Jonerys

Jonerys is the het/family ship between Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen from the Game of Thrones fandom.

Canon
Jon and Daenerys were lovers and allies that came together out of mutual interest, Daenerys’ desire to claim the Iron Throne, and Jon’s desire to defeat the Night King and the army of the dead. Initially, the two had a difficult time seeing eye-to-eye, but slowly they were won over by a sense of mutual respect and a bit of mediating by Tyrion Lannister. Soon, they fell in love and became lovers. Unbeknown to them initially, they are of the same blood and are aunt and nephew.

The two found difficulty in creating an alliance. They both held impasses with one another, in particular, Jon being the King in the North which threatened Daenerys’ power, and his refusal to swear fealty to her which Daenerys considered to be an act of open rebellion against her. Jon, himself, questioned Daenerys’ legitimacy to the throne since her father was successfully overthrown. Daenerys found Jon’s claims of an army of the dead difficult to believe and only indulged him due to Tyrion’s insistence that Jon is a rational and honest person. Furthermore, the past crimes of Daenerys’ father, the Mad King, also created a rift between the two, as Jon made clear he had no obligation as a member of House Stark towards House Targaryen because of what her father did to his uncle and grandfather. Something that Daenerys sincerely apologized for and Jon agreed for which she was not responsible.

Due to their failure to create an alliance, Jon was made a political prisoner of Daenerys until he “bends the knee” to her but is allowed free rein on the island. Jon finds himself irritated about his predicament and vented to Tyrion over the matter but notes that the the army of the dead would be a difficult thing to believe. Eventually, the two began to bond over the loss of their family members, having both lost their brothers. Tyrion plays a role in bringing the two together when he convinces Daenerys to allow Jon to mine the dragon glass underneath the island as it is deadly to wights. Jon and Daenerys's relationship develops further when he brings her into a cave to look at the dragonglass on her island before he mines it. Daenerys is in awe at the site. As Jon tells her the story of the Children of the Forest when he finds markings in the cave that holds the dragon glass. Daenerys seems to be moved by this tale but still wishes for Jon to bend the knee, asking if his pride is more important than his people’s lives. By this point, it appears that Daenerys had gained a degree of trust in Jon, as after receiving disappointing reports regarding Casterly Rock and Highgarden, she asks for his advice. Jon's advisor, Davos Seaworth, notes Jon's attraction to Daenerys.

Their relationship continued to develop when Jon successfully petted Drogon, one of Daenerys’s dragons, something that was unthinkable to her as the dragons are hostile to anyone else, especially unfamiliar people. She reveals to Jon how much she cherishes her dragons, seeing them as her children. Daenerys and Jon briefly discuss leadership and a desire to help others. When Jon learns that his siblings, Arya and Bran, are alive, Daenerys tells Jon she is happy for him but Jon is unsettled by the news the Night King is advancing on the Wall. When Jon asks for her help again, Daenerys fears that if she goes North, Cersei will attack her territories. Tyrion proposes bringing proof to Cersei in the form of a wight and Jon offers to lead a group to capture one. Daenerys is concerned by this idea, as she does not want him to go, and stated that she has not given him the right to leave yet, but his insistence causes her to relent. She sees him off and admits to him that she has grown used to his presence. In a conversation with Tyrion, she vents to him about her frustration that Jon is playing the hero. Tyrion tells Daenerys that Jon has fallen for her, but Daenerys questions this idea and even if he had, he is “too little” for her.

