Game of Thrones created a plot hole about Jon Snow’s Targaryen heritage, but HBO’s prequel House of the Dragon was able to put things right.
House of the Dragon made some key changes and additions to Game of Thrones lore, including fixing a plot hole about Jon Snow and his father, Rhaegar Targaryen. House of the Dragon’s timeline begins around 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, but that doesn’t stop it recontextualizing the show in various ways as it delves deeper into House Targaryen’s long, bloody history. There’s a clear through line for the civil war about to tear the family apart through to Daenerys believing herself the last Targaryen alive, and how the Iron Throne and power corrupted and corroded the once all-powerful house.
Biggest of all, though, is Aegon the Conqueror’s dream of White Walkers. Called A Song of Ice and Fire, this retconned the Targaryens’ entire purpose for being in Westeros to begin with, as they came not (just) for ambition and power, but to save it from the coming darkness. It’s a smart addition to the lore, but what’s particularly interesting is how it impacts upon Game of Thrones, and that includes Jon Snow’s story.
Aegon’s Dream Explains Why Rhaegar Named Jon Snow “Aegon” (When That Was His First Son)
After much speculation, Game of Thrones’ season 7 finale revealed Jon Snow’s Targaryen name: Aegon. Although it seems an obvious choice – it is, after all, the Targaryen name – there was one catch: Rhaegar already had a son called Aegon. While he was killed as an infant during Robert’s Rebellion, it was still confusing as to why Rhaegar would give his second son the exact same name, and the show itself offered up no kind of explanation of.
At that point it seemed like a big mistake but, intentionally so or not, House of the Dragon fixed it. It had long been known that Rhaegar was obsessed with the Prince That Was Promised prophecy, believing his child to be the heralded savior. House of the Dragon directly connects that with Aegon’s dream, turning the two prophecies into one and the same. And given Rhaegar heavily researched the prophecy and Targaryen history, then there’s a good chance he knew that too.
That means Rhaegar naming his second son Aegon was extremely purposeful; after all, if he is trying to fulfill Aegon’s dream, then it fits he would name his sons that. It was already clear that even before then he thought his child with Lyanna Stark had a greater chance of being the Prince That Was Promised (a son of ice and fire), and doubling-down on Aegon’s name fits with him anointing Jon as the chosen one.
How House Of The Dragon Changed Jon Snow’s Story (Was He The Prince That Was Promised?)
House of the Dragon modified reframed Jon Snow’s story, and made his Targaryen heritage more important than Game of Thrones ever managed to. The house’s entire purpose was to bring together the people of Westeros and defeat the White Walkers, and while Jon Snow is not the one who sat on the Iron Throne or even the one who killed the Night King, there wouldn’t have even been a fight against them without him. He was the product of ice and fire who rallied the realm together, and crucial in saving it.
To this end, then Jon Snow could be considered the Prince That Was Promised. Daenerys too, of course, had a claim: a pure Targaryen, she was actually styled as Queen, brought dragons back to the world, and also proved instrumental in the fight against the White Walkers. The prophecy is vague enough that you could argue for either, or both, but Jon Snow being the person who made it his entire mission to defeat the army of the dead, while also being the last Aegon Targaryen, certainly fits the criteria.
This then leads into Jon Snow’s Game of Thrones ending, where he goes back beyond the Wall. He never embraced his Targaryen identity anyway, but this was fully renouncing it: choosing ice over fire. Having killed Daenerys and then leaving the most inhabited parts of Westeros behind, he essentially removed the Targaryens from the board, their purpose completely fulfilled. What started with Aegon the Conqueror, as revealed by House of the Dragon, was completed by Jon Snow, aka Aegon Targaryen.
