on Snow

View source

Talk11

2,718

PAGES ON

THIS WIKI

Jon Snow

Season(s)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
First seen
"Winter is Coming"
Appeared in
32 episodes (see below)
Titles
Steward
Also known as
Lord Snow
The Bastard of Winterfell
Status

Alive
Age
Approx. 21 in Season 5
Origin
Winterfell
Allegiance
The Night's Watch
House Stark
Culture
Northmen
Religion
Old Gods of the Forest
Family
{Eddard Stark} - father
Wylla - alleged mother
Benjen Stark - uncle
{Robb Stark} - half-brother
Sansa Stark - half-sister
Arya Stark - half-sister
Bran Stark - half-brother
Rickon Stark - half-brother
{Talisa Maegyr} - half-sister-in-law
Tyrion Lannister - half-brother-in-law
{Ygritte} - lover
Portrayed by
Kit Harington

"Let me give you some advice, bastard. Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will
not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you."
Tyrion Lannister to Jon Snow[src]
Jon Snow is a major character in the first, second, third, fourthand fifth seasons. He is played by
starring cast member Kit Harington, and debuts in the series premiere. Jon is the bastardson of
Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell. He is a steward in theNight's Watch. Now serving on the Wall, Jon
has found a place of acceptance where the circumstances of his birth are of little importance. He has
a pet direwolf named Ghost, and wields the bastard sword, Longclaw, which was a gift from Lord
CommanderJeor Mormont who sees Jon as a surrogate son.
On a mission to discover King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder's plans, Jon infiltrated
the wildling army. While learning their plans, Jon fell in love with a wildling woman, Ygritte, and began

a relationship with her. Jon was forced to leave her behind after they scaled the Wall. Jon returned to
his sworn brothers in the Watch and warned them about the coming invasion.

Contents

Biography

[show]

Background

Ned brings a newborn Jon to Winterfell.

Jon is the bastard son of LordEddard Stark of Winterfell, the head of House Stark and Lord
Paramount of the North. The North is one of the constituent regions of the Seven
Kingdoms inWesteros, and House Stark is one of the Great Houses of the realm. House Stark rules
the region from their seat of Winterfelland Eddard also holds the title Lord of Winterfell. He is also
theWarden of the North to King Robert Baratheon.[1]
Eddard once told King Robert Baratheon that Jon's mother is a serving girl named Wylla, but refused
to elaborate any further. Jon himself has no knowledge of his mother. [2]

Jon and Robb play with snowballs in their childhood.

Jon was raised at Winterfell on an equal footing with Eddard's legitimate children. He has an older
half-brother Robb, two younger half-sisters Sansa and Arya, and two younger halfbrothers Bran and Rickon. Jon's presence at Winterfell is a source of friction between Eddard and
his wife, Catelyn, although Catelyn put aside her anger temporarily when the infant Jon became
severely ill. Jon got on well with his half-siblings, particularly Robb and Arya.[3]

Season 1

Jon and Robb instruct Bran.

Jon Snow and Robb instruct Bran in archery, when they learn about a captured deserter. Jon
accompanies his father, Robb, Bran and Theon Greyjoy to the beheading of a deserter, [[Will], from
the Night's Watch; it is Bran's first time watching his father carry out an execution. Jon warns Bran
not to look away, as their father will know. Jon praises Bran afterwards for keeping his composure.
On their way back to Winterfell, they find a deaddirewolf and six newborn pups. Jon talks Lord
Eddard into allowing the young Starks to adopt them, pointing out that a direwolf is the sigil of House
Stark : given that there are five direwolves and five trueborn Stark children, it must be a sign from
the Old Gods that the Stark children are meant to have the pups. In order to make this point, Jon
intentionally leaves himself out of the count of Stark children, and when Bran asks about this Jon
responds that he is not a Stark. However, just as they are about to leave, they find the runt of the
litter, an albino, which crawled away from its mother's corpse. As an outsider like himself, Jon takes
this direwolf as his own, naming him Ghost. Treated coldly by his stepmother, Jon decides to
approach his uncle Benjen and offer to join the Night's Watch.[4] He meets Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf
who knows what it is like to be an outcast. Tyrion tells him to wear the name "bastard" as a badge of
honor, so no one can hurt him with the word.

