The Young Crow

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Character Name: Jon Snow
Series: Game of Thrones
Timeline: 2x6, after he falls asleep with Ygritte
Canon Resource Link:

• Game of Thrones Wiki
  
• Jon Snow

Character History:

There are a few facts that should be addressed prior to Jon's history, because things get serpentine very quickly and it's better to have the basics down before diving into the mess that is Westeros.

First, Jon Snow is a bastard--an illegitimate child. This point is driven home almost incessantly throughout the series and is part of a lot of plot points as well. His lineage is that of House Stark, whose head is the Warden of the North, castled at Winterfell. His "father" is Eddard "Ned" Stark, Warden of the North. I say "father" in quotes because Jon's true father (Rhaegar Targaryen) was a brother of the former king (Aerys II, also known as 'the Mad King') , and his mother was Ned's late sister who died in childbirth. Lyanna (Ned's sister) entrusted Jon to Ned--who told no one, despite the dishonor it would bring on his wife (otherwise the infant would be killed as the rest of the Targaryens were). He raised his nephew as his bastard son, much to the ire of his wife, alongside the other Stark children. The surname Snow is used for bastards born in the north, and other regions use geographical well known attributes for their illegitimate children (Flowers, Sand, Stone).

Jon is unaware of his true parentage, but he grew up seeing Ned Stark as a father and Ned's children as his half siblings.

... Serpentine.

Jon's life was better than that of most Westerosi bastards. Ned Stark raised him like his own son and he was afforded the education and training that Ned's other children received. Despite lifelong coldness from Catelyn, Ned's wife, and from his half-sister Sansa, he apparently got on well with the rest of his siblings (Robb, Bran, Rickon, and Arya)--especially with Robb who was close to his age, and Arya, the Starks' youngest daughter.

At a very young age, according to Catelyn, Jon caught the pox. Having already wished death on the child, Catelyn begged the gods to let him live on the condition that she would love him. She couldn't, however, and she laments this to her daughter-in-law in a later season. Jon never learned of her regret.

The last very important note is that the world in which this series takes place experiences seasons in years-long cycles. The sun is similar to our Earth's, as is the moon (and there are at least seven discovered planets) and their calendar operates on a twelve month basis, implying that perhaps summers and winters did not always last for years at a time. That is the case now, however, and the series begins during a particularly long summer. It is feared that the long summer will in turn bring a long winter for which most of Westeros is ill prepared.

Aside from the potential snow and ice for literal years and ensuing starvation, famine and inevitable waves of death, Westeros (and the rest of the world, potentially) has true reason to fear the winter. Eight thousand years prior to the series, a winter was said to last an entire generation. It was called the Long Night in which the Others, the Whitewalkers, came down from the polar regions to wreak havoc on the living. In the resulting conflict, a vast wall was built, 700 feet high and spanning Westeros at a high northern point.

Most believe this story to be a legend, but the Wall certainly exists, as does the Night's Watch-- a brotherhood of soldiers sworn to defend the Wall from the Wights living in the Lands of Always Winter.

Now that we've covered some of the basics...

The show opens with Jon at about fifteen or sixteen helping Robb teach Bran archery. They, along with Ned's ward Theon Greyjoy (raised like a brother alongside the Stark children), and others attend the execution of a deserter of the Night's Watch. The penalty for desertion is death, and Ned carries out the beheading as Warden of the North. Bran must watch, but Jon stands with him.

As they return home, they find a dead female direwolf (a rare occurrence south of the Wall that protects Westeros from the Whitewalkers--we'll get to that later) and her pups. There are five pups, and as Jon points out, five Stark children. He convinces Ned to let the pups live seeing as the wolf is the symbol of House Stark. Ned agrees, and Jon discovers a sixth pup, an albino runt he takes as his own and names Ghost.

Later, when enough time has passed that the wolves are trained and grown large, King Robert Baratheon and his family visit Winterfell. Catelyn suggests that Jon be excluded so as not to offend their guests, so he spends the feast practicing with a training dummy. It's then that he meets Tyrion Lannister--the Queen's younger brother--with whom he develops a decent rapport for acquaintances. Tyrion is a dwarf and he can certainly relate to being an outcast. He tells Jon never to hide being a bastard, and to use it as an armor so no one can use it to hurt him.

