*Warning: Major Game of Thrones spoilers below.
Game of Thrones season eight is now less than a week away as the world gears up to tune into the final series of the epic HBO fantasy.
It has now been over two years since we’ve had a new episode of the world’s biggest show on our televisions, but that hasn’t stopped fans from continuing to speculate and theorise about the show’s ending.
One hidden clue regarding Jon Snow’s (played by Kit Harington) parentage we may have missed along the way has popped up on Reddit ahead of Sunday’s premiere.
For so long, the biggest mystery of Game of Throne’s was the identity of Jon’s mother.
Season seven finally confirmed the fabled R+L=J theory; Jon is not the son of Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and a mystery woman but the son of Ned’s sister Lyanna Stark (Aisling Francosi) and Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding).
The truth is out now thanks to Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and his greensight but one eagle-eyed Reddit user has noticed a tiny hint from Ned about Jon’s name that was there from the very beginning.
(Picture: HBO)
Redditor armstaae wrote: ‘Ned was raised by Jon Arryn, a man that wasn’t his father but took a fatherly role.
‘Snow is named after Arryn, and is raised by Ned, a man that wasn’t his father but took a fatherly role.
‘By naming him Jon Snow, Ned is echoing the role that Jon Arryn played.’
Fans will remember the late Ned Stark was raised in the Eryie by Jon Arryn (John Standing) whose death was the event in episode one that eventually led to the War of the Five Kings and to Ned’s own execution by the Lannisters.
All of the Stark children are named after someone important; Robb (Richard Madden) was named after Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) and Bran is named after Ned’s brother Brandon Stark.
And, of course, Jon is specifically named after Jon Arryn.
Nothing is a coincidence in the world of Ice and Fire so this is most definitely a deliberate hint by George R R Martin.
Game of Thrones season 8 premieres on HBO on April 14 and will air on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV on April 15.
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