Jon Snow: What’s in a Name?
I have conceptualized the Game of Thrones story arc structure for many of it’s characters into 4 parts: The first is their base desire, which encompasses a simplified version of what they want and how that manifests itself in their motivations/identity, the second is the action or moment that signifies that this base desire can create conflict for them as they move through this world and work to survive/achieve success, the third is composed of 3 tests where characters are faced with a choice that exemplifies this conflict and has significant consequences for their story going forward, and the fourth is the final resolution of the decisions they have made and how well they have done at integrating/learning from their desire. I don’t believe we can necessarily change who we truly are and initial dreams/desires are strong and cannot just be pushed away. When people talk about character growth, they don’t mean that people change their inherent nature, it’s just that they learn how to channel it or, hopefully, align their actions with it in a way that leads to something good. Since we have not reached the end of the story I can only talk about what I think has come to pass (the first 2 parts and 2 of the t3 challenges for each person) and I make my predictions for their ultimate end. Â
Jon Snow’s base desire seems to be a pretty simple one. Born a bastard but included in his father’s family to a higher extent than is typical he is  still on the outside looking in, in fundamental ways. He spends most of his childhood with his nose pressed firmly up against the glass with someone (usually Catelyn) there to remind him who he was. Ned’s decision to keep him close kept him isolated from the common folk and, since he didn’t know his mother, he has no other identity/ancestry to look towards other than the one that would always be out of reach.  Jon wasn’t just a bastard or low-born imagining what it would be like to be a lord, he got front row seats, learned many of the lessons but had no chance of advancement.  Not being able to follow his father in any concrete way he latched onto Ned’s honor as the one thing he could have to prove he was a Stark. The Night’s Watch, with the presence of his Uncle Benjen making in an honorable venture that was not beneath a Stark and the opportunity for Jon to carve his own place, not hamstrung by his surname, became an esccape he could feel good about. Jon’s major tension is between true belonging, where he feels loved and comfortable, and symbolic belonging related to being a part of something larger in society. This plays itself about through mimicking Ned’s honor or idolizing the duty and vows of the Night’s watch while working to balance his inherent sense of moral justice and empathy with his self-centered pursuit of legitimacy fueled by feelings of isolation
Some of the best Jon chapters/scenes are early on, when Jon has the scales ripped from his eyes about who makes up a large portion of the Night’s Watch and how, no matter how poor and isolated he felt, he still was in a much better position than many of his fellow brothers. His outsider looking in position was again reinforced by Throne’s scorn of him as a bastard and it’s no shock that he gravitated toward Sam as another person who seemed locked out of highborn status by something outside of his control (his father & personality). Jon, able to identify with the feelings of inferiority and being left out was able to use this empathy to bond and work with his brothers while still developing relationships  with many of the other, higher-born members (with the exception of Thorne who continued to serve as the human reminder for Jon’s framing of his sense of belonging being linked to his birth as a bastard). Â
However, no matter how much he started to find his place in the Night’s Watch it chaffed against his initial concept of what it would mean to belong, which focused on respect, dignity and honor, trappings of success that are idolized in the songs sang in his father’s Great Hall. His singular focus on what respect looked like and his tendency to focus on those that looked down on him, prevented him from realizing the honor bestowed on him to be the Lord Commander Mormont’s steward until Sam pointed it out to him. Even as the LC showered Jon with the fatherly love, guidance and opportunity that he desired from Ned (he gave him his ancestral sword for Christ’s sake) Jon still spent a lot of time looking out, away from the Night’s Watch either back home or North of the Wall waiting for Benjen. Â
Jon’s thirst to prove himself and his willingness to ride into the action served him well in gaining respect in the Night’s Watch but this trait, intersected with his focus back home, got the better of him when he learned of Ned’s death and Robb’s mobilization of the North. This was the first sign to the reader’s and Jon that he needed to to be aware of how his desire to be a Stark, his impulsivity, and his self-centeredness, could come into direct conflict with his new role as a Night’s Watch Brother. It was a warning and the reminder that it wasn’t his honor that brought him back but that of his friends, those that came from common birth or were cowards, that took their vow more seriously than he did, that helped ground him. It’s easy to see the Stark name as synonymous with honor and any sign one of Ned’s children is acting “Stark-like” is often cheered but honor can be a thin line away from moral rigidness and superiority (see Stannis’s character and even Ned’s condescension to Jaime).  Jon needed to learn that his desire to belong could lead him to run towards the first place he wanted and away from the new place he had found,  and that this conflict of the Night’s Watch not being his first choice was not his alone.  Jon always desired to be more but often that “more” meant being a Stark, his love and admiration for his family made the Stark name the perfect gold ring of acceptance he could never achieve but would die trying to get close to. He left to find a new place and to avoid seeing Robb grow up as the Lord, but when the battle call rose, Jon was eager to answer it. His allegiance to his family or other places he feels bonded to blinding him to reality and the concerns of others continues to pop up throughout the series, sometimes for good and sometimes to get him in trouble.
