The final scripts of the HBO adaptation left Kit Harington in tears. He, like many fans, was devastated when he realised Jon Snow would kill Daenerys. But Jon’s ending was set all the way back in the very first chapter of the very first book. Martin loves to foreshadow and he loves to hide clues. Jon Snow’s fate is absolutely laid out from the start. There is no escape.
The first pages are a prologue where some poor unfortunates encounter the White Walkers.
Chapter One of Book One of A Song of Ice And Fire, A Game of Thrones, introduces the Starks and sneakily sets up the heartbreaking ending.
From the start one Stark is set apart, even if it is for a different reason than the eventual truth (which still has not been revealed in the books).
Jon Snow, whether or not he does turn out to be Aegon Targaryen, is fated from his first appearance to a bleak end.
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Game of Thrones books: Jon Snow Ghost theory (Image: HBO)
Game of Thrones books: Jon Snow Ghost fate was not about his death (Image: HBO)
In the first chapter, the Starks find the dead direwolf with her litter.
At first everyone thinks there are only five, three male and two female, one for each legitimate Stark. But then Jon Snow hears something and goes back and finds a sixth, hidden because it was not with the body.
Jon says: “He must have crawled away from the others.” Rather ominously, Ned Stark replies, “Or been driven away.”
Then two more huge foreshadowings swiftly lay out Jon’s dark and lonely path forever.
Game of Thrones books: Jon Snow and Ghost are linked forever (Image: HBO)
Before we even get to Jon’s fate, it is worth noticing how cleverly Martin even signalled the character’s mixed heritage.
Not only does his direwolf cub look nothing like the dark pelts and eyes of the other five, its white fur and red eyes clearly represent ice and fire, most closely associated with the Starks and Targaryens.
Later on, Catelyn Stark warns her eldest son: “These wolves are more than wolves, Robb. You must know that. I think perhaps the gods sent them to us. Your father’s gods, the old gods of the north.”
The gods also sent a pitiless omen for Jon’s future.
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As the books progressed it became clear the names of the wolves were key to the fates of the six Stark children.
When Jon Snow, aka Aegon Targaryen, was killed by the Night’s Watch rebels and then brought back to life, it seemed his wolf’s name had been hiding that dark fate in plain sight.
The Stark bastard had literally become a man who was there among the living again but had passed across from the realm of the dead.
Except, it turns out Ghost was NOT actually foreshadowing Jon’s resurrection and new ‘life’ at all but rather his final fate which still lay ahead.
The Lord of Light has previously only restored life to the likes of Beric Dondarrion to take it back once his purpose was done. It could be supposed he might end Jon’s life, too, once he had fulfilled his destiny, proving he had only been back effectively as a ghost.
Instead, it is almost worse.
Just like his cub at the start, Jon ends up driven away from his family, this time to satisfy the demands for justice after he killed Daenerys. Assuming the end of the HBO show (however infuriating) is indeed rooted in what Martin told the producers, we must assume Jon will end up exiled North for whatever reason.
He will live out his life back on the Night’s Watch, unable to ever see his family again, unable to be part of their lives or the future of Westeros.
Once again, he has become a ghost…
