Rebirth: Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen
This Game of Thrones season we’ve seen two rebirths. The literal rebirth of Jon Snow thanks to the magic of Melissandre, and a figurative rebirth of the dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen. Both are closely associated with prophecy and have been the most protected characters in the series which makes them scrutinized in a world where no one seems to be safe. We’re finally seeing how these prophecies are playing out and guiding their actions.
Jon Snow
Jon is considered the most likely Prince that was Promised. This is a prophecy stretching back to the second book, where Dany sees a vision of her brother, Rhaegar Targaryen, calling his child the prince that was promised. This is the presumed savior figure of the show, and with an imminent doom coming in the white walkers, the world of Westeros could use one. In the show, Melissande introduces us to the similar parallel of Azor Ahai. We don’t know where exactly it originated from, but it’s an old prophecy thousands of years old.
The main line of the prophecy is “When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt.” A red comet is seen across the sky at the beginning of the series, darkness in the form of evil families and ice zombies have gathered, and as we now know, Jon Snow has been reborn. The salt and smoke aren’t explicitly present in his resurrection, in the show, but in the books Jon’s wounds are described as smoking from the sudden exposure to cold while one of those stabbing him cries.
The resurrection of Jon itself is not nearly as compelling as who he’s become after it. He’s despondent, seemingly lost faith and confidence in himself, and not feeling deserving of his second chance on life. His realization that there really is no after life also seems to dwell on him. We know from Beric Dondarrion, someone else that has been brought back to life repeatedly, that he becomes more detached from life each time. He loses a part of himself. We’re seeing a degree of that with Jon.
Jon is becoming cold, even to Sansa and her efforts to convince Jon to go south. If not for the threatening letter from Ramsey, it’s likely Jon would have become some hermit, detached from the world that he feels he has no place in. This could also bring Jon to uniting the North against the White Walkers as he is one of the few that truly understands the threat being posed.
Daenerys Targaryen
Dany is also seen to be Azor Ahai as the red priest in the episode preview seems to be trying to tell Tyrion and Varys. Her moment of coming out of the fire with her dragons also makes people think that she had her rebirth moment that could lead her to being Azor Ahai.
She also is given a riddle or different prophecy from a masked woman named Quaithe. She says “To go north, you must journey south, to reach the west you must go east. To go forward you must go back and to touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.” At the end of book 5 she hallucinates voices of Quaithe, her brother Viserys, and Jorah, all related to forgetting who she is. Last season we saw Dany struggle to rule and trying to adapt to a different culture. In many ways she really has lost her way and her identity as a Targaryen.
At the end of last week’s episode, she kills every Khal, burning them and emerging from the fire as confident as ever. This cannot be a bigger embrace of her family’s words, Fire and Blood. While we have yet to see what Dany does next, this could lead to a more ruthless and less diplomatic Dany. She has mirrored the end of the first season, and gone east to control a Dothraki horde once more. This could even be Dany’s turn into being more like her crazy, ruthless father as she is more and more insistent on burning those who get in her way. With Drogon only growing larger, and an army of Dothraki there seems to be nothing stopping her in Essos anymore now that she has a resolved will.
Conclusion
Jon’s rebirth has turned him cold, apathetic, and detached from the world, turning away what many see is his identity and calling. The rest of this season will be Jon deciding whether or not he wants to truly embrace his greater calling, whether it’s as a bearer of the Stark legacy or as the Prince that was Promised. Dany’s rebirth has had her embracing her identity, deciding to burn those that would defy her rather than politic and be diplomatic. It has long been assumed that Jon and Dany represent the Ice and Fire the book series is named for. This season could be them truly embracing those aspects of their identity and putting them on the path to meeting. Whether that will be a positive or negative confrontation, we’ll just have to see.
