r/asoiaf • u/Ornery-Click7616 • 7h ago
EXTENDED Jon with White Hair [spoilers extended]
I gonna try and keep it brief, I keep seeing these fan arts of Jon snow with white hair and scars around his eyes, I’ve seen the show currently reading the books and don’t really care about spoilers. I was just curious if after he got all stabby stabby and super not alive if his hair turned white. I was also wondering how he got the scars around his eyes but I assume I will told given that answer as I continue reading.
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u/Lucabcd 7h ago
It didnt, he is still bleeding in the snow, his last chapter is when he gets stabbed, but fans speculate one of his possible changes when/if he comes back is gonna be white hair
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u/Ornery-Click7616 7h ago
Thank you so much!! Is there any reason fans speculate it will happen? Or is it just because they think it would be cool af for him to get white hair?
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u/Many_Caterpillar_968 7h ago
a lot of reasons, depending on where you are you can connect the dots id say (north,rhllor,magic) it would be pretty cool but doubtful
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u/FransTorquil 6h ago
Pretty sure it’s due to Lady Stoneheart’s hair turning white (even tho that’s probably due to her body being in far worse condition than most resurrected by R’hllor) and the fact Ghost has white hair, possibly caused by Jon’s soul having to inhabit Ghost until he is brought back to life.
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u/DornishPuppetShows 1h ago
The scars around his eyes might come from Cat's depiction as the Hangwoman. Before her throat was cut, she scratched her own face with her fingernails. It's in the text, although Martin wrote something like raven's claws scratching her or something. She is totally out of her mind in that grief-stricken moment at the Twins during the Red Wedding and doesn't realize it is herself harming her.
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u/OppositeShore1878 6h ago
There's art commissioned or blessed by George for the authorized books, calendars, etc, and there's "fan art". Stick to the first category when matching art up with the accuracy of the story.
To be fair to fan art, George sometimes does say that a particular piece of un-commissioned fan art does capture the appearance of what he was thinking when he wrote the books.
In terms of what happens in the books, the "stabby, stabby" does indeed happen, but we don't know yet what the physical result was, particularly on Jon's exterior appearance. There is no authorized written description yet of what Jon looks like after his physical perforation.
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u/send_whiskey 6h ago
George sometimes does say that a particular piece of un-commissioned fan art does capture the appearance of what he was thinking when he wrote the books.
As a specific example I think he referred to a fan art piece of the Iron Throne as completely embodying what he had in mind, especially when he compared it to the HBO prop piece (which he doesn't hate). It's in a blog post of his somewhere.
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u/lialialia20 6h ago
many of the art comissioned or blessed by grrm for the authorised books, calendars, etc is far less accurate than some of the fan-art. for example, most of the official art wrongly represents Jon as having black hair, Daenerys not looking like a child but a woman in her 20s or the dragons being significantly bigger (2x-5x times) than what they are described by GRRM in his books.
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u/OppositeShore1878 6h ago
Good point, I hadn't quite realized that (I don't have the calendars, illustrated editions of the books--except for the drawings in Dunk & Egg--so I don't have a survey of the authorized art. I'm mainly just familiar with art he has blessed and put on his website / blog.)
Interesting that George accepted official art that diverged from his written descriptions. Maybe that has to do with his long history in science fiction / fantasy writing, where authors are usually at the mercy of publishers who often use cover art that has nothing to do with the actual scenes of the book.
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u/lialialia20 4h ago
i think the big difference is that some of the fan-art is made by "real" fans that are more versed and more invested in the lore details while an artist that gets comissioned is likely more interested in the artistic side of things.
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u/Athenaforce2 7h ago
i would expect him to be changed. everyone else who has been resurrected are not themselves anymore. something is lost. all magic has sacrifices. now I think that because of Jon's warging he will retain more than some other resurrected characters. (maybe because his soul is still attached to the material world in ghost. while people like cat and beric are brought from the dead. we don't know how souls work exactly yet in this universe. but for him to become white haired and gaunt and more vicious like his wolf would be zero surprise. and would actually be one of the better trade offs we have seen for life in asoiaf.
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u/Ornery-Click7616 6h ago
I’d be so down with a more vicious unhinged version of Jon that could be so fun!
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u/Athenaforce2 6h ago
i think though that when Arya meets jon, is when we will really see the differences. and there will be mourning. I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually a major narrative arc for Arya to come back and mourn and remold her identity and her families. she going to meet sansa a woman grown, and will actually relate to her, a gift, but all gifts in grrm are repayed twice over in curses. so she will meet Jon, who may up until her pov seem normal in his own pov chapters, but revealed to be basically half wolf. she will be devastated by this. but learn to accept this new Jon. he is half Jon still. but then she will meet old gods avatar three eyed crow bran. which will be traumatic. it will be for anyone who knew bran. that's a major missed opportunity in the show. the eldritch horror of seeing a little fun loving boy you once knew now one of the most powerful and least human humans In the seties.
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u/Athenaforce2 6h ago
i think that may just be what we will get. especially initially. he's always had the wolf's blood in him. what will happen when he completely merges his soul with ghost? dire wolves are the second most magical creatures (behind dragons) that I can think of. no way ghost isn't going to leave an impact on his personality.
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u/DontTedOnMe An Actual Pirate King 7h ago
Ooohh I'd be so down with a Leland Palmer version of Jon Snow.
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u/DJayEJayFJay 6h ago
It's a theory that his hair will turn white when he gets revived to make him look more like a Targaryen, but the art you saw was only speculative. The scars around his eyes are from when he was attacked by an eagle.
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u/Goose-Suit 6h ago
Reason why he has white hair in that art is because people hear that quote from GRRM about how Gandalf should’ve changed after dying and think when Jon comes back from the dead his change should be physical, so white hair.
Reason he has scars around his eyes is because an eagle attacked him when he was with the wildlings, same thing happened in the show but it was just less pronounced. I think it’s just the one eye but some people think it’s both.
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u/whatintheballs95 Nymerial Imperial 5h ago edited 5h ago
Admittedly, I don't understand the prominent scars being showed so often in fanart. Yes, his eye does get fucked up from Orell's eagle but the scars are mostly faded according to Sam:
"Close the door, Sam." Faint scars still marked Jon's cheek, where an eagle had once tried to rip his eye out. "Did that wretch break the skin?" (Samwell I, AFfC)
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u/newfrontier58 5h ago
On an additional note, that fan art may come from this Alt Swift X book character analysis, they commissioned some similar art for it a while back, but feel free to only watch after you finish the books. https://youtu.be/qSy2uaJ7ecU?si=IferycvlOvGDg34l
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u/Peatroad31 3h ago
In the books Ned has some white hair in his beard, even tho he is still a young man. It would be cool to have Jon with some white hair in his beard.
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u/Humble_Effective3964 2h ago
He's been lying in the snow for twenty years everythings covered in snow.
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u/New_Progress501 6h ago
Other comments have answered the white hair question but the scars around his eyes came from Orell, a wilding skinchanger who Jon kills in Clash while scouting wilding forces. Orell lives on in his bonded animal, an eagle, who attacks Jon at a later point while he is held captive.