Jon’s first test for the conflict between true belonging and symbolic belonging comes after going North of the Wall and being sent off with The Halfhand. Much like Commander Mormont, this is a man for whom Jon has a lot of respect and who seems to see something in him and is not constrained by Lord and Lady hierarchy and succession in how he embraces him. Jon says good-bye to many father figures in the first two books, Ned, Benjen, Lord Mormont and then, finally, he says good-bye to the Halfhand by killing him.  Jon’s first act ends with him literally cutting down and losing yet another honorable, legendary man that offered him guidance and promise but no long lasting relationship.  This also sends him into the camp of the Wildlings and into the sphere of both Mance Rayder and many free-spirited and independent women like Ygritte and Val. Here Jon gets tempted by the opposite of the life he has always tried to fit into. A life where belonging is earned by being a good warrior and honor is expressed by a refusal to live in the confines of the feudal system and it’s high families . His name means nothing to them and could only be meaningful if he  proves it with actions, not circumstances of birth. He doesn’t need lifelong service and vows of chastity to have honor and purpose, he has it by his deeds.  Jon is often wistful and sad during his time with Mance and Ygritte, knowing they won’t succeed and survive in the world south of the Wall but also feeling a connection with their world view and the opportunity it represents. Jon is able to connect and bond with the Wildlings but does not let this blind him to the bigger picture overall, and it ends with him leaving behind both Ygritte and his taste of true freedom.  His ability to recognize the reality of the situation and not just center his base desire was important.  But this was a much easier choice than his next one as he knew Mance was a threat to friends and family that he cared about and he still assigned his true concept of belonging to the symbolism of honor, the Night’s Watch, and the North. Jon’s decision here is bittersweet because it is right but his basic human connection to the Wildlings, much like his brotherly love for Robb, leads to later error, especially in the show.Â
Jon’s second test is different in the book and in the show but in both instances he fails.  In the book and in the show, after being promoted to Lord Commander he turns down an offer to legitimize him. He instead turns his focus to the issues related to both the Wildlings and The Others but in both mediums Jon is ultimately brought down by his lack of awareness of his tendency to be driven by the emotional ties of belonging.  In the books, it’s much more straight forward. He forsakes his vow to March on Winterfell to save the family member he has always liked best, his wild sister Arya.  It’s important in the book that it’s Arya that brings him to this point. This wasn’t about honor and sense of duty. This was about going to war to save someone he loved and be damned about the consequences and the Night Watches order. The first time he rode off to save his family he was not nearly as connected to the Night’s Watch but he should have learned then that his devotion to his family and his love for them was his weak spot that would drive him to shun his responsibilities and fracture relationships with others if he wasn’t careful.  Jon has shown that it’s easy to follow his concept of honor when it aligns with his heart but was unable to do so when the two were in direct contrast and he ends up stabbed for it.  In the show, Jon’s error is more a pragmatic failure of leadership but is tinged with a similar human feeling of connection with the Wildings and their humanity. Jon's actions in the show were right from both a human and a logistical point of view (army of the dead, yo), but his tendency to try to make his actions fit into his vow “guard the realms of men” and to assume that his leadership role will be respected even as it was clear he was losing allies showed his tendency to treat his own emotions, desires, and beliefs as obviously right and more serious than other’s equally legitimate issues/concerns (seriously, stop condescending to Olly, they murdered his family). Jon pretends to be driven by pure realism but it’s obvious to all that he has a connection and respect for the Wildlings that isn’t shared by others. Both are very Stark like traits. We know that the one thing that will allow Ned to put aside his honor is his love for his family and that they tend to stick to their guns and assume their obvious righteousness will be enough for people to follow them.  