Who will know about Jon Snow at the end?

[Pontius Pilate]

On 4/26/2019 at 1:43 PM, Euron III Greyjoy said:

Presuming R+L=J is correct in the books, who do you think will know about Jon being the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna by the end of ADoS? 

Right now I'm pretty sure Howland Reed is the only person who knows, and at the very least Bran and Jon himself will probably know by the end of TWoW, but will anyone else know? I cant see why Jon would go around telling people since what would be the point, and I feel like if it is Howland that tells him, he wouldn't announce it in front of a bunch of Northerners. If he ends up riding a dragon at some point then I imagine some people who become suspicious at the very least. 

What are your thoughts? 

R + L = J is only half correct.  Jon is the child of Lyanna.  The reader will know but how many will know in the books is hard to say.  

[Tygett Lannister]

10 hours ago, Xemi said:

The Baratheons are as native as the Targaryens lol, Orys came with Aegon so he's a foreign invader too.

Only he married a Durran daughter which is Andal dynasty and Targs often married their relatives. So Baratheons are half foreign by that logic. 

[LyaTarg]

On 5/2/2019 at 2:04 PM, rotting sea cow said:

Your comment made me to re-evaluate my position.

On one hand, the story of Jon's parentage is very important for Jon's character development and has also obvious ramifications to particular parts of the plot, like Dany and her claim, Jon's eventual claim to Winterfell, etc. None of this would need that Jon's parentage to be widely known in Westeros. It is a somewhat more intimate affair, although very important for the story course.

On the other hand, you are right. Given the investment on Jon's parentage, with the Aegon VI claiming the IT, Dany showing up, the news of another "claimant" might be of importance in Westeros as a whole. Specially if Jon's name starts to become known all around.

However, I don't think it will happen. Think about it. When news about Jon's parentage start to spread, winter should be in full swing, people should start to starve in Westeros, Euron should be wreaking havoc in the South, maybe an epidemic of greyscale will spread in the Stormlands and beyond (thanks JonCon!), Dany should have landed in Westeros with a massive army and dragons to topple Aegon. Etc.  Meaning that people in Westeros should not have really the mind and time to care about what Rhaegar did with Lyanna.

Yeah. Might not be the time for a whole new campaign. And he's reluctant anyway. Perhaps in the end, some Targaryen loyalists who have doubts about Daenerys, might push towards him taking the throne.

[Gendarrion]

On 5/5/2019 at 1:59 AM, PirateVergo said:

Actually the Baratheons are more legitimate than the Targs, they're native to Westeros while the Targs are Valyrian invaders.

Andals are also invaders, even first men are invaders against CotF.

[The Sleeper]

On 5/2/2019 at 5:03 AM, Lost Melnibonean said:

Doesn't one need Targaryen blood to ride a dragon? 

Not that rare actually. Case in point Brown Ben Plum has it and probably enough to ride a dragon. Between the habits of Dragonstone, the Martels, Aegon IV and the other houses Targaryens married into and without getting into Baratheons and Blackfyre, there should be quite a lot of people with Targaryen ancestry. 

So, riding a dragon actually proves nothing.

[BlackLightning]

On 4/30/2019 at 12:24 PM, The Sleeper said:

I think the more relevant question is who will care? 

A lot of people.

There isn't a single named character in this entire series -- dead or alive, main or secondary -- who has not been deeply impacted in some way by:

1. the truth that Jon Snow is the trueborn child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark (notice how both of them have parents from the same House, a song of ice and fire indeed)
2. the truth that Rhaegar and Lyanna, in fact, loved each other
3. the fact that Ned Stark of all people not only lied about it at great personal and professional risk but did a damn good job of lying about it.

Not a single one.

Everyone is going to be reeling from this bombshell. Some (i.e. Jon, Dany) more than others (i.e. Euron, Bronn) but everyone is going to be caught off guard and rattled.