When Jon and his party are trapped by wights, Daenerys's fondness for Jon is a motivating factor in her decision to ride her dragons beyond the Wall in order to aid them after receiving their call for help. This in spite of Tyrion’s objections. When Jon fights off wights in order to give the rest of the party enough time to board Drogon but Daenerys's dragon Viserion is killed, Jon shouts at Daenerys to escape. Daenerys is reluctant to flee without him, but Jon insists as the Night King readies another spear. Jon continues to fight off the wights and Daenerys flew away without him, visibly upset. On the wall, Daenerys waited with hope that he had survived and would return. Eventually he does so and she is relieved. She sees the scars on Jon's chest, possibly recalling the words of Jon’s hand, Ser Davos, that Jon had taken a dagger to the heart in order to unite his people, increasing her admiration for him. Daenerys sits by Jon's bedside and when Jon wakes up, he gently apologizes to her for her loss as he understood Daenerys’ deep love for her dragons, and regretted his decision to capture a wight, knowing what it cost her. It is here that the two agree to an alliance as Daenerys, noting that she has now seen the threat for herself and she had to see it to know, vows to defeat the Night King and his army by Jon’s side. Moved, Jon's admiration and respect for Daenerys for what she has done grows and he swears fealty to her, happily calling her “my queen”. Daenerys is moved herself. Jon takes Daenerys's hand and Daenerys clasps his hand back, gazing in each other’s eyes for a moment. It is here where they both seem to fall in love.

From then on, both Jon and Daenerys shared a fond relationship of mutual respect and admiration. They talked about sensitive subjects, such as Daenerys' alleged infertility, and playfully banter about the difficult situation they find themselves in. They agree to arrive in the North together. Later on, now that the two were in love, Jon visited Daenerys' cabin whilst they sailed towards the North and, without a word, she allows him to enter and they passionately make love to each other. From then on they became lovers. Their relationship started off strong and Daenerys invited Jon to ride her dragon, Rhaegal, over Winterfell and its surrounding area. When they land in a place Jon takes them, revealed behind-the-scenes to be somewhere Jon would go as a child, they passionately kiss. It would be the revelation that Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys's late older brother, and Lyanna Stark, sister to Ned Stark, that causes difficulty in their relationship.

Daenerys's love for Jon was unconditional and absolute. Despite struggling to win acceptance with his sisters (his biological cousins in truth) and his best friend, Samwell Tarly, she still desired to have him by her side. When Sansa tells Daenerys that Jon loves Daenerys, Daenerys earnestly explains her love for Jon to Sansa and highlighted that she put on hold her plans to claim the Iron Throne because of her love for him. Even at the revelation that he is technically the true heir to the Iron Throne, she believed his sincerity that he did not want it, nor would he take it from her. She did not once contemplate killing him, even as her mental state declined and her ruthlessness increased. Instead, she insisted he keep it a secret forever as she knew others would press his claim against his wishes, begging him never to tell, not even his family, fearing it would spiral out of control. However, Jon felt he owed the truth of identity to his sisters and tried to reassure Daenerys that his sisters would not tell. On the condition that his sisters swear to keep his parentage secret, he told them the truth. However, Sansa broke her promise to keep his identity a secret, leading to Daenerys being betrayed by one of her advisors who turned on her to press Jon's claim. Daenerys felt angry and betrayed but still hoped to continue her intimate relationship with Jon yet Jon, while he still wanted her, could not overcome his problem with their incest. With this straw breaking the camel's back and driven by a series of personal losses, her lifelong trials when her family was overthrown, and her fears over others pushing Jon's claim being realized, Daenerys razed King's Landing, despite its surrender to her. She claimed the Iron Throne and in her delusion, now believed destruction was the way to build a better world and still genuinely wanted Jon by her side in her new world. Earlier, and despite the close relationship she had with Jorah Mormont, she told Jon that she could never love Jorah the same way that she loved him. She was not at all bothered that they were aunt and nephew, as incestuous relations were acceptable in the Targaryen family. One of the reasons her mental state declined was because of Jon’s inability to to continue their sexual intimacy after learning they were blood related and fear that others would press his claim as Rhaegar's son.

