10 best moments from the Game of Thrones series premiere

Meet Jon Snow

From the very first episode, we knew Jon Snow was going to be a major character throughout Game of Thrones. That’s especially true because of the way he was introduced, as a bastard son of the lord of Winterfell who had no other life prospects besides serving the lords and ladies of Winterfell or taking the black and joining the Night’s Watch.

We see Catelyn Stark treat him with disdain and others in the family constantly refer to him as a bastard. He’s a young man out of place, even though he considers all of the Stark children his siblings and closest friends.

Did we know that Jon was actually the true heir to the Iron Throne? That he wasn’t Ned Stark’s bastard son, but rather the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, who secretly fell in love and got married? Nope, we didn’t learn all of that until several seasons later. But we fell in love with his character anyway.

Jon was the closest thing Game of Thrones had to a hero. Sure, he evolved and grew over the course of eight seasons, but he rarely wavered in his duty, loyalty and honor. He was one of the safest characters to be around, even in the midst of battles where he almost gets killed several times.

By the end of the series, Jon rejects the crown and kingdom he was destined to take up since birth and instead ventures back to the icy realm of the Haunted Forest, now free of White Walkers thanks to him. Jon refused to play the game of thrones throughout the series even though he had the most legitimate claim to the title of king. The former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and King in the North became the King Beyond the Wall, a title he earned in the place where he felt most alive.