In the season seven finale, Game of Thrones viewers learned that Jon Snow isn’t Jon Snow — he’s Aegon Targaryen, the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark with a claim to the Iron Throne. The reveal was years in the making, especially for book readers; in fact, there was a subtle reference to the twist in season three that people are only picking up on now. It happens in a scene between Davos Seaworth and Shireen Baratheon, who’s teaching the Onion Knight how to read. The first word he learns: “Aegon.”
“This word is Aegon,” Shireen said. “When you see ‘A,’ ‘E,’ and ‘G’ together like that, it sounds like ‘egg.’ And the title of the whole book is A History of Aegon the Conqueror.” (Do not call it an “Easter Aeg.”) This was before poor Shireen — who inadvertently taught Davos the name of the guy with a truer claim to the Iron Throne than her father — was conquered by flames. (To add insult to fiery injury: she was sacrificed because Melisandre thought Stannis was the Lord of the Light. Nope. The new, most likely candidate: Jon Snow/Aegon.)
When asked about the scene, actor Liam Cunningham told The Huffington Post, “Yeah, they’re very good at that sort of thing. David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] plant little Easter eggs there if you want to see them.” But he had no idea at the time that the scene would eventually have so much significance. “No, are you kidding me?” he said. “I don’t know what the hell’s gonna happen from one episode to the next. That’s testament to how good the writing is on that, too.” Writing that, thanks to Shireen, Davos can now read.
Cunningham also explained that he got involved with Game of Thrones because he thought “it was a ridiculously wonderful story and beautiful storytelling. Nobody knew it was gonna turn into a cultural phenomenon. But we try and improve, keep the quality as high as it possibly can [go] without patronizing an audience or [being] condescending to them, thinking we know more about it than they do. Nobody knows more about it than they do. And we just try to deliver it with a bit of honor and a bit of respect.”
The beard scratches are a bonus.
(Via The Huffington Post)