#pol!jonposts

[whateverthedragonswant]

Jonerys Was A Game of Faces: More Evidence That Pol!Jon Was A Thing

Literally the scene before Jon bends the knee in 7x06:

This scene happens right after Dany watches as Jon's men undress him and sees the stab wounds from when Jon died.

Then we see Sansa sneaking into Arya's room and the first thing she sees after closing the door is a knife.

Then when Arya catches her rummaging around, Arya tells her about the Game of Faces she used to play while training to be a Faceless Man before she got her first Face:

"Back in Braavos, before I got my first Face, there was a game I used to play. A Game of Faces. It's simple, I ask you a question about yourself and you try to make a lie sound like the truth. If you fool me, you win. If I catch a lie, you lose. Let's play."

Sansa: "I don't want to play."

Arya: "How do you feel about Jon being King? Is there someone else you think should rule the North instead of him?"

Sansa: "Those faces...what are they?"

Arya: "Would you like to do the asking? Are you sure? The Game of Faces didn't turn out so well for the last person who asked me questions."

Sansa: "Tell me what they are."

Arya: "We both wanted to be other people when we were younger. You wanted to be a queen, to sit next to a handsome young king on the Iron Throne. I wanted to be a Knight, to pick up a sword like Father and go off to battle. Neither of us got to be that other person, did we? The world doesn't just let girls decide what they're going to be. But I can now. With the Faces, I can choose. I can become someone else. Speak in their voice, live in their skin. I can even become you." *she picks up the dagger* "I wonder what it would feel like to wear those pretty dresses. To be the Lady of Winterfell. All I'd need to find out is your face." *she hands the dagger to Sansa (indicating she's lost) & walks away*

Very next scene:

Jon comes to and finds Dany sitting right there, staring at him. He sees that she's upset and immediately begins to apologize, saying he wishes that they'd never gone. He even reaches for her hand to take in his. His body is covered except for the heart stab wound. And then what follows?

Dany tells him that she doesn't wish that, because now she's seen. She agrees to help him fight the NK because of what happened to Viserion. (meaning she's still not committed for the right reason which means things can still change, especially with someone who is impulsive) He thanks her, calling her Dany. She likens him to Viserys because that was who last called her Dany. "Not the company you want to keep."

"Alright. Not Dany. How about My Queen?" (this will come into play later in a near future post)

"I'd, um, bend the knee, but..." (notice how he looks away from her during this line; in the very same season he tells Sansa that Ned always said every word after 'but' was horseshit)

"They'll come to see you for what you are."

The very same music "See You For What You Are" plays later in 8x06 when Jon and Dany have that glare off on the steps in KL.

And in the scene before this (Arya and Sansa's scene), they make sure to show us Sansa seeing the dagger first (which connects her to Jon and that he took a dagger to the heart, the very wounds Dany was just ogling), Arya startles Sansa who immediately mentions that she has hundreds of men loyal to her ("but they're not here, are they?"), Arya begins the Game of Faces despite Sansa Jon not wanting to play, asks Sansa what she thinks of Jon as King (right before he's about to bend the knee?) and who should rule the North (something that Dany and Jon have been debating over), subtly threatens Sansa Jon and then switches the game around, she talks about how she wanted to be a different person as did Sansa (remember Dany trying to emulate Rhaegar at one point?) but neither of them got to be (Dany turned out to be nothing like Rhaegar except for the obsession with the prophecy/destiny thing), Arya threatens Sansa & and loses the game while Sansa Jon wins, and Arya walks away leaving Sansa Jon holding the dagger in his hand.

Not only is this incredible foreshadowing for what's coming down the pipe in the next season, but they're also purposely linking all of this together to show us one thing: in a way, Jon is playing the Game of Faces with Dany. Dany fell in love with Jon and despite her growing paranoia and distrust of him once she knew the truth about his parentage, he was the one able to get close enough to end her tyranny, the one she didn't supposedly see coming. Dany also wasn't able to fool Jon or Sansa or Arya or Bran or anyone else up North on who she really was and what she was. Even most of Westeros wasn't fooled into thinking she was this great Savior Queen that they wanted back on the IT. (Olenna, Ellaria, and Yara all joined her for revenge; only Yara showed any bit of buying Dany's sales pitch & that was more due to her feelings about the woman & the "promised" independence than anything) Dany was only ever able to use her "Faces" to fool others: Breaker of Chains, Mhysa, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi. And things didn't turn out well for those who didn't "bend the knee" aka believe that image asked her questions.

