Warning! Spoilers below for “Game of Thrones” Season 7!
All men (who get married in the woods) must die.
In the “Game of Thrones” Season 7 finale, we learn that the title of the episode, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” isn’t just referring to Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). It also represents the union between Lyanna Stark (Aisling Franciosi), Jon’s mom, and Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding), Jon’s dad.
Now, it turns out the episode may have been referencing another “wolf,” as well.
With the flashback scene of Rhaegar and Lyanna’s forest marriage, fans finally have proof that Jon Snow is a Targaryen and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
This changes everything we knew about “Game of Thrones” ― not only concerning the revelation about who Jon truly is, but also how it happened.
In George R.R. Martin’s books, readers are led to think Rhaegar trusts in a prophecy claiming “the dragon has three heads,” and that he must have a third child to fulfill it. It’s partly because of this that fans theorized he left his wife, Elia Martell, and married Lyanna Stark (an idea that’s now been confirmed).
But, in the show, Bran doesn’t say anything about a prophecy. He says Rhaegar and Lyanna were simply in love.
Perhaps to reinforce the idea that love was the reason they married, the scene appears to call back to another tragic romance.
The wedding of Robb Stark (Richard Madden) and Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin) has a staggering resemblance to that of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark: Both Starks were promised to someone else (Lyanna to Robert Baratheon and Robb to one of the Frey girls), both ceremonies took place in the woods, and we join them at similar times, when each couple has a ribbon tied around their wrists and repeats the traditional words:
Both couples also fought to stay together, despite all the reasons they should have remained apart, and they ended up paying the ultimate price: Rhaegar died during Robert’s Rebellion, Lyanna supposedly died after giving birth to Jon Snow, and Robb and Talisa died at the Red Wedding.
(Damn you, Roose Bolton.)
When we brought up the apparent similarities between the scenes to actor Isaac Hempstead Wright, who plays Bran Stark and was present for the Rhaegar and Lyanna wedding scene, he said, “Exactly!”
The actor added, “I think that was actually quite nice, like you said, maybe it bore some resemblance to Robb Stark’s wedding because these are characters who have genuinely been in love, and I think that’s a nice surprise.”
Hempstead Wright continued on about the significance of the moment: “We all thought Jon Snow was this product of a rape or something like that, but actually these two characters were really in love. Jon is the real heir to the Iron Throne and the product of a happy loving moment between two good people.”
Maybe the scene is also proof that prophecies on the show don’t really matter. The true lesson in “Game of Thrones” is that love conquers all …
… And also, never have a wedding in Westeros.
We miss these starry-eyed dum-dums.
