New Game of Thrones Information Adds Fuel to the “Jon Snow Lives” Conspiracy 

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It’s only been a little over a week since the

finale but the speculation over the fate of main character Jon Snow is going strong. Is he really gone for good as the show’s creators and stars insist? Or can we still hold out hope that, even on a bloodthirsty show like

, there is some possibility for Kit Harington’s return? Well, new information, including exciting Season 6 casting info and a big change for the upcoming Comic-Con panel, should be enough to keep hope alive for Jon Snow truthers out there.

The Comic-Con Panel: Just today HBO announced who would appear on the July 10

panel at Comic-Con. There’s a pretty decent lineup of actors in attendance: Alfie Allen (Theon/Reek ), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Conleth Hill (Varys), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Carice van Houten (Melissandre), and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark). Noticeably absent from the actor roster, however, is Kit Harington. There’s a tradition of the actors behind freshly dead characters still making an appearance on the panel; Rose Leslie and Pedro Pascal attended the 2014 Comic-Con panel after their characters died, and Jason Momoa memorably stormed the stage in 2013 long after his character Khal Drogo kicked the bucket.

But Harington’s absence is less notable than some of the behind-the-scenes talent missing from the roster. Author George R.R. Martin announced a few months ago he would be skipping the panel in order to concentrate on writing (finishing?) the sixth book in the series,

started coming to Comic-Con, series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff won’t be attending. That means

will be on hand to answer audience questions about Jon Snow. Executive producer Carolyn Strauss and director David Nutter (who helmed the finale) will be standing in for Martin, Weiss, and Benioff with

super fan (and book reader!) Seth Meyers moderating. The absence of Weiss and Benioff could have everything to do with timing—Season 6 filming will begin in late July—but it’s also rather fishy given that Comic-Con is usually where

makes its annual casting announcements. Could their absence be a way of dodging questions and keeping the mystery of Jon Snow’s fate alive a little while longer?

The Final Beautiful Death Poster: Fans of the series likely already know about the

“Beautiful Death” artwork commissioned by HBO from digital marketing agency 360i and artist Robert Ball. Ball has created a stunning visual tableau for each episode of the series and you can see them all collected here. The official Web site describes the “Beautiful Death” posters as, “The official episode-by-episode guide to the most iconic deaths in the realm.” So why, then, is Stannis Baratheon’s death the one featured in the Season 5 finale poster? Shouldn’t the honor of “most iconic death” belong to Lord Snow? Very curious.

Word Choice: You can, if you want to, pore over every single sentence Harington, Weiss, Benioff, Martin, etc., have said on the subject of the death of Jon Snow. Harington says he’s not coming back

is dead, but what if he goes by another name when he returns? Etcetera and on and on. It

worth noting, however, that the language Weiss used to describe Jon Snow, “Dead is dead,” is a very familiar phrase to book readers. “Dead is dead” appears on the very first page of the very first book of

in reference to, you guessed it, some wildlings who then come back to life. It could be Weiss messing with our heads, or it could be a very clever hint.

’s post-finale interview with Kit Harington, they note that the actor cut his hair “shortly after this interview was conducted.” Harington famously has a clause in his HBO contract that he isn’t allowed to chop his luscious Jon Snow locks. However, it’s likely that Harington interview was conducted several months back, and the cut in question was a trim that enabled the actor to shove his curls under a period-appropriate wig for Sony Pictures Classics’

. Fans will be relieved to know that as of just this weekend, the Harington hair is still long and flowing.

Season 6 Casting Info: A lot of additional Season 6 casting news has come to light since the finale. As the series diverges further and further from the books, we’re seeing more calls for characters that book readers don’t recognize. But some educated guesses are easy enough. For example, two non-white actors who have to speak a fictional language? I think we can safely assume those characters belong to the Dothraki horde Daenerys meets. But the most interesting casting call is for an unnamed “Legendary Fighter.” He is described as:

“A man in his thirties or forties who is a great swordsman and a paragon of knighthood. He carries a hugely famous sword on his back. The show is seeking a very impressive swordsman for the role—the best in Europe, for a week of filming fight scenes for a season 6 role. His ethnicity/race isn’t specified, unlike many other roles.”

Most book readers have concluded this is a call for a character named Arthur Dayne, referred to in the books as “Sword of the Morning” because of his famous ancestral blade. Dayne was the best friend of Dany’s brother Rhaegar Targaryen and carried a sword named Dawn slung across his back. Dayne is long dead when the action of the TV series

begins so he would only show up in flashbacks. And if you don’t want to know why a flashback starring Arthur Dayne is good news for Jon Snow truthers, then you might want to stop reading here.

The only good reason to show Arthur Dayne in flashback at this point is if

was going to do the evocative Tower of Joy plot from the books. In the first book, Ned Stark flashes back to the Tower of Joy while under the influence of Milk of the Poppy. In his dream, Ned’s friends accompany him to the Tower at the end of Robert Baratheon’s rebellion. These seven men—Ned, Howland Reed, Lord Willam Dustin, Ethan Glover, Martyn Cassel, Theo Wull, and Mark Ryswell—square off against three members of the Kingsguard named Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne, and Oswell Whent.

Dayne et. al. are protecting Ned’s sister Lyanna who is staying in the Tower after having been “abducted” by Rhaegar. You’ll remember that Littlefinger and Sansa discussed the story of Lyanna and Rhaegar in the crypts of Winterfell last season. Rhaegar is dead by the time Ned reaches the Tower of Joy, so many book readers assume that the presence of the Kingsguard there means that someone royal (a.k.a. Rhaegar’s child) is in that tower with Lyanna. At the end of the battle only Howland Reed (father to Bran’s friends Jojen and Meera) and Ned survive. Ned rushes into the tower too late to save Lyanna, but makes her an unspecified promise as she dies. Most book readers believe that promise is to guard the identity of Lyanna and Rhaegar’s child a.k.a. Jon Snow. Ned pulled down the Tower to mark the graves of the men who fought there and returned Arthur Dayne’s sword Dawn to his family.

So, in short, most believe that the story of the Tower of Joy is the story of Jon Snow’s birth. And why would the show bother, at this point, to show the legendary birth of a character they plan to keep dead? The only reason to tell the story of the Tower of Joy—be it via the lone survivor Howland Reed or a vision from Bran—is to establish Jon Snow’s bonafides as a secret Targaryen who is worthy of resurrection. Jon Snow’s parentage has been a long-running mystery in

fandom and seems as important to the show as it is to the books. Weiss and Benioff claim they landed the rights to adapt Martin’s books

they successfully answered his question, “Who is Jon Snow’s mother?” So why would Snow’s parentage be important? Why cast Dayne and film the Tower of Joy if not to bring him back from the dead? We’ll know for certain next year, but for now it’s looking awfully like a return for the erstwhile Lord Commander.

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