Game Of Thrones’ Ending For Jon Snow May Echo The Lord Of The Rings

With the quest for the Iron Throne coming to an end next Sunday, the theories predicting the conclusion of Game of Thrones are rolling in. Vegas and offices everywhere are placing bets on who will become the one king to rule them all and posting break room death pools for the characters. Even horror master Stephen King has made his predictions.

One theory that’s been around since a 2015 interview George R.R. Martin had with the Observer though is making its rounds again, thanks to last Sunday’s outing. As Frodo and Samwise parted ways at the ending of The Lord of the Rings, so did Jon and Sam in the most recent episode, and if the rest of GoT plays out like J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, there could be more parallels to come.

In the interview, Martin said the following about LOTR:

“I mean, it’s no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended Lord of the Rings. It ends with victory, but it’s a bittersweet victory.”

Jon Snow bid a sad farewell to both Samwell Tarly and his faithful direwolf Ghost (we’re still salty about that) in “The Last of the Starks,” and Sam revealed he and Gilly were expecting. They planned to name the baby Jon if it was a boy, which echoed LOTR when Sam and his tiny, hairy-footed wife announce to Frodo they’re going to name their baby after him. That was, if they had a boy. They ended up having a girl though.

Could Martin’s love of Rings and the already-obvious similarities between the two fantasies give us a hint about Jon’s fate, though? Maybe, and Vanity Fair takes it even further, outlining the similarities between both. For one, Bran and Aragon are both reluctant heirs to the throne, with Aragon eventually taking his rightful place. Dany and Gollum, meanwhile, are obsessed with their “precious,” to the point they were/might be driven bad. Their obsession, of course, being the One Ring and Iron Throne, both things they would kill and die for.

Tell us, though, do you think Jon will pull a Frodo on Game of Thrones? Will he give up his power and sail off into the sunset? We’ll find out soon enough.