Jon Snow Is Not Handling That Big 'Game of Thrones' Revelation Well
WARNING: This story contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 1.
Last night's Season 8 premiere of Game of Thrones finally gave us the moment we've been waiting for: Jon Snow finds out who he really is-Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and the true heir to the iron throne. His best friend and brother in the Night's Watch, Samwell Tarly, is the one to break the news to him in the crypts of Winterfell. As we saw in the episode, Jon doesn't handle the news so well.
"My father was the most honorable man I've ever met," he tells Sam once he learns the news. "You're saying he lied to me all my life?" Sam, however, explains that it was Ned's job to protect Jon all his life, otherwise Robert Baratheon would've killed him if he knew he was a threat.
Jon also defends Daenerys Targaryen's claim to the Iron Throne. He did bend the knee to her after all. "Daenerys is our queen," he says. Sam replies, "She shouldn't be." Jon pauses. "That's treason."
Kit Harington explained his character's confused and conflicted reaction to Entertainment Weekly. The revelation is "the most upsetting thing in the world" to him and he'd "happily be in ignorance," the actor said.
Ned Stark, who is actually Jon's uncle rather than his birth father, is a sensitive topic. When Jon gets defensive about the man who raised him, he's actually quite close to getting angry over the possibility that Sam could be lying to him. "For that moment, Samwell is nothing to him," Harington told EW. "Jon would disown this friend and beat him up if he was trying to lie to him about this. He’s quite threatening: You’re telling me this, you better be f-king right, and if you’re trying to play me - that was the way to play that scene I think. I hope it was."
John Bradley, who plays Tarly, also told the magazine, "Jon feels Sam is muddying the name of one to the most noble people he’s ever known and that his entire life is built on a lie."
As for his claim to the Iron Throne, Jon isn't interested. "He has no ambition for the throne. He’s never wanted that," Harington added. The former King in the North is far more interested in defeating the White Walkers and keeping the rest of the world alive.
Game of Thrones airs Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.
('You Might Also Like',)
