Now that the R + L = J theory has been confirmed on Game of Thrones, a Reddit user thinks he has cracked the lip-reading code to Jon Snow’s real name.
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Warning: Do yourself a favor and don’t read this article before watching the Season 6 finale of Game of Thrones titled “The Winds of Winter.” It really is that good, plus there are spoilers below.
During the scene when Bran discovered Jon’s true parentage, we see Lyanna Stark whisper something into her brother Ned Stark’s ear. She says, “His name is…” and then we can’t hear what she whispers.
The suspense! But we do see her lips move, which caused Redditor sparkledavisjr to re-watch the clip over and over. He now thinks he has it figured out.
“I’m not a great lip-reader, but I’m fairly certain what she says is Jaehaerys,” sparkledavisjr wrote, according to The Huffington Post.
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He added, “If Lyanna was in love with Rhaegar (as seems likely), it makes sense for their son to have a Targaryen traditional name like his siblings Aegon and Rhaenys. Jaehaerys would be a good pick as the name isn’t associated with any real negative connotations, like Aerys, Maegor, etc. Not only is Jaehaerys the great-grandfather of Jon, he was the King who received the ORIGINAL PROPHECY about the prince who was promised from the woods witch with Jenny of Oldstones.”
Jon is rumored in the Game of Thrones fandom to be the Prince that was Promised, à la the person who is supposed to be humanity’s savior from the White Walkers.
In other words, the name Jaehaerys makes perfect sense and Ned could have simply come up with a more Westeros-friendly surname for Jon so as not to put his Targaryen nephew in any more danger than necessary.
Of course, if Lyanna decided to give her son a traditional Targaryen name like Jaehaerys, then it sets up a whole slew of other notable suggestions throughout the history of the show. Namely, that Lyanna wasn’t kidnapped by Rhaegar Targaryen at all (like the story goes), but that the two were actually in love and ran away together. It also suggests that they were married because in order for Jon to rightfully have the Targaryen name and not be a bastard by default, he would have to be born within wedlock.
I’m really hoping that in Season 7 we get more flashbacks courtesy of Bran, namely a flashback of the big battle between Rhaegar and Robert Baratheon. This could be very telling since, more than for Westeros, Rhaegar and Robert were fighting over Lyanna. As you may remember, Lyanna was supposed to marry Robert before she was swept off to the Tower of Joy by Rhaegar. If Bran could get his hands on this vision, then it would probably shed light on Jon’s legitimacy as a Targaryen.
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Not that it really matters this much for Jon in the scheme of his power within the realm. He has already been legitimized as the king in the North, so he’s doing pretty well for himself without the Targaryen name. But that doesn’t mean that on a personal level it won’t be incredibly jarring, especially since Daenerys is on her way to town.
Do you think Jon was given a more tradition Targaryen name, or did Lyanna go with the one we know and love?
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