Fans of HBO's "Game of Thrones" are rejoicing as the TV series' season 6 finale confirmed a game-changing theory about Jon Snow's lineage.
The episode titled "Winds of Winter" was indeed full of surprises but one of the most exciting of them is the revelation on who the most famous bastard of the North really is and where he came from. In the scene where Brandon Stark of Winterfell who is now the Three-Eyed Raven goes back to the time when a young Ned Stark was to rescue his sister Lyanna from her supposed imprisonment after being kidnapped by Rhaegar Targaryen.
Earlier in the season, Bran visited this timeline with the previous Three Eyed Raven but was immediately pulled back before getting any information. In the "Game of Thrones" season 6 finale, he returns to the scene to pick up where he left off and follows the young Ned up the Tower of Joy.
There Ned finds Lyanna soaked in blood in bed after giving birth. This is where the big reveal comes in. After admitting that she does not want to die, Lyanna whispers to Ned something inaudible for Bran and the audience of the episode. After a couple of moments, she says in a bit louder voice "Promise me, Ned" over and over.
Ned is then presented with what appears to be Lyanna's son. While the focus is on the baby's face, the scene immediately cuts to the face of Jon Snow at Winterfell.
According to a long-standing fan theory cited by Vox, Jon Stark is Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen's long lost son, thus the famous equation: R+L=J. Some fans believed that after kidnapping Lyanna, Rhaegar raped her but many believe that the Stark girl ran with the Targaryan prince because they were indeed in love. Either way, a son was born to whatever they have and that was Jon Snow.
On the other hand, the "Winds of Winter" episode did not confirm whether or not Jon's father really is Rhaegar but it did confirm that he is not Ned bastard. He is his nephew.
Also, there are other branching theories on this which says that Jon is not the only baby born to Lyanna and Rhaegar. There is the R+L=J&M theory where some think Meera Reed is Jon Snow's twin sister.
According to the theory posted in Reddit, Lyanna wanted to keep her children safe from the Lannisters who killed every Targaryen child they could find during Robert Baratheon's rebellion which is why she asked Ned to take care of them. The theory states that Ned took Jon under the guise of being his bastard while the other baby was brought home with Howland Reed, the only other person who survived the battle in the Tower of Joy. That second baby was supposedly Meera Reed who is now accompanying Bran Stark and is impeccably made to look so much like Jon.
