The real Jon Snow

Jon Snow is a fantasy hero – he  goes on adventures, falls in love,   and fights to save the realm. As a bastard,  Jon feels rejected, so he searches for family   and identity. And he struggles to do the  right thing in a morally complicated world.  The first three seasons of the Game of Thrones  TV show are a pretty close adaptation of the   books. But in the later seasons, TV Jon  is a very different character to book Jon.  TV Jon is a badass warrior who fights lots of  bad guys. He’s described as “brave” but “Stupid”,   cause he takes dumb risks. He’s not good at  politics because he’s so stubbornly honest. Actor   Kit Harington says “Jon is not able to lie”. TV  Jon only wants to do the right thing. He doesn’t   want to be a king – he says “I never wanted it”. But in the books, Jon is different. Book Jon   is not a great warrior – he’s more of a smart  politician. Book Jon’s not always honest – he   lies and has secret plans. And he doesn’t just  wanna do the right thing. He’s also tempted by   his desires for honour, revenge, love, and home.  When he gets the chance to rule Winterfell,   he wants it. He thinks “I have always wanted it”. Author George Martin writes about “the human   heart in conflict with itself”. Book Jon  is defined by internal conflict between   his desires and his duty, forcing him to make  tough choices. He constantly faces moral dilemmas   that question what it means to be a hero. But in the later seasons of the TV show,   Jon often has no internal conflict. When  he just wants to do the right thing,   his choices have no moral or emotional cost. And in the show, Jon’s big plot twists go   nowhere. Like, Jon dies then comes back to life  – but death doesn’t much change him, and his   resurrection is barely mentioned again. Jon finds  out he’s a Targaryen, heir to the throne – but Jon   doesn’t want the throne, or to be a Targaryen,  so this also doesn’t change him. Jon is set up   as the prophesied hero who’ll defeat the white  walkers, but in the end, Jon just shouts a dragon   while his sister saves the world. After seasons of  buildup, these twists and reveals feel pointless.  In the books, Jon’s resurrection will transform  him. His Targaryen blood has power. Jon is   deeply connected with prophecy and magic that  will change the world of ice and fire. Jon’s   moral and emotional struggles explore the series’  central themes of power, family and heroism. And   when Jon collides with Daenerys and Tyrion in the  final books – George Martin says it’ll be a very   different ending to the show. So who is the real  Jon Snow in the books, and how will his story end?  Jon Snow grew up at Winterfell with Lord Eddard  Stark, Lady Catelyn, and their children Robb,   Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. But Jon is  different to the other kids because he’s a   bastard – Jon is not Catelyn’s son, he’s the  son of some other woman. And Ned won’t tell   anyone who Jon’s mother is. Some say she was Lady  Ashara Dayne, others say she was a commoner. The   truth is probably that Jon is really the son of  Ned’s sister, Lyanna Stark, with Prince Rhaegar   Targaryen. Ned promised to protect Jon, so he  pretends to be Jon’s father. That’s what was   revealed in the TV show anyway, and there are  lots of hints that this is true in the books as   well. If Jon is Prince Rhaegar’s son, then Jon  is arguably the rightful King of Westeros. But   everyone thinks he’s Ned’s bastard, born outside  marriage – so Jon has the bastard name Snow,   not the trueborn family name Stark. Bastards have  lower social status in Westeros, and are widely   distrusted. So Jon faces prejudice and exclusion. Catelyn feels hurt that Ned cheated on her,   and raised his bastard in their home. So  Cat never accepts Jon – she’s cold to him,   sometimes cruel, making Jon feel that he’s not  part of the family. This is partly for political   reasons – Catelyn wants to make sure that her  son Robb inherits Winterfell, and she worries   that Jon could be a political rival – so Catelyn  makes it clear that Jon is not a true Stark.  Jon even looks different to the Starks. In the  books, Robb Sansa Bran and Rickon have auburn   hair and blue eyes like their mother Catelyn.  But Jon has dark brown hair, and dark grey eyes,   like Ned. So Jon is the black sheep, who doesn’t  fit in. The only kid who looks like Jon is Arya,   and she’s also a misfit cause she’s a rebellious  tomboy. So Jon and Arya are close – Jon musses her   hair and calls her “little sister”. Robb is Jon’s  “best friend” and rival. Jon is kind to Bran and   to young Rickon. Though Sansa is distant with  Jon – she calls him half-brother, not brother.   So Jon loves the Starks, but because he’s the  bastard, feels he’s not part of the family.  In Book 1, Jon is a fourteen year old boy.  He’s quiet, brooding, sometimes “sullen”,   and hot-headed. But he’s empathetic and  open-minded – willing to listen, learn, and grow.  In Chapter 1, the Starks find five direwolf  pups. Direwolves are mystical creatures,   and the symbol of House Stark. Bran wants to  keep the pups, so Jon convinces Ned that the   five pups should belong to the five Stark kids.  Jon excludes himself, says he doesn’t get a wolf,   cause he’s a bastard – Jon sacrifices his  own happiness out of kindness for Bran.  But then, Jon hears a noise that no one else  can hear, so he finds one more direwolf,   apart from the others. It’s an albino with white  fur and red eyes, who he names Ghost. So Ghost   and Jon are both “different” and “apart”  from their families. Ghost’s white fur and   red eyes could be a hint of Jon’s real father  Rhaegar, because Rhaegar also had pale hair,   and wore Targaryen red. But it's strange how  Jon finds Ghost. Cause Jon hears a “noise”,   but we learn that Ghost is always silent, Ghost  never makes a sound, so what noise did Jon hear?   Maybe Jon was influenced by Bloodraven. Bloodraven, or the three-eyed crow,   was once a Targaryen bastard politician. Now he’s  a greenseer, a sorcerer with the magic of the old   gods and the weirwood trees – Bloodraven teaches  Bran magic later on. And throughout the books,   Bloodraven manipulates events from afar, by giving  people dreams, and by controlling animals with   skinchanger or warg magic. Ghost is connected to  this magic – Ghost’s white fur and red eyes look   like the white and red weirwood trees – Jon  thinks that Ghost “belongs to the old gods”   Bloodraven also has white hair and a red eye.  So maybe Bloodraven used the magic of the old   gods to make Jon hear a noise, to make him find  Ghost. Bloodraven might even sent the direwolves’   mother south in the first place. Cause there  are hints that Bloodraven has plans for Jon,   wants to use him to fulfil prophecies to defeat  the white walkers. So Ghost not only symbolises   how Jon is different to his siblings, but  also connects him to mysterious magic.  King Robert comes to Winterfell, but at the  feast, Catelyn seats Jon at the back of the hall,   separate from the family. Jon feels he has  no future at Winterfell. Robb will be the   next Stark lord, his siblings will marry great  houses and rule holdfasts. But as a bastard,   Jon has no inheritance, no home here. So he  tells his uncle Benjen that he wants to join   the Night’s Watch. The Watch is an ancient  brotherhood who guard the Wall in the north.   Jon sees the Watch as his path to honour  and adventure, a chance to prove his worth.  Benjen warns Jon that Watch men serve for  life. They swear to never marry or have kids,   and to “hold no lands” and “wear no crowns” –  Benjen says Jon doesn’t understand the “cost”   of that oath. Some fans think that Benjen knows  that Jon is the son of Prince Rhaegar, and that if   Jon swears the Watch oath, he’d be giving up his  claim to the Throne. Cause Benjen was at Harrenhal   when Rhaegar and Lyanna’s relationship  likely began. Benjen’s grief and guilt   over Lyanna’s death might be why Benjen joined  the Night’s Watch – but that’s just a theory.  Jon feels rejected – he can’t join the Night’s  Watch, he can’t be a Stark, so who is he?  Jon and Arya watch Prince Joffrey and Robb  training at swords. Jon and Arya both want   to join in the training, but Jon’s not allowed  cause he’s a bastard, and Arya’s not allowed   cause she’s a girl. Jon says “Nothing is  fair”. This world discriminates by social   class and gender – it’s unfair that Joffrey  gets more power and privilege, just cause he’s   a prince and Jon’s a bastard. Which is ironic,  because Joffrey is actually Jaime’s bastard,   while Jon is secretly a prince. But the point  is that Jon experiences injustice and prejudice,   and that drives him to make justice later on. Ned is going south, and Catelyn wants Jon gone.   So Ned agrees to send Jon to the Night’s  Watch – though Ned’s voice is “troubled”.   This chapter is from Catelyn’s point of view,  so we don’t get to see Ned’s thoughts here.   If Ned promised to protect Jon… why send  Jon to the Wall? Maybe Ned thinks that Jon   will be safer if he swears the Watch oath  to wear no crowns – cause then Jon can’t   be used in any dangerous political plots. Aemon  Targaryen joined the Watch for similar reasons.  So Jon is leaving Winterfell. He says goodbye  to Bran. And Catelyn is cruel to Jon – she says   she wishes Jon was in a coma instead of Bran. But  Jon tells Robb that Cat was kind to him, so that   Robb doesn’t feel bad – again, Jon sacrifices  his own feelings for the happiness of others.  Jon says goodbye to Arya, and gives her a sword  called Needle. He tells Arya to learn to fight,   in defiance of society’s sexist rules. And  for the rest of the books, Jon and Arya   think about each other often, hoping to reunite. The TV show adds a scene where Ned says goodbye.   Jon asks about his mother, and Ned promises he’ll  tell Jon the next time they meet. Evoking Ned’s   promise to Lyanna. But tragically, Jon and  Ned never see each other again. In the books,   Jon dreams that his mother was beautiful and  kind. He also knows she may have been a whore.   He worries that Ned did something shameful  with his mother – why else would Ned be so   secretive? Jon is haunted by this painful mystery. Jon rides north with Benjen and Tyrion Lannister.   And they’re joined by more recruits for the Watch.  Jon is upset to learn the recruits are criminals,   forced to join the Watch as a punishment. Jon  had thought the Watch was a noble brotherhood of   heroes – but Tyrion says it’s a dumping ground  for outcasts. Robb will inherit Winterfell,   while Jon is abandoned with the rejects. At first, Jon gets angry at Tyrion – Ghost attacks   Tyrion – Jon has several emotional tantrums in the  books – like other Targaryens, Jon has a temper.   But then Jon cools down, and accepts that Tyrion  is right. His life will be hard, it’s not what he   hoped for. But growing up, becoming an adult,  means making the best of an imperfect world.  Tyrion tells Jon to be proud of his  bastard identity – to use it as a   strength. And Jon asks Tyrion to help Bran. The bastard and the dwarf form an unlikely   friendship, which could be  important in later books.  Jon starts his new life at Castle Black, and  it sucks. Jon wants adventure beyond the Wall,   but he’s put into training, under the cruel  Alliser Thorne – Alliser calls Jon “Lord Snow”,   as a mocking nickname. Jon easily beats  the other recruits at sword practice,   cause Jon’s had proper training – so the boys  hate Jon. Jon is cold and alone on the Wall,   feeling sorry for himself, until the smith  Donal Noye gives Jon advice. He says Jon is   not the victim here – Jon may think his  life sucks, but Jon grew up in a castle,   the son of a great lord. Most Watch recruits  are peasants who’ve suffered way more than Jon   has. When Jon beats the other boys, he’s being a  privileged arrogant bully. Jon listens to Donal,   and starts to show empathy. He makes friends  with Grenn and Pyp, and he teaches the recruits   to fight better. Though Alliser gets angry at  Jon for undermining his authority. When Jon   stands up to Alliser, he makes a bitter, lasting  enemy. It’s kinda ironic that Alliser hates Jon,   ’cause in Robert’s Rebellion, Alliser fought for  the Targaryens – and Jon is secretly a Targaryen.  Samwell Tarly arrives. Sam is fat, and scared, and  useless at fighting, so Alliser has Sam beaten.   Jon has sympathy for misfits, like Tyrion and Arya  and himself, so Jon protects Sam. Using persuasion   and threats, Jon convinces all the recruits to  not hurt Sam. So Jon becomes a leader, someone who   brings people together to protect the vulnerable. Jon is frustrated by Sam’s weakness. But he   listens and tries to understand Sam. Jon looks  past Sam’s flaws, and sees his strengths – that   Sam is smart and good with books. So Jon asks for  Sam to become Maester Aemon’s steward, arguing   that the world needs the unique talents of all  different people. Jon makes change to empower the   vulnerable. The TV show doesn’t include this bit.  TV Jon is not as interested in change and justice,   which makes him a more passive character. Book  Jon has political values and a vision for change,   which gives him a reason to want power. Jon graduates to become a full brother of   the Watch. Jon wants to be a ranger, to patrol  beyond the Wall. But he’s made a steward,   a servant for Commander Jeor Mormont. At first,  Jon is angry, says he’s too good to be a mere   steward. But Sam says Jeor will teach Jon to lead,  will groom him for command. So again Jon listens,   puts aside his childish arrogance,  and accepts his new responsibilities.  