Jon played the Game of Faces (even though he didn't want to) and won in the end. Do I think he was playing it maliciously? No. I think like Arya confirms in 8x04, he did whatever it took to get Dany and her dragons North to fight the NK. And since Sansa could easily see what Dany was and didn't want to play (until that convo in 8x02 but it was quickly dashed by Dany's anger at Sansa's asking about the North), after the NK had been defeated, he did whatever it took to keep Dany placated (and she was family to him) and keep Sansa safe (since Sansa was the only real threat left to her in Winterfell by Dany's own words in 8x04), as well as becoming a prisoner of Dany's because of her knowing who he really is.

It was all a Game of Faces.

I know people didn't care for this scene between Arya and Sansa at casual glance because it felt very OOC and some Sansa fans were upset at Arya for threatening her, but this is exactly why that scene is sandwiched between the Jon/Dany boat scenes, and why these two characters were chosen as the players to speak that dialogue. Sansa and Jon are connected in more ways than one here, never mind in the series. It makes sense that Arya would be the one to (hopefully) teach Sansa and the audience about this game and what it actually would mean for Jon's bending the knee and submitting to Dany. As well as his answer to Cersei's proposal in the next episode. Personally, I think it went over a lot of GA's heads (as we saw from some of their reactions to Dany going dark at all in the next season), but it was there.

And they even made sure to call back to that line Jon says to Sansa in 7x01 (another connection between them btw besides those mentioned above & the Prisoner theme) as an overt reference in and of itself.

This is proof in the pudding that pol!Jon was very much a thing. They just didn't execute it 100% correctly, and they abandoned it in the eleventh hour for whatever reason. But it's all right there.

[whateverthedragonswant]

More proof of pol!Jon and that the show was literally going the Littlefinger route for Dany in season 8

Littlefinger: "It's not easy for a raven to fly in these storms. Perhaps Jon tried to send word earlier." (this is the show hinting at hostage!Jon aka Little Crow/Lord Crow btw)

(looking directly at Littlefinger)

Sansa: "No."

Then:

Sansa: "This is the way he is, this is the way he's always been. This is what he does. He never asked for my opinion, why would he start now?"

We know this is a lie. Not only because we now know that Sansa was baiting Littlefinger to try to figure out what he was plotting but because:

Not to mention that Jon left the North in her hands so he obviously trusts her opinion enough to not only run the North in his absence but to prepare the North for the upcoming battle so Jon can literally step back in and fight should he return (or to lead their people against the NK should he not).

And when Littlefinger then says he can't believe that Jon would surrender the Northern crown without consulting Sansa, we get her response about it being Jon's writing and him pledging to fight for Dany:

(looking right at Littlefinger again)

Then compare this to:

8x01:

Jon: "She's not her father."

Jon lowers his eyes when he says it, though he had been looking at Sansa directly before that line, and then goes back to looking at her after he says it.

8x05:

Jon: "You will always be my queen."

Jon literally looks down as he says this line, when he had been looking directly at Dany before it, and looks back up at her after it.

We've all talked about Cat's line of "You look at your feet when you lie" to Bran and how Jon always showcased this in season 8, but I've never seen such a solid example of it displaying a literal parallel to the Littlefinger reveal build-up in season 7.

The show was going there. Jon was Sansa and Dany was Littlefinger. They were literally building up to that reveal. It's right there.

[whateverthedragonswant]

7x06 - The Knife In the Heart Scene

I know I already mostly discussed this episode pretty in this post, but this just hit me while rewatching that boat scene.

It's really no coincidence that Davos is the one undressing Jon in this scene and "baring" Jon to Dany in the process. And it's not just because Davos is his only man/advisor on the boat. Dany's people could have done that if push came to shove. And sure enough, we see a couple of them step in to help hoist Jon up once Davos is done opening up his armor.

Considering back in 7x03, when Davos spoke on behalf of Jon to Dany, he says "He risked his life for his people. He took a knife in the heart for his people. He gave his own--" We know that Dany clocked that cutoff as did Tyrion because Dany mentions (and is purposely bringing it back to the audience's attention) it to Tyrion and neither of them are sure if Davos was being literal or not. Dany is especially interested because she has now met someone who rivals her in the whole belief factor, which Davos smartly makes sure to mention after her whole big speech about herself.

This whole episode was a setup to the decision Jon would need to make. And sure enough, we see him do it. Not only does he have the obvious framing of the "but" in his dialogue and the deep breath and 'crap' look once Dany leaves the room but also the somewhat subtle shots of the scene before it:

Not only does this confirm for Dany that what Davos said was true, but also why he said it. Which is why we are shown her reaction. Not just because Jon took a knife in the heart and she's concerned for him, but also because he literally took a knife to the heart for his people. And now she knows why his people follow him (which is why I'm willing to bet that she also agreed to fight the NK with him before he bent the knee); taking a knife to the heart is not something she has done for her people, despite all of her magic and making "impossible things happen". Belief/Faith was a tool she used to gain loyal followers and it was also something that contributed to her downfall, her belief in her destiny.