Not long after this, Jon meets with his uncle Benjen, First Ranger of the Night's Watch. He agrees to join the Watch despite its danger and difficulties believing the Watch to be a noble brotherhood and a way to earn honor as his father's bastard, very clearly longing to be a part of something great belonging to his family's heritage.

Ned agrees to be Hand of the King, a sort of head advisor position, when his old friend (and King) Robert Baratheon asks it of him. He also agrees to take his daughters Sansa and Arya, and his son Bran to King's Landing (the capital of the Seven Kingdoms and seat of power). Unfortunately, while climbing an old crumbling tower, Bran discovers Queen Cersei and her twin brother Jaime in the middle of sexual intercourse. Jaime pushes him out of the window, and Bran survives the fall--only to fall into a coma. Ned must reluctantly leave his son for King's Landing.

Before Jon leaves for Castle Black at the Wall with his uncle, he has a sword forged for his youngest sister Arya and they share goodbyes. He also says goodbye to his comatose little brother, and then to Robb as well. He leaves to go to the Wall alongside his uncle and Tyrion Lannister (and Jon's direwolf, Ghost). His high hopes for the Night's Watch are about to be smashed like all our hearts are repeatedly in the following show seasons.

Jon quickly discovers that Castle Black is an underfunded, poorly managed group of rapists, murderers, and outcasts--much to his utter disappointment. The benefit of the Wall is that it takes anyone, regardless of their crime or status; it strips them of their titles, if they had any, and they become part of that brotherhood until death. Nobles and peasants alike must fight alongside one another to man Castle Black and the Wall, but it's a very pathetic and ugly rabble. It doesn't take Jon long to antagonize his fellow recruits and the trainer of the recruits himself.

He believed himself to be better than them, more skilled and suited for a position in the Watch due to his upbringing. After his uncle Benjen leaves to range beyond the Wall, Jon speaks with Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion opens Jon's eyes to the reality that he is a bastard, yes, but he's a very lucky one to have been cared for and given so much more in life than the rest of those men ever had.

Jon's outlook on the situation begins to change. He starts treating his fellow recruits with more respect, going so far as to offer to help train them and befriending the outcasts among them. On completion of his training, he swears the oath to the Night's Watch in front of a heart tree just beyond the Wall--a tree sacred to the followers of the Old Gods, the religion largely observed by those in the North of Westeros. He is then chosen for stewardship, much to his deep frustration and annoyance--he'd wanted to be a Ranger, patrolling beyond the Wall, rather than serving one of the Lords of the Watch. His outlook changes again when Sam brings him to his senses by suggesting that, as steward to the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon may be in for training for a future in command.

This is not the last time Jon's friends wisely steer him with loyalty and counsel.

As Jon tries to settle into his duties, his uncle Benjen's horse is discovered (naturally, it is riderless), as well as the bodies of two of his companions.

Jon is later taunted by the trainer of the recruits when news of Ned's imprisonment in King's Landing reaches the Wall (Ned had discovered that Cersei's children were not her husband's, but incestuous products of her affair with her brother--and he had confronted her, later resulting in his imprisonment after Robert's death caused by a hunting accident). Angered by being called the bastard son of a traitor, Jon pulls a knife on Thorne and is punished by confinement to his quarters.

Ghost catches Jon's attention and he discovers one of the lost rangers attacking the Lord Commander Mormont; now no longer neither a human nor just a corpse, but a wight. Jon defeats the wight by fighting and then burning it, and is rewarded with a pardon and Mormont's exiled son's sword.

Things appear to be looking up for Jon until he learns that Robb has amassed an army to march against the Lannisters.

Catelyn Stark believed Tyrion to be the perpetrator of both her son Bran's crippling accident and an assassination attempt while the boy lay helpless and comatose, leading her to arrest Tyrion during a chance encounter, prompting Tyrion's father Tywin Lannister to send soldiers to Catelyn's childhood home.