Jon swears his Night’s Watch oath at a weirwood  tree, sacred to the old gods – he feels connected   to the gods of the Starks and the north. He  swears to take no wife, no lands, no children,   and no crowns, to be the sword in the dark, the  fire against the cold, the light of the dawn,   to guard the realms of men until his death. The Watch is a motley brotherhood of outcasts   and underdogs. But it becomes Jon’s family.  He still loves the Starks, but he was never   one of them. The Night’s Watch are his brothers. The boys celebrate their graduation with snowball   fights and childish horseplay – they’re  so innocent, unprepared for the dangers   to come. Alliser says that in winter, these  boys will die like flies. Childhood will end,   many will die. ’Cause “The cold winds  are rising”, and “winter is coming”.  Uncle Benjen is missing. He went beyond the Wall  with six men, and hasn’t come back. Ghost finds   two of Benjen’s men dead. Their bodies are pale,  with blue eyes – so Jon fears they were killed by   the Others, or white walkers, the legendary ice  demons from beyond the Wall. Thousands of years   ago, in the Long Night, the walkers attacked with  an army of the dead. And now they are returning.  In the night, Ghost leads Jon to find that one  of the corpses has risen from the dead – it’s   now a wight, a zombie controlled by the white  walkers. So Jon bravely fights the wight,   and kills it with fire. Jon’s hand gets burned  in the fire – cause in the books, Targaryens can   be burned, they’re not all fireproof. And  for the rest of the story Jon flexes his   scarred burned hand – a constant reminder of  the white walker threat. It seems this wight   was trying to kill Commander Jeor. Meanwhile,  the other corpse rises and kills the acting   First Ranger. So the white walkers are targeting  high-ranking officers to weaken the Night’s Watch.  It's interesting that Ghost leads Jon to the  wights. Maybe Bloodraven is influencing Ghost,   leading Jon to face the white walkers. Jon saved Jeor’s life – he proved himself. So   Jeor gives Jon a sword called Longclaw. Longclaw  is a bastard sword – which means it’s bigger   than a normal one-handed sword. And Longclaw is  Valyrian steel, a super sharp blade from Valyria,   the ancient dragonlord empire – which subtly  connects Jon to his Valyrian Targaryen ancestors.  For centuries, Longclaw was held by Jeor’s  family House Mormont, passed down from   father to son. But Jeor’s son Jorah fled the  country. So when Jeor gives the sword to Jon,   he symbolically chooses Jon as his new son.  Jon has mixed feelings about this. Jon had once   dreamed that his father Ned would give him the  Stark family sword. Jon is loyal to Jeor – and Jon   is desperate for a father figure – but he doesn’t  want to replace Ned. He feels torn between the   Watch and the Starks – but he accepts the sword.  And Longclaw gets a new pommel shaped like Ghost.  In the south, Ned is imprisoned by King  Joffrey, and Robb marches south to save him. Jon   desperately wants to help the Starks – but he’s  sworn to stay on the Wall. So what should he do?  Maester Aemon says the reason why Watch  men swear to have no family is “So they   will not love”. Watch men should be focussed on  defending the realm, and if they have families,   that would divide their loyalties, and weaken the  Watch. Aemon says love is “the death of duty”,   so to do his duty, Jon must let  go of his love for the Starks.  Aemon has felt this pain himself, cause Aemon’s a  Targaryen – he’s the great-granduncle of Daenerys   and Rhaegar. And great-great-granduncle of  Jon Snow. When the Targaryens were overthrown   in Robert’s Rebellion, when his family was  slaughtered, Aemon kept his oath on the Wall.  So will Jon stay for his duty, or help the Starks  out of love? Jon wants to do the right thing,   but either choice feels like a betrayal. This is  Jon’s first moral dilemma – a choice where there   is no totally right answer, both options have a  cost. So Jon has to compromise, make sacrifices,   think hard about his values and morality. This  is what Jon’s story is all about – exploring   how to be a hero in a morally complex world. Later, the Lannisters execute Ned. They kill   Jon’s only parent. So then Jon chooses love  – he rides south to help Robb. Jon knows the   punishment for leaving the Watch is death. So  Jon decides he’ll be a fugitive – “friendless,   and damned”. He only hopes to avenge his father  in battle – so that Jon can die like a true Stark.   Jon is as dramatic and naïve as Sansa, in Book  1 – fantasising of a glorious self-sacrifice.  Jon rides south, but his friends go after  him. They remind him of his duty to his   Watch brothers, and bring him back to the Wall. Jeor tells Jon to grow up. There’s no point in   Jon getting himself killed by deserting. Jon  can’t bring Ned back to life, and Jon won’t   make a difference in Robb’s army. The war in  the south is not as important as the war in the   north – cause beyond the Wall, wildlings are  gathering, the walking dead are attacking the   Watch – they are the enemies that matter. Jeor  says Jon belongs on the Wall – because he has   the blood of the Starks, with the magic of the old  gods, and his direwolf. The Watch is his destiny.  Jon reflects that he has “no rights, no  name”, and now no parents. All he has is   his Watch duty. Jon is “troubled” by his loves  and loyalties, but decides he’ll keep his vows.  At the start of Book 1, Jon is an immature  boy, angry at the world for rejecting him. But   Jon listens to Tyrion, Donal, Aemon, and Jeor. He  extends his empathy to the outcasts of the Watch,   and becomes a leader who defends the weak.  A warrior who fights the dead. But being   a hero is complicated. Jon is torn between  his duty to the Watch and his love for the   Starks – can he fight for the greater  good and protect the people he loves?  In Book 2, the Watch rides north. Jeor leads  three hundred men beyond the Wall to find Benjen,   to face the white walkers and to find the  wildlings. Many wildling villages have recently   been abandoned, so Jeor wants to find out where  the wildlings went. They stop at a village called   Whitetree, which has an enormous “monstrous”  weirwood tree. The tree has a jagged mouth   full of human bones, like a sacrifice to the old  gods. The wildlings burn their dead so they don’t   rise again as wights. Above, the mystical  red comet burns, evoking ancient prophecy,   foretelling change and doom. Book 2 has a  growing sense of mystery and dark magic.  Jon once dreamed of adventure beyond the Wall.  But this adventure sucks. They ride through rain,   Jon’s back hurts, the food’s bad – it’s no fun.  He learns that real life is not like a fantasy   story. Life is harder, and more complicated –  sometimes good and evil are not as they seem.  The rangers stop at Craster’s Keep. Craster is a  wildling – and the son of a Night’s Watch man. And   Craster marries his own daughters, has children  of incest, and rules his daughter-wives with   violence and fear. Craster even sacrifices his  baby sons to the white walkers. So Craster is   an evil man. But the Night’s Watch treat him as  an ally – Craster gives them shelter and intel,   so the Watch gives Craster trade, and weapons.  This monster is a “friend” to the Watch.  One of Craster’s daughter-wives, Gilly, begs Jon  for help. She’s pregnant, and she wants Jon to   take her and her baby to safety. Jon wants to help  her, but the Watch won’t protect a wildling girl,   and won’t defy their friend Craster. So Jon feels  ashamed. He had thought that the Night’s Watch   were the good guys, but they won’t help this  innocent girl, and they befriend the monstrous   Craster. Ned taught Jon that it’s wrong to make  alliances with evil men. So Jon questions if the   Night’s Watch is doing the right thing. Jeor says  the Watch’s only purpose is to guard the realm,   not to do justice – that sometimes, you have  to tolerate evil for the greater good. So   Jon wonders if it’s right to compromise  your morals. If you protect the realm,   but tolerate evil, what are you saving? At Craster’s Keep, there’s a bear skull   on display. And Jeor Mormont’s nickname is the  Old Bear. So the bear skull foreshadows Jeor’s   death at Craster’s Keep later on. Jeor learns that the wildling king   Mance Rayder has gathered the wildlings in the  Frostfang mountains. That’s why those villages   were abandoned. So the rangers continue north  to the Fist of the First Men. The Fist is a hill   defended by walls built by the ancient First Men.  It’s a mysterious, powerful, prehistoric place,   like a… fantasy Stonehenge. Ghost acts weird  at the Fist, and he leads Jon to a hidden   package – it’s a bunch of dragonglass blades, and  an old horn, in a Night’s Watch cloak. Weapons   made of dragonglass can kill white walkers. And  this horn might be the Horn of Winter, a legendary   artifact with the power to destroy the Wall.  Someone must’ve put this here to help Jon and   the Watch fight the white walkers, and to keep the  Horn safe. Maybe it was put here by Uncle Benjen.   Or by Coldhands, the mysterious undead servant of  Bloodraven. In the TV show, Benjen is Coldhands,   but in the books Benjen and Coldhands might be  separate characters. It’s confusing. But either   way, Bloodraven could be behind this. Bloodraven  might’ve influenced Ghost to lead Jon here – that   would explain Ghost’s weird behaviour. In the  TV show, Sam randomly finds this package, but   in the books it’s Jon, guided by mystical forces. Qhorin Halfhand arrives. Qhorin is a legendary   ranger – the wildings’ deadliest enemy. He’s  called the Halfhand because he lost some fingers   in battle with wildlings. Qhorin says Mance  plans to attack the realm, and to break the   Wall with magic – using the Horn of Winter.  So Qhorin leads a mission to investigate,   and he chooses Jon to come with him. Because  Qhorin notices that Jon has Ghost, and has the   blood of the Starks, connected to the old gods. So Jon, Qhorin, and his men journey into the   mountains. It’s a harsh land, but Jon  sees beautiful waterfalls, wildflowers,   and ravines – turns out there is beauty in  adventure sometimes. They see wildlings ahead,   so Jon climbs a dangerous mountain trail and  kills a wildling called Orell. Orell is the   first person Jon has ever killed, not including  that zombie. And Orell is a skinchanger who’s   magically connected to his eagle, so when  Orell dies, Orell’s spirit lives on inside   his animal. For the rest of the book, Orell’s  eagle follows Jon, spying on him, wanting revenge.  Jon also faces a wildling named Ygritte. Jon had  been taught that wildlings are all nasty evil   murderers. But Ygritte is a girl with red hair –  she reminds him of Arya. Jon doesn’t want to kill   this girl. So Jon captures her, and they talk,  and she shows him a different perspective on the   world. Like, the Watch says wildlings are invaders  and thieves, but from Ygritte’s perspective,   the southerners stole the wildlings’ land.  Jon thinks he’s from “the north”, but from   Ygritte’s point of view, Jon is from the south,  and she’s from the north. Everything’s relative.   Good and evil can depend on your perspective. Ygritte tells a story about a wildling called   Bael. Bael had a baby with a Stark girl,  and that baby became a Stark king. So   the Starks and the wildlings are related.  They’re family. So why are they enemies?  The story of Bael and the Stark girl also mirrors  the story of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark – Bael took   a blue winter rose from Winterfell, and blue  winter roses were Lyanna’s favourite flower.   Bael and the Stark hid in the Winterfell crypts –  which is a hint that Jon will find out about his   parents in the crypts. Jon has recurring dreams of  the crypts, where he’s searching for his father,   and he knows he has to go down there. Ygritte is a wilding warrior, an enemy of   the Watch. So Jon prepares to kill her. But then  he thinks of Ned. Ned said that when you execute   someone, you should look in their eyes, and hear  their words, to see if they really deserve to die.   When Jon looks in Ygritte’s eyes, he sees no evil.  So Jon follows Ned’s example of justice and mercy.   And he decides to let Ygritte go free. In the TV show, it’s different – Ygritte   escapes from Jon, and he chases her, running and  jumping through the mountains. But in the book,   Jon chooses to spare Ygritte, he makes a moral  decision. He's learning that the world is more   complex than Watch good, and wildlings  bad. People are not just black-and-white.  That night, Jon has a crazy dream. He magically  connects with Ghost, and he sees a weirwood tree   with Bran’s face. Bran connects with Jon and Ghost  from afar through the magic of the old gods, and   he shows Jon a huge wildling army nearby. Then,  Ghost is attacked by Orell’s eagle. When Ghost   returns injured, it proves that Jon’s dream was  real. Qhorin says Jon is a warg, connected to his   wolf. He says magic is returning to the world –  “old powers are waking”, and “the trees have eyes   again”. In the TV show, Qhorin is not interested  in magic or Ghost. The show removes most of the   magic from Jon’s story. But in the books, Jon  is influenced by dreams, magic and prophecies,   leading him towards a mysterious destiny. The Watch men retreat, but wildlings chase   them through the mountains. The men split  up until it’s just Jon and Qhorin left.   Since Qhorin is a famous ranger, he knows that  the wildlings will kill him. But the wildlings   might spare Jon. Qhorin tells Jon to join  the wildlings – to infiltrate the enemy and   find out their plans. Jon doesn’t want to be  a spy. He wanted to become an honourable hero,   not a sneaky traitor. But sometimes a hero has  to sacrifice their honour for the greater good.  