Both times, Jon paid the price for shutting out the reality of the world and situation around him (and discounting the true, legitimate emotions/concerns of others). BookJon makes a more grievous and obvious error but showJon still manages to fumble the ball at a an important time. Jon, instead, spent more time focusing on how HE was failing and not saving the Wildlings then doing the hard work of leading. Playing the leader who is right but unappreciated and against insurmountable odds may feel morally good but does not always advance your cause in positive ways( Hi Bernie! j/k).
Jon is back in the show and is being reluctantly pulled  into the fight, again mostly due to his love for his family but this time his heart is not in it. He’s tired of caring/fighting/leading because he is still struggling from the reality check that even after doing everything he thought was right and that Ned would do and embracing all his Starkness (I’ll ring your head like a bell), Olly still stuck a knife in his heart. He has not learned how to lead authentically and how to recognize and embrace his strongest asset  He has little skill or interest in the politics and remains most comfortable with the wildlings. This is partially because Jon is an empathetic leader who can find good in many people, especially those he views as outcasts and also because, like his sister Arya and (probably) his mother, he has little respect for the rigid order of the current system even as he tried to succeed within it.Â
We don’t know what Jon will do when he rises in the book, but a good guess is that some way or another he will take up arms and ride south of the wall, even if he still has his eye on the Others.Â
So we have two challenges, one he passes, with great loss that factors into his second, which he fails.  When does the third arrive? My guess is that it comes sometime after he finds out his true parentage. Jon finally gets the ultimate moment of symbolic belonging in that he will be shown as a true descendant from not just the Stark line, but the Targaryean dynasty as well.  It will automatically create an identity for him that others will be more than willing to embrace and legitimize. Look at how quickly book readers and show watchers look at R+L=J and think this means Jon is both important, and now, somehow, destined to rule. Never mind that we’ve seen that at his best, Jon wears this crown much less comfortably than he does general or warrior and, at worst, he seems unable to rule in the rigid systems that vows and successions demand. I have always felt that while Jon’s parentage is important for how it challenges everything we think we know about Robert’s Rebellion, Game of Thrones, and whether these great families matter, it doesn’t really indicate where Jon ends up. Jon’s final test will be, once learning of his identity and finishing the fight, whether he chases his childhood belief that belonging was connected to a legitimate name, granted to him naturally (not by Stannis) or where he truly feels he belongs and can do the most good. His structure in the story of being the one to most actively take The Other’s rise and threat seriously and his easy allegiance with the Wildlings lead me to believe he will either reject the information about his true surname and stay a Snow or refuse to rule and pass it on to someone else. Hero’s journeys can be about rejecting something as much they are about achieving something and I think Jon’s final test will be whether he has it in him to reject the pull of a famous name, a hero’s title of The Prince That Was Promised, or whether he goes where he has always felt most comfortable. Â
My final prediction has Jon, if he survives (which I’m 50/50 on) either going fully North as King Beyond the Wall (maybe, in the book, with Val as his partner?), or returning to rebuild the Night’s Watch into something more in fitting with his beliefs.Â
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