Throughout the course of 8 seasons, that has been the story of Jon Snow- a bastard with no mother, no name, no lands and no titles who only ever wanted to do the right thing.
Game of Thrones has always been about The Song of Ice and Fire. That’s where it all began…
… with the unloved bastard of Winterfell riding North to the Wall to join a bunch of criminals to protect the realm from the horrors that lay beyond.
And he did, but quite tragically so.
The reason he ever wanted to go to the Wall was because Winterfell never really felt like his home. Catelyn Stark hated him.
Even though he managed to find friends at the Night’s Watch, he never really belonged there either. During his tour to the wildling camp, he realised that the very people he was supposed to protect the realm against were just like everyone else.
It takes a brave man to realise that the enemy he is fighting against is an enemy because they just happened to have been born on the other side of the wall.
Even then, he did what he had sworn to do. But in doing so, he betrayed the woman he had loved and the only people among whom he felt he like belonged.
He then had to shoot an arrow through Mance Rayder’s heart just to save him from being burnt alive by Stannis.
After becoming Lord Commander due to Sam’s brilliant last-minute campaign speech, he went beyond the wall to Hardhome to convince the free folks to come through the wall.
He saved as many of the free folk as he could before the Night King took over.
On his return to the Night’s Watch, his own brothers called him a traitor and murdered him.
But he couldn’t even die in peace. Melisandre knew that he would be the one to unite the realm against the Long Night and resurrected him.
On coming back to life, he had to hang people he admired and loved because they had murdered him.
Following which he decided to give up on the Night’s Watch and lead his own life.
But fate was not done with him. He found Sansa and in order to protect her, had to fight a war to take Winterfell back.
He won the Battle of the Bastards and the Northmen made him King in the North, a title he never wished for but knew was needed if he wanted to unite the people to fight against the dead.
So when the time came, he gave up that title to Daenerys, so that she would help him save the people.
He loved her and she loved him. And nothing changed that.
Not even the revelation that he was the true heir to the Iron Throne.
She was his queen and he didn’t want the throne.
But he could never stand and watch as cities burned to the ground because she was convinced that it was the only way.
He understood that with her self-righteous wrath and her dragons, Daenerys was a danger to the people he wanted to protect.
Jon even tries to convince Dany to give up the dream of ruling the whole world. But she didn’t listen to him.
So he put a knife through her heart right after he told her that.
And in the end, he was condemned to the Wall, or what remained of it to live the rest of his life in the wilderness, where he would take no wife, father no sons and hold no lands or titles…
…where he was just the Bastard of Winterfell.
