What if Jon will NOT come back?

[Aerys III of his name]

I see 99.8% of people (me too) is pretty sure he will come back in a way or another, but just for curiosity, let's assume he really will stay dead till the very end, how you'll react? will you be desperate, angry or indifferent?

[calo760]

I think it will make the story feel a little more realistic. I love the idea that no one is safe, no matter how beloved or important the character is. I thought Robb was going to defeat the Lannisters and save his sister, and when he and his mother were betrayed and murdered it was a tremendous shock to me. I felt pretty bummed, but i think that is what is so great about this series.A great story evokes emotion from the reader and keeps everyone on their toes.

[Stannis is the man....nis]

Pretty pissed actually seeing as at that point it will realy feel like the show would be going full team Dany

[ShadowKitteh]

A great story evokes emotion from the reader and keeps everyone on their toes.

True. But they generally don't wait until the last chapter to introduce the hero after we've been following another set of characters for the other 27+ chapters.

They might not identify that character as the hero until later, but generally they're not a stranger to the story.

If GRRM has no hero (everyone dies, and it's the end of the world), and there's no payoff to spending this many years waiting for said payoff, I think a LOT of people would be angry, and rightly so.

Stories that are ended via Deus ex machina, are general considered poor stories, with lazy bad writing. I don't see GRRM using that sort of device to wind up ASOIAF.

[dannyk65]

Can't wait for Jon's rebirth aka AA to be played by Haley Joel Osmont

[calo760]

Pretty pissed actually seeing as at that point it will realy feel like the show would be going full team Dany

Good point. That would be aggravating. I'd rather be Team Littlefinger if it comes to that.

[The Northern Scholar]

True. But they generally don't wait until the last chapter to introduce the hero after we've been following another set of characters for the other 27+ chapters.

They might not identify that character as the hero until later, but generally they're not a stranger to the story.

If GRRM has no hero (everyone dies, and it's the end of the world), and there's no payoff to spending this many years waiting for said payoff, I think a LOT of people would be angry, and rightly so.

Stories that are ended via Deus ex machina, are general considered poor stories, with lazy bad writing. I don't see GRRM using that sort of device to wind up ASOIAF.

I think you make a good point. There are so many reasons to believe Jon will come back in one way or another. Reasons that, if he doesn't, would really make me question some authorial decisions made by GRRM.

However, I am going to cop out and say I can't answer this question without seeing what happens in season 6 and WoW. If his fate differs between the two, that will really affect the way in which I react.

[RGBeyondAsshai]

Show reaction? I would turn off my television and wait for the book, where I'm fairly certain GRRM will not have just abruptly killed one of the most important characters-the star character in the North-in one of the most acclaimed series in a generation.

As for realism. Ned was realistic. Red Wedding was realistic. This would not be realistic. Jon just came back from fighting the WW and he is one of the best fighters they have with the only Valyrian sword. Previous to that, he fought to keep the Wildlings and Mance from breaching the Wall. Previous to that, he took some men and killed all the traitors who killed LC Mormont at Craster's. I'm not sure where Alliser's brain is. As a Stark--even a bastard--Jon can call on some serious northern support (excluding Boltons) because who is left now? Rapists and thieves. No one will come when they call. It also wouldn't be realistic that all of the NW and any of the Wildlings would support his execution since he did nothing technically wrong beyond trying to save human lives (which is actually in the vow) and--in the show--Alliser is given the choice and he opens the gates to let them all in, not Jon. So technically he is the traitor, if that is his crime.

So I'm 100% sure Kit is coming back as Jon something. Targ, Un, Other. Because nothing else makes any sense to the story as a whole, and at this point, NO ONE--Dany, Arya, Sansa, LF, Cersei, Jaime, Brienne, those poor Unsullied, Dorne--even knows about the WW situation and still add grumpkins and snarks to any sentence that includes them.

Unless we're rooting for the Night King, then never mind he's probably dead. :)

[DJE]

I will be very upset if he is really dead. He has been built up for far too long as having a "Destiny" so to speak. I think it would be poor writing by D & D, and if he is dead in TWOW as well, I may be done with the series. All though, in my first read through, I didn't want to read it anymore after the RW either, and I picked it back up within the hour.

[ummester]

Pretty pissed actually seeing as at that point it will realy feel like the show would be going full team Dany

Unless, Jon's dead and Dany turns out as bad as she is being foreshadowed

[~DarkHorse~]

Show reaction? I would turn off my television and wait for the book, where I'm fairly certain GRRM will not have just abruptly killed one of the most important characters-the star character in the North-in one of the most acclaimed series in a generation.

As for realism. Ned was realistic. Red Wedding was realistic. This would not be realistic. Jon just came back from fighting the WW and he is one of the best fighters they have with the only Valyrian sword. Previous to that, he fought to keep the Wildlings and Mance from breaching the Wall. Previous to that, he took some men and killed all the traitors who killed LC Mormont at Craster's. I'm not sure where Alliser's brain is. As a Stark--even a bastard--Jon can call on some serious northern support (excluding Boltons) because who is left now? Rapists and thieves. No one will come when they call. It also wouldn't be realistic that all of the NW and any of the Wildlings would support his execution since he did nothing technically wrong beyond trying to save human lives (which is actually in the vow) and--in the show--Alliser is given the choice and he opens the gates to let them all in, not Jon. So technically he is the traitor, if that is his crime.

