Game of Thrones’ season six finale confirmed a hugely popular fan theory that’s been circulating for years – R+L does = J.
That is, Jon Snow isn’t Ned Stark’s bastard son – he’s Ned’s nephew, the son of Ned’s late sister Lyanna Stark, and Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys’s older brother.
While it’s not been completely confirmed Rhaegar is Jon’s father, it’s a very, very strong possibility.
During the Tower of Joy scene we’ve all been waiting for, Bran’s vision revealed Ned found his sister Lyanna bleeding to death from childbirth and begging him to ‘promise him’ something.
Then she whispered something in his ear — what, exactly, we don’t know, because that would be too nice and too easy for Game of Thrones.
Well, thanks to lip-reading GOT fans on Reddit, turns out a part of what Lyanna whispered to Ned was Jon Snow’s real name, indy100 reports.
One Reddit user, sparkledavisjr, who says she has watched the scene at least 50 times, wrote:
Lyanna starts by whispering ‘His name is,’ and then what follows appears to be a three syllable word that appears to start with a J.
I’m not a great lip-reader, but I’m fairly certain what she says is ‘Jaehaerys’
There you have it – Jon’s real name is Jaehaerys.
This makes sense because, as sparkledavisjr pointed out, both previous Jaehaerys to rule were considered good Kings, and they weren’t as utterly deplorable as Mad King Aerys. So it would be fitting.
Jaehaerys I was the 4th Targaryen king to sit the Iron Throne, while Jaehaerys II was Jon’s great-grandfather – the King who received the original prophecy about the prince who was promised (aka probably Jon Snow aka Jaehaerys Targaryen)
Obviously, Ned couldn’t be walking around with a bastard son called Jaehaerys – an obvious Targaryen name – so he opted for ‘Jon’ instead.
I guess Jon Snow really does know nothing, not even his own name.
I, for one, can’t wait until he finds out. The seventh series is turning out to be the best yet.
