A Popular 'Game Of Thrones' Theory Has One Major Problem

A Popular 'Game Of Thrones' Theory Has One Major Problem

With the death of that big character on the "Game of Thrones" finale, one thing is certain (and it's not that everyone hates Olly): Theories, and spoilers, are coming!

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The death of Lord Commander Jon Snow caused outrage across the Internet. In the book, there are hints that the character actually survives the Night's Watch mutiny by warging into the body of his direwolf Ghost. Because of this, fans have come up with crazy theories to try to prove Snow is alive. Some claim Kit Harington's eyes seem to change color in the scene, perhaps indicating that he's warging, while others claim the blood pool looks like a wolf.



The truth of that remains to be seen, but it appears at least one popular theory may have a big hole in it. A user on A Forum of Ice and Fire explains the theory, which is all about what will happen to Jon Snow's body after it's burned following his death:

Under the assumption that R+L=J, [Jon Snow] has targ blood in his veins and there will be some sort of magical rebirth in the fire. Like Dani after Drogos death and the birth of the dragons he will not be harmed by the fire and be alive again.

So the theory states that, assuming Rhaegar Targaryen (R) and Lyanna Stark (L) are the parents of Jon Snow (J), Snow's body would remain unharmed by fire when the Night's Watch tries to burn him, which would probably happen so he doesn't turn into a Wight, aka a reanimated corpse. After that, there could be some sort of rebirth in the flames.

It's a cool idea, but there's one major detail it seems to overlook:


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In Season 1, Jon Snow gets burned pretty badly after grabbing a lantern and throwing it at a Wight. He is shown later in the episode with bandages on this hand, and George R.R. Martin's book A Game of Thrones even goes into more detail about the severity of the burns:

He had burned himself more badly than he knew throwing the flaming drapes, and his right hand was swathed in silk halfway to the elbow. At the time he'd felt nothing; the agony had come after. His cracked red skin oozed fluid, and fearsome blood blisters rose between his fingers, big as roaches.

Wow, that's pretty gross. And revealing, too. (But mostly gross.)

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Though the burns happen under slightly different circumstances, words like "agony" and "blisters" don't give the impression that Snow has any immunity to fire. Martin seems to make a point of referencing his burned hand again just to remind you that, yeah, his hand really hurts after that.

In the TV series, Daenerys, who everyone assumes is one of the "three heads" of the dragon that's a part of a prophecy in the books, shows heat resistant qualities a number of times. She picks up hot dragon eggs, gets in scalding bath water and survives being burned alive in a giant fire with her dragon eggs.

If Jon Snow is another of the "three heads" and a Targaryen, shouldn't he be (somewhat) fire resistant, as well?



Though the theory of Snow's fire resurrection has some holes in it, it can't be ruled out entirely.

Dany actually does get some heat-related injuries from Drogon in the books. (Though, that's obviously dealing with a dragon and not a regular fire.) In addition, it's speculated that she only survived Khal Drogo's funeral fire with her dragon eggs because of blood magic and the sacrifice of Mirri Maz Duur, who was burned alive.

Sure, Jon Snow clearly isn't flame retardant and probably wouldn't just rise out of the fire by himself, but that doesn't necessarily mean someone like Melisandre couldn't somehow help bring him back with magic. She is at the Wall after all, and knows plenty about sacrifices.

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Eh, you should probably just sit this one out, Shireen. You've done enough.

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