How a Key Game of Thrones Detail May Have Foreshadowed That Long-Awaited Jon Snow Moment

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones season 8 premiere.

Game of Thrones returned for its eighth and final season Sunday night and wasted no time jumping right back in to the action. The premiere kicked off with moments that viewers have been waiting on for years, including a number of anticipated reunions (Jon and Arya, Jaime and Bran, etc.) and, of course, Jon riding a dragon.

Jon hopped on Rhaegal’s back and took a ride through Westeros’ wintry wilderness alongside Daenerys Targaryen and Drogon.

Fans have long speculated that Jon would eventually ride one of Daenerys’ dragons due to his Targaryen heritage. But a moment in the sixth episode of season 7, “Beyond the Wall,” seemed to give even more credence to the theory. When Daenerys flew north to rescue Jon and co. from the army of the dead, Jon was the only member of the party who didn’t make it onto Drogon’s back.

Now, this was ostensibly because Jon was tackled through the ice by two wights right before Daenerys was forced to flee. But there may have also been another reason.

In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, Daenerys notes that no Targaryen has ever ridden more than one dragon, a detail that was pointed out by Reddit user No_conspicuity after the episode aired.

That brings us to a key question: Could Jon have sensed that it wasn’t right for him to mount Drogon when he was destined to ride Rhaegal, the dragon named after his father?

As for how this development will play into the season as a whole, seems like it would be useful to have two people capable of flying dragons into battle if the Night King shows up with undead Viserion.