When Jon and Qhorin are caught by the wildlings,  Qhorin pretends to be angry at Jon, and attacks   him, and lets Jon kill him. With the Halfhand  dead, the wildlings let Jon live. For now.  So in Book 2, Jon finally gets an adventure beyond  the Wall. But it’s not like expected. Turns out,   the Night’s Watch aren’t all good, cause they  work with Craster and don’t help Gilly. And   the wildlings aren’t all evil – some of them  are cute redheads. Jon has to kill one of his   sworn brothers, and join the enemy, making  him question his loyalties, his morality,   and his identity. He feels he’s lost his Stark  family, and now he’s lost his Watch brothers,   too. So who is he now? It also seems that  he’s a warg, magically connected to his wolf,   and to the old gods, so what is he now? In Book 3, Jon is captive crow,   surrounded by thousands of wildlings.  He meets the wildling king Mance Rayder,   and asks to join their side. In the TV show,  this scene is tense – the wildlings are cold,   and threatening. In the books, it is tense, but  it’s also warm and colourful. Mance plays music   and sings. Tormund tells jokes. We meet Mance’s  pregnant wife, Dalla. And Dalla’s sister Val,   and her lover, all cooking and drinking together.  The wildlings aren’t just threatening, they’re a   family – and family is what Jon has always wanted. The wildlings aren’t all nice – Rattleshirt   threatens to sew a weasel inside Jon’s belly.  The wildling chief Harma Dogshead kills a dog   each fortnight. And there’s Styr, the leader of a  wildling group called the Thenns. In the TV show,   Styr is a scary cannibal who threatens  to eat Olly’s mum. But in the books,   Styr is a more reasonable political leader. The  Thenns are the most technologically advanced and   socially organised wildling culture. They forge  bronze weapons, and have lords and laws. Which is   important later, when Jon tries to integrate the  Thenns into the realm. Wildlings aren’t all the   same – their cultures are unique and colourful. In the TV show, Mance is a just a tough proud   wildling leader. But in the books, Mance  has layers. He’s more smart, charismatic,   and passionate, with a real philosophy to his  motivations. Mance was raised by the Night’s   Watch, but he left to join the wildlings.  Because Mance wants freedom, individuality,   pleasure. He joined the wildlings “for  a place where a kiss was not a crime”,   where “a man could wear any cloak he chose”. The wildlings call themselves the free folk,   cause they don’t kneel to lords or kings.  They do sometimes follow kings like Mance,   but only by choice – they’re always free to  do what they want. Free folk are not divided   into highborn and lowborn, or trueborn and  bastards. And women have more equality,   with spearwives like Ygritte fighting alongside  men. The wildling life is dangerous, but Ygritte   says freedom and pleasure are worth the risk. So compared to the Night’s Watch, those cold   lonely men with no freedom and no families, the  wildling life is way more fun. Free folk society   is more fair than the exploitative class system  of the south. Jon tells Mance that he wants to   join the wildlings because they treat bastards  equally, unlike southerners who discriminate   against bastards. Mance is suspicious of Jon, but  Jon’s knowledge of the Watch is useful – so Mance   lets him join them. Secretly, Jon’s still  loyal to the Watch. But he is tempted by   the wildlings’ freedom, equality, and warmth. Suddenly, Jon is attacked by Orell’s eagle.   Orell’s spirit wants revenge for Jon killing him,  so the eagle tears up Jon’s face. So Jon is left   scarred and haunted by the ghost of the first  man he killed – his violence has consequences.  The wildlings go to the Fist, and  they learn that the Night’s Watch   were attacked here by white walkers. In this  battle, hundreds of Watch men were killed.   And then Commander Jeor is killed in a mutiny. So with the Watch scattered, now’s a good time   for the wildlings to attack. Mance sends Styr  and Ygritte and Jon and a hundred wildlings to   climb the Wall and attack Castle Black. Mance  says if Jon is disloyal, cut out his heart.  Ygritte helps Jon be accepted by the wildlings.  She’s grateful that Jon spared her life. She   also has a big crush on Jon, and wants to  have sex with him. Jon is reluctant – cause   Watch men aren’t meant to have sex. And Jon  has always been determined to never father a   bastard. As a bastard, Jon suffered prejudice  all his life, so he doesn’t wanna get Ygritte   pregnant and bring another bastard into the  world. But Tormund reminds Jon that wildlings   don’t discriminate. They’re free to have sex and  have kids with whoever they want, without shame.  And Ygritte explains more of the wildling  philosophy. She says “The gods made the   earth for all men t’ share”, and that it’s  wrong for southern kings to rule over land   and people. She shows Jon that giants aren’t  monsters – they’re a unique culture, and it’s   tragic that they’re going extinct. Just as it’s  tragic that the wildlings are under threat,   they might go extinct. Ygritte says “You know  nothing, Jon Snow” – teaching him whole new   political and moral perspectives on the world. So Jon feels conflicted, and confused,   and horny. Jon is a sixteen year old boy, and  this redhead is throwing herself at him. So Jon   has sex with Ygritte – he loses his virginity, and  breaks his oath. Breaks his oath in spirit, if not   technically. They have a particularly memorable  tryst in a cave, and Ygritte says she never wants   to leave. With Ygritte, Jon experiences love and  sex and freedom. He wants to be with her. But deep   down, Jon knows he’s not a wildling, he’s of the  Starks and the north, and he will have to leave   Ygritte to protect his home from her people. Like  Romeo and Juliet, Jon and Ygritte are star-crossed   lovers, on opposing sides, both doomed to die. Jon and the wildlings climb the Wall. In the TV   show, this is dramatic – they all climb up  by hand, and Jon falls, and Ygritte falls,   and Jon saves her. But in the book, it’s only a  small team of climbing experts who climb by hand.   From the top of the Wall, they drop a rope ladder  so the others can climb up more easily. And they   start climbing from the top of a hill, where the  Wall is not as tall. George Martin really thought   about the most logical and realistic way to  climb a seven hundred foot magic ice wall.  South of the Wall, they find an old man, and Styr  tells Jon to kill him – to test Jon’s loyalty.   Jon looks in the man’s eyes, and he thinks of Ned  Stark. So Jon refuses to kill this innocent man.   With Ygritte, Jon refused to kill a wildling. Now  he refuses to kill a southerner – Jon rejects the   black-and-white morality of the Watch versus  wildlings, and protects people on both sides   of the Wall. Before Styr can cut out Jon’s heart,  Jon is saved by Bran. Because Bran and his mates   are hiding nearby, and Bran wargs his direwolf to  attack the wildlings. So once again, the magic of   the old gods guide Jon. Jon escapes the wildlings,  though Ygritte shoots him with an arrow.  The TV show adds more scenes that deepen the  drama between Jon and Ygritte. The actors Kit   Harington and Rose Leslie have great chemistry  – so good that they are now married with kids.  Jon returns to Castle Black. And in the  show, this is where Season 3 ends. The   first three seasons are pretty close to  the books – but from Season 4 onwards,   the show gets increasingly different to the books. Season 4 adds a plotline where Jon goes back to   Craster’s Keep, to kill the mutineers who killed  Jeor. In the books, it’s Coldhands who kills these   mutineers – then he feeds their bodies to Bran. But in the show, Jon fights the mutineers,   who are led by Karl Fookin Tanner – a cartoonishly  evil villain. The books are about Jon learning a   more complex moral perspective, fighting emotional  battles in his heart. But this show plotline…   it’s about good guys killing bad guys. Karl  does teach Jon a lesson about fighting dirty,   and the cost of honour. But most of this  plot is filler. The show starts to make   changes that miss the meaning of the books. In the book, Jon gets back to Castle Black,   and he’s a mess. His leg is wounded, his  heart is broken from leaving Ygritte,   he finds out that Winterfell was burned  and Bran and Rickon are believed dead.   But Jon puts aside his pain, and focusses on  protecting others. The wildlings are coming,   and Castle Black is not ready. Officer Bowen Marsh  took most of their men off chasing wildling feint   attacks. So now there’s only forty men left to  defend Castle Black. Styr has a hundred wildlings,   south of the Wall. So it looks like they’re  doomed. But Jon and Donal make a plan.  Styr’s wildlings attack. And Jon  shoots at them with arrows. Jon   knows these wildlings. He travelled with  them, climbed the Wall with them. And now   he has to kill them. When Jon sees Ygritte,  he can’t bring himself to kill his lover.-  The Watch men retreat up the Wall,  and the wildlings chase them up the   stairs. So then Jon and Donal spring their  trap – they burn and collapse the stairs,   killing Styr and his wildlings. So in the TV  show, Jon has an epic sword fight with Styr.   But in the book, Jon uses a smart plan to win. After the battle, Jon finds Ygritte, wounded. He   holds her in his arms, tells her she’ll be okay.  She says he knows nothing, and she dies. Ygritte   showed Jon freedom and love, and that’s what  makes it meaningful that Jon gives up his love   to defend the realm. Jon feels terrible guilt for  betraying Ygritte, and that pain never leaves him.  Styr is dead. But north of the Wall is  Mance’s army – tens of thousands of wildlings,   with cavalry, and chariots, and a hundred giants  riding a hundred mammoths. Some mammoths have   towers full of bowmen on their backs, like  the oliphaunts in Lord of the Rings. This is   the full strength of the free folk, “The fury  of the wild”, come to smash their way south.  Jon looks at the wildlings and thinks “There is  no place for you here. Go away”. This same line   is also in a dream Jon has about Winterfell –  the Stark statues tell Jon “There is no place   for you here. Go away”. It’s also similar  to when Catelyn tells Jon to “go away”,   “We don’t want you here”. So Jon’s rejection  from the Stark family is like how the wildlings   are rejected from the realm. The wildlings and  Jon are both outcasts, and he feels sympathy   for them. But he can’t let this army invade his  homeland. He’s conflicted. But he keeps his oath.  The Watch men shoot at the wildlings from atop  the Wall, while the wildlings try to break the   gate into the Wall’s tunnel. Which doesn’t make  much sense – cause the wildlings can’t hurt the   Watch men up on the Wall, and the thousands of  wildlings can’t all attack the gate at once,   so most of them just stand around getting  shot. Wildlings are not great at tactics.  But a giant named Mag the Mighty breaks  into the tunnel. And he’s stopped by   Donal Noye. The great giant and the humble smith  die together. With Donal dead, Jon takes command.  This battle continues for days. The Watch men  fix the gate. The wildlings build a ram. So   Jon drops barrels of gravel to smash  the ram. And the wildlings back off.  So again, this is different to the TV show. In  the show, Jon fights the wildlings with his sword   like a badass. But in the books, Jon stays out of  close combat. Jon is only sixteen in the books,   and he’s not a great warrior. So instead, Jon  uses smart ideas, like the barrels and the burning   stairs. He plans to improve the Wall’s defences  with hoardings and turnable trebuchets. Book Jon   is not just a fighter. He’s a smart leader. So Jon holds the Wall. With just forty men,   against thousands of wildlings. Then Night’s Watch  reinforcements arrive – led by Alliser Thorne and   Janos Slynt. Janos was commander of the City  Watch in King’s Landing – after Janos betrayed   Ned Stark, he was sent to the Wall. Janos makes  friends with Alliser, who still hates Jon – so   together they accuse Jon of joining the wildlings,  and murdering Qhorin. They use Jon’s bastardy and   his old gods against him, using prejudice to make  Jon look bad. When they insult Ned, Jon gets angry   and attacks Alliser. So Janos and Alliser send  Jon on a suicide mission to kill Mance Rayder.   Jon knows this won’t work – he’s already betrayed  Mance, the wildlings will kill him, but he has   no choice. So Jon bravely faces death. Jon had  wanted to prove himself worthy and honourable,   Ned Stark’s true son. But even after all his  sacrifices, he’s still hated and rejected,   seen as a traitor by both wildlings and the Watch.  Being heroic does not get Jon the love he craves.  Jon goes to the wildlings. And Tormund is  friendly. They chat about Tormund’s family, and   toast to the memory of Donal, Mag, and Ygritte.  There are good people on both sides of this war   – so the conflict feels tragic and pointless. Then Jon faces Mance. Mance wants to end the   fighting. He says his “people have bled enough”.  The white walkers have been attacking the   wildlings for years, driving them from their  land. So the wildlings need to get south of   the Wall to escape the dead. The wildlings aren’t  just invaders, they’re refugees. Though Jon knows   that some of the wildlings are brutal raiders,  so it’s not so easy to just let the wildlings in.  Mance says he has the Horn of Winter, and  threatens to use it to destroy the Wall.   