Who Are Jon Snow’s Parents? A 6-minute YouTube Mindblower

At YouTube, power user “Alt Shift X” has put some muscular video work into the popular Game of Thrones fan theory R+L=J. (The theory holds that Jon Snow is not the son of Ned Stark, but is actually the son of Ned’s sister Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen.) 6:19 seconds after Alt Shift X’s video begins, Josh Wigler of MTV asks: “is your mind blow yet?” Careful though, it’s full of spoilers–which, granted, means a different thing to watchers of the show than it does to the more consummate fans who’ve also devoured the books. 

Both readers of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones watchers parse every detail, but readers feel they have an edge. (Game of Thrones is staying true to the books in a serious way, so readers know what’s going to happen, up to a point.) Here’s reader Kya Rose, parsing the details surrounding the R+L=J theory: “As a reader, R+L=J has been fairly obvious to me for a while. However, I’m not entirely convinced that you’ve tapped the correct R. The coloring of hair and eyes are considered very important in this series and, despite what Ned believed about Jon’s paternity, I think it’s just as likely that he’s actually another Baratheon bastard.”