Last summer, the main topic of conversation for Game of Thrones fans was Jon Snow’s upcoming resurrection. The closer we got to winter, the clearer it became that Jon Snow wasn’t dead. This year we’ve got yet another Jon Snow-related conundrum: who is Jon Snow? HBO closed its sixth season with a clear hint that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark. Then, out of the blue, it confirmed an old fan theory that Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen are his parents.
So the next thing we need to talk about is Jon Snow’s real name. Thankfully, a diehard Game of Thrones fan has a sound theory about that.
DON’T MISS: A roundup of original iPhone reviews that got everything completely wrong
Reddit user sparkledavisjr watched and rewatched the scene in season 6’s finale where Lyanna tells her brother who her child is, including his name. Bran, who’s seeing all of this in a vision, cannot hear what Lyanna whispers. But this Reddit user thinks Jon Snow’s real name is Jaehaerys.
Apparently, he has been named after glorious Targaryen kings who preceded the Mad King – these are Jaehaerys I and II, or Jon Snow’s great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather.
The name is important because it makes Jon Snow a recognized Targaryen rather than just Rhaeghar’s bastard. Apparently, the Targaryen price loved Lyanna and he believed that having a child with her would fulfill a prophecy received by Jaehaerys II. The prophecy talked of a prince “who was promised from the woods witch with Jenny of Oldstones.”
The prophesy convinced Jaehaerys II to force his children Aerys (The Mad King) and Rhaella to marry. Their son Rhaegar thought he might be that prophesized prince, and then he believed he’d be the father of the child. Knowing his wife could not bear more children, he seduced Lyanna, who was promised to Robert Baratheon, and who gave birth to Jon Snow.
Ned knew that he could not give Jon Snow the name Lyanna and Rhaegar may have chosen, which is why he ended up being Jon Snow.
