Daenerys & Jon Snow: ASoIaF Foreshadowing v.2
We know that Dany and Jon share many parallels throughout the series and I’ve noted many of them here. But in this post I’m looking at moments that tie the characters together with more than just parallels.
This first quote is from The House of The Undying. The visions shown to Dany here are believed to pertain to the three men she will marry. The first is a clear reference to khal Drogo, the second is a bit more ambiguous, I believe it is in reference to Hizdahr and that Victarion will tie him to the prow of his ship as Euron has tied Aeron (I predicted this back in 2014). The third is clearly Jon Snow. The blue flower is in reference to Lyanna (Jon’s mother) and the wall of ice is The Wall of ice where Jon serves in the Night’s Watch.
DAENERYS ACOK
Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness… . mother of dragons, bride of fire …
~*~*~*~*~
These quotes make a subtle connection between Dany and Val. Jon as we know is very attracted to Val. He first describes Val’s hair as pale silver; Dany of course has pale silver hair. In fact it is one of the most distinguishing features about her. So the connection here is that Val is a substitute for Dany. Also, note that the moon is mention, which as we know is strongly connected symbolically to Dany throughout the series, ex. “Moon of my Life”.
JON ADWD
The light of the half-moon turned Vals honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath. The air tastes sweet.
DAENERYS AGOT
The old woman washed her long, silver-pale hair and gently combed out the snags, all in silence. The girl scrubbed her back and her feet and told her how lucky she was.
~*~*~*~*~
In these quotes we find a connection between a dream lover of Dany and Jon Snow. In her dream/vision Dany’s lover is a comely young man whose face is hidden in shadows. Jon is described by Ygritte as having a sweet face (comely) and in the two additional quotes below we see Jon describe himself as being in the shadows and we see Mel describe his face as hidden in shadows. These descriptions associate the young lover Dany sees with Jon Snow.
DAENERYS ACOK
Lying abed in her narrow bunk, she found herself wondering how it would be to have a man squeezed in beside her in place of her handmaid, and the thought was more exciting than it should have been. Sometimes she would close her eyes and dream of him, but it was never Jorah Mormont she dreamed of; her lover was always younger and more comely, though his face remained a shifting shadow.
JON ASOS
Ygritte helped pull him up. “He’s bleeding like a butchered boar. Look what Orell did t’ his sweet face.”
JON AGOT
Tyrion Lannister had claimed that most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it, but Jon was done with denials. He was who he was; Jon Snow, bastard and oathbreaker, motherless, friendless, and damned. For the rest of his life –however long that might be– he would be condemned to be an outsider, the silent man standing in the shadows who dares not speak his true name
MELISANDRE ADWD
The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain.
~*~*~*~*~
This pair of quotes make an interesting connection between Jon Snow and khal Drogo (the man Dany has loved the most). Dany describes the khal’s face as hiding the thoughts within, while Tyrion describes Jon’s face as giving nothing away (hiding his thoughts).
Like the quote above where Jon describes Val’s hair in the same way as Dany’s hair is described, we see Dany describe Drogo in the same manner as Tyrion describes Jon. Making a connection between Jon to Dany and Dany to Jon and what they are attracted to and who they love.
DAENERYS V AGOT
“The khals face did not often betray the thoughts within.” TYRION II AGOT
“Tyrion notes that Jon has the traditional Stark face in everything but name long, solemn and guarded a face that gives nothing away.”
~*~*~*~*~
Although the timeline is unclear, Jon was stabbed and presumably killed within the same time that Dany found herself alone in the Dothraki sea. Dany hearing the wolf howl could be the author making a connection between Jon’s death and how Dany would feel about it.
If Dany knew who Jon was to her, his death would be incredibly sad but most importantly it would be lonely. Jon of course is Dany’s last living relative, although she does not know this. That this wolf howl brought such strong emotions to Dany is definitely something of interest.
JON ADWD
“Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold … “
DAENERYS ADWD
“Off in the distance, a wolf howled. The sound made her feel sad and lonely, but no less hungry. As the moon rose above the grasslands, Dany slipped at last into a restless sleep.“
~*~*~*~*~
This quote is a lot more obvert then the previous ones. Here Dany is pondering what her life would have been like had her family lived. She considers that had her brother’s son Aegon lived he would have become king.
The interesting part of course is that goes on to ponder that had “her brother’s son” lived they would have married. We know of course that one of her brother’s son still lives and she very well might marry him after all.
DAENERYS ADWD
“A crown should not sit easy on the head. One of her royal forebears had said that, once. Some Aegon, but which one? Five Aegons had ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. There would have been a sixth, but the Usurper’s dogs had murdered her brother’s son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him. “
~*~*~*~*~
These two quotes work twofold I think. First they note the absolutely yearning that both Dany and Jon have to have a family of their own. This is something that is very important to the two of them. And second, there want of having a child, Jon yearning for a boy and Dany yearning for a girl.
For Jon he believes this has been denied to him by being a bastard (he wouldn’t want to father any other bastards by having children) and also by being a member of the Night’s Watch where he has vowed not to have any children. And as we know for Dany she believes herself to be barren due in large part to Mirri’s curse/prophecy. This is especially traumatic for Dany as her identity as a mother is very important to her and a large part of who she is.
JON ASOS
“I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall.”
DAENERYS ADWD
“I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons.”
~*~*~*~*~
Here the author winks and nods at us as Jon is wishing for the very same thing Dany has, three dragons.
JON ADWD
“He might as well wish for another thousand men, and maybe a dragon or three.”
~*~*~*~*~
Finally, this pair of quotes is both a parallel and a connection between Dany and Jon. Both find themselves laying next to the person they love/are attracted to, as Jon ponders his lost of Ghost and Dany wakes from her nightmare not even the presence of these people they care about can drive the deep loneliness that they both feel.
This is also important thematically to Dany and Jon’s arc. As mention above they have a deep yearning for family, most specifically a family of their own. Both have always felt isolated to an extent from everyone else and so it seems that we are being told that something is missing for the two of them, and this perhaps is one another.
JON ASOS
Jon wondered where Ghost was now. Had he gone to Castle Black, or was he was running with some wolfpack in the woods? He had no sense of the direwolf, not even in his dreams. It made him feel as if part of himself had been cut off. Even with Ygritte sleeping beside him, he felt alone.
DAENERYS ADWD
Beneath her coverlets she tossed and turned, dreaming that Hizdahr was kissing her … but his lips were blue and bruised, and when he thrust himself inside her, his manhood was cold as ice. She sat up with her hair disheveled and the bedclothes atangle. Her captain slept beside her, yet she was alone.










