Books

Jon And Dany's Relationship Could Play Out Very Differently In The 'GoT' Books

by Charlotte Ahlin
Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO

So, season seven of Game of Thrones ended with a bang (spoiler alert): Jon and Dany finally hooked up... while Jon's little brother monologued in the background about how they're related. Um. Hot? However you feel about Jonerys as a couple, it seems like their relationship is going to set the stage for the next season of the HBO show (you know, that and the whole thing with the zombie dragon bursting through the Wall). But what about the books? There are quite a few hints that a Jon and Daenerys romance is coming in A Song of Ice and Fire as well but, knowing George R.R. Martin, it's going to come with quite a few twists and complications. Here's how Dany and Jon might be different in the books.

I mean, first of all, since the TV show is now so far ahead of the books, Jon and Daenerys haven't even met yet in A Song of Ice and Fire. As of A Dance with Dragons, Dany is currently dehydrated and wandering the Dothraki Sea. Jon is currently dead. It doesn't look too good for either of them. But there have been so many parallels between them, and so many visions hinting at a fire-meets-ice love story. If they can make it through The Winds of Winter in one piece, chances are good that we're going to see a Jon and Dany romance. It'll just be a little bit different than the shiny TV version:

1

Dany is still technically married

Remember that guy Dany married to keep the peace in Meereen? ...no? Well, his name is Hizdahr zo Loraq, and he's still alive in the books—although it seems pretty clear that he tried to poison Dany before she hopped on her dragon and flew away. The show did away with him pretty quickly, but in the books he's currently ruling Meereen while the rest of Dany's posse anxiously await her return. Dany's going to have to deal with Hizdahr before she can party it up as a single lady in Westeros, and his betrayal might make her a bit warier about getting hitched a third time.

2

Jon still has the hots for Val

Ygritte isn't the only wildling for Jon. In the books, after Ygritte dies, Jon finds himself attracted to Val, a beautiful wildling "princess," and the sister-in-law of Mance Rayder (who is still alive in the books and has a baby, it's a whole thing). Stannis tries to marry Jon and Val to each other in order to solidify wilding loyalty, but Jon is too much of a goodie two-shoes Night's Watchmen to go for it... so far, anyway. Jon will definitely have to get over Val before crushing on somebody new.

3

Dany will figure out her fertility problems on her own

As Jon suggested in the season finale, maybe the witch who murdered your husband shouldn't be giving you medical advice? Dany was told by Mirri Maz Duur that she would never have children. But it seems that the unlikely conditions of Mirri Maz Duur's curse are coming true in the books, and at the end of book five Dany gets her period for the first time in a while. Daenerys will probably figure out that she can have children long before she meets Jon Snow, then. In the show I guess they just... decided to ignore the curse and also Dany's period entirely? ...are there any non-male writers on this show?

4

Jorah will not be cool with it

Show Jorah is this sexy, understanding older dude who takes a shine to Jon and seems to love Dany, but ultimately respect her. Book Jorah is not sexy, tries to force himself on Dany, openly isolates her from other men, and does not respect her boundaries. Ned Stark tried to sentence Jorah to death before he ran away from home, and there is absolutely no way that he'll be cool with a Stark kid getting it on with Daenerys or carrying around the Mormont family sword. He's definitely going to try and third wheel them to death in the books, if he's still around by that point.

5

Daario will also not be cool with it

So... in the show Daenerys leaves Daario in charge of Meereen and everyone's fine with that? How is Daario qualified to run a city? Daario's main skills are sex and murder. Surely this is a terrible plan? If Dany tries to dump book Daario for good, you'd better believe he's taking all of his sellswords and joining one of her enemies.

6

Dany still has a couple of betrayals left in the betrayal bank

Remember that time that Dany went to Qarth and all those stoned warlocks told her never to trust anybody, ever? In the books, Dany spends a lot of time trying to piece together which of her prophesied betrayals have already happened, and which are yet to come. She's a tad more calculating than her TV counterpart. If she and Jon get together, she might end up betraying him before he can betray her, because she knows she has one last betrayal for love coming up.

7

There’s another Targaryen in the mix

Jon is not Rhaegar Targaryen's only son. Rhaegar and his first wife had a baby named Aegon, who was supposedly murdered by the Mountain. In the books, there's a kid who claims to be Aegon Targaryen on the scene, and he's bent on marrying his aunt Daenerys and claiming the Iron Throne. He might be a fake, but we don't know for sure yet. Dany has plenty of other suitors to contend with, like all those Greyjoy uncles, but she might actually consider another Targaryen, which would wildly complicate any relationship with Jon. (And yeah, it makes no sense for Jon's real name to be Aegon if Rhaegar already had a son named Aegon. You get a D-, showrunners, see me after class.)

8

The dragon has three heads

So... Jon gets to ride that other dragon now, right? Right? In the show, we're already down one dragon, but the books have emphasized the prophecy that the "dragon has three heads," or that there have to be three dragon riders, and three conquerors of Westeros. The original Aegon the Conqueror had two dragon riding sister-wives himself. Book Dany might lose another dragon or she might not, but she's definitely flirted with the idea of having two husbands. If Jon and Dany get hitched in the books, don't assume that Daenerys is going to be off the market for good (especially if she runs across any other hot relatives).

9

George has promised us a “bittersweet” ending

Look, I'm not saying that the show is all puppies and roses. But George R.R. Martin has promised a bittersweet ending to the books, so we have to assume that Jonerys are in for a bumpy ride. This past season of the TV series has cooled a bit on all the Azor Ahai prophecy stuff, but the books are heavily hinting that Jon or Dany is going to have to kill the person they love in order to save the world from the "Long Night," just as the original Azor Ahai did. Even if they both make it to the end alive, GRRM doesn't have a great track record when it comes to happy endings.