After finishing Season Seven of Game of Thrones, we know for a simple fact that Jon Snow is not Jon Snow, but Aegon Targaryen instead. While we’ve seen the scenes in which Ned Stark finds his sister Lyanna Stark on her death bed (literally) and asking Ned to take care of her baby boy – Jon aka Aegon – we know that Ned Stark’s bastard wasn’t a bastard, nor, what is his son.
Ned Stark takes the prize for world’s best brother because he must have suffered a wrath from Cat Stark for years and years about cheating and impregnating another woman behind her back – when he never really did. As well, he raised Jon as if he were one of his own, for the sake of his dead sister. Seriously, could you even ask for a better brother? I think not. But, that plays into Ned’s character as a humble and noble character in Game of Thrones (who was definitely gone too soon). We’ve never thought much about Jon Snow and Ned Stark’s relationship over the years, other than he was Ned’s bastard and then – when we found out he wasn’t – Ned was just a good guy. But, it took us years and seasons to find out the truth behind Jon’s identity.
But, one Reddit user, duh_metrius, is pointing out a small detail about Jon Snow’s name that basically spelled everything out in front of us years and years ago. He pointed out that Jon Snow is named after Jon Arryn – who was Ned’s brother-in-law – but, who also “raised Ned like a son.”
I know this has probably already occurred to everybody, but I was thinking about how Ned named his three sons after people who were close to him. Robb is named after Robert Baratheon, Bran is named after Ned’s brother Brandon, and Rickon is named after Ned’s father. But then I remembered that Jon is named after Jon Arryn, the man who wasn’t Ned’s father, but raised him like a son. That’s a really beautiful detail.
Edit: Glad so many people enjoyed this! Just want to clarify: I’ve always known Jon was named after Jon Arryn; it’s the parallel in the relationships that dawned on me today.
A lot of people knew that Jon Snow was named after Jon Arryn, so this wasn’t news. But, if you look at the fact that Ned was raised by Jon “like a son” after his own father was killed – you can see the parallel relationship between Ned and Jon – as another Reddit user explains.
Wow. I love this detail. I knew he was named after Jon Arryn, but hadn’t thought about the depth behind it.
Edit: I don’t know why so many people are missing the actual point of OP’s post. Yes, the kids’ names all had meaning. But OP specifically said: “But then I remembered that Jon is named after Jon Arryn, the man who wasn’t Ned’s father, but raised him like a son.”
This is the significant piece. Jon Arryn wasn’t Ned’s father, but Jon Arryn raised Ned as though he was his own son. In turn, Ned decided that although he was not this child’s father, he was going to raise him like his own son. Thus, he named him Jon. The parallel between those two relationships is the depth in the name.
And, of course, Twitter was bursting with excitement.
Jon Snow was named after Jon Arryn. The man who is not Ned's father, but RAISED him like a son.
— Black IVIagic (@BlackIVIagic) September 1, 2017
https://twitter.com/_Henald/status/903549968623030272
https://twitter.com/BaezEyo/status/901247625533509636
https://twitter.com/BradleyDsouza/status/900939959963598849
I had never thought about the thought on details in which George R. R. Martin put into the books, but, after watching all Seven Seasons, I’m seeing more and more that there are hidden clues to the bigger storylines and plots everywhere – you just have to look for them.