Though this horn is probably a fake. Jon  considers sacrificing himself to break the   Horn. But at the last moment, the wildlings  are attacked – by Stannis Baratheon’s army.  The Night’s Watch sent letters to every king in  the realm, begging for help against the wildlings.   And the only one who shows up to protect the realm  is Stannis. Stannis’ knights quickly defeat the   disorganised wildlings. And Jon protects Mance’s  wife Dalla as she dies giving birth to a baby.  So Stannis saves the Night’s Watch. He wants  to defeat the white walkers and win the Iron   Throne. So he needs to take the north, which is  currently ruled by the Boltons. Stannis needs a   northern leader loyal to him. So Stannis offers  to legitimise Jon, to make him legally trueborn,   not a bastard. Jon Snow would become Jon Stark,  the Lord of Winterfell. This is what Jon has   always wanted – to be a true Stark, Ned’s heir.  To defy the rejection of Catelyn, and his envy of   Robb, and to claim Winterfell as his home. Stannis  also wants to marry Jon to Val, the sister-in-law   of King Mance, so that Jon and Val might form an  alliance between the north and the wildlings. Jon   is attracted to Val. She’s beautiful, capable, and  witty – she flirts with Jon, and Jon fantasises   about having children with her at Winterfell.  Jon wants this more than anything. But to rule   Winterfell, he’d have to leave the Night’s Watch,  desert his sworn brothers. And Stannis’ priestess   Melisandre wants Jon to burn the Winterfell  weirwood tree, and to worship her fire god   R’hllor. Jon can’t betray his father’s gods, the  gods of Ghost and of his dreams. So Jon is tempted   by Stannis’ offer. But the Watch needs Jon. With Commander Jeor dead, the Watch holds an   election to choose a new leader. Janos Slynt  almost wins the vote. But Sam does some sneaky   political manipulation to help Jon win. Jon  doesn’t want to be Commander. And some Watch   men see Jon as a traitor, a bastard and a  warg. But others think Jon’s a good choice,   because he was Commander Jeor’s steward, and Ned  Stark’s son and Benjen’s nephew, he stopped the   wildlings. And Jon also gets support from a raven. Cause Jeor Mormont had a talking pet raven. And   at the final vote, this raven reappears and  says “Snow, snow”, and lands on Jon’s shoulder   – like a sign that Jon should be the next  Commander. So Jon wins the vote and becomes   the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. It’s pretty weird that a talking raven helps   Jon win an election. This raven often seems  intelligent throughout the books, as though   it understands human language. Later, the raven  seems to give Jon a dream about fighting the dead   with a flaming sword and black ice armour,  and the raven says “King”, “Snow, Jon Snow”,   then wakes Jon with a “gnarled hand”. So some fans  think that this raven is magically controlled by   Bloodraven. We know that Bloodraven can magically  control animals, and he has used ravens to spy in   the past. So maybe Bloodraven uses this raven to  spy and influence the Watch. It looks like he’s   guiding Jon to lead the Watch to defeat the  white walkers, and perhaps to become a king.  The TV show removes the talking raven, and  removes Sam’s sneaky politicking – it takes   away the magic, and the morally murky politics,  and just has Jon win because he’s a cool guy.  But Jon becomes commander of the Watch  – the Wall is his, the night is dark,   and now he’s got Stannis to deal with. In Book 3, Jon tastes freedom and love   with Ygritte – but he gives that up for his duty  to the realm. Stannis offers to make Jon the Stark   of Winterfell, his deepest desire. But again Jon  sacrifices his desires for the greater good. Jon   wants to do the right thing, but it’s hard to  know which choice is right. The wildlings show   him a whole different perspective on politics and  morality – good and evil are more complex than he   thought. And every choice Jon makes has a painful  cost. He’s lost the Starks, he’s lost Ygritte,   he’s lost friends in battle, leaving Jon wounded  and traumatised. He becomes more withdrawn,   sad, and isolated, as he struggles to do the  right thing in an impossibly complex world.  In the book, Commander Jon Snow walks a dangerous  political tightrope. Jon has to help Stannis,   or else Stannis will destroy him. But if he helps  Stannis too much, the Lannisters will destroy   them. Cersei actually plots to assassinate Jon in  the books, but she fails. Jon also needs to make   peace between the Night’s Watch and the wildlings  before the white walkers come and kill them all.   So Can Jon unite everyone to survive this winter? In Book 5 and Season 5, Jon’s plotline becomes   very different in the books  compared to the TV show.  Aemon says “Kill the boy and let the man be born”.  Jon must let go of his innocence and weakness,   must make hard choices, and “do  the things that must be done”.  So Jon makes tough decisions. He sends his best  friend Sam far away to the south to become a   maester. Sam doesn’t want to go, so Jon forces  Sam to leave. Sam feels that Jon has changed,   he’s not Jon any more, he’s become “Lord Snow”,  a harsh cold leader. Many characters call him   “Lord Snow” now. It started as Alliser’s  mocking nickname, but now the name is a   source of strength – just like Tyrion suggested. Jon also sends Aemon south. Because Melisandre   wants people with kings’ blood so she can burn  them in magic rituals – Aemon has king’s blood,   because he’s a Targaryen – so Jon sends Aemon  south to save him from Melisandre. Even though   Jon knows that Aemon’s so old that he  might die on this journey. And he does.  And Jon makes another harsh decision – he sends  Gilly south, but he secretly forces Gilly to   abandon her baby, and to instead take Mance  and Dalla’s baby south. Because King Mance’s   baby also has king’s blood – Melisandre might  burn him. So to save him, Jon secretly swaps   the babies. Gilly begs Jon to let her keep her  child, and Jon does feel terrible, but Lord Snow   stays strong, and cold, does what must be done. Jon promises to protect Gilly’s baby – like how   Ned promised to protect Lyanna’s baby. Jon  says goodbye to Sam and Aemon and Gilly,   and remembers saying goodbye to Robb. Jon  keeps losing the people closest to him.  Leadership makes Jon isolated. As Lord Commander,  he has to be an authority, above his men,   so he feels he can’t hang out with his friends  any more. Jon sends Grenn and Pyp and Edd away   to other castles, leaving Jon alone, friendless,  and vulnerable. He no longer has the advice or   protection of loyal friends when he needs them. Jon resigns himself to a cold, lonely life,   and focusses on his duty. Jon often works all  night, barely sleeping. Maybe on some level, Jon   is punishing himself – out of guilt for Ygritte. Jon also spends a lot of time training at combat,   cause he wants to be a better swordsman.  In the books so far, Jon isn’t a great   warrior. But this training could make Jon  a much better fighter in the final battles.  Janos disobeys Jon’s orders. So Jon executes  Janos. Like Ned, Jon looks in the man’s eyes,   hears his last words, and then cuts off his  head. Previously, Jon chose not to kill Ygritte   and chose not to kill that old man – but this  time he does kill – Lord Commander Snow won’t   tolerate defiance. But killing Janos is also  personal – cause Janos tried to get Jon killed,   and Janos betrayed Ned, so killing Janos is  revenge. There’s still tension between Jon’s duty   to the Night’s Watch and his love for the Starks. Stannis and Melisandre execute Mance Rayder by   burning him alive. –Though in the books, this is a  magic illusion, and Mance is secretly still alive,   working for Melisandre. Stannis lets a thousand  wildlings through the Wall. Melisandre makes them   burn a piece of weirwood to symbolise accepting  R’hllor as their god. And Stannis shows off his   glowing sword Lightbringer. Melisandre says  that Stannis is the prophesied hero Azor Ahai.   But Jon sees that Stannis’ sword is not the real  Lightbringer. So if Stannis is not the messiah,   who is? Jon did have that dream of fighting the  dead with a burning sword. And when Melisandre   looks in her flames for a glimpse  of Azor Ahai, she sees Jon “Snow”.  Many in the Night’s Watch hate wildlings,  think they’re all evil barbarians. But Jon   learned that wildlings are just people, some  good and some bad, like anyone else. The Watch   protects the realms of men – and “what are these  wildlings, if not men?”. Jon says all the living   must unite against the white walkers. So Jon  settles the thousand wildlings at Mole’s Town,   and he personally brings them food. In the same  book, Daenerys brings food to refugees, while   she tries to make peace and unity. Jon and Dany  both risk their own lives to end war and protect   vulnerable people. Jon convinces some wildlings  to join the Night’s Watch. He even brings a   giant named Wun Wun to the Wall. So with bravery  and compassion, Jon turns enemies into allies.  Jon gives Stannis advice to help him take the  north. He tells Stannis to rally the mountain   clans, and to take Deepwood Motte, before he  attacks the Boltons at Winterfell. Jon isn’t   supposed to help Stannis – the Night’s Watch is  meant to be neutral in southern wars. But the   Boltons and Lannisters destroyed Jon’s family  – he wants Stannis to defeat them. So again,   there’s tension between Jon’s Night’s Watch duty  and his love for the Starks. Stannis offers again   to make Jon a Stark, he says the north would  follow Ned’s son – and Jon clearly knows a lot   about northern politics, he’d be a good Lord of  Winterfell. But again Jon reluctantly refuses.   So Stannis and his army march off to war, but he  leaves Melisandre and his daughter Shireen and his   wife Selyse at the Wall. Which is another headache  for Jon, cause Selyse is a pain in the arse.  Melisandre is a priestess of the fire god R’hllor.  She sees visions of the future in her flames,   and she warns Jon that he’s in danger from  “daggers in the dark”. She tells Jon to use her   magic power. But Jon doesn’t trust Melisandre.  He doesn’t trust magic. So Melisandre tries to   prove her power – Melisandre has a vision  that three of Jon’s rangers will be killed,   with their eyes gouged out. And this vision comes  true. Maybe Jon should listen to Melisandre.  Then Melisandre has a vision of “A girl in grey  on a dying horse”. And she says this girl is   Jon’s sister Arya. Cause at Winterfell, Ramsay  Bolton marries a girl who he says is Arya Stark.   The girl actually isn’t Arya, she’s a girl called  Jeyne who the Boltons say is Arya, but Jon doesn’t   know that. So Jon wants to save his sister from  the monstrous Ramsay. But he can’t do it himself,   cause his duty is on the Wall – so Melisandre  says she’ll help, by sending Mance Rayder.  So Melisandre pretended to burn Mance,  but that was a trick. He’s actually alive,   in a magic disguise, apparently under Melisandre’s  control. So Melisandre and Jon send Mance on a   secret mission – Mance and six wilding women go  to Winterfell to save Arya. It’s heroic for Jon   to try to save his sister, but it’s also risky –  the Commander of the Night’s Watch is not meant   to secretly plot with the wildling king, or  to take a northman’s wife. Watch men aren’t   allowed to help their sisters, only their Watch  brothers. Jon is putting love ahead of his duty.  And it turns out Melisandre is wrong about her  vision. A girl in grey does arrive at Castle   Black, but it’s not Arya – it’s Alys Karstark,  the heir to House Karstark. Alys’ uncle Cregan   wants to forcibly marry Alys, to take over House  Karstark – and he’s planning to betray Stannis for   the Boltons. So this is another moral dilemma  for Jon. Cause the Night’s Watch is not meant   to interfere in politics. But Alys begs Jon  for help, and she reminds him of Arya. So Jon   imprisons Cregan, and he warns Stannis of the  betrayal, and he sets up a different marriage   for Alys. Jon marries Alys to Sigorn, the new  leader of the Thenn wildlings. The wildlings   will help Alys claim Karhold. And Jon hopes this  marriage will create unity between wildlings and   the north. At the wedding, Watch men and wildlings  dance together – it’s a beautiful moment of joy   and peace between former enemies. But politically,  this is dangerous. Many northmen will be outraged   that the Watch married a northern girl to  a wildling, and helped wildlings take over   a northern castle. And by imprisoning Cregan, and  warning Stannis, Jon has undermined Roose Bolton,   the Warden of the North, the ally of King  Tommen. Jon has to make bold changes to   prepare for the white walkers. But his radical  decisions, his political interference and his   personal biases put the Night’s Watch in danger. The Night’s Watch has lots of problems. They’ve   been in decline for centuries. They don’t have  enough men. They lost their best leaders like   Benjen, Qhorin and Aemon. And after hosting  Stannis and the wildlings, they don’t have   enough food for winter. So Jon finds solutions. He  meets with Tycho Nestoris, from the Iron Bank – in   the book, Tycho has a Big Purple Hat. And Jon  borrows money from the Bank to buy food. He also   plans to build greenhouses to grow vegetables in  winter. He plans to build beacons along the Wall   to communicate. Most of the Wall’s castles are  abandoned, so Jon starts manning them with Watch   men and wildlings. Jon trains his men on archery  instead of on swords, cause archery’s more useful   for defending the Wall. Jon talks to Wun Wun to  learn about the giants. And he wants to learn   about the white walkers and their zombies, so Jon  locks up some corpses to see if they rise from the   dead, to try to talk to them. Jon has lots of  smart and creative ideas in the book. Compare   that to the TV show, where Jon is a brave himbo  who just fights bad guys and looks sad. And TV   Jon is stubbornly honest, he “cannot lie”. But  book Jon does lie, and has secrets. Like when   he swaps the babies. Like when he sends Mance to  Winterfell. He also sends Val to go find Tormund,   even though Jon promised Stannis that he wouldn’t.  