’s entire existence gains another scenario and potential development. When Viserys gives Rhaenyra the Catspaw dagger (later vital in the attempted assassination of Bran Stark in the first season of Game of Thrones and the weapon that destroys the Night King), he explains the importance of one of Aegon I’s dreams, or the A Song of Ice and Fire prophecy that completes the Prince Who Was Promised. According to him, Aegon knew of the threat of the White Walkers, prompting him to conquer Westeros and unite the country to prepare for the invasion. The only way to win would be with a Targaryen, Aegon, on the throne. There is no room for questioning ‘translations’ or machismo: the need to be an Aegon sparked the Dance of the Dragons and, centuries later, Robert’s Rebellion, but his questioning led to the War of the Queens and no Targaryens on the throne. The Night King has been defeated, but is the war really over?

Rhaegar’s obsession makes sense again with the secret explained in House of the Dragon. The responsibility was passed on to all direct heirs, and it also confirms that the knowledge somehow affected Aerys’ sanity. Knowing that it was his responsibility as well as his son’s, Rhaegar was able to go further and decipher that it needed to be a union of Fire and Ice equally; that’s why he and Lyanna were a meeting of souls. Effectively, to justify Jon’s integrity in his aversion to politics, the prophecy was never about ruling, but about protecting Westeros.

It is suspected that the conclusion of the books led to another Civil War between the Targaryens, with Daenerys disputing the Iron Throne with her nephew. Actually, nephews. In the book, it is not known if Jon is a Targaryen, but Rhaegar’s other son would have survived, and like Griff, he was already dreaming of restoring the Targaryens to command. In the series, there was no Griff, and Daenerys went crazy, avenging her friends’ deaths and Jon’s separation by destroying King’s Landing. While Griff may be a usurper, there would be a reissue of the Dance of Dragons, something that was lost.

The importance of Jon defining his lineage is both urgent and dangerous for Bran, the king-elect. As a Stark who can’t even have children, he still leaves the Crown of Westeros vulnerable. He very much wanted to have a more dignified conclusion to Aegon Targaryen IV, or Jon Snow. Drogon is loose, and Westeros will hardly be at peace. Even exiled in Snow, Jon will have to deal with much more than a guilty conscience; he will need to become the man he was born to be. Too many people lost their lives for him to be a Targaryen, a sacrifice that needs to regain its relevance. Jon is a Targaryen. Moreover, he is the most important of all lineages. His mission is not over yet.

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