Who Is Jon Snow's Father on Game of Thrones? Allow Us to Explain.

Jon Snow isn't the bastard everyone thought he was.

'Game of Thrones'

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones seasons 6 and 7.

Get ready for ice zombies and dragons—and ice zombie dragons, come to think of it—because Game of Thrones' eighth and final season is almost here. The HBO fantasy series adapted from George R.R. Martin's books will be back April 14, with six epic episodes to lay out everything we're still puzzling about. Which is a lot. One of the questions that has loomed largest is: Who is Jon Snow's father?

Jon Snow has spent his life as a perceived bastard, brought up by Ned Stark. Now, he's hooked up with Daenerys Targaryen (in more ways than one), and seems to have a real shot at sitting on the Iron Throne when all this is through. So it's worth knowing the lineage of this noble, resurrected fighter.

Game of Thrones kept viewers in the dark for quite a while, allowing fans to circulate many theories about Jon Snow's parents. The most of popular is a theory known as "R+L=J," which translates to:

Rhaegar Targaryen + Lyanna Stark = Jon Snow

Then, in season six, Bran Stark's vision finally gave us some clarity. Through Bran, we saw a scene depicting Jon's birth by Lyanna Stark, the late sister of Ned Stark (RIP Ned).

But Jon's father was still a bit of a question mark, but then an infographic from HBO basically revealed the big secret. The family tree shows Snow's connections to both Lyanna and a guy named Rhaegar Targaryen—Daenerys' deceased eldest brother. So yes, when Jon had sex with Daenerys in season seven, he was technically doing it with his aunt. Thanks for pointing that out, Bran.

So who is Rhaegar Targaryen, Jon Snow's father?

Rhaegar Targaryen's name hasn't come up a whole lot in the show, but here are the essential things to know about him.

Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was the eldest son of Aerys II Targaryen, a.k.a. the Mad King. Long before the action of Game of Thrones began, Rhaegar Targaryen was believed to have kidnapped Lyanna Stark, who was set to marry Robert Baratheon. This alleged kidnapping was a contributing factor in the civil war known as Robert's Rebellion, when a bunch of important houses rebelled against the Mad King's rule.

But as we learned in the finale of season seven—again, through one of Bran's flashbacks—Rhaegar and Lyanna were actually in love, and ran away together to get married. Rhaegar ended up dying in Robert's Rebellion—killed by Robert Baratheon himself—leaving Lyanna to carry their child, Jon Snow.

So Snow's been hiding in plain sight with a secret claim to the Throne. Now it's time to see what he actually does with it.

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