Jon doesn’t like breaking his word, he wants to be   honourable, but he feels that saving the realm  is more important than his honour. Sometimes a   lie is the right thing to do. The TV show  gives Jon morally uncomplicated conflicts,   battles against evil. But book Jon grapples  with difficult ambiguous moral questions.  Jon also makes change and justice. Cause  Benjen said that everyone in the Watch has   equal opportunities, you get what you earn –  but that’s not true. Waymar Royce gets special   privileges because his dad is a lord. Most of the  powerful positions in the Watch go to trueborn men   from noble families – the Watch isn’t fair. So  Jon changes this by giving important positions   to lowborn people. Jon makes a wildling the new  master-at-arms. He gives command of a castle to   a lowborn guy. And Jon mentors a boy named Satin.  Satin was a sex worker, and some men hate him for   being a boy “whore”. But Jon sees that Satin is  smart and brave. So Jon makes Satin his personal   steward, potentially training Satin for command.  Because as a bastard, Jon experienced prejudice   and injustice. He saw how people like Arya and Sam  are discriminated against for being different. So   as Commander, Jon makes the Watch more fair and  more effective – judging people on their ability   instead of their social class. These changes anger  the more traditional men in the Watch. Bowen Marsh   complains – making change also makes enemies. Beyond the Wall, Tormund leads thousands of   wildlings desperate to escape the white walkers.  So Jon plans to let them through the Wall. He’ll   house them in castles along the Wall, to help  fight the walkers. He takes all the wildlings’   wealth, including a fancy ivory dildo. And to  keep the wildlings loyal, he’ll take a hundred   boys as hostages. So the wildlings are angry  at Jon’s price. And the Watch officers are also   outraged. These men dedicated their lives to  fighting wildlings. Bowen was recently wounded   by wildlings in battle. So Bowen says it’s  treason to let the enemy through the Wall. Jon   insists they must unite everyone against the white  walkers. So he’ll let all the wildlings through,   even the brutal raiders who gouged the eyes out of  those rangers. Jon is determined to save everyone,   but he fails to compromise, and fails to  convince important people of his plan. He   doesn’t communicate well – he doesn’t even tell  First Steward Bowen about his loan from the Iron   Bank. So Jon makes political mistakes. There’re also thousands of wildlings   at a village called Hardhome. In the TV  show, Jon leads a mission to save them,   and he kills a white walker. But that doesn’t  happen in the books. In the book, Jon sends   some men to save the wildlings, and we hear it  goes badly – there’s “Dead things in the water”.  Ultimately, Jon lets the wildlings through the  Wall. And in the TV show, that’s why Alliser and   the Watch men kill Jon. Jon does the right thing  and he dies for it – it’s morally uncomplicated   in the show. But in the book, there’s more to it. In the book, Jon gets a letter from Ramsay Bolton.   Ramsay says that Stannis is dead, defeated in  battle. Ramsay says he has Mance prisoner and   accuses Jon stealing his bride. Cause with the  help of Mance’s wildlings, the fake Arya escapes   Winterfell. So Ramsay demands that Jon give  him Arya and Val and Selyse and Melisandre,   or else he’ll “cut out” Jon’s “bastard’s heart  and eat it”. There’re lots of theories about   this letter, like that Stannis isn’t really dead,  and that maybe someone other than Ramsay wrote   the letter. But this letter is a huge threat to  the Night’s Watch, and it’s kind of Jon’s fault.   Cause as Commander of the Watch, Jon was meant to  be politically neutral. But Jon helped Stannis,   and helped Alys, and sent Mance to take Ramsay’s  wife. Because of Jon’s bias for Stannis and the   Starks, he brings the wrath of the Boltons upon  the Watch. All through Book 5, Jon tried to   balance love and duty, but this letter forces him  to choose. Will he submit to Ramsay to save the   Watch, or will he fight for Arya and Winterfell?  Jon thinks about Robb and Bran and Rickon and   Sansa and Arya. And he decides to fight. Jon  publicly reads Ramsay’s letter, revealing his   secret Mance plot, and Jon declares that he’ll  “ride south” to fight Ramsay at Winterfell. He   also says Tormund will lead the Watch on another  wildly dangerous mission to Hardhome. So the   wildlings rally behind Jon. But the Night’s Watch  are furious – Jon is publicly breaking his oath,   deserting the Wall, involving the Night’s Watch in  a war. And that’s why Jon is killed in the books.  First, there’s a distraction – the giant Wun  Wun kills a knight called Ser Patrek. And this   is a hidden reference to football – the giant  represents one of George Martin’s favourite   teams the New York Giants. And Ser Patrek  represents George’s friend Patrick St Denis,   who supports the Dallas Cowboys – the Cowboys  logo is a blue star, so Patrek’s heraldry is   a blue star. And this football easter  egg happens right before Jon is killed.  Jon tries to calm everyone down, but in the  chaos, Bowen Marsh and three others stab Jon,   and Jon falls, bleeding, in the snow. The killing of Jon Snow is similar to the   killing of ancient Roman leader Julius Caesar  – Jon and Caesar are both seen as a political   threat, so they’re stabbed to death by their own  men. Even small details of the attacks are the   same. And George is a fan of Roman history, and  of Shakespeare’s Caesar play, so he was clearly   taking inspiration here. Caesar was killed on the  Ides of March. And Jon is stabbed by Bowen Marsh.   So some fans call Jon’s killing the Ides of Marsh. In the TV show, Jon’s assassination is led by the   cruel and vindictive Alliser Thorne. But in the  books, it’s led by Bowen. And Bowen doesn’t hate   Jon. Bowen is not evil. Even Jon thinks that  Bowen is a “good man”. When Bowen stabs Jon,   Bowen cries. He feels he’s forced to kill Jon,  for the Watch. Cause Jon did break his oath, and   endanger the Watch, out of love for the Starks. So in Book 5, Jon makes tough moral choices,   plotting and politicking to save lives,  make peace, protect the realm. He tries to   balance duty with love – helping Arya and Alys and  Stannis. But when Jon’s forced to choose between   the Watch and the Starks, he chooses love. Love is  the death of duty. And it’s the death of Jon Snow.  So what happens next? George Martin is still   writing the next books to finish the series. But  there’s lots of foreshadowing and theories about   what will happen in The Winds of Winter. In the TV show, Jon gets resurrected. When   he comes back to life, he’s tired and  sad, borderline suicidal for a while,   but his personality is mostly the same. In the  books, death will change Jon. George Martin says   death is a “transformative experience”, his  “characters who come back from death” have   “lost something”. When Beric Dondarrion dies and  is resurrected, he loses his memories and his   identity. When Catelyn dies and is resurrected,  she becomes a scary zombie called Lady Stoneheart,   who’s consumed with hate and revenge. George says  if someone suffers a “violent, traumatic death,   they’re not going to come back as nice  as ever”. So how will death change Jon?  In the TV show, Jon’s resurrection is  simple – Melisandre gives him a prayer   and a --haircut -- and he comes back to life.  But in the books, Jon’s resurrection will be   complicated. Cause there are hints that Jon’s  soul will go inside his direwolf, Ghost. The   books explain that when a skinchanger dies, their  spirit can live on in their animal – it’s called   a “second life”. We saw Orell live on in his eagle  after he died. Then we see the skinchanger Varamyr   live on in his wolf. Varamyr thinks that Jon  is a powerful warg, and that Ghost “would be   a second life worthy of a king”. Melisandre has  a vision of Jon being “a man”, then “a wolf”,   then “a man again” – hinting that Jon will live  inside Ghost for a while, then he’ll come back in   his human body. In Book 5, Jon’s connection with  Ghost gets “stronger”, he feels that he and Ghost   are “one”. And when Jon is stabbed, his last word  is “Ghost”. So these are strong hints that Jon’s   ghost will live in Ghost for a while. Why? The books say that skinchanging changes your   personality, it makes you more like your animal.  When someone has a second life in their wolf,   their human memory slowly fades, til “only the  beast remains”. So being in Ghost could make   Jon less human, and more wolfish. Ned says that  Brandon and Lyanna Stark had “The wolf blood”,   making them wild and reckless. Jon is sometimes  aggressive and impulsive in the books – he attacks   Alliser twice, and has a violent outburst in  training. Usually Jon controls these emotions,   supresses his desires – he thinks “I am a man, not  a wolf”. But being murdered and then soul-merged   with his beast might finally unleash Jon’s wolf  blood, making him a more reckless, dangerous   character, more focussed on his own desires. This would be similar to Daenerys’ storyline.   Cause in Book 5, like Jon, Daenerys tries to  make peace. She suppresses her own desires for   the sake of politics and the greater good. But at  the end of the book, like Jon, she has a downfall,   and this crisis changes her. As she wanders  the Dothraki Sea alone, she has visions from   Quaithe that remind her of her Targaryen identity.  Daenerys rejects peace and embraces her desires   for “Fire and Blood”, and to go home to Westeros. So Jon might embrace his desires to go home to   Winterfell. And Jon could also have visions.  He’s already had visions from Bloodraven,   and from Bran, through Ghost. So maybe as a  spirit in Ghost, he’ll have more visions. Jon   could find out that Bran and Rickon are still  alive. Bloodraven could tell him his destiny to   become King in the North and to defeat the white  walkers. To fulfil the prophecy of Azor Ahai.   Visions could reveal secrets, unlock power,  give Jon new purpose to pursue his destiny.  Though, in this world, visions and dreams  can be destructive. Sinister forces might   use visions to influence people. Can Jon trust  his visions, or is Bloodraven manipulating him?  Jon’s spirit could stay in Ghost for a while.  Maybe as a wolf, he’ll roam beyond the Wall,   and find uncle Benjen, or learn the secrets  of the white walkers. He could go to Hardhome,   or help Bran come south. He could have lots of  adventures, gallivanting through the woods in   the brain of wolf, tripping on vision… But Jon  won’t be a dog forever.☹ Eventually he’ll be   resurrected in his human body, and like in the  TV show, it’ll probably be Melisandre who does   it – in the book, Melisandre says you’ll “have  grave need of me”, and “I am your only hope”.  When Jon is resurrected, there might be a  cost. Cause when Beric resurrects Stoneheart,   Beric dies. When Mirri heals Drogo, Daenerys’  baby dies. When Daenerys hatches dragons,   Mirri dies. Melisandre says “Only death can  pay for life”, “A great gift requires a great   sacrifice”. So what sacrifice will pay for Jon’s  life? Maybe Melisandre will sacrifice herself. Or   maybe Ghost will die – if Jon and Ghost’s spirits  are merged together, will there be anything left   of Ghost to live in Ghost’s body? Melisandre says  king’s blood is a particularly powerful sacrifice,   so maybe the sacrifice will be King Mance or  King Stannis or Princess Shireen. Melisandre   prophesies that king’s blood will wake a dragon  from stone. And Shireen has stony greyscale. So   maybe the dragon is Jon Targaryen, awoken from  the sacrifice of stony Shireen. It’s also possible   that no one will die. Cause when Thoros resurrects  Beric, no one dies. Instead, the cost is Beric’s   humanity – he loses his memories and identity.  So maybe it’ll be the same with Jon – he’ll come   back to life, but at the cost of his soul. In the TV show, after his resurrection,   Jon looks the same. Just with some sexy new scars.  But in the books, Jon’s appearance might change.   