#books #asoiaf #got

The most popular fan theory in this series is R+L=J.  That Jon Snow's mother was Lyanna Stark and his father was Rhaegar Targaryen.  Meaning Jon is both ice and fire, and has the best claim to the throne (unless Young Griff is a real Targaryen, swapped during the sack on Kings Landing, in which case Young Griff has a stronger claim but most people discount that).

There is lots of evidence and very good basis to believe that

* Eddard Stark is not Jon's father
* Lyanna Stark is Jon's mother
* Lyanna Stark gave birth to Jon Snow in the tower of joy

What is less well supported is that Rhaegar Targaryen is the father.

The support includes:
1. Rhaegar 'abducted' or 'eloped with' Lyanna, so who else would be the father?
2. Three kingsguards were at the tower. It makes sense if they were protecting the heir to the throne
3. It develops the story very well if Jon Snow ends up being the rightful king.

But there is evidence against this, which has led me to continue to wonder about other options
1. Jon Snow has no Targaryen traits, has a double-helping of the North in him.
2. Jon Snow took the black, so he can't be King
3. Jon Snow was killed at the end of book 5 and the TV show is not canon. Jon may not come back, or if he does he would come back as a static character unable to learn and develop further (IMHO).
4. There is no evidence Rhaegar and Lyanna married, meaning he would still be a bastard and have no claim to the throne.
5. In contrast to the plethora of hints that Lyanna is his mother, there really are no hints that Rhaegar is the father. No dreams, internal dialogues of memories, symbolism, etc. No evidence of Jon being protected from fire (we have the opposite actually) or symbolism of dragons or the color red.  Nothing.

So... if you are still with me... who was Jon Snow's father?

I think this is the greatest unsolved mystery in ASOIAF and one that the greater fan base doesn't even recognize.