Jon Snow

Jon Snow is the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark, the former Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. Without knowing his mother, Jon lived at Winterfell with his five half-siblings, Robb Stark, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Bran Stark, and Rickon Stark. When King Robert Baratheon arrived in the North and asked Ned Stark to become the Hand of the King, Jon traveled to Castle Black with his uncle Benjen Stark after King Robert’s arrival and met Samwell Tarly, Grenn, and Pyp.

Jon Snow Details

• Name: Jon Snow.
• Year of Birth: 283 AC.
• Aliases: Lord Snow, Ser Alliser’s Bane, The Snow of Winterfell, The Crow-come-over, Lord Crow, The Black Bastard of the Wall, The Bastard of Winterfell.
• Allegiances: House Stark, Night’s Watch.
• Title: Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.
• Father: Lord Eddard Stark.
• Alleged Mothers: Ashara Dayne, Wylla, an unknown Fisherman’s daughter.
• Lover: Ygritte.
• Culture: Northmen.
• Religion: Old Gods of the Forest.
• Hair Color: Brown.
• Eye Color: Grey.

Appearance and Personality

Jon is a handsome boy with a slim body frame and a long face. He is more Stark-like than his half-brothers Rickon, Robb, and Bran. Jon has dark grey eyes, which appear black, and dark brown hair. He takes after his father so much that Tyrion Lannister states whoever his mother was, she left very little of herself in him.

Though graceful and quick, Jon always looks solemn. Some people, like those at the Night’s Watch, saw him as arrogant. However, when they became friends, they noticed he was kind. Having been brought up at Winterfell, Jon always felt left out. His bastardy made him crave glory and honor, and he desperately wanted to be as good as his half-brother Robb. 

Jon loves his siblings. However, he was closer to Arya and Robb. Jon loved Arya dearly because she was the black sheep among her siblings, and she cared for him. Although Eddard accepted Jon as his son, he never told him about his mother; this made Jon imagine what his mother must have looked like.

Upon joining the Night’s Watch, Jon wore the official black garb of the Black Brothers. He was a skilled horse rider, swimmer, and swordsman.

Biography

Jon was born in 283 AC, towards the end of Robert’s Rebellion. Lord Eddard never revealed the identity of his mother and had brought him as a baby to Winterfell before his wife Catelyn and her son Robb came from Riverrun; this made Catelyn angry. Growing up at Winterfell, Jon got tutored by Maester Luwin and trained by Ser Rodrik Cassel, the castle’s master-at-arms. He and Robb grew close. When Theon Greyjoy arrived at Winterfell, he grew close to Robb but not to Jon.

Once, Jona and Robb built a snow mountain, hoping to throw it over someone. Mance Rayder, a member of the Night’s Watch who accompanied Lord Commander Qorgyle, found them. He agreed to keep the act a secret, and the young boys pushed the snow over Fat Tom. When Jon once declared he was the Lord of Winterfell, Robb told him it was impossible as he was a bastard; this made him sad.

Jon idolized King Dareon I Targaryen, who conquered Dorne at age fourteen. He also wished to get chosen by his father to hold some abandoned holdfasts as Eddard dreamed of creating new lords to occupy the abandoned settlements in the New Gift.

Relevance in A Song of Ice and Fire

A Game of Thrones

Jon accompanies his father and brothers to the execution of Gared, a deserter of the Night’s Watch. On returning, he and Robb find five direwolf pups beside their dead mother. When Eddard orders the pups to get killed, Bran begs, and Jon points out that there are five of them, one for each of Ned’s children. Lord Stark gives in, and as they leave, Jon finds an albino pup, whom he takes and names Ghost.

With Lord Jon Arryn’s death, King Robert I Baratheon travels to Winterfell. During his welcome feast, Jon does not sit with his siblings. He talks to his uncle Benjen Stark, the First Ranger of the Night’s Watch, and offers to travel to the Wall with him. Jon leaves the feast when Benjen talks about his unpreparedness. He runs into Tyrion Lannister, Queen Cersei Lannister’s brother, who advises him to wear his shame as a badge of honor.

