Jon Snow Did a Very Targaryen Thing in the Game of Thrones Season 8 Premiere

From Harper's BAZAAR

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 1.

The first episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 came with a number of satisfying moments for fans. Some of them we already coming, but one moment came as a pleasant surprise: Jon finally rode a dragon.

The King in the North had just arrived to Winterfell with his Queen (and aunt), Daenerys Targaryen, her armies, and her two dragons. (Remember the third, Viserion, was struck down then resurrected by the Night King and used to break down the Wall so the White Walkers and Army of the Dead could pass through and walk south. Fun stuff.) Once Dany finds out her children (AKA the dragons) aren't eating, she and Jon go to them.

Jon had already shown he has a good rapport with the winged beasts. In Season 7, he pet the formidable Drogon without getting eaten or burned alive, much to Daenerys's surprise. So when he and Dany were out alone with the dragons in tonight's episode, she invited him to hop on Rhaegal for a ride-and he did.

Listen, Jon may have Targaryen blood (his father is Dany's older brother Rhaegar, coincidentally the namesake of the dragon he rode) but he's still a newbie to this whole "dragonriding" thing. He awkwardly mounts Rhaegal, he doesn't know where to hold on or how to steer, he shouts in shock as he flies through the air. Regardless, he emerged from the joyride unscathed, and he's the first character besides Dany we've seen command a dragon solo. (Dany has brought other characters aboard Drogon as passengers before.)

Fans have been waiting for this moment for a while. Targaryens are known for their dragon-riding and -taming abilities, and although the show already confirmed Jon is half Targaryen, his quick trip on Rhaegal further confirms his heritage. Jon's riding also links to a popular prophesy in the A Song of Ice and Fire books.

In the written series, when Dany enters the House of the Undying (which we saw in Season 2), she has a vision of her late brother Rhaegar telling her, "The dragon has three heads," hinting that there will be three dragon riders in the storyline. We didn't see this scene in the show, but fans think the prophecy applies to the TV series nonetheless.

The number three is a recurring theme in the Targaryen family. Its house sigil is a three-headed dragon; early ancestor Aegon I conquered Westeros with his two sisters-turned-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya (and three were dragonriders); and Daenerys has three dragons. Can the prophecy of the three heads of the dragon still come true if one of Daenerys's dragons is dead undead? Are Dany, Jon, and the Night King the three dragon riders? Perhaps we'll find out in the final five episodes.

Fans were excited about the moment nonetheless.

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