Jon Snow is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones, in which he is portrayed by Kit Harington.

Knowing his prospects are limited by his status as a bastard, Jon joins the Night's Watch, who guard the far northern borders from the wildlings living beyond The Wall.

In A Game of Thrones, Jon Snow is introduced as the 14-year-old illegitimate son of Eddard "Ned" Stark, Lord of Winterfell,[3][4] and half-brother to Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon.

"[7] Writing for Variety about the season 6 episode "Battle of the Bastards", Laura Prudom suggests that Jon "has the same shortcomings" as his father: "he fights with honor against opponents who are all too willing to use that predictable morality against him".

[1] Jon is introduced as the illegitimate son of a Northern Lord who, realizing he is an outsider in his own family, follows his uncle to the far north and accepts the honorable duty of serving in the Night's Watch.

Over the course of the series, Jon's loyalty to the Watch and its vows, his family, and even Westeros itself are tested as he becomes embroiled in the efforts of the wildlings from Beyond the Wall to force their way back into the Seven Kingdoms.

[3][4][5][9] Several reviews of 2011's A Dance with Dragons noted the return to the narrative of Jon, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister, the three popular characters whom fans had missed most from the previous volume, A Feast for Crows.

"[26] The uncertainty arises from anecdotal evidence in the texts interpreted by readers to connect the mysterious maternity of Ned's son with the vague backstory of his sister Lyanna.

[17][24][27] As recounted by Ned in A Game of Thrones, at a tourney years before the events of the novel, Rhaegar had shown public favor to Lyanna in the presence of his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell.

[33] In the season 6 finale, "The Winds of Winter", Bran Stark has a vision of the past which shows Ned reuniting with a dying Lyanna in the Tower of Joy.

[42][43][44] The season 7 finale episode "The Dragon and the Wolf" confirmed that Jon is indeed the legitimate son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, and that his birth name is actually Aegon Targaryen.

After a dead Night's Watch brother brought back from beyond the Wall reanimates as an undead wight, Jon saves Mormont's life by killing the creature.

However, Jon is torn between his vows to the Night's Watch and his loyalty to his family after learning of Ned's execution and his half brother Robb's march south for justice.

[3][6] In 1998's A Clash of Kings, Mormont leads a party of Night's Watch rangers beyond the Wall to investigate the disappearance of Jon's uncle Benjen, assess the intentions of the wildling leader Mance Rayder, and learn more of the threat posed by the Others.

[1][2][12][13][14] Finally pushed to his breaking point, Jon instead decides that he will seek out and kill Ramsay himself, openly compromising his neutrality, but he is stabbed by his Night's Watch brothers in a mutiny.

"[52] Martin told Rolling Stone in 2014 that some early inquiries he received about adapting A Song of Ice and Fire suggested identifying the story's "important character" and focusing on that individual plot line, Jon and Daenerys Targaryen being the two most popular choices.

[62][63] As the series premiered, TV Guide called Harington a "soulful heartthrob" whose Jon is idolized by his younger siblings and who "seeks purpose" by joining the Night's Watch.

"[67] In the June 2015 season 5 finale "Mother's Mercy", Jon is stabbed to death by Alliser Thorne and several men of the Night's Watch after being labeled a traitor.

[67] With Martin's 2011 novel A Dance with Dragons vague on Jon's fate, Harington confirmed the character's death in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying "I've been told I’m dead.

[67]Writing for The New York Times, Jeremy Egner called Jon's demise "the biggest death on the show" since Ned Stark's beheading in season 1.

[69] Amid strong fan reaction over Jon's death on social media,[66][70] immediately following the episode journalists began theorizing how the show could resurrect the character.

[77][78] However, a story in Vanity Fair pointed out that Charles Dance had been seen in Belfast the previous year after his character Tywin Lannister's death as well, and he only appeared in the first episode of the subsequent season as a corpse.

[81]Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair credited Jon's much-discussed cliffhanger death as a primary factor behind Game of Thrones' subsequent 25% ratings increase for season 6.

Jon learns of his father's execution for apparent treason and, although tempted to leave the Wall to join Robb Stark's army, is convinced to stay.

Later, as part of a small scouting party led by legendary Night's Watch ranger Qhorin Halfhand, Jon is tasked with killing a wildling prisoner, a woman warrior Ygritte.

Jon pledges his loyalty to Mance and travels with the wildlings, learning that they intend to scale the Wall and force their way south to escape the inevitable arrival of the White Walker army.

He, Dolorous Edd, and other brothers of the Watch loyal to Jon barricade themselves in a room with Ghost, and an attack by Thorne and his men is thwarted by the arrival of Tormund and his wildlings.

Jon, Sansa, Davos, and Tormund travel the North to recruit an army to take back Winterfell and rescue Rickon, but many houses refuse to support them.

The ploy works and the outnumbered Stark forces are surrounded and nearly slaughtered, but the Knights of the Vale of House Arryn arrive with Sansa and Petyr Baelish and rout the Bolton army.

As part of the plan to convince Cersei that the army of the dead is real, Jon leads an expedition beyond the Wall to capture a wight to provide proof of it.