Benjen approaches maester Luwin and tells him about Jon’s willingness to join the Night’s Watch. When Lord Eddard Stark agrees to become Robert’s Hand of the King, Catelyn tells him she cannot allow Jon to remain at Winterfell. Luwin suggests allowing Jon to enter the Night’s Watch. Catelyn is pleased to hear the suggestion, as joining the Black Brothers will ensure Jon fathers no children. Eddard agrees, but before he leaves for King’s Landing, Bran has an accident.

Before Ned Stark leaves Winterfell, Jon and Benjen prepare to leave. Jon says goodbye to a comatose Bran, and Catelyn tells him she wishes he was the one who fell instead. Jon says his goodbye to Arya. He gifts her a sword she names Needle.

On reaching Castle Black, Jon isolates himself from the rest of the trainees. When he beats up some of the boys trying to fight him, Donal Noye, the armorer, tells him he will need friends to stay safe. Eventually, Jon warms up to the other boys and helps them train. When Samwell Tarly arrives at Castle Black, Jon defends him from getting bullied. He later meets maester Aemon and asks him to persuade Lord Commander Jeor Mormont to remove Sam from training as he is more valuable as an intellect.

Jon gets chosen to join the Night’s Watch as Lord Mormont’s steward. He gets angry, but Sam tells him Jeor is grooming him to become the next leader. After making their vows, two Black Brothers’ bodies get brought to Castle Black. Jon learns of his father’s arrest and King Robert’s death. He tries harming Ser Alliser, who mocked him. Later, the Black Brothers’ bodies reanimate as wights, and Jon saves Lord Mormont. In gratitude, the Lord Commander gifts him his family’s sword, Longclaw.

Jon starts doubting staying at the Night’s Watch as Robb marches South. When he learns of his father’s death, he tries deserting, but Sam and others prevent him from leaving. The next day, Lord Mormont talks to Jon and tells him of a plan to go beyond the Wall.

A Clash of Kings

As the Night’s Watch prepares for the Great Range after Benjen Stark’s disappearance, Jon talks to Lord Commander Mormont, who tells him that maester Aemon was once offered the Iron Throne but rejected it. Lord Mormont tells Join that he and Aemon are similar as they are brothers to Kings. The ranging party of the Night’s Watch passes through many Free Folk villages before stopping at Craster’s Keep. They learn from Craster that Mance Rayder is uniting the Free Folk. With advice from Sam, Gilly, one of Craster’s wives, meets Jon and asks to leave with the Night’s Watch. However, Jon refuses and scolds Sam for giving her such an idea.

On reaching the Fist of the First Men, Ghost finds a cache of dragonglass weapons, an old cloak of the Night’s Watch, and a warhorn. Later, he gets picked by Qhorin Halfhand to investigate Mance’s activities. In the Skirling Pass, Qhorin and his group attack and kill a group of wildlings. Jon spares one of them when he realizes it is a woman.

Ygritte tells Jon that Mance will be willing to take him and tells him about an ancient story insinuating that the Starks have the blood of the wildlings. Jon later dreams and sees through the eyes of Ghost. He sees many wildlings, giants, and mammoths. However, he gets attacked by an eagle. When Jon tells the group what happened, they learn he is a warg and decide to return to the Fist of the First Men after finding a wounded Ghost.

Qhorin orders Jon to join the Free Folk if they get caught, and when a band led by Rattleshirt finds them, Jon kills Qhorin.

A Storm of Swords

Jon gets taken to meet Mance Rayder. He learns that the King-Beyond-the-Wall plans to invade the Seven Kingdoms and bring the Wall down with the Horn of Joramun. He and the Free Folk see the aftermath of the fight between the Night’s Watch and the Others.

Mance orders Jon and Ygritte to join Jarl and Styr for a mission. On the journey, Jon sleeps with Ygritte, breaking his vows. The group later arrives at the Gift. When they reach Queenscrow, Jon refuses to kill a person, but Ygritte does. Suddenly, Bran’s direwolf, Summer, attacks the Free Folk, giving Jon a chance to escape. Meanwhile, Robb legitimizes Jon to be his heir.

On returning to Castle Black, a wounded Jon warns the Night’s Watch of an imminent attack. Grenn and Aemon tell him that Bran and Rickon got killed by Theon Greyjoy. When the Free Folk raiders arrive at Castle Black, a battle ensues, and every wildling, including Ygritte, dies.

