The final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ has a lot to unpack in just six episodes but perhaps one of the biggest stories will be Jon Snow finally discovering his true parentage…
The end of ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 set up all sorts of major stories going into the final six episodes that will debut on HBO in April.
The Night King along with his undead dragon Viserion were able to bring the mighty Wall crumbling down as he led his army of the dead south for the first time in more than a thousand years. Queen Cersei double crossed Daenerys Targaryen after making an agreement with her to fight the oncoming war with the White Walkers and instead orchestrated plans to attack her enemies alongside a sellsword army known as the Golden Company.
One of the biggest storylines going into the final season, however, will be the fallout surrounding the new relationship between Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen after the King in the North relinquished his crown and bent the knee to his new queen before they ended up in bed together. That union coincided with the revelation of Jon Snow’s true heritage after Samwell Tarly and Bran Stark figured out that he wasn’t Ned Stark’s bastard but instead he was the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark and his real name is Aegon Targaryen.
By blood and by right, Jon Snow aka Aegon Targaryen is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. Perhaps the more pressing issue right now is that Jon is actually Daenerys’ nephew by blood as Rhaeger was her older brother.
Needless to say, the fallout from that revelation will rock the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ when Jon and Daenerys find out the news.
“From a dramatic standpoint, it makes things interesting, because the story is no longer about who Jon’s parents are. It’s about what happens when Jon finds out,” ‘Game of Thrones’ co-showrunner Dan Weiss told TV Guide recently.
Throughout the course of the series, Jon Snow has been reminded rather frequently that he was nothing more than a bastard yet still managed to become the King in the North after reclaiming his ancestral home from House Bolton two seasons ago. Still, Jon has lived his entire life believing that Ned Stark was his father and a woman he just met during Robert Baratheon’s rebellion was his mother.
Discovering that he’s actually a Targaryen and the son of Ned’s sister Lyanna will be quite a lot to handle not to mention how he’ll deal with the fact that he’s falling in love with his aunt.
“Jon is someone who plays by the book. He cannot lie,” Jon Snow portrayer Kit Harington said. “Finding out about Dany would be very hard for him.”
The same could be said for Daenerys, who will undoubtedly be rocked by the news that she’s fallen for her nephew while also knowing that she is no longer the last Targaryen, which means by right it’s Jon Snow who has a claim to the Iron Throne.
For seven seasons, Daenerys has been scratching and clawing her way into power while building a loyal following of soldiers and people who believe in her. It’s not likely she’s just going to step aside to hand over the crown to anybody else but when she finds out it’s Jon Snow, all bets are off.
“Daenerys’s lifelong dream has been to avenge her family and claim her rightful seat on the Iron Throne,” Emilia Clarke said. “She truly loves Jon. Were she to find out about his title, it would cut deep.”
The true nature of their relationship as well as Jon’s right to the throne will compound an already difficult situation as the new lovers were bound for the North when they got on a ship together at the end of ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7. The plan was to meet with the Northern leaders and then plan for a war against the army of the undead.
Little do they know that the Wall has already been toppled and the Night King is leading his army of more than 100,000 dead soldiers south to conquer the living.
And now Jon and Daenerys have to also deal with the fact that they are in love and also happen to be related!
The final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ debuts in April and stay tuned for our in depth season preview ahead of the first episode later this year.
