Alfie Allen gives ASoIaF book spoiler hint

[Vympel]

http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/game-of- ... rview.html

Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) got to ask GRRM a question about the books. This is what he said:-

What did you ask him about in return?

You know, I asked him about who Jon Snow's real parents were, and he told me. I can't say who, but I can tell you that it involves a bit of a Luke Skywalker situation. It will all come to fruition eventually. The whole thing with all the fight over proper succession is partly inspired by the War of the Roses in the late 1400s, and back then, to ensure pedigree, the monarchies were kind of inbred. It's definitely fucked up, but it definitely happened back then, so that's why there's incest with the Targaryen line. It's toned down, though.

So, possibilities from this, emphasis on the "Luke Skywalker situation":-

1. The classic: Prince Rhaegar Targaryen is his father (Lyanna Stark being his mother, obviously); and

2. The not-so-classic: Mad King Aerys II is his father (again, Lyanna Stark being his mother).

[Chirios]

...

Luke Skywalker?

So Jon's real father was the avatar of magic that became evil and impregnated his mother before choking her to death, and getting himself burned alive in a volcano?

[Vympel]

I think he just means "is wrong about who his dad is."

[Vendetta]

1. The classic: Prince Rhaegar Targaryen is his father (Lyanna Stark being his mother, obviously); and

2. The not-so-classic: Mad King Aerys II is his father (again, Lyanna Stark being his mother).

Jon as the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna has been the number one speculation about him since oohhh, at least Storm of Swords.

Which is probably why it won't happen.

[Rogue 9]

Also were that true, why would Eddard have gone through life letting his wife think Jon was his bastard and therefore hating on him all the time?

[Esquire]

There's the infamous 'Promise me, Ned,' incident, which might explain his secrecy.

[SCRawl]

Also were that true, why would Eddard have gone through life letting his wife think Jon was his bastard and therefore hating on him all the time?

If it ever got out that Jon was Rheagar's son, Robert would never have let him live. That guy nursed a grudge so long, you'd think he had Valyrian steel nipples.

[Rogue 9]

Yeah, but there's another problem. If he was Rhaegar's son by Lyanna Stark, then he wouldn't be around, owing to Lyanna Stark dying rather than bringing a pregnancy to term.

[SCRawl]

The timeline is murky, but from what I understand it doesn't preclude the possibility of the timing working out properly for this theory to work.

[Mr Bean]

Yeah, but there's another problem. If he was Rhaegar's son by Lyanna Stark, then he wouldn't be around, owing to Lyanna Stark dying rather than bringing a pregnancy to term.

Lyanna died in childbirth, it is known. Or rather suspected due to how her death is described (On a bed surrounded by women), where she was found (Rhaegar's Tower of Joy, his personal pimp pad) Who was guarding the Pimp Pad(The best knights of the Kingsguard) her demands for Ned to keep a secret as she lay dieing(Promise me Ned) the fact that anytime Ned thinks of doing anything dishonorable he thinks of those words or when he thinks of John. And then there are the prophecy related hints from the House of the Undying visions and last there are the deliberately spread false stories. To hear the smallfolk tell it Ned Stark went to war and instantly slept with a dozen common women and a noble lady despite growing up with Robert Booze and Whores Baratheon and never once taking a village girl to bed despite the fact that Robert had two sons and a daughter before he was twenty years old and married to Cersi.

[Guardsman Bass]

Martin gives out a bunch of strong hints that Lyanna died shortly after a difficult childbirth. Ned thinks of Lyanna and her "bed of blood", and not long after we get Miri Marz Durz (or whatever) describing knowledge of birthing as "the arts/secrets of the bloody bed".

As for the Allen statement, it's not really a big surprise. The show has made a couple of choices in dialogue that made me suspect that they were deliberately leaving the door open for the Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon theory, such as having Ned refer to Jon as "you are my blood" (which fits with the book, where he never actually thinks of Jon as his son in his POV chapters). The whole "Luke Skywalker situation" probably refers to the fact that Jon and Dany are relatives if the theory is right, raised apart, and both of them had mothers who died giving birth to them.

I doubt it means that Aerys is the father. A Feast for Crows mentions that Aerys only managed to get himself aroused sexually after burning people (like when he raped and impregnated his wife with Daenerys), and none of the POVs present in King's Landing during the period when he could have impregnated her ever mention seeing Lyanna (such as Jaime or Barristan Selmy). Not to mention that the Two Davids guessed who Jon's parents were on the spot when Martin asked them about it (and confirmed it afterwards), and the "Aerys is the father" theory is pretty fringe in the fan community.

Also were that true, why would Eddard have gone through life letting his wife think Jon was his bastard and therefore hating on him all the time?

It's the safest way to protect him. The first book mentions that Catelyn had asked Ned multiple times to send Jon away, which he had refused. Can you imagine what her reaction would be if she found out that Ned was sheltering Rhaegar's bastard son?

Honestly, the fact that Ned raised him in his own household was supportive of the Rhaegar theory for me as well. That seems to be fairly unusual in the North - Ramsay Snow was raised by his mother out of sight until he was a teenager and discovered by Domeric Bolton, and Larence Snow (the Hornwood bastard) was raised by the Glovers. It's not like Ned has any particular bias against fostering, either, since he had a great time growing up in the Vale with Robert and Jon Arryn as his respective surrogate brother and father.