According to a redditor, this is Jon Snow’s REAL name
For six whole seasons, we’ve been calling the beautiful bastard Jon Snow by his Game of Thrones book-given name: “Jon Snow.” But after the Season 6 finale, we’re not so sure WHAT to call him, because the show writers are strongly suggesting “Jon” was not his true given name by his TRUE mother (Lyanna Stark) and father (Rhaegar Targaryen). And yes, HBO confirmed Jon’s father is in fact, Rhaegar.
While it hasn’t been revealed what Jon’s real name is (in the scene where we learn Lyanna is his mother, she whispers to Ned Stark so we aren’t able to hear what she’s trying to say), redditor sparkledavisjr (Claire Williams), possibly made out a name.
“His name is Jaehaerys,” sparkledavisjr theorizes, after listening to clip at least 50 times, and saying the name aloud to see if it matched Lyanna’s mouth movements.
She also writes, “I’ve seen some comments from people who are deaf or hard of hearing suggesting that Lyanna is saying ‘His name and house is,’ which could very well be the correct answer,” Williams told Refinery29. “‘Jaehaerys’ is just a theory, after all.”
But the name “Jaehaerys” didn’t just come out of nowhere. Jaehaerys was actually the fourth Targaryen king.
“He was known as “the Wise”, “The Conciliator”, and “the Old King”. His long rule was prosperous and he was aided by his sister-wife Alysanne, who convinced Jaehaerys to expand the Night’s Watch and granted them the land now known as the New Gift.”
It’s interesting that King Jaehaerys was the one to basically give the Night’s Watch more resources and help make it what it is. And if you remember, Maester Aemon Targaryen had a soft spot for Jon, and truly believed in him. Is this because he knew Jon’s connection to the Targaryens and who exactly he was named after?
If you’re wondering why Lyanna wouldn’t give her baby a Stark name, well, we think it was tradition to go with the father’s heritage in the Game of Thrones realm. The redditor adds:
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.
Ned obviously couldn’t let Jon keep his Targaryen name, since his lineage would be discovered and he would be killed (because he would technically be the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms). So he went with “Jon,” possibly because of Jon Arryn, who “was a father figure to Ned, and Ned is the father figure to Jon Snow.” Jon Arryn, who we only saw in the first episode of Game of Thrones, was the Hand of the King.
We’ll just have to wait for Season 7 to see if this theory is true — and we wouldn’t be surprised if it is. After all, at least four Game of Thrones theories were proven correct this season. R + L = J, Cersei becoming the Mad Queen, Melisandre bringing back Jon Snow from the dead, and Dany escaping the clutches of the Dothraki because she is their rightful ruler. 10 months until we can add this one to our list of proven theories!