4. Jon Snow and Ygritte
Orpheus and Eurydice, Romeo and Juliet, that vampire and that non-vampire in those movies about vampires…the idea of star-crossed lovers has fascinated storytellers for thousands of years, and George R.R. Martin is no exception. With Jon Snow and Ygritte, he gave us a couple of great ones. He’s a man of the Night’s Watch sworn to protect the kingdoms of men from the menace beyond the Wall. She’s a free-spirited rough-and-tumble wildling riding with her countrymen to breach the Wall and invade those very kingdoms. They shouldn’t be together. They CAN’T be together. And yet their love blooms in the cold earth of the far north.
As you can see, their romance inspires some flowery prose. But like many star-crossed lovers, the gulfs between these two proved too vast. Jon remained loyal to the Night’s Watch and Ygritte to the wildlings, and she died in his arms during the Battle of Castle Black.
Kit Harington and Rose Leslie had great chemistry, so much so that they got married in real life, and the Jon-Ygritte love story has a classical feel to it that holds up.