Did this week’s episode of Game of Thrones put a huge spanner in Daenerys‘ claim to the Iron Throne?
In one of the final scenes of ‘Eastwatch‘, Sam and Gilly are seated around a table, surrounded by books.
Although Sam doesn’t understand the significance of it, Gilly stumbles across a record of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen‘s secret annulment and then marriage in Dorne – and it has huge implications for Daenerys’ claim to the throne.
It would mean that Jon Snow, who is the offspring of Rhaegar Targaryn and Lyanna Stark, is not a bastard Targaryn but a legitimate heir. As the son of the prince, he would therefore have a greater claim to the throne than Daenerys herself, who is Rhaegar’s sister (and Jon’s aunt).
This chart released by HBO last year shows the full complex situation – although it should be noted that there is no red ‘married/engaged’ line connecting Rhaegar and Lyanna, because this is brand new information.
It would throw a huge spanner in the works for the shaky alliance that’s being formed between Dany and Jon.
Dany might have dragons, but we’ve seen this week that they seem to like Jon just fine – and Jon wields the north.
And with the return of Jorah Mormont, it’s looking slightly less likely that we’re on a slow-moving train to accidental incest. Probably for the best, really. This show makes us root for the weirdest things.