Jon finds Ghost beside his dead mother.

Jon has a run in with Jaime Lannister who sarcastically thanks him for protecting all of them from all
of the terrible things that allegedly exist beyond the Wall, in order to taunt him. Before Jon departs for
the Wall, he says goodbye to Bran, who has been injured in a fall. He gives Arya a sword
namedNeedle that he had made especially for her, advising her to "stick them with the pointy end."
Jon says he will miss her, and they both hug. As he prepares his saddle, Robb asks if Jon said
goodbye to Bran, and expresses his doubt in him dying. Jon says Starks are hard to kill, and Robb
asks about his mother, and Jon assures him she was kind. Robb offers to visit him at the Wall
sometime, and they bid farewell with a hug. At their parting on the Kingsroad, Eddard vows to tell Jon
the truth about his mother the next time they meet. Jon is accompanied by his uncle Benjen and
Tyrion, who has expressed a desire to see the Wall (and urinate from the top of it) before he dies. [5]

Jon and Sam swear their oaths to the Old Gods.

At Castle Black, Jon's expectations of the Night's Watch are confounded. Instead of a brotherhood of
noble warriors sworn to defend the realm fromwildlings and White Walkers, he realizes the Watch is
a dumping ground for criminals and wastrels. He earns the enmity of Ser Alliser Thorne, the Masterat-Arms in charge of training new recruits. He humiliates his fellow recruits with his superior fighting
skills, learned from Winterfell's Master-at-Arms over the course of many years. Benjen stands with
Jon on his first watch and tells him that he is going ranging North of the Wall. Jon is keen to
accompany him but Benjen insists that he complete his training. Tyrion helps Jon see that he is no
better than the recruits but has been afforded more advantages than them. Jon offers to train some
of his new brothers and Pypar and Grennaccept.[6] He also befriends Samwell Tarly when he arrives
at Castle Black and helps to protect him from the cruelty of Thorne. Thorne angrily tells Jon that
going easy on Sam won't help him, and will risk getting him killed during the next winter. [7]

Lord Commander Mormont rewards Jon Snow.

After completing his training, Jon is inducted into the Night's Watch and swears his oath. He is
assigned to the stewards rather than the rangers, and at first thinks it is due to his ongoing feud with
Ser Alliser Thorne. However, Sam points out that Lord Commander Jeor Mormont has asked for Jon
as his personal steward, and may be grooming him for command. Jon is concerned when his Uncle
Benjen's horse returns to the Wall riderless. Later, Ghost finds the corpses of two rangers assigned
to Benjen, Othor and Ser Jafer Flowers.[8]Learning of Eddard's imprisonment in King's Landing,
Thorne taunts Jon about being a traitor's bastard, causing Jon to draw a knife. He is restricted to
quarters. Later, Othor's corpse becomes a wight and attacks Commander Mormont. Jon saves
Mormont's life by burning the wight, earning a pardon for his earlier misdemeanour. [9] Mormont also
gives Jon his Valyrian steel sword, Longclaw.

Jon is convinced to go back to the Night's Watch.

Jon ponders abandoning the Watch to join Robb's army when it marches against the Lannisters, but
Maester Aemon tells him that he chose to stay with the Watch when he was similarly tested, when
Robert Baratheon's rebels slew his nephew the Mad King and his son and grandchildren. [10]
News of Eddard's execution reaches Castle Black. Jon immediately leaves, meaning to join Robb
and seek vengeance for his father's death. Samwell, Pypar and Grenn intercept him and convince
him to stay. Mormont tells Jon their war against the White Walkers is more important than the game
of thrones in King's Landing. He tells Jon that the Watch is marching beyond the Wall in force, to find

Benjen and learn the truth about the threat. Jon swears to him not to attempt to desert again and
accompanies the troops as they set out.[11]