It is exactly the clusterfuck it seems. Jon considers deserting his Watch to join his brother, but Maester Aemon (a very old man who is sort of the priest, historian and doctor of Castle Black) talks him out of it.

... At least until Eddard Stark is executed under the sudden orders of the new king, Joffrey Baratheon (Cersei and Jaime's oldest living monster of a child). Sansa had pleaded for mercy for him if Ned swore an oath to Joffrey, and he swore it, but Joffrey still gave the order to have him beheaded.

Jon can no longer stand it and he leaves Castle Black under the cover of night. His three friends stop him and persuade him not to leave, and they return, Jon's oath technically unbroken. Later, Mormont discusses this with Jon, revealing his knowledge and understanding of the situation. He also tells Jon that defending Westeros against the Whitewalkers is a much greater priority. Jon promises to remain loyal to the Watch so he can join the rangers beyond the Wall to learn what happened to Jon's uncle, and to discern the nature of the threat of the wights.

Season two appears to start slowly but its reveals are arguably exciting. Sam Tarly's earlier suggestion that Jon's stewardship was meant to prepare Jon for command is proven correct by the Lord Commander. Mormont leads three hundred men in what's known as the Great Ranging north of the Wall, headed for a wildling ally known as Craster. The keep holds Craster's household of himself and his wives (who are also Craster's daughters) and Jon is instantly, understandably, disgusted by this pig of a man. Mormont is angered that Jon didn't follow his lead--they need Craster as their ally for supplies and shelter beyond the Wall, and appeasing him is unpleasant but absolutely necessary. Here, Jon is beginning to learn that sacrifices are being and must be made by a leader to protect the Night's Watch. Mormont tells Jon that in order to lead, he must learn to follow. The lesson stings but it's one he needs to learn.

Of note, according to Craster he hadn't seen Benjen Stark, and that the wildlings were gathering under a man known as the King-Beyond-the-Wall--Mance Rayder, a former Night's Watch ranger.

Sam befriends one of Craster's pregnant daughters who seems extremely afraid that her child will be a boy (it's already been noted that Craster apparently doesn't have sons). He asks Jon for help with Gilly, but Jon refuses to interfere and disobey Mormont, however after nightfall, Jon sees Craster carrying his newborn son into the forest, placing it as an offering for a creature of whom Jon can't discern the identity (here's a hint: it's a Whitewalker). Craster predictably notices Jon lurking in the shadows and knocks him unconscious, then takes him back to the keep and in a fit of anger kicks the Night's Watch out. At this point, Mormont returns Jon's sword to him and explains he knew of the child sacrifice but let it go in order to keep Craster allied with the Watch.

The black brothers leave Craster's keep behind and head for the Fist of the First Men, an ancient rock fort hill. They wait to rendezvous with other men of the Watch coming from a castle to the west known as the Shadow Tower.

The leader of the men who arrive is Qhorin Halfhand. He proposes they switch things up, breaking up the main mass of rangers into smaller groups in order to deal with raiding parties of the wildlings. Driven by duty as ever, Jon wants to split off and head out for answers. Mormont allows Jon to join Qhorin and Jon sets off once again.

When Jon and Qhorin's party find a party of wildlings, they take the opportunity and ambush the group, killing all but a young woman when Jon hesitates on realizing she is, in fact, not a man. She tells them her name is Ygritte and she's belligerent at best, refusing to tell the rangers anything about Mance or the gathered clans. Jon insists on being the one to kill her (there's that sense of duty, again) and Qhorin and the others leave him to it, because apparently they don't read fiction and don't understand that prisoners always escape when left alone with protagonists.

And that is exactly what happens.

Ygritte escapes and Jon must chase her down over the rocky, icy slopes. Unfortunately this leads him far away from his brethren and by the time he recaptures Ygritte, Jon realizes he's very lost and night is fast approaching. Trying to navigate the rocks and snow in the bitter night's cold with no shelter might very well be suicide, and Ygritte suggests they sleep close together to share body heat to avoid dying from exposure. The entire time she makes fun of him, presses him with questions, and jokes about his apparent virginity.

