Game of Thrones: Jon Snow Met His Real Father and Killed Him, and You Didn't Realize

For the majority of the show, we only think of Jon Snow as the only bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark. For the majority of his life, Jon Snow thinks so, too. It’s only in the final episode of Game of Thrones that we learn about Jon’s true lineage…and Jon learns about it later yet to both his and Daenerys Targaryen’s discontent.

So, who could really blame either us or Jon for not recognizing his father before he killed him?

A phenomenal fan theory from all the way in 2016 built upon the then-assumption that Jon Snow was the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark (which he was) and claimed that Rhaegar was not dead — or, at least, dead-dead. Let us explain.

Rhaegar Targaryen was famously killed during the Battle of the Trident; however, he didn’t stay dead. Much like Catelyn Stark or Gregor Clegane (who were resurrected as Lady Stoneheart and Robert Strong, respectively), he came back to life. Seeing how the Baratheons had won the war and his family was dead, he moved on.

He moved on…to fulfill the prophecy about the Prince That Was Promised and set out to stop the Long Night. Rhaegar went beyond the Wall and started preparing to face the White Walkers: he decided to build his own army, his own shield to protect Westeros from the threat from the Far North. He was no longer Rhaegar Targaryen.

He was Mance Rayder, the King of the Free Folk.

This theory perfectly explains why someone would try to unite the Free Folk in the first place, and why they were so persuasive and successful. Mance Rayder was raised as a warrior and a royal, and he knew all about making deals, winning wars, and persuading people to follow him. He merely used his skills to achieve his goals.

George Martin even specifically emphasizes Mance Rayder’s cloak which is black and red, the colors of House Targaryen; Mance himself makes a speech about it. Why would the King of the Free People bother finding and making the perfect Targaryen cloak if he’d never been south of the Wall, at the very least?

So yes, it’s likely that Mance Rayder was once known as Rhaegar Targaryen, and despite all odds, he even got to know his son, Jon Snow, and built a relationship with him. Too sad that neither of them realized it — and too bad that Jon had to execute Mance at Castle Black. This theory only makes the execution more heartbreaking.

Source: A Forum of Ice and Fire