Jon’s love for Daenerys was very strong as well. He constantly fought off the people around him who tried to have him become king, instead of Daenerys, and made clear to everyone that she is his queen, also defending her to his sisters, who disapproved. After Daenerys razed King's Landing, Jon experienced a conflict between love for Daenerys and duty to the realm. He tried to understand and defend her actions to Tyrion, despite his own deep opposition to what she had done, and still wanted to believe in Daenerys's goodness. Earlier, the revelation of Jon's true parentage became an issue for Jon when it came to continuing their sexual intimacy due to their incest while Daenerys feared that Jon being heir to the throne would result in others pressing his claim over her own despite Jon's abdication for her claim. This strained their relationship. While Jon started to later see some of Daenerys's power issues, he still genuinely loved her, wanted to believe in her, and saw her as his queen before anything else. Jon also found himself torn between love for his family and love for Daenerys but thought they needed time to know each other. Jon felt he owed his family honesty about his true parentage and that his sisters would not betray his trust, gently reassuring Daenerys that he, Daenerys, and his family could all live together with the truth. However, Daenerys disagreed. Jon swears his sisters to secrecy before letting them know his true parentage but Sansa later breaks her promise. Jon declares he and the North's troops will march to help Daenerys take the throne. Though when Daenerys, driven by losses, burns King's Landing despite the city's surrender to her, massacring the people of King's Landing and later declaring she "liberated" these people as she will "liberate" the world, a troubled Jon struggles with the situation. He ultimately still loves Daenerys, fighting against Tyrion urging him to kill her in order to stop her, and appealed to Daenerys to stop her destruction when he meets her in the throne room. He attempts to convince her to be merciful and that mercy is the way to a better world, not more death and violence but to his distress, Daenerys refuses, viewing mercy as something that's been weaponized against her. This led to him to becoming completely heartbroken when the fears and warnings, that people around him had said to him, turned out to be true. He becomes distressed by her believing that violence and fear is now the way to rule, becoming the people's greatest threat. Distraught, he embraced and kissed her one last time, calling her his queen, before he reluctantly stabs her whilst in tears. Stunned, Daenerys dies in Jon's arms as he grieves. Later, while imprisoned, a depressed Jon tells Tyrion he can't feel it was right to kill Daenerys.

Fanon
The pairing of Jon and Daenerys was extremely popular well before the two had even met. Many fans had anticipated the two would eventually meet as both their respective journeys, that saw them rise to power, made it inevitable. Furthermore, the overall name of the series “A Song of Ice and Fire” can be interpreted in multiple ways, one of them being that Jon Snow, a member of the Stark Family that have an affinity for ice, and Daenerys Targaryen, a member of the Targaryen family, who have an affinity for fire.

Many fans had also predicted that Jon and Daenerys were aunt and nephew well before the revelation itself. Which naturally drew a connection between the two main characters despite having not met yet in the novels and did not meet until season 7.

Season 8 of Game of Thrones was infamously criticized by a majority of fans, and numerous critics. One of the focal points was the conclusion of Daenerys’ character arc, with her relationship with Jon being one of the key points. Many fans felt her mental deterioration, that ended with her demise at Jon’s hands, was rushed and thus lacked legitimacy. Some fans also found Jon constantly referring to Daenerys as “my queen” excessive and a far cry from the show’s established standards for dialogue.

Furthermore, many fans were saddened and disappointed with Daenerys' outcome. With some having hoped and predicated that she would successfully rule Westeros with Jon by her side, particularly as king and queen. The popularity of the ship is very strong, even from a romantic perspective, as many fans were endeared to both characters. However, many also criticized it upon the revelation that they are both close relatives.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Daenerys/Jon (TV) on FanFiction.Net
 * Daenerys/Jon (Books) on FanFiction.Net
 * Daenerys/Jon Tag on AO3

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Trivia

 * Due to the series getting ahead of the novels, the nature of Jon and Daenerys relationship is still debatable, as the true canon source material by George R. R. Martin has yet to have the characters meet. This means that their relationship may differ from what the tv series has established.
 * Whilst filming season 1, George R. R. Martin had revealed to a director that the series really comes down to Jon and Daenerys.
 * Neither Daenerys, nor Jon, discussed the idea of marriage. Yet, their advisors discussed the idea, believing they would make a good match, but Varys, Daenerys's advisor, ultimately rejects the idea. However, may fans believe marriage would resolve the issue of Jon being the true heir to the throne by combining their claims.