When they settle down on the bare ground, Ygritte tries to push herself on Jon (very literally) attempting to arouse him. He won't have any of it, probably because sex on bare rock and snow and ice would be extremely uncomfortable, but also mostly because the oath of the Night's Watch forbids marriage (although as the show points out, it doesn't actually forbid sex).

Jon begins his restless sleep next to Ygritte, and will wake up in Wonderland extremely confused.

Abilities/Special Powers:

Jon's abilities range from handling a direwolf from puppyhood to skilled combat. He's best with a sword, but he can also use a bow and arrows, and a crossbow. He was trained in combat from childhood and also knows his way around horses because naturally, (though arguably) a man on a horse is more dangerous in battle than a man on foot. He is also presumably educated in the dealings of castle-based and open field warfare, the laws of Westeros, and the management of Winterfell, having learned alongside Ned Stark's oldest son.

He's also very good at looking pretty and sad.

Third-Person Sample:

The cold began to properly creep into Jon's bones as the relative warmth of the sun dwindled in twilight. The heat of Ygritte's body (and questionably unwelcome advances) provided some relief once the two of them had settled onto the icy rocks and their shared heat mingled between them. Through exhaustion, Jon overcame the sting of embarrassment at being separated from Qhorin's party, and closed his eyes to sleep.

His discomfort would not end there.

Jon woke with an uncomfortable jolt. He sat upright immediately, assuming it was Ygritte attempting to escape, or perhaps an attack. The jolt was caused by neither of those things, and he might've preferred either of them to the shock of waking under a tree, being hit in the face by swirling windy leaves. He was relatively certain he was awake and that this wasn't a dream, and he groped around for his sword. Seizing it, he dragged himself to his feet and took in his surroundings while his heart began to pound.

"Where in seven Hells...." Jon trailed off, gazing at the structure and its grounds that lay before him. He seemed to be on the edge of a small forest caught at the tail end of autumn, and he stood in the sparse cover of its edge. He could see gardens at the foot of the--well, it was like no castle he'd ever seen before, and it didn't exactly have good defenses or any familiar architecture.

Deciding that there was nowhere to go but forward, he reequipped his sword and sheath and crept toward the mysterious grounds over the dying grass and curled, fallen leaves.

If this was a dream, surely he would wake eventually; and if not, then it was by some magic or perhaps even a vision granted by the gods.

He kept his hand on the grip of his sword, but it remained sheathed so as not to offend the keepers of this place. Perhaps he would find answers from those within it, though it was a little difficult to focus, as the events beyond the Wall were still fresh on his mind. Nevertheless, he remained vigilant as he went on.

First-Person Sample:

[It's been some weeks since Jon arrived in this cursed place. The winter snows have already piled high, and he's heard fantastic tales of four seasons in one year--could he not have arrived in spring or summer? ... No. Of course it's winter.

He turns the communication device over in his hands. It's like a raven only in function, and foreign in literally every other aspect. Fortunately, Arya has been teaching him how to use it and he finally has decided to take the plunge and post a message for all to see. He's read other message posts on this 'net work' in order to get an idea of how to conduct himself. Posting...

Post it, where exactly? he thinks, but he knows getting lost in that maze of thought will only keep him from adapting to this world.]

[The feed cuts on to video showing Jon presented neatly, backed by the stone wall that is presumably his room. He looks as uncomfortable as he feels, but he steadies himself. He's faced worse things than public speaking (although it's not the public speaking part that feels so unnatural here).]

Hello. I am Jon Snow, of Westeros. I've met some of you already. There's something I'd like to ask...

[Ahh, how to phrase this?] In the world where Westeros lies, summers and winters can last for years at a time. I'm told in this world there are four seasons, every year.

I'd like to know more about your worlds; the seasons, the culture. What it's like to live there.

[There's an uncomfortable but very brief pause, and then--]

Thank you.

[He reaches forward and miraculously shuts the thing off, ending his message.]