Warning: This article contains spoilers and speculation for Game of Thrones’ seventh season, including production spoilers.
From what we’ve seen in Game of Thrones’ seventh season through trailers and promotional photos, Jon Snow is going to be very busy. He’ll be in Winterfell, he’s seen without fur somewhere south, and he appears to be in the far north in a fight against White Walkers and wights, but the King in the North will also have a least a couple of diplomatic meetings along the way.
Speaking with Uproxx, Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton sounded off on the new looks of the major players ahead of season 7. This season will feature some characters embracing their heritage and many wearing their feelings on their sleeves. Daenerys, for instance, is channeling her brother Viserys and finally donning the Targaryen red and black. And although Cersei Lannister’s costumes as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms call back to last season’s fan-favorite look, she’s still very much a ruler mourning the deaths of her three children. For Jon, the new King in the North, his new costume hearkens back to Ned Stark—the man he believes is his father but is really his uncle—but is also one that is tremendously practical.
The key factor of Jon’s outfit isn’t what he has underneath his furs but rather the cape itself. And Clapton explained that whether Jon dons it is a key component in his interactions with other characters.
“We had a lot of discussions about does the cape give him presence or is it better to not have that presence? What are we trying to say?” Clapton says. “There are times when we removed it because we wanted him to be more vulnerable. Especially I think, when he saw Dany, and he went to see her for the first time in her chamber. We decided to remove it, but then when he went to see Cersei, we put it on.”
Clapton has essentially confirmed what fans already suspected (and set reports from last year showed): Jon and Daenerys—the last two Targaryens in Westeros known to viewers—will meet at last. But she also revealed another meeting that will occur in season 7 between Jon and Cersei.
Jon and Daenerys meeting makes a lot of sense. They have a natural common enemy in Cersei. After all, the Lannisters are responsible for the deaths of both their fathers (Ned on Joffrey’s orders, Aerys by Jaime’s hand) and they had a hand in planning Robb and Catelyn Stark’s demise at the Red Wedding. Dragonstone, Daenerys’ new home, is home to Dragonglass (according to Stannis Baratheon), and she could offer it to him, whether in return for his loyalty or to give him aid while she tries to capture the Iron Throne.
It also makes sense that Jon would seek out Cersei. Despite the bad blood between the Starks and Lannisters, Jon sees the importance of uniting everyone together for the real war for Westeros. Jon could also make a personal plea for King’s Landing to provide aid for the Night’s Watch, the first line of defense against the White Walkers and wights.
As for when he dons his cape, it also reveals a window into Jon’s mind. If Jon knows about his true parentage, he might risk being vulnerable for the only family member on his true father’s side he has left—his aunt. He would likely be even more distrustful of Cersei. Cersei’s book counterpart saw Jon as a threat as Lord Commander, but how she might react to a King in the North will probably be highly unpredictable.
“For centuries our families fought together against their common enemy,” Jon said in the most recent Game of Thrones trailer. “Despite their differences, together. We need to do the same if we’re going to survive. Because the enemy is real. It’s always been real.”
Jon’s speech from the trailer is a call to fight together against the darkness. Some fans assumed that he was talking to Daenerys during it, but what if he was instead trying to recruit Cersei?
H/T Vanity Fair