A popular Jon Snow fan theory may be in play for Season 6

Warning: This article contain MAJOR SPOILERS for both the show and the books, as well as wild speculation.

Please continue with care.

It’s one of the most talked-about moments from the Song of Ice and Fire books—at the end of A Dance with Dragons, Jon Snow is stabbed by several of his fellow Night’s Watchmen. It’s unclear whether he survived, an ambiguity George R.R. Martin encouraged after Entertainment Weekly asked him why he killed the young Lord Commander. Martin’s answer: “Oh, you think he’s dead, do you?”

There are a lot of theories out there regarding Jon Snow’s fate, one of which posits that his last words hold the key to his ultimate survival. From A Dance with Dragons:

Then Bowen Marsh stood there before him, tears running down his cheeks. “For the Watch.” He punched Jon in the belly. When he pulled his hand away, the dagger stayed where he had buried it.

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold.

Jon Snow is known to be a skinchanger, meaning that he can warg, or possess, animals, although he doesn’t have complete control over the ability the way certain wildling skinchangers do. Still, a popular theory holds that Jon Snow warged into Ghost just before his own, fleshy human body suffered death by stabbing. This would allow Jon to live on inside his direwolf.

Season 5 of Game of Thrones has departed from the books in several ways, but it’s still expected that the year will end with Jon Snow’s murder. Will Ghost play a role? An interview with Andrew Simpson, the man who trains the wolfs used on Game of Thrones, may provide a clue.

First, Simpson talked a little about Quigly, the wolf who stands in for Ghost on the show. “Quigly is a big old Arctic wolf. He’s a very sweet wolf, but you’ll see in one of the upcoming episodes that he has a darker side to him.” A darker side to Ghost? Interesting.

Simpson also teased a big moment for Quigly coming in Episode 7 of Season 5, which will feature Jon Snow traveling to Hardhome so he can rescue the wildlings who have fled there. There’s no word on what exactly that big moment will entail, but it’s safe to assume that it won’t involve the Night’s Watch mutiny, as that can’t happen until Jon Snow returns to Castle Black.

But that’s not the clue we’re looking for. The end of the article is where we get our first casting information for Season 6, as Simpson talked about what’s in store for Quigly going forward.

They just started shooting season six now and we have been talking about it — so, the next couple of seasons, I’m hoping.

While this is far from conclusive, Simpson’s interview gives us hope that Ghost will appear in Season 6. And if Ghost comes back, that implies that Jon will still be around in some form, since the Stark family direwolves don’t tend to outlive their masters. Or things could go in a completely different direction. Only time (just over four week’s time, to be specific) will tell.

• Published on 05/20/2015 at 3:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:04 PM CDT