Skip to main content

Who are Jon Snow’s parents? ‘Game of Thrones’ infographic provides definitive answer

Game of Thrones fans have long been told that Jon Snow is Ned Stark’s bastard, but speculation has run rampant that the fan favorite may actually have been born to a different member of the House Stark. While the HBO series has never offered any definitive proof either way, the network has now put an end to the speculation with a new infographic. And if you aren’t ready to know the truth, stop reading — there are spoilers ahead.

The answer came in the form of a very convoluted diagram, posted on the Making Game of Thrones blog, that confirms what was seriously hinted at in the season 6 finale: Jon Snow is indeed the son of Ned’s sister, Lyanna Stark, and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. It is known.

Recommended Videos

The infographic served in part as a family tree, though in the form of a circle, and presents 20 key Game of Thrones characters using different lines to indicate connections between them. Both Lyanna and Rhaegar have black lines running to Jon, indicating that they are his parents. There is also a pink dashed line between the two deceased characters to show that Rhaegar abducted Lyanna. Another line — this one blue — connects Jon to Ned, and it means that the late Lord of Winterfell was his guardian (not to mention his uncle).

got-connections-infographic
HBO
HBO

The information all fits with the events of season 6, episode 10, The Winds of Winter. The epic finale revealed how Lyanna was engaged to Robert Baratheon, only to be abducted by Rhaegar. By the time her brother got to her, she was on her deathbed, leaving her brother to raise her newborn son as his own.

The reveal has been a long time coming, and it is bound to have a huge impact moving forward. As a Targaryen, the new King of the North now has closer ties to the Iron Throne. If only season 7 weren’t so far away.

Stephanie Topacio Long
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
Game of Thrones’ disappointing finale lost sight of what made the series so great
Daenerys stands above the Unsullied in the Game of Thrones finale.

Ending a TV show well is an infamously hard thing to do. Plenty of great, talented writers have tried and failed over the years, and even more fans have been left disappointed as their favorite shows failed to stick the landing. While bad final episodes have been a part of the TV landscape for decades, no series finale in modern memory has been as universally and passionately detested as Game of Thrones'.

After entertaining millions of viewers for eight years, the HBO drama delivered a final trio of rushed, ham-fisted episodes in May 2019 that brought its story to an incredibly disappointing, unearned conclusion. The show that had long held the TV crown subsequently faded from the world's pop cultural conversations — proving that sometimes the destination is as important as the journey. Many longtime fans seemingly pushed Game of Thrones from their minds altogether, while others decided to place all their hopes for a better ending on the two remaining Song of Ice and Fire books that author George R. R. Martin still hasn't published.

Read more
5 years ago, Game of Thrones aired its last great episode. Here’s why it still holds up
Jamie knights Brienne in episode 2 of Game of Thrones season 8.

Many fans would likely agree that Game of Thrones went out not with a bang, but a profound whimper. After dominating pop culture for nearly 10 years, the hit HBO series concluded with a trio of episodes that were universally reviled by both fans and critics alike. The show's lackluster, ham-fisted finale led to its popularity seemingly vanishing into thin air. In the five years since it aired, time hasn't been kind to Game of Thrones season 8.

To this day, many people still discuss the series' final season with a mix of bitterness and disbelief, and those fans won't find any disagreement about the quality of Game of Thrones' last few chapters here. As disappointing as its eighth season remains, though, April 21 marked the five-year anniversary of its noteworthy second episode, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The fan-favorite installment ranks not only as its season's best chapter, but also as the last great episode that Game of Thrones ever produced.

Read more
Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is missing the one thing that made Game of Thrones great
Ye Wenjie sits in front of a radio dish controller in 3 Body Problem.

Netflix's 3 Body Problem isn't just the streaming service's long-awaited adaptation of the acclaimed Chinese science fiction novel of the same name by Liu Cixin. It's also Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' follow-up to their HBO smash hit. In many ways, the Netflix series, which Benioff and Weiss co-created with Alexander Woo, is a worthy successor to a show like Thrones. Like that game-changing HBO drama, it's an adaptation of the kind of famously complex source material that many understandably believed to be unadaptable.

To Benioff, Weiss, and Woo's credit, they prove that's not true across 3 Body Problem's debut eight-episode season. Together, the trio and their collaborators successfully streamline the science-driven narrative of Cixin's original novel, turning it into an episodic story that is both easily digestible and propulsive. While 3 Body Problem gets a lot right, though, it's missing the one thing that made Game of Thrones such a beloved show in the first place. To put it frankly, its characters just aren't all that memorable.
A rich foundation
3 Body Problem | Official Trailer | Netflix

Read more