Put Your Jon Snow Screaming Conspiracy Theory Down, Back Away From The Madness

There was a moment in ‘The Long Night‘ that featured Jon Snow screaming at Viserion, and for some reason this has inspired an unfortunate conspiracy theory.

I love theories.  They’re fun.  I have a bunch (go laugh at how wrong I was about the Battle of Winterfell).  But there’s something about this “Jon Snow screaming at Viserion” theory that just doesn’t sit right with me.  I’m having a hard time tracking down the original source, but here’s a summary of it from the website Balls.ie:

Many Game of Thrones fans are now arguing that Jon was not merely screaming for the sake of it. Instead he was distracting Viserion and yelling at Arya to make a burst for the Godswood. There are two parts to this theory. Firstly, it’s proposed that we can see Jon slightly tilt his head after noticing Arya (0:27), and secondly, that when he jumps up, what he actually screams is “GOOOOOO! GO! GO! (1:30)”

I’ve rewatched this scene at least a dozen times on its own now (in addition to three full episode watches) and I just don’t see it.  With most theories I can just brush it off as being some dumb internet speculation I don’t agree with (I’ve had my fair share.  Again, I’ll point you to my totally off base Battle of Winterfell predictions).  But this one just bugs the hell out of me and I couldn’t put my finger on why.  That is, until my friend Annie commented on a Facebook post I made about the issue with the following:

“But we can’t cope with Farmboy King Jon not having EVERYTHING!” -All White Cishet Gamergate Fanboys Ever

And oh my God, that’s a damn good point.  They just can’t let Arya have this moment, can they?  They MUST have Jon play a crucial role in her assassination of the Night King in order to be satisfied with it.

I am one of the fans that’s generally sad to see the Azor Ahai/Prince That Was Promised prophecy get abandoned, but I’m also over the moon that Arya, whom I’ve loved from the very first moment she appeared on screen, got to have a big moment.  She’s trained for this for eight seasons.  She studied under Syrio Forel, at the House of Black and White, and spent time with both Sandor Clegane and Tywin Lannister.  That’s a lot of build up for her to have some sort of moment.  While it did come at the expense of a prophecy coming true, it was still an incredible payoff for her story line.  And she deserves to be the main player here.

But that’s not enough, I guess.  We have to have Jon Snow screaming “GO!” to somehow integrate him into her big moment.  Come on, guys.  Set the conspiracy theory down. Back away from the madness.  We don’t need this.  ASOIAF is all about breaking established fantasy tropes.  This time the big prophesied hero isn’t the one that takes down the Big Bad, and you just gotta deal with that.  This isn’t the first time the series subverted expectations.

Also, the subtitles do not support this theory.  If he was shouting “GO” it’d have said so in the subtitles.  The theory stops there, guys.  Pack up and go home.

The Viserion scene was beautifully done. It was terrifying and suspenseful.  The special effects were incredible.  But Jon Snow screaming at Viserion was out of desperation and fear, not as a distraction for Arya to get to the Godswood.  He was out of options.  I’m not entirely sure what he was expecting his screaming to accomplish, but when face to face with certain death I’m not sure logic is going to play a big part.  He was just screaming, guys.  And Arya Did That.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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