‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7: Why Daenerys Will Marry Jon Snow

Jon Snow in the Battle of the Bastards.
Jon Snow in the Battle of the Bastards. HBO

The Game of Thrones season 6 finale included an incredible number of shocking, gasp-inducing moments, along with a number of quieter ones. Spoilers follow for the Game of Thrones finale. In the episode, Daenerys quietly called Daario Naharis into her office for a meeting/job opportunity/breakup. She cast him aside, despite actually loving him, to free herself up for a political marriage in the Seven Kingdoms. And really, there’s one marriage candidate who stands above all others. Her future spouse and nephew, Jon Snow.

Who Will Daenerys Marry In Game Of Thrones?

Daenerys is coming to Westeros next season, and she’s coming with fire and blood, at the head of the strongest army the world has seen since the Fall of Valyria. Her path to conquering the Seven Kingdoms is easy enough. The Iron Throne is held by a usurper amidst a huge power vacuum. Queen Cersei has little to no support beyond her own family’s base of power. She won’t last long against a determined, well-armed force, let alone the Dothraki. But Daenerys doesn’t just want to conquer. She wants to build a stable order, and that requires getting buy-in from the great lords of Westeros.

Most of the great lords of the Seven Kingdoms we used to know are dead, replaced by a new generation—or sometimes by no one at all. The Reach has no clear lord, now that the Tyrells are essentially extinguished. The Riverlands belonged to House Frey, but Walder is dead. He has many heirs, even after the Frey pies, but the power balance may swing back to Edmure Tully—who is married, for better or worse, to a Frey. The stormlands have no lord either; all the Baratheons are dead. Cersei and Jaime will likely rule House Lannister and the westerlands together. The Martells—or rather the Sand Snakes—are all women, so they aren’t marrying Daenerys anytime soon.

Only three lords are fit marriage candidates for Daenerys: Robin Arryn, Lord of the Vale; Euron Greyjoy, of the Iron Islands; and Jon Snow, King in the North. Robin is too young, and Daenerys is likely to begin her invasion by fighting Euron. That leaves Jon Snow.

And marrying Jon Snow makes a huge amount of sense for Daenerys. As King in the North, once his power is settled, he’ll be the second most powerful lord in Westeros after Queen Cersei. The North is as large as the other six kingdoms combined, after all. He’ll also be on the front lines of the war with the White Walkers, and has plenty of reasons to hate the Lannisters and the crown. He’s the perfect ally.

Don’t lose any sleep over the two being related (Jon is Daenerys’s full-blood nephew). That’s actually a plus for Daenerys, because the Targaryens have a centuries-long tradition of incestuous marriage to strengthen their bloodline. That goes all the way back to Aegon the Conqueror, who married both of his full-blood sisters. Daenerys may be weirded out by the idea at first, but it makes sense… especially because the Targaryen blood could make Jon Snow a dragonrider.

Plus, those two righteous goody-goodies are perfect for each other.

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