So here is this guy who you're starting to be attracted to, someone you might even be starting to have feelings for (because let's face it, Jon going North of the Wall to get the undead soldier to show Cersei for her is equivalent to Drogo making his speech promising to take on KL for her back in season 1; they even show this type of reaction again in 7x07 at the dragonpit when Jon declares his loyalty to her), a guy who you keep bumping heads with because he wants to be an ally but won't bend the knee or give up his crown to you, and now you see he has literally been stabbed in the heart (and possibly died? you don't know for certain at this point but if he died then somehow he came back, meaning more magic) and he did it for his people. You now know that this man will never bend the knee to you (not knowing that Jon will later on) and the best you can hope for right now is to make him/the North an ally and go to save your people (his people), especially since you now have the undead soldier to show to Cersei to get her to possibly agree to a truce. Because you're never getting around that loyalty his people have to him (unless you try to win their hearts another way, but even if it's impossible, hey you always have dragons aka 8x01 dragons flying overhead scene and the ensuing terror), you're furious and heartbroken because one of your children was killed by the NK and you want revenge, and maybe if this guy sees you agreeing to fight his war with him, maybe he'll change his mind and decide that she's someone he should bend the knee to eventually. Just like Sansa was the "key to the North", so was Jon. For Dany. (another parallel between Jon and Sansa btw)

So they purposely wrote/shot this scene to show the audience that Jon is about to take a knife in the heart for his people, again. (while also showing us what seeing this wound means for Dany and her reactions, now and later) By bending the knee and giving the North to her, he is literally choosing the right thing aka saving people again. This time the North may not be happy but they won't do what the Night's watch group did (especially thanks to Sansa being there to smooth things over as she kept doing in season 7). But the post of King in the North meant a lot to Jon, not because of a crown, but because they literally chose him, a bastard, to be King. They all placed their trust in him, to lead them. Jon has always wanted to be a Stark and this was the next best thing, especially following in Robb's footsteps. But he knows he needs to do whatever it takes to save them from what's coming.

Sure enough, we get Jon bending the knee but also framing it in the obvious way that he doesn't really mean it's because he feels she's right for the job. "I would bend the knee but..." and "They'll see you for what you are."

And of course, we get this framing of Jon's coverage as well:

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." - he isn't just apologizing for Viserion (after all, it wasn't him that sent them on that mission in the first place), he's also apologizing for what he's about to do

He does exactly what he learned from Sansa in 6x04: he grabs Dany's hand to get her to listen and make a connection:

"I wish I could take it back." - he wishes he didn't have to do this

"I wish we had never gone." - this isn't just about the mission, it's also about his trip to Dragonstone in the first place

Dany removes her hand from his and says she doesn't, that if she hadn't gone, she wouldn't have seen. And you have to see to know, and now she knows. (this isn't just about the undead; she now knows Davos' story about Jon is true as well, something she may not have found out had this whole thing not happened; now she knows what she's dealing with)

Then she mentions the dragons and how they're the only children she will ever have. "Do you understand?" Notice how Dany asks him this, there's a bit of restrained anger underneath there and it's in the same tone (though quieter) from when she made that speech to Jon in 7x03. (the anger is there not just because of what the NK did, Viserion's loss, but also something else, which is an odd timing for this to come through, right?) To me, I think she's still asserting herself here as thee ruler and Jon knows it, too.

Sure enough we get Jon's reaction:

He nods and closes his mouth, looking somewhat sad. She still doesn't get it. He knows what he has to do. He doesn't want to but he has to. He's now seen the dragons in action, he almost died himself, he saw Benjen sacrifice himself to save Jon (not a coincidence either btw - reminding him what Beric said this episode of being the shield that guards the realms of men) - he has to do it.

Then he makes eye contact with her again.

And then we get Dany's assertion that they are going to destroy the NK and his army together. She then softens it with "You have my word." At this point, Jon has seen her impulsivity (is that a word?), he knows KL/Cersei is still a priority for her (since she made this promise, why do they still need to go meet with Cersei then? Why not light up the undead soldier and go immediately to Winterfell from this point? Dany at this time didn't think Cersei would march her army up North to help so why... we all know why but so does Jon).