Cause when Catelyn is resurrected, her hair goes  white, and her eyes go red. Theon’s hair goes   white after his symbolic death and rebirth. So  maybe Jon will also get white hair and red eyes,   cause that would have a lot of symbolic  meaning. Ghost has white hair and red eyes,   like Bloodraven and the weirwoods. White hair  would make Jon look more like a Targaryen,   like his father Rhaegar. And red eyes would be  like Melisandre’s red eyes, connecting Jon to   the fire god R’hllor. George says that Beric is “a  wight animated by fire instead of by ice”. So will   Jon be a fire wight? Or will he be an ice wight,  like Coldhands? Maybe Bloodraven and Melisandre’s   magic could both help resurrect Jon, combining  the old gods and R’hllor, Stark and Targaryen,   making Jon a wight of ice and fire. Patchface calls Jon “The crow” and says   “Under the sea the crows are white as snow” –  ‘under the sea’ is a metaphor for death – so   this could be a hint that undead Jon will have  white hair and pale skin. When Jon was a kid,   he once covered himself in flour to make  himself “pale white” like a ghost. In the   TV show, they call Jon the White Wolf. So there are lots of hints that Jon’s   death will give him pale skin, white hair,  and red eyes, showing that he’s not just   back to normal – he’s changed, he’s undead. There are perks to being undead. Beric and   Coldhands and Melisandre don’t need to eat or  sleep. It could be useful for Jon to not eat   or sleep if he has to fight a war, or travel  north. But there are also downsides to being   undead. Beric loses memories, Stoneheart can  hardly speak. They look like ugly scary zombies,   wounded and rotted, their hearts don’t beat. Will  Jon become a hideous zombie? If his heart doesn’t   beat, will his penis still work? That could be  disappointing for Daenerys. One theory is that   after he’s killed, Jon’s corpse will be kept in  an ice cell in the Wall. Bran has a vision of Jon   “sleeping” in a “cold bed” with his skin going  pale and cold. Aemon says that the cold of the   Wall preserves. So an ice cell might prevent Jon’s  body from rotting. And unlike Beric and Catelyn,   Jon is a warg – his spirit won’t die, it’ll  live on in Ghost – so maybe that will protect   his mind and memories. So Jon won’t be too  much of a zombie. But he will be changed.  Aemon said “Kill the boy and let the man be  born”. Jon the boy has been killed – so what   new man will be born? Living in Ghost could  unleash his wolf blood, make him more violent   and reckless. He might have visions from  Bloodraven giving him revelations and new   purpose. He might look different, with white  hair and red eyes – a wight of ice and fire.  The Night’s Watch oath says my watch won’t  end “until my death”. So after Jon’s death,   he’s arguably free from his vows, he can leave the  Watch. So what will Jon do in The Winds of Winter?  After Catelyn and Beric’s resurrections, they  focus on their final missions – Catelyn wants   revenge for the Red Wedding, Beric fights in the  riverlands – George says that purpose “is part   of what’s animating him”. So after Jon’s  resurrection, he might be focussed on his   final mission – fight Ramsay, save Arya, and  take Winterfell. He can finally do what he’s   wanted to do since Book 1 – ride south. In the TV show, Stannis dies, and Jon   fights the Battle of the Bastards to beat the  Boltons and take Winterfell. But in the books,   it might be Stannis who defeats the Boltons –  there are hints that he’ll fake his own death,   and will win a battle on a frozen lake.  So by the time Jon gets to Winterfell,   Stannis might’ve already won the war. There could be multiple battles,   Jon might fight Ramsay later. The Stark  direwolves might be involved, symbolising   Jon reuniting with his Stark wolf pack. But if  Jon does fight the Boltons, it won’t be like   the TV show – it won’t just be Jon surviving  through dumb luck, and punching Ramsay in the   face twenty-one times. Like all of book Jon’s  conflicts, it’ll be a moral and emotional test.  In the TV show, Ramsay has Jon’s brother Rickon,  and Jon tries to save Rickon, but Rickon dies   anyway. There’s no meaningful choice or lesson  here for TV Jon, Rickon’s death just happens.   Maybe in the book, Jon will make a moral choice.  Like, maybe Ramsay will tell Jon not to attack   or else he’ll kill Rickon, but since Jon is now  more reckless, and because he wants Winterfell,   Jon attacks anyway, and causes Rickon’s death.  This would show that Jon has changed – that   he’s willing to risk innocent lives to get what he  wants. And this could also create conflict between   Jon and Sansa, who might blame Jon for Rickon’s  death. Jon could finally reclaim the home of the   Starks, but at the cost of alienating his Stark  siblings, losing the very family he always wanted.   This is just speculation. But Jon’s battles in  The Winds of Winter will explore what kind of   person he’s become after his resurrection.  What will Jon sacrifice to take Winterfell?  Once the Boltons are defeated, Stannis might go  to the Nightfort and die, possibly killed by white   walkers after he sacrifices Shireen. So who will  rule Winterfell and the north? In the TV show,   the northern lords make Jon the King in  the North. Even though it should be Sansa   who gets Winterfell, because she’s the eldest  known surviving trueborn Stark – in the show,   the lords ignore the line of succession  and make Jon king just because he’s a   cool guy. But in the books, Jon has an actual  legal claim to Winterfell. Cause in Book 3,   Robb Stark wants Jon to be his heir as King in the  North. He considers legitimising Jon, to make him   a true Stark not a bastard. So Robb writes a will,  and the books don’t show us what the will says,   but it probably names Jon as the next King  in the North. Not everyone knows about Robb’s   will. But Maege Mormont and Galbart Glover know,  and they go to Howland Reed in the Neck. Howland   was at the tower of joy, where Jon was born, so  he might know about Jon’s real parents. Maege’s   daughter is with Stannis’ army, with the mountain  clansmen. And two clan leaders visit Jon – and   Jon suspects that these guys have some secret  purpose. Edmure also knows about Robb’s will,   and two of Edmure’s men go to the Wall. Stoneheart  knows about Robb’s will, and has Robb’s crown,   and she travels to the Neck where Howland and  Maege and Galbart are. So there’s a theory that   there’s a conspiracy to make Jon King in the  North. Cause “The north remembers” Ned Stark’s   legacy of leadership, and Jon is seen as the heir  to that legacy. That’s why Alys Karstark comes to   Jon, because he’s Ned Stark’s son – that means  something in the north. So these northmen might   reveal Robb’s will and declare Jon King in the  North. The problem with that is that there are two   other northern conspiracies happening. Lord Wyman  Manderly plans to make Rickon Lord of Winterfell.   Littlefinger plans to use Sansa and the Vale  to claim the north. Plus Bran is still alive,   and the real Arya will return. And all of these  Starks arguably have a better claim to Winterfell   than Jon does. Robb’s will was written on the  assumption that Bran and Rickon were dead. So is   Robb’s will definitive? Does a legitimised bastard  like Jon come before a trueborn child like Sansa?   The laws of succession in Westeros are vague  and subjective. And there are lots of different   political factions at play here. This could be  a messy inheritance struggle, dividing the Stark   family – and creating deep conflict within Jon.  He’ll be torn between his loyalty to his siblings,   and his desire to be the Stark of Winterfell. In the TV show, Jon doesn’t want to be King   in the North. It’s another thing that just  happens to TV Jon, without his choice. Then   there’s this weird conflict where Sansa is  envious of Jon, and Arya threatens to kill   Sansa. It’s one of the worst plotlines in the  show, partly because Jon has no agency or stakes   in the conflict cause he doesn’t want Winterfell. In the books, Jon does want Winterfell. As a boy,   “he used to dream that one day Winterfell might  be his”. Jon has a dream where he cuts off Robb’s   head and screams “I am the Lord of Winterfell”.  When Stannis offers him Winterfell, Jon wants   it more than anything. And his resurrection  could make him more focussed on his desires.  Jon could be a great King in the North. He’s a  smart and compassionate leader. He knows about   northern politics, he’s respected by northmen.  He wants to make peace and unify against the   white walkers. There’s lots of foreshadowing that  Jon will be a king – it seems like his destiny.  But becoming King in the North will have a  cost. He might get Rickon killed, or piss off   Sansa. He might get lots of wildings killed in  battle. And the Night’s Watch could fall apart   without him. To become the Stark of Winterfell,  Jon might lose his families – lose the Watch,   and the wildlings, and the Starks – without  them, what’s the point of having Winterfell?  Jon was never close with Sansa or Rickon.  But he loves Arya. Throughout the books,   Jon and Arya miss each other often, and try to  reunite. Jon dies largely because he wants to   save Arya. So it’ll be super emotional when  finally get back together. In the TV show,   this is a mostly happy reunion. But in  the books, it could be darker and sadder.  Cause Jon and Arya have been through so much.  Arya suffered at Harrenhal, joined a death cult,   murdered people, and she’s still just eleven  years old. Jon lost his lover, fought in battles,   got murdered. They’re both traumatised by death,  and have lost their identities. Jon is not just   Jon the bastard, he’s now an undead Stark king,  he’s “Lord Snow”. And Arya has changed her name   and her face so many times that she’s not Arya,  she’s “no one”. Jon and Arya have changed so much,   they might not recognise each other. In the books, characters often don’t recognise   each other. Like, Theon and Asha don’t recognise  each other. It shows how characters have changed,   exploring themes of identity and perception. Arya is constantly not recognised by people. And   she specifically worries that Jon won’t recognise  her. And Jon wonders if he’ll recognise Arya.  Jon has already met a fake Arya – he thought Alys  was Arya, but she wasn’t. Ramsay’s wife Jeyne is   another fake Arya. So when Jon finally meets the  real Arya, he might think she’s another fake. They   could recognise each other later, but the point  could be that after everything that they’ve been   through, Jon and Arya can’t have their  happy innocent relationship ever again.  So Winterfell might not be the happy  homecoming Jon wanted. The Starks have changed,   the family may be divided. Jon’s identity will  still be uncertain, torn between the Starks,   the Watch, the wildlings – and his hidden  Targaryen identity haunting his dreams.  Maybe Jon will abdicate as King in the  North, and let Sansa rule instead. Cause   Jon has more wars to fight. The white walkers  are coming. And Daenerys will arrive with her   dragons. In A Dream of Spring, Jon will  fight the final battles of ice and fire.  In the TV show, Jon and Daenerys fall in love.  There are hints this’ll happen in the books,   too – Daenerys has a vision of a blue flower on a  wall of ice filling the air with sweetness – the   flower could be Jon, because his mother Lyanna  loved blue roses, and the sweetness could be   Jon and Daenerys’ love. Jon and Dany have a lot  in common. They’re both young leaders who want   to protect people. They both want family and  home. They’ve both suffered trauma and loss,   and transformative magic. Jon is attracted  to confident, capable women like Ygritte,   like Val – like Dany. And Daenerys is attracted  to bad boy warriors with great hair like Drogo   and Daario. Jon may be more violent and have  cooler hair after his resurrection. So it makes   sense that Jon and Dany could fall in love. They  also work as a political alliance – King Jon and   Queen Daenerys could unite the north and south.  Icy Jon and fiery Daenerys fit the series’ title,   A Song of Ice and Fire. Daenerys’ dragons are  the perfect weapon to destroy the army of the   dead. So together they could burn the white  walkers, get married, have babies, and rule   Westeros happily ever after. What could go wrong? Jon will learn the truth about his parents – that   he’s not Ned’s bastard, he’s the son of  Lyanna Stark and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.   Jon is arguably the rightful King of  Westeros. And if Rhaegar and Lyanna   secretly got married like in the TV show,  Jon is a trueborn Targaryen, not a bastard.  There’re a few ways Jon could discover this.  Howland Reed might tell Jon. Cause Howland   was there when Jon was born, and George Martin  has teased that Howland will be important. Or   maybe Benjen will tell Jon about his parents.  It would be more emotionally impactful for Jon   to learn the truth from his beloved uncle. Benjen  and Howland were both at the Harrenhal tourney,   where Rhaegar and Lyanna probably got  together, so they could tell Jon what   his parents’ relationship was really like. Like in the TV show, Jon may learn this in   the Winterfell crypts. Jon has those recurring  dreams of the crypts, where he’s “searching for   his father”, and he has to come down here. There  are theories that Jon will find proof of his   parents in the crypts – like Rhaegar’s harp,  or a hidden message in Lyanna’s tomb. There   are rumours of hidden dragon eggs in the crypts.  Which could be a metaphor for Jon discovering his   dragon identity. George uses the same metaphor  with Egg ‘hatching’ into a Targaryen. And Jon   discovering his identity in the stone crypts  could fulfil the prophecy of a dragon waking   from stone – Jon will enter the crypts as Ned’s  bastard, and will emerge a Targaryen dragon.  So what will the truth of his parents mean to him?  Jon might be angry that Ned lied to him, that he   was never a bastard. He might be horrified that  his mother Lyanna was a teenager who died birthing   him, and that Prince Rhaegar hooked up with her  probably to fulfil a prophecy, sparking a war   that killed thousands. Jon’s grandfather was the  evil Mad King – that’s like finding out your dad   is Darth Vader. And Jon’s lover Daenerys is his  aunt – which is like finding out Princess Leia is   your sister. It’s like poetry, it rhymes. In the TV show, Jon doesn’t want to be a   Targaryen. But for this revelation to have  meaning, it’s gotta have some impact on Jon.   