Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow Winterfell Crypt Theory

Spoilers for season six beneath!

Game of Thrones has a method of letting viewers get the tiniest bit comfy earlier than utterly ripping the rug out from beneath them — and since we have grown so assured in our assumptions about Jon Snow’s origins and the way he’ll discover out about his mother and father (seemingly from Bran, who discovers the reality after warging again to the Tower of Joy in the season six finale), it could come as no shock if the present determined to completely shatter our expectations.

An imaginative Redditor felt the identical method, and came up with an interesting alternative to Bran filling Jon in on the secret. In an extended, detailed clarification that gives 18 separate citations (together with each proof throughout the collection and iconic fantasy tropes that seemingly impressed the present’s creators), Reddit person jamieandclaire theorizes that Jon will be taught the reality when exploring the Stark family crypt after retaking Winterfell. We know now that it did not occur this manner within the finale, however as loopy because it sounds, there’s nonetheless an opportunity that it would happen in season seven.

To begin, the idea purports that Ned Stark, eager to honor his sister Lyanna’s reminiscence with out endangering her half-Targaryen son (Jon), had a tomb constructed for Jon throughout the Winterfell crypts. It is a Stark custom to arrange these graves far upfront, and the crypt is big — there are a number of ranges, certainly one of which was blocked off to common guests by rubble. Here’s how the Redditor suggests the revelation would go down:

Jon, upon retaking Winterfell, decides to go down into the crypts to go to Eddard’s grave, however finds that Ned’s bones have not come to Winterfell but. He as a substitute passes by the longer term resting locations of his siblings . . .

He stops for a second, unhappy with the brand new data that there isn’t a life eternal for him or his siblings. Then, remembering his nightmares [about the crypt] (or maybe discovering some clue in Ned’s empty grave), he continues all the way down to the decrease ranges of the crypt within the rising darkness.

His finds his method is blocked by rocks and rubble from the collapse. He considers going again, however one thing catches his eye past the obstruction. He begins pulling at stones, and sees one other tomb, ready and empty.

Clambering over the particles, he walks to the tomb and holds out the torch within the darkness, wiping away the mud from the slab. And this is what he reads.

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While a lot of this principle is sound, a few of the most convincing factors really come from the A Song of Ice and Fire guide collection, not the HBO present. Here are a few of our favourite indications that Jon may be taught his personal story among the many useless of Winterfell.

• Jon Snow has desires that convey him to the depths of Winterfell’s crypt: “And then I discover myself in entrance of the door to the crypts. It’s black inside, and I can see the steps spiraling down. Somehow I do know I’ve to go down there, however I do not wish to. I am afraid of what is likely to be ready for me,” Jon describes within the first guide. Additionally, the Redditor notes that “when Ned is killed, Bran and Rickon each dream of him within the crypts, unhappy, saying one thing about Jon.”
• Parallels between Bael the Bard’s story and the R+L=J principle: The story of Bael the Bard comes up a number of instances within the collection. Bael, the king past the Wall far earlier than Jon’s time, infiltrated Winterfell disguised as a singer and wooed Lord Stark’s daughter. He “stole her away” (very similar to Rhaegar Targaryen is accused of doing to Lyanna Stark) in the midst of the evening, leaving a blue Winter rose (Lyanna’s favourite flower) in her mattress. Many months later, the daughter returned with a child of her personal — she had by no means left Winterfell, merely hidden within the crypt. That son, the bastard of Bael the Bard, went on to rule the North. Can you see the connection between this lore and the idea about Jon’s parentage? And all of it comes again to at least one place: the crypt of Winterfell.
• Foreshadowing from historical Targaryen lore: Another story repeated within the collection, points out the Redditor’s theory, is that of Vermax the Targaryen dragon. Vermax supposedly laid eggs within the Winterfell crypt throughout a go to from Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, making a theme of Targaryens/dragons being hidden in Winterfell’s corridor of the useless.
• Ned Stark may completely have ready Jon’s grave in secret: Because the decrease stage of the crypt is blocked off by rubble, not one of the Stark youngsters or guests would stray into the closed-off components . . . plus, Ned Stark may have commissioned a stonemason to design the tomb with out anyone discovering out. Tyrion mentions in season two that stonemasons sometimes cannot learn — “He was a well-read stonemason? Can’t say I’ve ever met a literate stonemason!” — which implies that the phrases inscribed on the tomb would reveal nothing to the tradesman who carved them.
• This theme would honor the fantasy custom of Lancelot: The story of Lancelot (orphaned as a child solely to develop into certainly one of Arthur’s knights) is arguably one of the crucial well-known in fantasy lore, again and again inspiring authors and filmmakers. “Sir Lancelot . . . conquers a preserve known as the Dolorous Gard the place Queen Guinevere is being held. He renames it the Joyous Gard. In the graveyard is a tomb coated by a large jeweled steel slab, engraved to point that solely the person who conquers the preserve will be capable of raise it. He lifts the tomb’s slab with ease, and beneath it’s written ‘Here will lie Lancelot of the Lake, the Son of King Ban.’ He thus learns he’s a prince inside a grave,” the Redditor wrote. The similarities between Jon’s storyline and Sir Lancelot’s — together with the variations of a “tower of pleasure” the place a lady is being held hostage — could possibly be an enormous clue that this principle is correct.

So, do you purchase this insanely detailed theory? To be sincere, we’re pretty satisfied. While solely time will inform if Jon discovers his personal fact in Winterfell’s burial place subsequent season, we would be completely on board if it ended up taking place this manner within the present, the books, or each.