Post by stdaga on Jan 19, 2017 23:41:12 GMT
Pretty much really. I mean, nobody seems to really know where he actually picked up Jon, other than that it wasn't Winterfell if Ned arrived there with him.
I guess that is part of the mystery about Jon. I don't know why we assume Ned brought Jon to Winterfell, but it is implied by certain characters, such as Catelyn, but all of that information is a bit unreliable. But why does she think that? Is it something she was told. Maybe Jon was in Winterfell his whole life. Now, I have no proof of that, but I have wondered in the past if his connection to the crypts is because he spent time in the crypts an infant.
In his dreams of the crypts, Jon indicates that he is afraid, but not of the crypts. He is afraid of something that he will find down there. It sounds like all the Stark children played in the crypts while growing up at Winterfell and do not seem particularly afraid to be down there. And they should not be, it is their place, a place of Starks, as it is Ned's (if his bones ever get back there, which I have my doubts) and Lyanna's and a thousand Starks before them.
Also, raising Jon in Winterfell is clearly the extra mile. Most people don't raise their bastards, and we see lords like Renly and Galbart will indeed ward a bastard. Jon didn't need to be raised in Winterfell, and likely could've had an easier life growing up away from his siblings, and perhaps found a home with that family, especially if they offered Jon a full time position.
Yes! This and the fact that Ned claimed Jon "for all the north to see" are the reasons that I just can't shake that Ned is Jon's true father.
Beating a dead horse would put it mildly lol. Oh there's definitely differences in areas, but he's spent 5 books trying to show us this. What's the payoff if he's not actually Ned's son? That nurture is better than nature? Why not both?
Like I've always said, there needs to actually be a reason for Jon not to be Ned's son. If Jon can and does solely things that Ned's son can do then there's no reason for an alternate parentage. Repeatedly slamming home that Jon is like Ned and does Ned things is the complete opposite of hinting that Jon isn't Ned's.
Unless Ned was just so crafty that he created this huge bastard son scandal to hide a greater one. I take nothing for granted with GRRM's story telling. He gives us what he wants us to have, and nothing more.
Well we know that Ned does care as he says he can't take Jon to King's Landing precisely because it would be an affront to the royal family, and that even Robert knows better than to bring his bastards to court. So Ned could've indeed had a role in Jon being placed away from everybody.
It seems like Ned could have even been the one to tell Jon to stay away from the royal family, but then one has to wonder, why would he do that? I can see that Ned knows that he can't take Jon to Kings Landing, but having him in Winterfell is very different. Winterfell is the place for the Starks, and Ned rules the North. I guess, in a fuedalistic society, Robert would have more control of Winterfell than Ned, but only because Ned allows that.
In a Cersei POV in aFfC, she comments on Jon Snow
"Another problem has arisen on the Wall, however. The brothers of the Night's Watch have taken leave of their wits and chosen Ned Stark's bastard son to be their Lord Commander."
"Snow, the boy is called," Pycelle said unhelpfully.
"I glimpsed him once at Winterfell," the queen said, "though the Starks did their best to hide him. He looks very like his father." Her husband's by-blows had his look as well, though at least Robert had the grace to keep them out of sight. Cercei IV-aFfC
So, Cercei did see Jon at Winterfell, and felt the Starks were hiding him, but not well enough. Of course, her arrogance is at play in this comment, indicating she thinks bastards (except hers, of course) should be kept out of sight, but even the Stark's couldn't do that right. Whether it was Ned's idea or Jon's, there is an indication that Jon was separated on purpose at Winterfell. Not only was he not seated at the high table, he was seated in the back of the hall with nobody of importance, just some young squires and a mongrel bitch who tried to steal Ghost's chicken.
Additionally though, it shouldn't be forgotten that Jon himself exiled himself away from the royal family. He made up some excuse about how he wasn't allowed to train with Joffrey when Arya found him watching the yard instead of training, but that very scene also has Rodrik point out that solely he determines who does what in the yard and nobody can override his authority as master-at-arms when it comes to training. There's no evidence whatsoever that Rodrik would tell Jon that he couldn't train with Joffrey after he's let Jon train with Robb and Theon for the last 10 years. If he can train with the heirs of Lord Paramounts he can train with the prince.
Additionally, even if Rodrik told Jon he couldn't train with Joffrey, there's nothing stopping him from training with literally anybody else that day. Joffrey is one boy, but 300 knights and freeriders came with Robert's party, as well as 3 knights of the KG. Jon can spar any of them. He can spar his regular partners Robb, Theon, and Harwin. He can spar Jory, Alyn, any of the guards. He can just practice on a dummy. Nothing stopped him from being in the yard that day except himself.
Jon maybe was told to stay away from the royal family, but he also projected it onto himself.
It does make sense, that Jon was told to stay away. We know he likes to practice at swords and there is no reason to think he would not want a chance to at least spend some time watching Jaime Lannister, the greatest swordsman in the land, as well as other people in the Kings court at arms. Ned, again, but that is an assumption on my part. It seems Ned wanted to make sure people didn't get a look at Jon. But if Jon looks so like Ned, then why hide that. Unless there is something of his mother in his look as well?
You'd also have to think, but if Jon isn't Ned's son, then why would he get upset that there's not a wolf for Jon? If he knows Jon's actually Lyanna's, and I don't doubt he knew Brandon's way and that Brandon probably has a few kids, he knows that there should indeed only be 5 pups for his own 5 children, and that Jon not getting a pup is completely consistent with his siblings child(ren) not getting any. Jon's only missing out if he's actually Ned's son, and Ned would only get upset that he's missing out if he actually indeed is missing out.
Throw in then that the direwolves were grey which is the Stark sigil and that Ghost is white which is the Stark sigil inversed and you get a bastard pup for the bastard Stark. Still all fits for Jon being Ned's son as there's literally no evidence the wolves suggest otherwise. A litter of the exact right genders and colours for Ned's kids only for it to then turn out one of Ned's kids isn't his and ruins that?
And I think you are correct about why Ned was hurt for Jon's sake. Because Ned not only viewed Jon as his son, but because Jon was his son!
Yes, the bastard arms, white direwolf on a grey background. It does seem to indicate that Jon is illegitimate. But Ghost is very much the colors of the weirwoods as well, so it makes a person think that the old gods are giving a gift to Jon, different that the other children.
Well I mean he had to have been. He's raised in a completely different culture than his siblings were. His best friends are southerners. He is different from his siblings. Then his family dies and Benjen leaves for the Wall, leaving him completely alone. He was physically separated from his family when he was young and then he was separated from the again as a young adult.
Poor Neddard! He never had an easy road. I think he felt like it was his duty to help Robert fix the mess in Kings Landing because Ned felt he was partially responsible for the mess that Robert's reign had created. Ned went to war in rebellion, removed a dynasty and replaced it with another, and that new dynasty left the crown in debt and disarray. Ned seemed to blame himself more than he ever blamed Robert or Jon Arryn, but I think when we get more details of the start of the rebellion, then we might understand that emotion better. It could just be Ned's honor and conscience, but I think there is more to that story.
Fun discussion!