The Atlantic

Would You Believe Jon Snow?

In its current season, <em>Game of Thrones</em> is exploring the life of another kind of monster: the alternative fact.
Source: HBO

This post references plot points through Season 7, Episode 5 of Game of Thrones.

“Perhaps we ought to listen to what he has to say.”

Sam Tarly is trying his best to convince the maesters of the Citadel that Jon Snow has not completely lost his mind. Sam is not having an easy time of it. Which is not entirely surprising: The truth Jon is telling, after all, involves murderous zombies rising from the north’s icy wastelands to attack the warm humans of the south and win them over for the army of the dead. Oh, and the zombie-horde includes some giants. Oh, and the whole undead army is operating under the leadership of an ice-king with superhuman strength who seems to be both exceptionally militarily strategic and also in possession of a lifetime supply of EyeCandys color contacts in Fancy Blue.

Jon—while the audience of knows this for sure, the denizens of Westeros do not—has not lost his

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min readAmerican Government
What Nikki Haley Is Trying to Prove
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Nikki Haley faces terrible odds in her home state of
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Most Consequential Recent First Lady
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The most consequential first lady of modern times was Melania Trump. I know, I know. We are supposed to believe it was Hillary Clinton, with her unbaked cookies
The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult

Related Books & Audiobooks