Cause Jon’s story is a search for identity. He  felt rejected from the Starks, and that’s why   he joined the Night’s Watch, why he was tempted  by the wildlings, and by Stannis’ offer. Being   a Targaryen could finally give Jon a family –  he’d be royalty, alongside Queen Daenerys, with   ancestral homes at King’s Landing and Dragonstone.  In the show, Jon gets a new name, Aegon Targaryen.   In the books, there’s already several Aegons, so  Jon’s name might be Aemon or Jaehaerys Targaryen.  Even as a child, Jon felt connected to Targaryens.  He idolised King Daeron Targaryen. Maester Aemon   Targaryen was Jon’s beloved mentor. And with  Daenerys he could further explore his Targaryen   side. Jon could bond with the dragon Rhaegal,  who was named after Jon’s father Rhaegar. When   Jon rides Rhaegal in flight, experiences that joy  and power, he may embrace a Targaryen identity. In   the books, there’s a magical connection between  dragon and rider. Jon might start to have dragon   dreams – visions of future triumph and doom. Cause  dragons represent the intoxicating lure of power,   of ambition and destruction. Dragons  could wake the fire in Jon’s blood,   connecting him to his Targaryen heritage  and to Daenerys’ war for the Throne.  In the TV show, Jon doesn’t want to be King of  Westeros. But book Jon might want his rightful   Throne. Because he’s always wanted justice, and  to protect the innocent. With the wildlings,   he learned a whole new political ideology of  freedom and equality. And he has increasingly   used political power to make change. In Book  5, he tries to unite the north to save the   world – but he fails cause he doesn’t have  enough power. If Jon took the Iron Throne   as a Targaryen dragon king, maybe then he could  unite the realm, save the world, and do justice.  Much like Jon’s great-great-grandfather, King Egg,  Aegon the Fifth. Egg also wanted to do justice and   to protect the vulnerable, but he was frustrated  by rebellions. So Egg tried to get dragons so he   could use their power for good. But, in the end,  Egg’s quest for dragons led to death and tragedy   at Summerhall. Daenerys also seems headed for  destruction, despite her good intentions. So   like other Targaryens, Jon will be tempted by the  power of fire and blood, embodied by his dragon   Rhaegal. He’ll want to use this power for good  – but he’ll see that dragons are destructive,   they kill innocent people, “fire burns”. In the TV show, Daenerys fights a war against   Cersei. But in the books, she might fight  Young Griff, a “false dragon” who claims   to be a Targaryen. Their war could be a new  Dance of the Dragons – “And everywhere the   dragons danced the people died”. Daenerys’  war will cause death and devastation. So Jon   will ask himself – is it okay to kill innocent  people to win the throne? He may be tempted to   make sacrifices so he can rule. But Jon will also  think of Ned Stark’s morality. Ned taught justice,   mercy, to protect the innocent. Donal taught Jon  empathy for common folk. The wildlings taught him   the precious fleeting beauty of life. If Jon burns  thousands to save the realm, what has he saved,   and what has he become? This is a moral struggle,  and it’s also a question of identity. Is Jon   destined to be a fiery Targaryen because he has  Rhaegar’s blood, or can he choose to be like Ned,   the father who raised Jon? This is the song of  ice and fire, the battle within Jon’s heart.  Jon might also be tempted by Melisandre. In  Book 5, Melisandre urges Jon to use her magic   and visions. Jon doesn’t trust Melisandre at  first, but throughout the book, she gradually   wins him over. She makes a bunch of correct  predictions – so in his last chapter, Jon wants   to use Melisandre’s visions. When Jon is killed  by “daggers in the dark”, and resurrected by   Melisandre, that will prove her power even more. In the TV show, after Stannis dies, Melisandre   says Jon is the prophesied hero Azor Ahai.  TV Jon is not interested in the prophecy,   but book Jon might listen. Cause book Jon reads  about Azor Ahai. He dreams of fighting the dead   with a flaming sword. After he’s reborn,  as a fire wight, with the magic of R’hllor,   he may believe he’s destined to save  the world. Like Rhaegar did before him.  So Jon may accept Melisandre’s help. She  could help him understand the prophecy,   and how to use its power. But unfortunately, her  help often involves burning innocent people alive   and killing your own brother with magic shadows.  Her advice leads Stannis down a dark path that   will probably destroy him. And Melisandre is  often wrong about her visions – her power is   treacherous. And her religion is dangerous. In the TV show, after Jon’s resurrection,   Tormund says people think Jon is a “god”. Then the  show drops that idea. But in the books, religion   is increasingly important. The sparrows rise and  imprison Queen Cersei. The eastern red priests say   Daenerys is Azor Ahai, and demand a holy war. At  Castle Black, Melisandre has religious followers,   including Baratheon knights, and some Watch men  and wildlings. So when Jon miraculously rises from   the dead, he could be seen as a religious messiah.  Fanatical followers could rally behind him, giving   him the power to unite armies, to win wars. But  the red god is hungry and jealous, demanding human   sacrifice and the destruction of other religions.  Daenerys might also ally with red priests. Which   could lead to religious war in Westeros, between  Jon and Dany with the red god, and Young Griff   with the Faith of the Seven. If Jon uses the power  of Melisandre and R’hllor, he’s playing with fire.  So Jon will be torn between Targaryen  R’hlloric fire power, and his icy Stark   morality. And this war for his heart will  climax when he faces the white walkers.  While Jon is in the south, things will get bad  at the Wall. The Night’s Watch could fall apart.   Stannis is doomed. And the Wall will fall. In the  TV show, the white walkers use a zombie dragon to   break the Wall. In the books it might be Euron  who breaks the Wall, with the Horn of Winter,   or by stealing one of Dany’s dragons. But the  Wall will fall, and the dead will march south.  In the TV show, the battle against the  white walkers lasts one night, one episode,   at Winterfell. But in the books, this could be a  long, grinding, apocalyptic conflict that ravages   Westeros. The previous Long Night is said to  have “lasted a generation” – years of cold   and sunless skies, causing mass starvation.  This darkness might be caused by a meteor   strike – there are legends of fallen stars and  comets associated with the Long Night. There   are tales of the white walkers hunting humans  with giant ice spiders as well as their zombie   hordes. So the Long Night could be a dark magical  apocalypse – “An age of wonder and terror”, “for   gods and heroes”. The world will need a saviour. In the TV show, Arya kills the white walkers. But   in the books, Jon is set up as the hero. He  swore the Watch oath, he’s fought the dead,   he’s had those prophetic dreams. So  how will he stop the white walkers?  In the TV show, the good guys all unite for a  big battle and destroy the white walkers. But   is this what the books are leading up to? George  Martin criticises simplistic stories of good guys   fighting bad guys – he said “We don’t need any  more Dark Lords”. George writes morally complex   conflicts. Where’s the moral challenge here? With the wildlings, Jon realised his enemies   aren’t evil, so instead he made peace with them.  Is it possible that Jon could also make peace with   the white walkers? Jon wants to learn about the  white walkers, wants to communicate with them.   And in the books, the white walkers can talk, they  have their own language, they make things out of   ice. George calls them “beautiful”, “elegant”, “a  different sort of life” – maybe the white walkers   have a right to exist. In Book 5, Patrek jokes  that Jon will offer the white walkers hospitality,   will welcome them as guests. So maybe Jon will.  There are theories that Jon won’t destroy the   white walkers – that he’ll make a peace deal. It is possible to make agreements with the white   walkers – like, Craster gives babies to the white  walkers, and so they don’t attack him. And there’s   the legend of the Night’s King. The Night’s King  was a Commander of the Night’s Watch who married   a cold woman with blue eyes, and made sacrifices  to the white walkers. So there are theories that   the previous Long Night ended not with a battle,  but with a marriage pact, where the Night’s King   married a wight, and the Watch agreed to give them  babies. There are theories that the Starks are   descended from the Night’s King and his queen. And  that Jon is owed or promised to the white walkers,   that they want him to become a new Night’s King.  Maybe while Jon is dead, the white walkers will   take over Jon’s body – just like they raised  those wights in Book 1. Jon does have a dream   where he’s armoured in ice – maybe his body will  be influenced or marked by the white walkers.  The Night’s King fell in love with a pale  woman with blue eyes. So maybe the walkers   will tempt Jon with a pale blue-eyed woman –  like the wildling Val. In Book 5, Val wears   a striking white outfit, with her blue eyes and a  weirwood pin – if she dies, maybe she could become   a zombie seductress to Jon. Jon might get visions  from the white walkers telling him to marry her,   that this is the only way to end the Long Night.  Jon could become Lord Snow of the Nightfort – and   by giving Val his magic seed, and sacrificing a  few babies, he could make peace between the white   walkers and humanity. This could be tempting. But  marrying a zombie and sacrificing babies to demons   is maybe not a good peace agreement – it’s a moral  corruption, a deal with the devil. The Night’s   King and Craster’s deals didn’t permanently  stop the white walkers. Whatever temptation the   white walkers offer, Jon should refuse them. Cause the white walkers may not be evil Dark   Lords. But they’re also not misunderstood moral  people. They seem more like a destructive force   of nature, an imbalance in the seasons. They are  a contrast to humanity, and a reason for humanity   to unite. Unlike the petty destructive wars of  lords, the war against the walkers really is   worth fighting, for the survival of life itself.  George Martin writes about the evil of war,   but he says some wars are necessary, like stopping  the Nazis in World War Two. So Jon should not make   a deal with the white walkers. It’s prophesied  that the hero must fight this darkness.  The prophecy says that Azor Ahai, or the prince  that was promised, will be reborn to lead the   fight against the darkness. When Melisandre  looks in her flames for a glimpse of Azor Ahai,   she sees Jon “Snow”. As a Stark and a Targaryen,  Jon is of ice and fire, and Rhaegar says of the   hero that “his is the song of ice and fire”.  Jon is literally a prince who was “promised”,   when Ned promised Lyanna. It’s prophesied  that Azor Ahai will be descended from Aerys,   and Jon is Aerys’ grandson. It’s prophesied that  Azor Ahai will wake dragons from stone, and Jon   will wake his dragon identity in the stone crypts.  It’s prophesied that Azor Ahai will be reborn   beneath a bleeding star amidst smoke and salt.  And there are bloody stars and smoke and salty   tears when Jon is killed. It’s said Azor Ahai  will wield a flaming sword called Lightbringer.   This could be a metaphor for dragons. But it could  also be a literal flaming sword. Undead Beric can   light a sword on fire with his blood. So maybe  undead Jon will light his sword on fire with his   blood. It might be that the Dayne sword Dawn is  the true Lightbringer, so maybe Jon will get Dawn   and light it on fire to make it Lightbringer. It  all fits – Jon could be Azor Ahai reborn. Daenerys   also fits the prophecy, so Jon and Dany could  both play a role. The original Azor Ahai forged   Lightbringer by sacrificing his beloved wife. In the TV show, Arya destroys the white walkers   by killing their leader, the Night King. In  the books so far, there is no Night King. But   Melisandre says the white walkers are controlled  by the Great Other, the god of ice and darkness,   “whose name may not be spoken”. This nameless  white walker god sounds like the old gods,   the gods of the weirwood trees, who are also  described as “nameless”. In the show, and probably   also in the books, the white walkers were created  by the children of the forest with the magic of   the old gods. And the white walkers are often  associated with trees. So maybe the Great Other   is some kinda evil offshoot of the old gods. In  the TV show, we see a frozen weirwood tree, where   the white walkers were created. In the books,  Bran sees “the heart of winter”, which seems to   be the centre of white walker power in the far  far north. So maybe the Great Other is here,   at the heart of winter, an evil spirit in a frozen  tree, controlling the white walkers. And to defeat   them, Jon has to destroy this tree. YouTuber  David Lightbringer has videos on this theory.   He points out that in the TV show, Beric stabs a  spiral of corpses with his flaming sword, which   could represent burning the spiral frozen tree. This could be Jon’s destiny – to destroy the   Great Other, he must journey north. George  Martin said that in the final books we’ll   see further north than ever before. The journey  could be similar to the legend of the last hero.   