The last season of Game of Thrones will have lots of surprises, but one thing we know will happen is that Aegon Targaryen — aka Jon Snow — will find out who he really is. How he deals with that revelation is up for debate, but there’s a scene in the last episode of Season 7 that seems to set up what might happen.
Before Jon leaves Dragonstone and heads back to Winterfell, he has an emotional conversation with Theon Greyjoy in the Dragonstone throne room. Theon commends Jon on his honesty in King’s Landing before revealing that he always thought he needed to choose between Stark and Greyjoy. What Jon says to him seems like something he might hear directed at himself next season.
“Our father (Ned Stark) was more of a father to you than yours ever was… he’s a part of you just like he’s a part of me… you don’t need to choose. You’re a Greyjoy and you’re a Stark.”
I think the likelihood of some of those words reappearing in Season 8 is pretty high. It wouldn’t be the first time the show has repeated a character’s dialogue back to him. There are general phrases that appear frequently, but there are a few times when the repetition is quite obviously intentional.
Say It Again
There’s an example that’s done for humor. In Season 4, Episode 1, when a group of Thens meets up with Tormund’s band of wildlings, Tormund says, “I fucking hate Thens.” Later in Season 5, Episode 8, Karsi says those same exact words to Tormund as the meeting of the elders at Hardhome wraps up. After she says that line, the camera cuts to Tormund nodding his head.
In a more serious and impactful example, Daenerys Targaryen repeats Jon Snow’s words back to him. In Season 5, Episode 1, Jon tries to convince Mance Rayder to bend the knee to Stannis in order to help save the free folk. Jon asks, “Isn’t their survival more important than your pride?” In Season 7, Episode 4 when Jon shows Daenerys the cave paintings on Dragonstone, she asks him once more to the bend the knee. When he argues that his people won’t accept her as a ruler, she says they will if their king does. “They chose you to lead them. They chose you to protect them. Isn’t their survival more important than your pride?” The look on Jon’s face after she says that seems to portray that he understands how similar the situations are, though he’s on the other side this time.
Who Will Say It?
So if the words about not having to choose are, in fact, uttered, the question is who will say them? It seems Daenerys might be the likely one. Since we know Jon and Daenerys have grown awfully close (thanks to the most awkward sex scene in the history of television) and that Daenerys was under the impression that she was the last Targaryen, she seems to have the most reason to reassure him.
But another possibility could be Sansa. I don’t expect the tension between Jon and Sansa to dissipate, especially when the news breaks that bastard or not, Jon’s not actually a Stark in the traditional sense. But those words seem like something that could end tension between two characters like they did between Theon and Jon. That’s why I think Sansa is also a viable candidate to say those words as a way to make amends with Jon.
But we’ll just have see, on all accounts. Season 8 is scheduled to air in the spring of 2019.
