HODOR! Spoilers ahead from the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere, titled "Winterfell."
Jon Snow misses when he knew nuthin.
Game of Thrones fans long suspected Jon Snow was not Ned Stark's biological son. We got confirmation last season. Now, finally, Jon knows the truth too.
And he really wishes he didn't.
If Jon could go back in time and say: ‘Whatever you’re about to say, don’t tell me,’ he would. He’d happily be in ignorance.
So sayeth Kit Harington to EW after the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere, "Winterfell," gave Jon Snow the truth.
Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) wanted Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) to join him in telling Jon his true lineage, but Bran was too busy waiting for his "old friend" Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to turn up. Besides, awkward deadpan Bran is the last person who should deliver difficult news.
So Sam went to the Winterfell crypts and told Jon the truth: He's really the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned Stark (Sean Bean) lied to protect him, per his dying sister's wishes. King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) probably would've killed Jon if he knew Jon was really Aegon Targaryen, heir to the Iron Throne.
Some people might be thrilled to learn they aren't actually "bastards" but instead royalty. But not Jon. He didn't take it well. Maybe he would've taken it differently if he weren't in love with Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), whom he now knows to be his biological aunt. Even without that, though, Jon would likely hate this news.
Jon Snow has never wanted any of the titles thrown at him. Sam rigged the system to get Jon voted Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, which Jon never wanted. Jon didn't exactly run for King in the North, it was thrust upon him. He just wanted to be a ranger like his Uncle Benjen (fat lot of good that ever did Uncle Benjen).
So now he has another title thrown at him, and he doesn't want it. As Kit Harington noted:
That’s the thing I love about Jon, his purity. He doesn’t f—king want it. He doesn’t want that f—king information. He doesn’t want to know. He has no ambition for the throne. He’s never wanted that. The end of the world might be coming soon but at least he’s in love with somebody and knows who he is, and then comes this sledgehammer.
We could see Jon literally stagger back as the implications of what Sam said washed over him. The last words Ned Stark and Jon Snow ever shared were about Jon's mother. Jon had asked if she was still alive, if she knew who he was, if she cared about him. Ned said they next time they saw each other, he would tell Jon about his mother.
That was in Season 1. They never saw each other again.
John Bradley told EW Jon would've taken the news even worse coming from someone other than his trusted BFF/head cheerleader, Sam. But still...
With Jon, he can review his entire life backwards and see everything completely different and in sinister terms even if [withholding his parentage] was done for the right reasons. Everything he’s done seems to have been compromised.
Sam ran to Jon to tell him his true lineage after Dany told Sam the truth about what happened to his father and brother. Her dragons set them on fire because they rebelled and wouldn't bend the knee. So that's part of Sam's current argument against Dany -- that Jon gave up his crown for the good of his people, but would Dany?
My counter-argument would be to stop giving crowns to someone who keeps walking away from them. Jon Snow was stabbed to death by his own brothers of the Night's Watch. When he was revived, he left the Night's Watch. After he was made King in the North, he walked away and let Dany be queen. Take the hint, guys. He doesn't want to rule. Also, he would've been dead twice over at the Battle of the Bastards had Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) not sent that message to Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen). He led his men into a suicide mission and he was saved by outside forces. But he keeps being put in charge of things, bless him.
Frankly, what Dany admitted to doing to House Tarly is not that different from any other ruler. Ned Stark took Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) as a hostage after the Greyjoy rebellion against King Robert. If Balon Greyjoy hadn't bent the knee, Balon would've been killed, and probably Theon too. But for some reason people are hell bent on demonizing Dany for doing the same things everyone else does.
Anyway, Jon Snow now knows he's been shtupping his aunt. Kit Harington previously teased that finding out that truth "would be very hard for him."
We still have to see what he does with that information. Jon is not someone who lies, so it's hard to imagine he would keep this truth from Dany, no matter how much it would shock and hurt her. How will SHE react is the new question. Dany had a rough welcome to the North in the Game of Thrones premiere, and this new intel would hardly make them more likely to embrace her as queen.
However, as Jon keeps trying to point out, there's a bigger problem right now. The Night King and his White Walkers are headed toward Winterfell and they don't really care who is king or queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and Arya (Maisie Williams) are on the right track with their dragonglass weapon work. The battle of Winterfell is comin' and it's going to be rough. Let's see who makes it out alive and then worry about bending the bloody knee.
Game of Thrones Season 8 is the final season, and it has six episodes. The story continues Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO, but only for five more weeks. This time of year, a lot of TV shows are winding down toward their season finale dates, as the summer 2019 shows prepare to entertain us when this long winter is finally over.
