(Spoiler Alert: Do not keep reading if you have not seen the Season 6 premiere of “Game of Thrones”)
“Game of Thrones” fans still refuse to accept that Jon Snow (Kit Harington) actually died in the Season 5 finale, even though he remained dead in the Season 6 premiere on Sunday.
But in author George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” fantasy universe, in which the dead can rise from the grave — and have many times — there is no guarantee Snow is dead for good.
Book readers knew of Snow’s demise all the way back in 2011 with the release of “Dance of Dragons,” so there are plenty of theories as to how he could come back. Here are a few of the top contenders:
1. Snow used the warg ability to transfer his mind to his direwolf, Ghost
While only Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) has demonstrated an ability to enter the mind of others as a warg, all of the Stark children have shown an innate ability to control their respective direwolves. A traumatic event like getting stabbed to death by your own men just may have shaken Jon’s warg power loose, allowing him to live on in the body of his most trusted companion, the albino direwolf Ghost.
2. Snow will be resurrected, Part 1
Lady Melisandre (Carice van Houten) fled from Stannis Baratheon’s (Stephen Dillane) camp before his defeat at the hands of the Boltons and made her way back to Castle Black. She has demonstrated incredible magical powers already, and Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye), another follower of the Lord of Light, resurrected his friend Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) in Season 3. Will the Red Woman seek to redeem her failure with Stannis by bringing Jon Snow back to the light?
3. Snow will be resurrected, Part 2
Another popular theory is that Snow is the offspring of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. If that were true, he would have “the blood of the dragon” like Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). The men of the Night’s Watch would no doubt burn Snow’s body after killing him to prevent him from becoming a wight. If Snow is indeed a Targaryen, however, the fire could give him a magical rebirth similar to Daenerys when she burned in her dead husband’s raging funeral pyre and hatched her dragons in Season 1.
4. Snow will become a White Walker
In episode eight Season 5, Jon has a long stare-down with the Night’s King (Richard Brake), the leader of the White Walkers. Many believe this was meant to imply a connection between the two. And as the Night’s King was able to bring tens of thousands of wildlings back to life with a wave of his hand, it seems an easy task to resurrect the Bastard of Winterfell.