Everyone loves Jon Snow. He’s probably along with Tyrion and Arya the most lovable character in the series. And although the end of season 6 left us with high hopes for Jon Snow as ‘The King in the North‘, we cannot rule out his possible death.
As the show goes on, fans become more and more convinced that Jon Snow is the protagonist of the series. However, it is not yet clear what to expect from the final moments of the show, and we know the weak don’t survive the Game of Thrones, because you either win, or you die.
Jon Snow has clearly shown us his weaknesses during this season. We can see one of his big weaknesses at the beginning of the Battle of Winterfell, where Jon Snow gets too emotional and almost loses the whole battle while trying to save Rickon. Jon won’t always have the Knights of the Vale by his side and the North would never stand a chance against a fully prepared Lannister army, which is one of the biggest army in Westeros (thank god Dany will keep the Lannisters busy).
During the Battle of Winterfell, Jon also showed a much bigger weakness. He no longer fears death. Asking for Melisandre to not bring him back, was a pretty big hint to this, but the biggest tell is probably the best scene from the episode (You know which one I’m talking about, the one where Jon yields Longclaw against the whole Bolton cavalry). In this particular moment, Jon has accepted his death, and is completely baffled, when his own cavalry shows up to defend him.
Why is the fear of death so important? Well, to quote from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises: “How can you move faster than possible, fight longer than possible without the most powerful impulse of the spirit: the fear of death“. How can Jon Snow be the greatest swordsman who ever walked if he is fighting against someone who fears death, when he himself doesn’t?
Showing off two of his biggest weaknesses, doesn’t however mean he will die. He is still the crowd favourite and has wise allies by his side (looking at you Lyanna Mormont). What really seals the deal for me is both the army of the dead, and Littlefinger.
Let’s start by the latter. In an iconic friendzone scene, Littlefinger discusses his ambitions with Sansa, which are to sit in the Iron Throne with her by his side. How can Littlefinger possibly be king of Westeros if the North has it’s own king? We all saw the look Littlefinger gave Sansa after Jon is acclaimed ‘King in the North’. Of course, Littlefinger would never have the Vale declare war on the North and kill Jon Snow, because then he would lose Sansa’s favor. But Littlefinger did command the death of Jon Arryn, betray Ned Stark and plan the murder of Joffrey in a way that he would eliminate one of his biggest intellectual rivals (Tyrion). He is the most dangerous man in Westeros, and we can expect him to try and manipulate someone to kill Jon Snow.
Another very serious threat already mentioned is the army of the dead, who are presumably marching on the Wall, and by logic, as soon as Bran passes through the Wall, so should the Army of the dead be able to pass. I’m not particularly worried about the army when it comes to the end result of the show (I mean, there’s still a bunch of wildfire in King’s Landing and Dany has 3 dragons, an army of cold dead bastards is nothing compared to fire) but Jon Snow stands between this dead army and King’s Landing. He has no wildfire, he has no dragons, he doesn’t even have dragon glass. The only weapons he possesses to fight the dead is Longclaw and the walls of Winterfell. This army is a very real threat to his life, and all those in Westeros.
It is not guaranteed that Jon Snow will die, but the odds are pretty stacked against him. We should all look forward to watch the prince who was promised kick some undead ass.
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