Mance Rayder attacks Castle Black, hoping to destroy the Night’s Watch, but Jon holds the defenses. When Ser Alliser Thorne and Lord Janos Slynt arrive, they arrest Jon for deserting and killing Qhorin. Realizing they cannot hang Jon because of his popularity, Janos and Alliser force Jon to partake in a Parley with Mance and task him with assassinating the King-Beyon-the-Wall. 

During the Parley, Mance shows Jon the Horn of Winter and tells him he will order Tormund Giantsbane to blow the Horn of Winter to bring down the Wall if the Night’s Watch does not give in to his request. However, Stannis Baratheon arrives at the Wall on a letter from Aemon through Davos Seaworth. Mance Rayder gets defeated and arrested. 

After the battle, Stannis tells Jon he can legitimize him and make him Lord of Winterfell. However, Jon refuses because of guilt. With Sam’s help, he becomes the 998th Lord Commander.

A Feast for Crows

Jon resides at Donal Noye’s former quarters. He makes archery compulsory for the Black Brothers. Fearing Melisadre may try to kill maester Aemon and Mance’s infant son, he sends Sam and Gilly with Aemon and swaps Gilly’s baby with Mance’s.

When Cersei Lannister learns that Jon is the new Lord Commander, she and the small council plot to remove Jon by sending recruits to kill him, but she gets arrested by the Faith Militant. Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister travels to the Riverlands to end the siege of Riverrun. He tells Ser Brynden Tully he will allow him to join the Night’s Watch. However, Brynden refuses, citing his nices’s distrust of Jon.

A Dance with Dragons

Melisandre warns Jon to beware of enemies. When Stannis demands to settle his men in the Gift, Jon rebukes him, stating the land belongs to the Night’s Watch. He then orders Janos to head to Greyguard. When Lord Slynt refuses to obey his commands, Jon beheads him. 

Though Jon asks for Mance Rayder’s freedom, Stannis refuses, and the Lord Commander orders the former King of the Free Folk to get killed. Jon learns that Ramsay Bolton is marrying Arya Stark, and Melisandre tells him of her vision of a girl on a horse. However, Alys Karstark appears at Castle Black instead, and Jon weds her to Sigorn to seal the bond between the North and the Free Folk. Melisandre reveals to Jon that Mance Rayder is alive as she swapped him for Rattleshirt. Mance then travels to Winterfell to rescue Arya.

As Jon increasingly tries to integrate the wildlings into the Seven Kingdoms, some of the brothers of the Night’s Watch get angry. Eventually, they attack and stab Jon in the mutiny at Castle Black.

Relevance in Adaptation

In HBO’s Game of Thrones, actor Kit Harington starred as Jon Snow. Though he was a Stark, Jon later learned he was Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark’s son, Aegon Targaryen, after Bran Stark saw the events of the past. 

After leaving Winterfell, Jon joins the Night’s Watch and becomes the Lord Commander. He eventually gets stabbed by his men, but Melisandre resurrects him. Realizing the threat of the Night King and White Walkers is real, Jon decides to leave the Night’s Watch. He meets his half-sister, Sansa, portrayed by Sophie Turner, and Brienne of Tarth, performed by Gwendoline Christie. They then receive a letter from Ramsay Bolton, stating he has Rickon. Jon then leads his men to battle against Ramsay. He almost gets killed, but Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, comes to the rescue with an army from the Vale. He gets crowned King in the North after defeating the Boltons.

Jon meets Daenerys Targaryen, portrayed by Emilia Clarke, and they fall in love. Dany returns to Westeros to claim the Iron Throne. After Arya, Maisie Williams, kills the Night King, Dany heads for King’s Landing. However, upon witnessing her maid’s death, she destroys the city even after the soldiers surrender. She eventually wins, but Jon kills her, realizing she has run mad due to trauma. He then gets arrested by the Unsullied and is banished.

Future Adaptations

There have been rumors of a Kit Harington’s Jon Snow spin-off. George R. R. Martin confirmed on his blog that a spin-off series named SNOW is in the works. He stated he knew the showrunners personally and that Kit chose them himself. However, there is not much information about the sequel series.

Jon Snow: The Bastard Who Survived

Though his birth brought him nothing but pain and the feeling of not measuring up, Jon was able to make a name for himself outside Winterfell. He learned to open up at Castle Black and formed friendships that helped him at his lowest points. Like his direwolf Ghost, he was an outcast who grew to become a powerful commander.

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