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| The Hero's Journey from The Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at KU. |
Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen
Jon is the most traditional hero of all of the characters in GoT: noble youth separated from family, goes on quest, gets a mentor, receives a boon (Longclaw), dies, comes back, yadda, yadda, yadda, right out of the Joseph Campbell playbook. Moreover, it will be widely revealed in Westeros that Jon Snow is really Aegon Targaryen the lawful son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Targaryen neé Stark, which would put him in the front of the line for the Iron Throne if that's the way you want to see the situation (e.g., Robert Baratheon would not have, and Daenerys might not either). Certainly the neatest way to wrap it all up is just to follow the Campbellian Hero's Path leading to a restored Aegon Targaryen on the Iron Throne married to his aunt Daenerys (because that's what Targaryens do) and we are back where we started.
Problem is, it's too pat, and as much as fans love Game of Thrones, I don't think the GoTeratti would be cool with aunt marries nephew and lives happily ever after. Again, GoT cleaves to conventional themes even if it uses over-the-top exhibition. Inbreeding consistently gets punished through out the arc of the story (e.g., Mad King, shrinking dragons, Cersei's children all dying horrible deaths, etc.). No, I find it more likely that Jon will have to turn on Daenerys, and Sansa Stark may be involved. Moreover, Jon doesn't need to sit on the Iron Throne to complete a hero's journey and "win" if he's not playing the Game, but is on a different quest.
When predicting, it's incumbent upon one to predict. OK, we'll get to that, but we have things to consider first. A spanner in the works is Beric Dondarrion. Jon wasn't the first to die and come back. If you're not the only person to die and come back, then resurrection loses some of it's awesomeness, especially when it's just whatever the Brotherhood without Banners watches whenever Beric Dondarrion gets cut down and Thoros "Stinky McStink Breath" of Myr brings him back. Jon's status as "alive" is not entirely clear.
Consider, too, Maester Aemon's enigmatic "kill the boy, and let the man be born" advice given to Jon Snow. (HT Sistopher) This could be read different ways, the simplest being "grow up". But then Jon literally dies for saving the Free Folk/Wildlings. Jon is definitely a major hero, but is he Aragorn or Frodo Baggins? Or, is he Samwise Gamgee? The easy out is Aragorn — Ranger of the North, leading the Men of the West(North) against the armies of Sauron(Night King) and reuniting the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor(Seven Kingdoms). Aegon Aragorn — a set up or a Tolkien rewrite with lots of sex to distract you from the fact?
Before we can get to the punchline, there is another factor we must consider: Ghost. Of the original six direwolves, only Ghost and Nymeria are still alive (Sansa is the only Stark alive whose direwolf is dead, but more on that in later post). Does this mean anything? I don't think you gum up a story with direwolves with psychic connections to each other and their humans to have it all not really mean anything. The fate of Ghost will be a tell.
As I mentioned in the Daenerys post, I don't think the whole Jon and Daenerys thing can stand. Moreover, I think it ends in tears. In fact, Daenerys may die by Jon's hand. Think about it — the whole damn show is about Jon doing stuff he really doesn't want to do, and what would be more tear jerkier than Jon "I already had to watch Ygritte die in my arms" Snow having to kill aunt Daenerys and watch her die in his arms while making some weepy confession. Jon's may already be dead, so he doesn't need to die again, but I guess that depends on the as of yet unclear definition of death in GoT. Prediction: Jon's fate is to ride into the sunset Man With No Name style after some "mission accomplished" event. I don't think it is to sit on the Iron Throne. Better said, Jon Snow will not be the last person to sit on the Iron Throne at the end of season 8. The end of Jon's hero's quest wouldn't be to have to continue to do stuff he doesn't want to do like rule over Westeros. Jon wins by not having to do any more crap. Jon is Frodo dressed up as Aragorn.
Ghost
So goes Jon Snow, so goes Ghost, and vice versa. However, the story heaps all sorts of bad stuff on Jon, so I could see them killing Ghost and bringing him back to fight with the Army of the Dead, and Jon has to rekill his own direwolf. In this case, that's not necessarily the end of Jon — it frees him from being a Stark so he can ride off into the sunset.
A summary of all original and current predictions with pointers can be found at the WBC Prediction Status page.
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