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ETA: And yes this assumes that Jon is probably the ultimate hero or one of the ultimate heroes, so if you're on the Dany-is-it train, I doubt you'll find much here that you'll like.
In the Belly of the Whale
This is a very old trope, so named for the Biblical story of Jonah. According to Joseph Campbell, this development marks a turning point for the hero, who is sent into the "unknown." It can correspond to death and entering the Underworld. Typically, the hero will face something in the abyss and return with a boon — literal or figurative — necessary to complete his overall mission. It is also what causes the hero to accept the inevitability of his overall mission — the "event horizon," "crossing the Rubicon" portion of his quest. There is no going back.
Jon's speech in the Shield Hall, with its wooden beams resembling (whale) ribs, marks the beginning of his "belly of the whale" sequence, wherein it is assumed he will die (or else otherwise enter an abyss, possibly a coma) and return with his "boon," and continue on with his mission.
Greek Mythology
Much emphasis is put on seasonal shifts in ASOIAF. The seasons are out of joint, they aren't even, they can be overly harsh. There is a story in Greek myth wherein Hades, the god of the underworld, steals Persephone, the daughter of the harvest goddess Demeter. Demeter, anguished over losing her daughter, causes an unending winter. The other gods encourage Hades to give Persephone back, and he agrees. But not before she has eaten the seeds of a pomegranate in the underworld. Because of this, she must stay in the underworld for one month of every year for each seed she ate. The time that she spends in the underworld is winter (because of Demeter's sadness), and her return marks spring. In this way, the pomegranate is tied to unwilling entry into the underworld and the prevention of spring and catharsis.
Who is the pomegranate in our story? Bowen Marsh.
The Corn King
This is a figure in Celtic mythology who must be sacrificed in winter in order to usher in spring. When spring arrives, he is resurrected in turn. It's a pretty straightforward allusion, made more so in that Mormont's warged raven repeatedly caws "king" and "corn" to Jon in varying combinations and at various times. In this sense, Jon is the Corn King who must be sacrificed in order to bring spring, and who will eventually be resurrected.
Norse Mythology
This is the big one and probably the one most discussed in relation to the northern arc and the fight against the Others. Specifically, it ties into the possibility of Ragnorak, wherein many of the gods in the world now (including our one-eyed Odin stand-in, Bloodraven) die, and the world is born again after.
Where this ties into resurrection is what happens when warriors die. The Valkyries (perhaps represented in our own story by Val and the spearwives in general) select fallen warriors to enter the shield hall of Valhalla. They are associated with ravens and horses specifically. Once there, the fallen warriors drink mead and prepare to fight in Ragnorak. The implication is that these fallen warriors will rise again for Ragnorak. In ADWD, the red priests in Volantis describe people who die in Azor Ahai's service as rising from death. Is this a PR move (Melisandre, for instance, doesn't speak of such a thing), or is it something we'll see actually happen with fallen warriors when Ragnorak (the ultimate battle) begins?
Standing above the hall of Valhalla are a stag and a goat. The stag's horns release water that forms rivers, while the goat produces the mead on which the fallen soldiers feast. What these might symbolize, if anything, I'm not sure, apart from the obvious stag allusion to Stannis or another Baratheon.
There are also a couple of in-story anecdotes that suggest that Jon has some attributes of a berserker, both of them in Storm of Swords. When he is extremely enraged and/or emotionally distressed, he is able to lift Alliser Thorne up by the throat (when it's implied he's a turncloak and a traitor), and also able to overpower Iron Emmett to the point where he has to be pulled away (when he is remembering Robb saying that Catelyn told him Jon was a bastard who would never get Winterfell). This strength is not standard (see Mance kicking Jon's ass), but is accompanied by rage. Berserkers were known to go into battle wearing wolf pelts.
Christian mythology
Sorry, you knew it was coming.
Some of the aspects of Jon's stabbing and the events immediately preceding it tie into the betrayal and death of Christ, often in the same way they tie into Ragnorak. Three roosters signal the beginning of Ragnorak. Crowing roosters also play into the betrayal of Christ, namely where Peter's denials of him are concerned.
When Jon arrives in the Shield Hall, the men are there eating. This is, for all intents and purposes, our Last Supper. Wyk's stunned disbelief when he backs away from Jon echoes the statement, "Forgive them, they know not what they do." Christ spent three days in hell before his resurrection, and it is a cornerstone of the Christian faith that Christ died for the sins of mankind. God's intent for Christ to die could tie into an eventually epiphany that Melisandre or Bloodraven were behind Jon's own assassination.
Certain Christian denominations also believe in an eventual literal Armageddon, a Christian variation of Ragnorak. This is, basically, the final battle between Christ and his followers and the forces of Satan. While I doubt that the final showdown in ASOIAF is that clean cut (Jesus good, Satan bad), it does align nicely with Ragnorak. There is also a belief that the souls of dead Christians will rise again (like the fallen soldiers of Valhalla) and participate in the final battle against evil, so again, this ties into the scattered phrases about the resurrection of followers we've seen.
These are the major mythological allusions that I've seen in Jon's story. Some aspects of one are used, and some aspects of another, and some aspects are used simultaneously. The overarching point is that Jon's arc seems to borrow so heavily from these mythological tropes, particularly where death, sacrifice and resurrection are concerned, that I would be surprised if at least one of them didn't fully play out to the conclusion.
Edited by Apple Martini, 26 July 2012 - 01:31 PM.