The last hero “set out into the dead lands” with  a “dragonsteel” sword and a dog and his friends,   and got the help of the children of the forest to  defeat the white walkers. Maybe Jon will journey   north with his sword and his dog, guided by Bran’s  magic. He could assemble an all-star team of   badass rangers to join him, fighting the dead,  dying one by one. For the final stretch north,   beyond “the curtain of light at the end of the  world”, Jon and Daenerys might fly north on their   dragons. Maybe Jon will convince Daenerys that  the war against the walkers is more important than   her war for the Iron Throne – that their duty  to the realm matters more than their desires.  So Jon and Daenerys will face the heart of winter.  And to destroy the white walkers, they’ll need to   do more than just burn a tree. Cause the legends  of Azor Ahai, and the themes of Jon’s story   emphasise sacrifice, and tough moral choices. The original Azor Ahai killed his wife,   as a sacrifice, to make the sword Lightbringer.  So maybe Jon has to kill Daenerys to get her   fire into his sword, to burn the Great Other.  Maybe Dany will willingly offer her life to   save the world. Will Jon kill his lover? Jon has made sacrifices. He sacrificed   Ygritte to protect the realm. He took  Gilly’s baby to save another. He risked   the Night’s Watch to save Arya. This could  be Jon’s ultimate choice between duty and   love – will he kill Daenerys to save the world? Bloodraven and Melisandre might tell Jon it’s   worth sacrificing one person for the world.  That Jon must take this fiery power and rule   as the last dragonlord. That it’s his destiny,  because of the prophecy and his magic blood.  But this series questions fantasy tropes like  destiny, prophecy and special bloodlines. The   magic Targaryen dynasty was often a disaster –  their flawed personalities, and their dragons,   caused terrible destruction. Special  bloodlines put awful kings on the Throne,   the whole feudal class system is a horrific  injustice. The moral of this story is not that   Jon deserves power because of his Targaryen blood.  And prophecy often backfires – like at Summerhall,   and with Rhaegar, and Stannis – “Prophecy  will bite your prick off every time”.  So Jon should not blindly follow prophecy.  Especially not the prophecy of Azor Ahai – that   dude killed his wife to get a sword. Is he really  a hero? There’s a suspiciously similar legend   about the evil Bloodstone Emperor, who killed  the Amethyst Empress to steal her power. The   legendary Grey King killed a female dragon and  stole fire power. The Winged Knight married a   child of the forest, who then died in childbirth,  and he rode a dragon. All these legends are of a   man who killed a woman and got magic power –  and half these guys seem like evil tyrants,   not saviours. It might be that the original  Azor Ahai actually caused the Long Night,   not ended it. Killing some magic woman might’ve  been the original sin, the fire stolen from the   gods, that unbalanced the cosmos in the first  place. Whatever the original Azor Ahai did,   it didn’t destroy the white walkers – they  came back. So why should Jon repeat this cycle   of violence by sacrificing Dany? This choice  will define Jon’s morality, and his identity.  Because Jon has the magic blood. He could fulfil  the prophecy, sacrifice Dany, and rule. But what   makes Jon special, what makes him a worthy hero,  is not his blood, or a prophecy. Jon is a hero   because of his choices. Jon learned humility and  compassion at the Watch. He was raised as Ned   Stark’s bastard, and Ned taught him justice, and  mercy – Jon thinks of Ned when he spares Ygritte.   He thinks of Ned when he spares that old man.  Surely when Jon faces Dany at the heart of winter,   he’ll again think of Ned, and will spare Dany.  In Book 1, Ned himself tells Robert to not kill   Daenerys. So now, Jon can do the same, he can  become Ned’s true heir, by sparing Daenerys.   He can reject the temptation of fiery power and  prophecy, just as he rejects the white walkers,   and instead make a human moral choice. Instead of killing Dany, Jon might sacrifice   himself. Jon has often been willing to  give his life for others. In Book 3,   he thinks if he has to die to save the north,  then that’s what he’ll do. Qhorin taught him that   self-sacrifice is the meaning of the Night’s Watch  oath. So after all Jon’s struggle with his vows,   in the end, he can keep his oath, by giving his  life to destroy the white walkers. Daenerys could   stab Jon to forge Lightbringer. Or he could  stab himself, impale himself on the frozen   tree – giving up his fiery blood to burn the  Great Other. A heroic self-sacrifice could be a   fitting ending to Jon’s story. Like his dream of a  glorious death in Book 1. It’s… almost… too easy.  Here's another possibility – instead of killing  himself or Daenerys, maybe Jon will sacrifice his   dragon Rhaegal. Because Rhaegal represents Jon’s  Targaryen side. Rhaegal gives him the power of   fire and of flight. Rhaegal is named for Jon’s  father, represents his legitimacy as a Targaryen   king. If Jon kills Rhaegal, he gives up that  power. In all the history and lore of this world,   there are no examples of a dragonrider killing  their own dragon. Because of the magic bond,   it would be like killing part of yourself. Killing  Rhaegal would be a profound sacrifice, and it   could finally resolve Jon’s identity crisis.  Jon could reject his destructive Targaryen side,   and instead follow Ned Stark’s moral example –  giving up his own power to save others. Cause   Jon is not defined by his blood. He is not a  Targaryen. He’s not even a Stark. He is Jon Snow,   and he chooses to follow Ned’s moral example. Jon could stab Rhaegal with his sword,   so the dragon’s fire goes into the blade, creating  Lightbringer. Then he can stab the frozen tree,   burning the Great Other, and destroying the white  walkers. He’ll save the world, not by sacrificing   others and seizing power, like Azor Ahai and  Tywin and Ramsay and all the other monstrous   men in this story. Instead Jon could make a human  moral choice to save others. He’ll end the Long   Night. But there’ll still be one more sad war. A Song of Ice and Fire is partly George Martin’s   response to The Lord of the Rings, the classic  fantasy story. Jon Snow is like Aragorn – they’re   both warriors and leaders who fight to save  the world. They both have tragic romances,   both are secret heirs to the kingdom. But George  questions Aragorn’s happy ending, where he   marries the girl and rules well for a hundred  years. Jon’s ending will be darker than that.  George loves the bit at the end of the Lord  of the Rings called the Scouring of the Shire.   After the Dark Lord is defeated, the hobbits  go home, and find there’s still evil in the   world – Saruman took over the Shire, and there’s  this sad ugly conflict to remove him. Frodo can’t   live happily ever after, cause he’s wounded  and traumatised, so instead he sails west – and   magic fades from the world of men. It’s about  the cost of victory, the impact of violence,   and the inevitability of change. The heroes save  the world, but at great cost. The ending is happy,   but also sad – it’s bittersweet. George says the  end of A Song of Ice and Fire will be similar.  So Jon might also face a sad final conflict.  Maybe he’ll come to King’s Landing so Daenerys   can rule, but they’ll find Cersei on the throne –  vindictively clinging to power, holding the city’s   civilians hostage. Like in TV show, Daenerys will  probably burn King’s Landing, killing thousands   of innocent people. In the TV show, she does  this deliberately, out of anger and madness,   but in the books it might be accidental, because  of the wildfire. Cersei, Tyrion or JonCon might   also be involved. Maybe Daenerys will lose control  of her dragon, and Drogon will burn the city   against her will. Daenerys struggles to control  Drogon in the books. In Hot D, Viserys says   dragons cannot be controlled, they are inherently  destructive. Like the icy white walkers, dragon   fire is an apocalyptic threat to this world. So like in the TV show, Daenerys will win the   Throne, but will be hated by the people  and the lords. Visions hint that Young   Griff will be popular. So after Daenerys burns  him and burns King’s Landing, no one will want   Dany to be queen. And they’ll want her dragon  dead – like in the storming of the Dragonpit.  So to bring peace to the realm, Jon might have  to bring down Daenerys and kill her dragon.  Daenerys sees her dragons as her children. They  are her power, and her identity as a Targaryen   dragon queen. After everything she’s lost, if  her last dragon dies, she’ll have nothing. If   Jon kills Drogon, she’d see that as the ultimate  betrayal – that could be the prophesied third   treason. But Jon may see that the realm can’t have  peace while a dangerous dragon lives and while   Daenerys has the throne. This will be another  painful moral dilemma for Jon – will he betray   his love to protect the realm? Make another  tragic sacrifice, to save the world from fire,   just as he saved it from ice? He will want  Daenerys’ love, he will want to rule with her,   but he’ll know that peace is more important than  his desires. It will destroy Jon if he has to kill   Daenerys. Maybe he could fake Daenerys’ death so  she can escape to the east – tragically separating   the lovers? There’s lots of possibilities.  Maybe we’ll make a Real Daenerys video to   explore her fate. But it makes sense that Jon  will bring down Daenerys, and that her dragons   will die. Cause in the books, dragons make magic  stronger in the world. If the last dragon dies,   magic could fade away. Like at the end of The  Lord of the Rings. It’s the end of fantasy,   and the beginning of a world more like our own. Another possibility is instead of killing Dany,   Jon might have to kill King Bran. Cause Bran  might be a sinister puppet of Bloodraven and   the old gods – having a creepy inhuman tree wizard  as king might be a bad thing. And George Martin’s   original outline of the series said that Jon  and Bran would become enemies. The old gods   seem like a sinister force, manipulating humanity  – so maybe, like the dragons and white walkers,   they need to be destroyed. Jon might have to  reluctantly kill his beloved brother Bran.  Whether he kills King Bran or kills Daenerys,  Jon will know he’ll be exiled for this murder.   So this’ll be another self-sacrifice.  Despite all his heroism, he won’t get   to go home to Winterfell, or be a king. He  won’t get love and glory – he might be hated,   as a traitor and murderer. Jon will give up  everything to save a world that rejects him.  In Book 1, Benjen said Jon didn’t know what he  was giving up by joining the Watch. But now,   Jon has experienced love with Ygritte,  and Dany. He’s experienced power at the   Wall and on dragonback, tasted glory in battle.  He’s no longer a boy, he’s a man, he’s lived,   and now he understands what he’s giving up.  That’s what makes his sacrifice meaningful.  So like in the TV show, Jon may be exiled beyond  the Wall. He’ll be separated from the Starks. He   might get to join the wildlings – Tormund says  he’ll make Jon a true wildling. Ygritte was right,   Jon likes the free folk life. And he had always  felt like an outcast, like the wildlings. Maybe   Jon will finally get to be with Val, if  she’s still alive. With the free folk,   Jon would be free of war, of politics, of vows.  But like Frodo, he’ll be wounded. After his death   and resurrection, and his sacrifices, Jon won’t  be whole. Maybe he’ll be a husk like Coldhands and   Beric, unable to feel or enjoy life. Maybe zombie  Jon will wander to that cave, where Ygritte wanted   to stay. And there he’ll remain, with his memories  of warmth, with his loves and losses, forever.  George Martin loves fantasy – heroes, romance,  and magic – but he sees that the real world is   more complex. So his characters grow up, they  are disillusioned, they learn that the world   is not a fairy tale. Good and evil are not  black and white, we can’t rely on prophesied   princes to save the world. So in a complex  real world, what does it mean to be a hero?  Jon Snow is a deconstruction of the classic  fantasy hero. Cause he is a secret prince, heir   to the kingdom, prophesied to save the world – but  will reject destiny, reject his birthright, reject   the fantasy tropes. His heroism is realer and more  human. Cause Jon struggles to do the right thing,   he makes morally grey choices. He has doubts,  temptation, conflicted desires, but he persists,   he chooses to save others. That’s what makes  him heroic. It’s not cause of prophecy or magic,   but because people’s lives matter. In a complex  cynical real world, that’s the heroism we need.  At the end of this series, there’ll still be  evil in the world, there’ll still be darkness   and weakness in every heart. But Jon  embodies the eternal human struggle   for light in a dark world – a dream of spring. Thanks for watching. We’re making more videos   about A Song of Ice and Fire, and House of the  Dragon, and Dune, so press like and subscribe.   We’ve already made videos about Bloodraven,  Rhaegar, ancient Stark mysteries, Grand Northern   Conspiracy, and more so check those out. Thank  you to Bella Bergolts, Ertaç Altınöz and Sanrixian   for making illustrations for this video. Shoutout  to the Song of Ice and Fire experts linked below   whose excellent analysis helped inform this  video. And thank you to the Patrons – support   Alt Shift X on Patreon to get extra updates and  monthly livestreams. Thanks to Patrons Stanislav   Kolontaev, jackjmoore, Andrew, Arran Shackell,  Rosemary Walsh, Ben Warner, and Aurora. Cheers.

Channel: Alt Shift X

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Length: 128min 58sec (7738 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2024