Cersei is going to be outraged. Jaime will probably laugh and fall in love with Ned Stark. Tyrion will either laugh, curse himself for not seeing it sooner or both. Jon Connington will have an identity crisis almost as bad as Dany's and Jon's. Sansa and Melisandre will leap into action. Arya will be probably be feeling very hurt. Barristan will likely rejoice. Tywin will start spinning in his grave. The Martells will feel like idiots who bet on the wrong horse because they refused to wait. UnCatelyn will die all over again. Stannis would grind his gums because he'd have no more teeth. Euron and Littlefinger will shift their focus. 

I'm telling you right now...if Varys doesn't know and is completely blindsided by the revelation, I will die of laughter.

 

[The Sleeper]

1 hour ago, Jabar of House Titan said:

A lot of people.

There isn't a single named character in this entire series -- dead or alive, main or secondary -- who has not been deeply impacted in some way by:

1. the truth that Jon Snow is the trueborn child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark (notice how both of them have parents from the same House, a song of ice and fire indeed)
2. the truth that Rhaegar and Lyanna, in fact, loved each other
3. the fact that Ned Stark of all people not only lied about it at great personal and professional risk but did a damn good job of lying about it.

Not a single one.

Everyone is going to be reeling from this bombshell. Some (i.e. Jon, Dany) more than others (i.e. Euron, Bronn) but everyone is going to be caught off guard and rattled.

Cersei is going to be outraged. Jaime will probably laugh and fall in love with Ned Stark. Tyrion will either laugh, curse himself for not seeing it sooner or both. Jon Connington will have an identity crisis almost as bad as Dany's and Jon's. Sansa and Melisandre will leap into action. Arya will be probably be feeling very hurt. Barristan will likely rejoice. Tywin will start spinning in his grave. The Martells will feel like idiots who bet on the wrong horse because they refused to wait. UnCatelyn will die all over again. Stannis would grind his gums because he'd have no more teeth. Euron and Littlefinger will shift their focus. 

I'm telling you right now...if Varys doesn't know and is completely blindsided by the revelation, I will die of laughter.

 

For one there are a lot of assumptions that may but are not necessarily true. It doesn't make really a difference.

Also, I believe you are referring to the fact that they have a Blackwood ancestor, if not I am not sure what you mean. 

Other than that, Rhaegar is dead, the Targaryens deposed, Lyanna is dead, Ned is dead and Jon has lived his life as a bastard and a brother of the Night's Watch. Knowledge of his parentage will not change any of that. So what difference would it make? 

Because in practical terms the revelation changes nothing. I feel perfectly safe to say that characters like Euron or Bronn will not care in the slightest bit and it won't change the agenda or reality of the overwhelming majority of houses in the seven kingdoms. 

Personal implications are another thing and it would be interesting to see how this might change things for Mel, but the political landscape will be unaffected. 

If such a revelation took place at the beginning of the series it would have been earth-shattering, but right now... 

[The Snow Queen]

At very least The North will know about it.

[Gerg Sknab]

Which Jon Snow are you asking the question about ToJ or Sisterton?

[The Snow Queen]

What I would like to know is why are people so against the idea of Westeros knowing of Jon´s parentage? Is it because of how cliché it will be? I hardly doubt GRRM would painstakingly build this plot up without making use of it, and no, I don't think it will be for the battle of dawn. Jon is the only character who is the answer to GRRM's question, "What was Aragon's tax policy", and if Jon basically is the "Aragon" in this story then he will barely have a role in the fight against the Others. After all Aragon also never played a huge role in the quest to destroy the ring, that was Frodo, and the only character who remotely comes close to being Frodo in ASOIAF is Bran. He will be the "unlikely" hero for the battle of Dawn. So if the R+L=J plotline will not have an effect on the magical plotline the only logical assumption is that Jon's parentage reveal would affect the political landscape and like it or not, but the reveal of who Jon is would be incredibly huge.