‪‪Game of Thrones: Season 8‬‬ The Fate of the King in the North

Yet the most debated question that many fans will continue arguing over is the fate of Jon Snow, a Targaryen in name but ever a Stark in personality. Where will he land when all of these storylines are done? Does he stay in the North, as Ned should have done, and rule from Winterfell as a loyal warden? Does he go to war with Daenerys and claim the Iron Throne as his own? Or do they simply tie the knot and ride off into that proverbial sunset, ruling on high in King’s Landing, a la Aragorn and Arwen in The Return of the King? Technically, historical precedence is on the last and most fan-pleasing conclusion’s side. As we’ve detailed here, Daenerys Targaryen is heavily inspired by Henry VII, the first Tudor King of England who ended the War of the Roses, in part, by marrying his third cousin on the opposing side, Elizabeth of York. The easiest solution to the imminent insecurity Dany will feel upon discovering Jon’s heritage will be to marry him like a good incestuous Targaryen and take him with her to King’s Landing for the inevitable endgame.

However, I do not think Jon’s happy ending lies in King’s Landing, if anywhere. Despite precedence, it is hard to imagine Martin giving Benioff and Weiss the happily ever after ending between Jon and Daenerys. Additionally, season 7 has repeatedly underscored how much of Ned Stark is still in Jon Snow. He lacks a politician’s tact when he bends the knee to Daenerys Targaryen in spite of not needing to, as she already was all in with supporting his fight against the Dead.

He then doubled down and repeated Ned Stark’s foolish error by telling Cersei Lannister the truth. If Ned had not warned Cersei that he knew her children were bastards born of incest, she would not have rushed the death of Robert, and Ned would still have his head. Jon Snow, meanwhile, telling Cersei that he is pledged to Daenerys is the kind of idiocy that reinforces what Tyrion also warned Jon about in season 7: Starks do not fare well whenever they ride south. Jon as King of the Seven Kingdoms will end in the kind of chaos and incompetence that followed Robert getting the Iron Throne after his rebellion, or Ned Stark pursuing Stannis’ claim while not seeing the advantage of using Renly to at least keep Cersei in check.

Nay, I do not think Jon will want to be married to his aunt and live in King’s Landing during a decades-long reconstruction project. So what happens to Jon? I’ve long speculated he will remain King in the North when all is said and done, but I’ve reconsidered this in season 7, because the series has so heavily foreshadowed Jon and Daenerys making a human baby.

Then again, Jon openly questioning whether Dany can get pregnant might suggest the showrunners realize this is fan service plotting, and that it’s not meant to be. I believe Daenerys when she says she is barren, hence why the Khaleesi never got pregnant despite plenty of unintentional trying with Daario. However, Jon Snow is not a normal man, as he is like Dany in that he’s been touched by blood magic, which Melisandre used to resurrect him from the dead. Having a fire wight’s heart, he might be able to give Daenerys something she thought impossible: a child.

Either way, Dany’s arc will be about somewhat putting her family’s history behind her. If all her dragons have died by the end of season 8, yet she has a human baby, she now has a future she previously thought was impossible. The Mother of Dragons will have to give up her mythic mystique and embrace a fleshy reality. But if this does occur why would Jon Snow not ride south and be miserable in King’s Landing? After being a bastard himself, there’s no way he’d let his own child be raised as one by the Dragon Queen.

Which brings us to my prediction: Jon Snow does not survive season 8. The Bastard of Winterfell will die and still be known to the world as Ned Stark’s son. As Jon told Theon in the season 7 finale, Ned is the Greyjoy’s real father, just as Ned is Jon’s real father too. It doesn’t matter if he has Targaryen blood. Like the rest of his real family, Jon can only bloom in the cold of winter.

I suspect that Jon will not ride with Daenerys, even if she is carrying his child, because he will be one of the first to fall when Euron Greyjoy’s forces descend upon Winterfell. Losing Jon, after likely doubting his loyalty for several episodes, will send Daenerys into a rage and a dark place when she takes her forces to King’s Landing. It will be a darkness that other characters will be forced to save her from (which I’ll get to in the next section). And while Melisandre will also inevitably wind up back in Winterfell, which she teased to Varys in season 7, I do not think she’ll raise Jon Snow again. He does not want it, and his role will have been completed by killing the Night King.

Perhaps he will even die before the Northern lords ever knew he was really part-Targaryen. This would force Sansa to make the affectionate but melancholy choice of not letting anyone know Jon wasn’t an official Stark. After struggling with him as her king, she’ll bury him as Jon Stark in the crypts, next to Ned.

How’s that for your “bittersweet” ending?

Still, since this is all conjecture, I’ll add an alternative scenario. Jon and Daenerys are joined together. He is the icy rose she foresaw in the House of the Undying. Maybe Jon isn’t the one who will have to leave their union. What if Dany is the one to die? It could make sense. They might both live to march on King’s Landing, and maybe she is wounded with her last dragon, going down and dying from her injuries. In this context, it is hard to imagine that she’d have a child, but in classic fantasy lore, the boy king, Jon Snow, has greatness thrust upon him. Despite not wanting to be King of the Seven Kingdoms, after Daenerys dies he’d have no choice but to take the crown.

There is even the long simmering theory that he might also be destined to marry Sansa Stark. In “A Song of Ice and Fire” and the complementary “Dunk and Egg” novella series, it is discreetly hinted that she’ll at least be courted by a Targaryen suitor. However, I personally believe this is referring to a character not on Game of Thrones (an imposter Aegon Targaryen). Nevertheless, I have noted that Benioff and Weiss have definitely played up the iconography and narrative echoes of Jon channeling Ned Stark and Sansa channeling Catelyn. As technical cousins, could they be the Stark couple who choose not to go south? Learning from Ned and Cat’s mistakes?

While this is entirely still possible, I supect the answer is no at this point, that line of uncomfortable thinking seems mooted. Sure, George R.R. Martin’s original outline for “A Song of Ice and Fire” included a romance between Jon and Arya (very gross, indeed), but this bit of ickiness clearly got transferred to Jon and Daenerys. I don’t think there will be two sets of Jon Snow incest pairings, and Jon’s destiny has always been wrapped around Dany’s. In the remote possibility that she dies, Jon will probably rule a lonely Bastard in King’s Landing while Sansa will take Winterfell as his distant wardeness.

But since Jon would just be another Robert/Ned styled level of incompetency, I don’t think this is meant to be. Jon has had his whole life prepare him for martyrdom. Dany has readied hers as one of a philosophical queen. So let her rule begin. Build that better world.