We see Jon swallow and say "Thank you, Dany." (he doesn't really believe her)

And sure enough, we switch from Dany's coverage to this shot:

If this were showing a true romance in the making, or even just a connection between two people or a trust/bond forming, why switch out of the closeups? Especially when the dialogue is indicating it's a connection moment taking place? He called her Dany and here she responded on who last called her that nickname. We don't get to see Jon's reaction at all except from a distance. We do see the camera subtly panning in though, to tell the audience to pay attention, because this moment is important. (she's talking about Viserys, which is interesting considering the dragon named after him just died, but ultimately she becomes most like Viserys compared to Rhaegar in the end, out of the two brothers)

It isn't until she says "Not the kind of company you want to keep" that we then go back to Jon's close up where he says "Alright." He then takes a momentary pause before saying "Not Dany." He's giving the slightest of smiles here and then he takes another pause. And his whole expression shifts:

"How about my queen?" (notice the manacle next to him during this whole scene btw -> this show made choices)

Then the "See You For What You Are" music cue starts playing in the background as we're shown Dany's initial reaction. (she's unsure of just what he's saying)

"I'd, um, bend the knee, but..." Jon is not making eye contact with her at all during this moment. And notice how Dany doesn't react until he clarifies about bending the knee -> Dany didn't care about a throne or crown or being called queen, she only cared about ruling over people and having them submit to her just like a true conqueror/dragon (they're showing us this here in this moment)

Dany is in shock and doesn't know if she can trust it, not because of anything nefarious, but because he had resisted so long and she altered her strategy, not expecting that it would come this easily. Sure enough, "But what about those who swore allegiance to you?"

This time, Jon has no problem making eye contact with her: "They'll come to see you for what you are."

Dany gets a little emotional and then puts her hand back in Jon's. And Jon sees this. (Dany is doing the same thing he did just a few moments ago when he took her hand but for different reasons)

He then tightens/closes his grip. Dany sees this, too. She then says "I hope I deserve it." (a rare honest moment we see with Dany btw)

And we get Jon's expression which clearly shows that he knows she doesn't but says "You do." Dany is happy and dare I say grateful. Then we see her attempt to pull her hand back but Jon holds onto it. Her eyes then slowly lift to look at Jon who is intently fixed on her. She then slowly pulls her hand away. Jon sees this and appears slightly worried and without looking at him, she tells him he should get some rest. Then she looks back at him and he nods, looks at her for a moment more, and then shuts his eyes.

Dany seems unsure what to think and eventually leaves. When we hear her leave, Jon slowly opens his eyes and looks in the direction she went. The camera goes back to the wide shot and pans back out, showing us Jon thinking, then looking up at the ceiling, and taking a deep breath (aka his breath he takes when he's weighed down by something).

Like many people have pointed out already, and that we all already knew, this is Jon's wildling arc all over again. He betrayed the North (aka the Night's watch) to save the Northern people (the wildlings) from the NK. He was branded a traitor in both scenarios but this time he had Sansa who not only held his forces for him for the upcoming battle and acted as regent, but who made sure to keep him in a good light even when some of the North questioned him and his motives.

But bending the knee, giving away not only what he was entrusted with but also what he held near and dear to his heart (the North trusting him and making him their leader), in order to save them from the NK, he took a knife in the heart again. And that is why the show made sure to not only let us see Dany's reaction to the wound being bared, but also to keep it in the audience's eyesight while this submission (because that's exactly what it is, submission) scene took place.

Jon did what he had to do to save the North. It was never about love for Dany for him or feelings. It was never about because he thought she would make a good queen or that she deserved it due to her birthright. He didn't believe in her like Missandei, Grey Worm, and all the rest did. He did what he had to do to ensure they would survive winter. That's all.

This show may have screwed up in the end but they were absolutely brilliant at times with every little underhanded piece they threw in there to tell the audience the story. Unfortunately, GA doesn't tend to look that deeply. So naturally, they thought this was a burgeoning romance for the ages. When it was nothing even close to a romance being hinted at.

[whateverthedragonswant]

More proof that Jon was placating Dany

I feel like every time I rewatch these scenes, I find something new:

When Dany asks if it's alright, when she confesses she loves Jon, he does kiss her but notice how he moves her away from the bed, back towards the direction of the door, that he only tries to unbutton her dress once she tries to take off his belt, but more importantly, he moves her past the fireplace aka open flames. This is literally a physical embodiment to show you that he is trying to temper her impulses.

Which is used again in the next episode when Dany says that Sansa now knows what happens to people who hear the truth about Jon:

"They will see you for what you are."

Jon always knew what she was. He felt guilt because they were family (and he cared about her as such), because he tried to be honorable as much as he could like Ned. But he always knew.