We learned in Game of Thrones Season 6 episode 2 that it’s trivially easy for red priests or priestesses to bring people back from the dead. After a quick haircut and some fake words Melisandre successfully resurrected Jon Snow.
So the former Lord Commander and Stark bastard is finally back… what will he do now? For starters, maybe it’s about time we finally learned all about his real parents, a promise made to him in the very first episode by Eddard Stark, who said, “The next time we see each other, we’ll talk about your mother. I promise.”
We met Jon Snow’s mother on Sunday, as Bran experienced a greenseer vision of life in Winterfell during his father’s childhood. It was during this vision that we were introduced to Eddard Stark’s sister, Lyanna.
Years before Jon Snow was born, while a Targaryen still sat on the Iron Throne, Prince Rhaegar fell in love with Lyanna, going so far as to snub his wife at a tourney by giving the flower awarded for his victory to the beautiful, young Stark. In the promo for the third episode of Game of Thrones Season 6 we witness the dire results:
The back half of the promo shows Bran witnessing another vision of the past, as his father and several men loyal to the Starks (including Jojen and Meera Reed’s father) storm the Tower of Joy. Inside, Lyanna Stark is giving birth to Jon Snow. Since both the Mad King Aerys Targaryen and his son, Rhaegar, are dead, a new Targaryen child could be a real threat to Robert Baratheon’s new dynasty.
So Lord Eddard Stark will cover up the baby’s true provenance. With Snow’s mother and father dead (Lyanna likely dies in childbirth, Robert Baratheon killed Rhaegar in single combat), there’s no one to question Ned’s cover story: Jon Snow is his bastard, born of another woman.
With Lyanna finally introduced in episode 2 and Bran learning about events at the Tower of Joy in episode 3, there’s only one question about upcoming Game of Thrones events left: when will Jon Snow learn the truth?