So I'm 100% sure Kit is coming back as Jon something. Targ, Un, Other. Because nothing else makes any sense to the story as a whole, and at this point, NO ONE--Dany, Arya, Sansa, LF, Cersei, Jaime, Brienne, those poor Unsullied, Dorne--even knows about the WW situation and still add grumpkins and snarks to any sentence that includes them.

Unless we're rooting for the Night King, then never mind he's probably dead. :)

:agree: I wouldn't be surprised if Jon does die but not yet. Killing him off at this point would just be bad storytelling.

Unless, Jon's dead and Dany turns out as bad as she is being foreshadowed

Nah, they love Dany. Every season they have her worshiped by crowds and next season a red priestess is laying it on thick that she is AA reborn (in the Season 6 casting auditions).

[kissdbyfire]

True. But they generally don't wait until the last chapter to introduce the hero after we've been following another set of characters for the other 27+ chapters.

They might not identify that character as the hero until later, but generally they're not a stranger to the story.

If GRRM has no hero (everyone dies, and it's the end of the world), and there's no payoff to spending this many years waiting for said payoff, I think a LOT of people would be angry, and rightly so.

Stories that are ended via Deus ex machina, are general considered poor stories, with lazy bad writing. I don't see GRRM using that sort of device to wind up ASOIAF.

:agree:

It would make zero narrative sense to off Jon at this point in the story.

[BendTheKnee15]

Ill stop reading and watching if he isn't back early next book/season.

I'm sick of this trendy " it's cool to kill every good character" we see in shows and books today.

If he is dead, then it's just awful writing and would make absolutely no sense whatsoever and here is why.

1. Every character who has had or does have knowledge if Jon's true parentage are either dead, or have not made an appearance in the books.

2. Almost every major conspiracy from the northern conspiracy to R+L have to do with him. There is no closure and with 2 books remaining alot to tell with his Arc surrounding all of these " theories in which George had implemented.

3. Ironic all the Starks were seperated.

4. Tower of Joy

5. Crypts of Winterfell and the horn of winter

6. The Wildlings and Mance

7. AA

8. TOTWP

9. Dany's Vision ( a blue winter rose )

10. Bran!a visions

11. Jon's Visions

12. Mel's prophesy

13. Ghost and Warging

14. All the characters who would have died in vein... From Quorin, Ned, Mance, and so on( they all had or believed in Jon.)

I can go on and on....

If he's dead, really dead... Then all of these go unanswered and much much more. Or if they are answered, they are answered in a completely unacceptable way that makes absolutely no sense to what has led us to this point.

[Valhalla Morghulis]

The Show will go on.

In the Show Jon does not have the destiny or ancestry thing hanging over him that everyone wants solved and fulfilled, and as such he is really a bland hero, a good and honourable guy but not as interesting and flawed as Dany or Tyrion, or Arya or Brienne, and thus viewers can live without him.

However as the show will not deviate from the books on his ultimate fate and destiny, he will return as I can't believe GRRM will kill him off in the books, but if he does, then the refrain of the whole saga, Valar Morghulis, may well be the climax and the WWs do win the night.

[Dark Wing Duck]

if jons gone then R+L = J means absolutely nothing and thats the biggest mystery in the books. they even say that GRRM asked D&D who his mother was and thats why he let them adapt it. and who else can personify the song of ice and fire? if GRRM really just throws R+L=J away like that then he wasted one of the greatest literary mysteries ever. mystery isn't the right word but yous all know what i mean

[kissdbyfire]

if jons gone then R+L = J means absolutely nothing and thats the biggest mystery in the books. they even say that GRRM asked D&D who his mother was and thats why he let them adapt it. and who else can personify the song of ice and fire? if GRRM really just throws R+L=J away like that then he wasted one of the greatest literary mysteries ever. mystery isn't the right word but yous all know what i mean

Martin has said that both Jon and readers will eventually learn who his parents were.

[The Northern Scholar]

The Show will go on.

In the Show Jon does not have the destiny or ancestry thing hanging over him that everyone wants solved and fulfilled, and as such he is really a bland hero, a good and honourable guy but not as interesting and flawed as Dany or Tyrion, or Arya or Brienne, and thus viewers can live without him.

However as the show will not deviate from the books on his ultimate fate and destiny, he will return as I can't believe GRRM will kill him off in the books, but if he does, then the refrain of the whole saga, Valar Morghulis, may well be the climax and the WWs do win the night.

I agree with your general point, the show will continue whether or not Jon survives. But do people really find Arya or Brienne's arcs on the show more interesting than Jon's?

[BendTheKnee15]

I agree with your general point, the show will continue whether or not Jon survives. But do people really find Arya or Brienne's arcs on the show more interesting than Jon's?

Nope

[Barristan Whitebeard]

I agree with your general point, the show will continue whether or not Jon survives. But do people really find Arya or Brienne's arcs on the show more interesting than Jon's?

Of course not. Every single unsullied I know has said me three things:

1) "I'm completely sure that Jon will be back next season"

2) "I will be utterly disappointed if he doesn't come back"

3) "I will not watch the show anymore if Jon doesn't come back, or at least I will seriously consider stop watching it" .

[Xarkar]

If Jon does not come back, the storyline at the wall is really going to suck.

Who will we follow?

Possibly Sansa / Theon (ya that sounds fun in a castle full of criminals.

Melisandre again not really that fun.

Davos.. Ok this one could be decent but still not the best.

Lets say the NK sacks the wall, so that plotline will not be needed. Someone still has to go north of the wall, and Bran is a bit boring, even though he can see almost everything.

Seems to me like they will need Jon to keep telling the story of the WW and the NK.