Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Game of Thrones season 7 episode 5: Gilly just made a huge discovery about Jon Snow's parents

The true heir to the Iron Throne?

Jack Shepherd
Monday 14 August 2017 04:06 EDT
Comments
Game of Thrones: Season 7 Episode 6 Preview

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Another week, another episode of Game of Thrones for us to decipher, this week featuring a surprise [redacted], and a mysterious [redacted], and the return of [redacted].

**Spoilers for ‘Eastwatch' ahead**

One notable moment in the jam-packed episode came when Gilly and Sam were sitting around a table, the former Wildling reading the diary of High Septon Maynard.

“What does annulment mean?” she asks, to Samwell’s slight annoyance, who explains that it means a marriage comes to an end.

Gilly asks because she is referring to someone called ‘Prince Raggar', who married someone else — the name is not given — during a secret Dornish ceremony.

This, for many, is absolutely huge news. As pointed out by Vanity Fair, this comment likely means that Daenerys’s brother, Rhaegar, annulled his first marriage to marry Lyanna Stark, Jon Snow’s mother. Of course, that would make Jon Snow a legitimate child, which changes everything.

Most people believe that Rhaegar captured Lyanna, an event that actually excited Robert’s Rebellion. When Ned discovers the child, the assumption is he’s a bastard.

However, with legitimacy comes with a whole host of benefits, the most notable being that Jon now has a better claim to the throne than Daenerys.

Yes, thanks to the rules of Westeros, because Jon has a penis and is a legitimate Grandson of the Mad King, he would a better claim to the Iron Throne.

This theory also makes sense when we consider Ned’s battle at the foot of the Tower of Joy. Some questioned why the Kingsguard protected Lyanna when they knew all the Targaryens were dead minus the next heir, Viserys, Daenerys’ brother. Turns out, they were protecting the next heir to the thrown.

There was also another massive moment during the episode; Arya discovering Sansa’s mysterious letter. Here’s an explainer on what that probably means.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in