--- title: Game of Thrones Jon Snow Blood Spatter Theory description: In the opening moments of Sunday's season six premiere Game of Thrones, viewers saw Ser Davos Seaworth discover Jon Snow's dead body. canonical: https://time.com/4308181/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-blood-spatter-theory/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-26T20:19:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:52.767Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: This Game of Thrones Theory Is So Insane It Might Be Real og:description: Spoilers ahead! og:url: https://time.com/4308181/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-blood-spatter-theory/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4ebda1ad76da189/698880760b72e3075a6e86f1/game-of-thrones-jon-snow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: game-of-thrones-jon-snow og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Game of Thrones Theory Is So Insane It Might Be Real twitter:description: Spoilers ahead! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4ebda1ad76da189/698880760b72e3075a6e86f1/game-of-thrones-jon-snow.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This _Game of Thrones_ Theory About Jon Snow Is So Insane It Might Be Real  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 26, 2016 8:19 PM CUT  Kit Harington as Jon Snow in "Game of Thrones." Kit Harington as Jon Snow in "Game of Thrones."HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 26, 2016 8:19 PM CUT **Warning:** This post contains spoilers from both the _Game of Thrones_ TV show and George R.R. Martin’s _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series. In the opening scene of Sunday’s season six premiere of [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4289801/game-of-thrones-death-quiz/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined"), viewers saw Ser Davos Seaworth discover [Jon Snow’s corpse](http://time.com/4299666/game-of-thrones-computer-algorithm-death/?iid=sr-link4 "undefined") in the courtyard of Castle Black. After having the body taken inside by a few of Jon’s loyal Night’s Watch brothers, the Onion Knight stares for a long moment at the splatter of blood that was left behind on the snow. Since then, fans have begun to theorize that the blood stain holds a message about the seemingly deceased Lord Commander, with some saying it appears to be in the shape of a dragon. > [](https://twitter.com/PrestonSudlow/status/724609783718768640) **Read More:** [Unraveling the Mystery of Melisandre’s True Age on _Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/4306654/melisandre-old-age-game-of-thrones/ "undefined") If true, the hidden detail would lend credence to the fan-favorite [R + L = J theory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHqzFwodZqQ&feature=youtu.be "undefined") that Jon is not actually Ned Stark’s bastard, but rather the child of Lyanna Stark (Ned’s sister) and Rhaegar Targaryen. This line of parentage would mean that Jon is not only secretly a Targaryen — and Daenerys’s nephew — but also has the potential to be one of the prophesied figures known as the three heads of the dragon. > [](https://twitter.com/AamirAyub333/status/724704327596675073) > [](https://twitter.com/ThronesTheories/status/724441574105485314) There’s also buzz that one of the filming locations for this season, Spain’s Castillo de Zafra, will be used as the Tower of Joy — the location of Lyanna’s death — for a flashback scene in an upcoming episode. Given that HBO recently released a description for “[Oathbreaker](http://time.com/4307161/game-of-thrones-episode-descriptions-arya-future/ "undefined"),” the third episode of the season, that reads, “Bran meets the past,” viewers may get this sequence — and more answers about Jon’s ancestry — sooner rather than later. ([h/t Buzzfeed](https://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/i-mean-i-guess-i-kinda-see-it-if-i-squint#.oeJ17r65o "undefined")) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4308181/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-blood-spatter-theory/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4308181/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-blood-spatter-theory/"},"headline":"This Game of Thrones Theory About Jon Snow Is So Insane It Might Be Real","datePublished":"2016-04-26T20:19:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:52.767Z","description":"Spoilers ahead!","url":"https://time.com/4308181/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-blood-spatter-theory/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","game of thrones","TV","Jon Snow"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4ebda1ad76da189/698880760b72e3075a6e86f1/game-of-thrones-jon-snow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4ebda1ad76da189/698880760b72e3075a6e86f1/game-of-thrones-jon-snow.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"game-of-thrones-jon-snow","caption":"Kit Harington as Jon Snow in \"Game of Thrones.\"","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4308181/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-blood-spatter-theory/","name":"This Game of Thrones Theory About Jon Snow Is So Insane It Might Be Real"}}]}] ```