Jon Snow – the symbol of the man, the role model. The hero Jon, who wanted to do the right thing and faced the most difficult decisions. The eternally wronged Jon, for whom we had to suffer no matter what happened to him. The lower nobody Jon who betrayed everyone in his life. The ever continuing Jon who never changed his role at any point. Jon who was the front line of the most challenging battle between greatness and nothingness.

Jon Snow is the most archetypal main character. This image is present in every popular plot. But in Game of Thrones specifically, it is pushed to the extreme because of the length and influence of the series, and because of the many specific choices that Jon faces. That’s why the messages that are conveyed through him resonate very strongly in every person’s mind.

The hero Jon has become precisely a symbol of the human being. His purpose is for the reader/viewer to identify with him. He does not have any overly distinctive qualities that would somehow differentiate him from the common idea of man. At the same time, the qualities attributed to him – goodness, honesty, responsibility, courage – are those that are most highly valued.

Jon was a plummeting nothing, dissolving along the levels of the plot. He wandered through empty corridors, unable to make any independent decision. He was forever playing the victim and never daring to take his life into his own hands. He was boring and predictable by nature. He was a slave to the circumstances and always did what external factors demanded of him. He had an obsession to kneel – before Stannis, before Daenerys, before Bran, trampling on his own dignity. He pretended to have values, but set out to implement none of them. He had no opinion on anything and hid behind words like “right” and “moral.” He didn’t love anyone – neither Deneris, nor Ygritte, nor Ned, etc.

In the short version, he betrayed his family by going to the Night’s Watch. Then he betrayed the Night’s Watch by wanting to return to Winterfell. He betrayed his brothers again by joining the savages in more than just a pretense. He betrayed the savages and Mance by returning to the Wall. He betrayed his vow with Ygritte and betrayed Ygritte with his vow. He betrayed the Night’s Watch by helping Stannis. He betrayed Sansa by not wanting to help her, and then betrayed the Night’s Watch once again by deciding to fight Ramsay. By recognizing Daenerys as Queen, he betrayed the North, as well as every single person in the kingdom, with special mention to Ned, Robb, Catelyn, Sansa, Arya, and even Cersei. Obviously only Daenerys was left at the end, so he betrayed her along with all her allies.

Jon is neither faithful nor brave, nor worthy. He made no choices with backbone, but allowed himself to be pressured by circumstances and public opinion. And the only positive quality he has is that he is Jon – the one everyone instinctively likes and supports.

Whatever ending they chose for Jon would have been banal and horrible – marrying Daenerys, becoming king himself, dying heroically, etc. But they chose the only one that makes the living stand silent in horror. The creators of the show were aware that they could not afford either happy or tragic ending, because there would be some action or emotion in both. That’s why it was nothing. Jon was doomed to be a nobody forever, to do nothing and just stand alone with no development. In a murdered reality where all the superhumans had fallen, Jon was the only human left. And only he would have the chance to bring some change, but all doors were barred to him. And before he could bear his fate, of course, he had to kneel before the all-encompassing Nothing, Bran. It was a symbolic scene in which the Human bowed before his greatest Enemy and ceded the world to him.

But Jon is the human, and that drives a stake through the heart of all humanity. So he deserved better and at least a chance to rise. If he was the one to find the overman in himself, then the world would go on a very different path. Of course, his creators wouldn’t allow that.

In the end, everyone is faced with an option – accept the way Game of Thrones portrayed Jon or object to the lies, standing up for their own dignity as a human being. Jon would take any step of that downfall, but even then he is one of us. And that is why I say no, I don’t accept it, and I say that Jon must be respected and protected from the enemies of humanity.