WARNING: Er, this actually only has a few mid-season spoilers. Season 6, Episode 5.
Alright, guys. This could be it. This could finally be the moment when Game of Thrones addresses R+L=J, which if you somehow escaped all possible fan theories is the idea that Jon Snow is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.
It’s been the longest-running Game of Thrones theory since the start, and at this point is basically canon. If it turns out that Ned Stark actually *is* Jon’s father, then there’s going to be a fucking riot.
But it looks like Episode 10, ‘The Winds of Winter‘ (which those of you playing along at home will recognise is the same title as George R. R. Martin‘s long-awaited six book), will finally, finally get down to it.
Let’s look at the evidence:
1. Bran Stark is back.
When we last left Bran, he was in the company of his kinda-dead-but-not-quite uncle Benjen Stark. He has also now the Three Eyed Raven, and therefore partial to all the Three Eyed Raven’s knowledge. And when we last left his proper trip down memory lane, he was watching a young Ned Stark enter the Tower of Joy, where Lyanna Stark was kept during the war.
2. Robert Aramayo, who plays young Ned, is back.
Here he is, listed in the IMDb credits:
This takes some assumption that he’ll be back in a big way, and not some measly two-second clip, but that’s an assumption we’re willing to make.
3. Lyanna Stark is *not* listed in the cast, but that makes perfect sense.
After everyone guessed that Benjen Stark was returning thanks to actor Joseph Mawle appearing on (and then swiftly disappearing from) the cast list, there’s just no way producers would fuck it up again.
4. It would be a real nice way to leave things.
Season 5 ended with Jon Snow’s lifeless body, which was an unbelievably cruel thing to do, and meant that Kit Harrington‘s hair warranted more discussion than even a mane that glorious ever should.
With the way things are looking up for Season 7 – Daenerys crossing the Narrow Sea, Jon & Sansa back in Winterfell, King’s Landing under the thumb of the High Sparrow and Cersei ready to burn the motherfucker to the ground – it would be a nice game-changer to test out where Winterfell stands in all this.
If Jon Snow really is the son of a Targaryen and a Stark, it would put the North in decent stead to side with Daenerys and Tyrion Lannister and take the Seven Kingdoms for their own.
Plus, they wouldn’t have to keep Robert Aramayo (Young Ned) on the books for another season. Cha-ching!
Time will tell. Feel free to sledge / correct / out-nerd me in the comments. In the meantime, here’s the trailer for the season finale below:
Photo: HBO.
