Aerys II (king) -->Rhaegar (eldest son)-->Jon (son)

This a good time to discuss the exclusion of

Yeah but would Robert kill his dead love's son to become king?

Don't see why not. He was under the impression that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and if he knew about the child he would have assumed it was through rape. He wanted Dany and Viserys dead so they couldn't make a claim for the throne.

Yes, they are related, they are first cousins. Sansa's father and Jon's mother are brother and sister. Are you paying attention at all? Aphex Twin is quickly turning into Old Boy.

Yes. They killed all of the Targaryens they could lay their hands on, and he would have killed Dany and her weasely brother too if Ned hadn't talked him out of it and instead he had a spy sent to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't get any big ideas (Jorah). Oh, and then he did try to kill her after all once Jorah sent back word that she was pregnant (prevented by Jorah).

Killing another man's grudge-baby (someone who had it in for him) that had a better claim to the throne than he did would have been nothing. This is Robert we are talking about, not Ned.

Perhaps. I will meet you back in this thread in two short years and we'll see!

Same reason a Lion will kill cubs that he did not bear. Robert wouldn't raise a child that wasn't his. Plus he would have to protect the "purity" of his wife. No way that child would have lived if Robert got there first.

Answering my own question here : I talked to a friend of mine who is a book-reader. He notes that Qyburn was a disgraced former Maester. The only way he could become the royal Maester is to get rid of the current one. So it wasn't to get him a seat on the Small Council (Cersei should have been able to swing that either way), it was to have him become Grand Maester.

Or even if Ned hadn't hid the true identity of the child. As memory served Robert thought it was funny that Ned sired a bastard. It proved Ned wasn't so perfect after all.

Ned kept that circle pretty small to honor his sister and protect Jon. Think of all the grief he took from Cat about it, but he still didn't tell her.

I'm surprised Ned wouldn't tell Catelyn about Jon.

Hopefully they do another Blu-ray feature where they get together all the actors whose characters died this season. They may need a large room this for this one.

I'm sure he didn't tell anyone that wasn't already in the room. It also probably had the added benefit of making her reaction to Ned's bastard son more realistic.

Yeah based on how she is portrayed on the show she struggled with Jon Snow for years. Ned loved her so to realize he let her fester all those years is just fucked up.

Or we could just ask Josh-da-Man right now.

can we please talk about Cersei's outfit. Fucking badass. Pinhead approved!

When she walked into the throne room I could practically hear Metalingus playing.

Or Shelbyville...

A promise he made his sister > the feeling of his wife

I don't know that he would have killed baby Jon to become king, but he would have killed him out of spite. Robert absolutely loathed Rhaegar Targaryen, and he would have killed any child he had with Lyanna for that simple reason.

And as we saw in season one, Robert was still pretty raw about Lyanna's death. He would still kill or try to kill Jon even then.

I do think Ned would have told Jon after Jon joined the Night's Watch and was beyond Robert's reach, but Ned never came back.

Do you guys think GRRM would've taken Sean Bean aside and said "hey, only your character knows this, but Jon Snow is actually so and so..."?

Thanks O!

Possibly. Different production, but J.K. Rowling told Alan Rickman advance info about Snape, so it's been done. But Sean Bean could also have just been told that his character very strongly wants to protect the mother's identity, without knowing who she is.

Taken me so long to read through this thread after my first post after viewing the ep. that I forgot what I was going to post.

I wonder if

I will miss Margery, but she hasn't been given much to do since season four. I hope Natalie Dormer can get a career boost . There was a time where she was getting cast in quite a few roles in movies and other TV shows. She obviously has the time on her schedule now.

If that's the case, then 'someone' is posting spoilers.

I don't read the thread about the episode until I've seen it, but others may and shouldn't expect something to be spoiled for them when the show hasn't even aired yet.