In the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season 7, Daenerys discovers Jon Snow’s murder scars. But it went differently on the page.
The romance between Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow was teased throughout season 7, and took a big leap forward in the penultimate episode, “Beyond the Wall.” After the disastrous/successful mission to capture a wight north of the Wall, Jon was unconscious for an unknown amount of time as Dany’s boat made its way back to Dragonstone. When Jon was first brought aboard, he was near-death. Davos tore off his sodden clothes before putting him to bed, and Dany got a good look at the scars Jon sustained back when he was murdered at the end of season 5.
In “The Queen Justice,” Daenerys had been curious when Davos said that Jon “took a knife in the heart for his people,” so clearly the scar reveal was something the writers were building. As laid out on Reddit, it was even more clear in the original script for the episode:
"Dany wanted to see more than the scars, it is known (preliminar outline of S7 2006) from freefolk"
So onscreen, Dany discovers Jon’s scars while Davos is undressing him. On the page, she takes more initiative. I think the discovery is more natural on the show; removing the furs herself seems a bit forced, although we’re sure the meme artists of the world would have had a field day with it. Also, having Dany passively discover the scars keeps her from appearing too concerned for Jon too soon, and fits with the slow burn-nature of their season 7 relationship.
In any case, the end result is the same. Dany gets some insight into what Jon’s been through, although we don’t know the specifics — does she know the full story of the Night’s Watch mutiny, or just think Jon has a bunch of gnarly scars on his torso?
Script changes like this are common. What do you think of this one? Big deal? Small deal? No deal at all? Sound off.
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