Jon Snow & Benjen Stark Share More Than Blood

Think back to the Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones before the devastating death of Jon Snow. Olly (that annoying backstabber) lures him out to his death by announcing to Jon that they’ve found his uncle Benjen. At this point in the show we have no idea where Benjen Stark is located or whether he is dead or alive, so is it possible that Jon Snow and Benjen Stark had the same fate? There are plenty of Game of Thrones Benjen theories floating around, so let’s talk about them and see if there is any way to connect them to Jon Snow.

Benjen Stark has been missing since season 1 of the show. He was the First Ranger of the Nights Watch and went missing after he headed out on a mission north of The Wall. Shortly after, Benjen’s horse turned up at the gate and they found the two rangers that went out with him dead. Those rangers reanimated as White Walkers and were burned to death. We were to assume that Benjen is dead, but it's a bit suspicious that he hasn’t turned up dead anywhere, meaning that there is a chance that he’s still alive.

One theory that is widely discussed about Benjen online is that he’s actually Daario Naharis in disguise. Obviously in the show that’s a bit tricky to pull off, but remember in the book Daario is supposed to have a long beard and it's dyed blue and he’s kind of crazy looking. This theory seems kind of farfetched to me, but the general idea is that he is in Meereen to keep track of Daenerys. If this is true, could Jon Snow do something along those lines, too? Let’s assume for a moment that he is brought back to life by Melisandre like so many have talked about. Maybe to protect him, she disguises him and sneaks him out of Castle Black.

Another option that has been discussed about Jon is that he is a warg, which means that he can take over the mind of animals (think Bran). So, now that he’s “dead,” he could potentially still be alive in the mind of his dire wolf Ghost. I wouldn’t put this past George R.R. Martin, but it kind of seems like the Stark family has a few people with the ability to do this, so maybe that’s where Benjen is. If he is a warg, maybe Bran will run into him next season when he starts learning how to use his power.

Some Reddit users think that Benjen headed to Skagos where Rickon (the youngest Stark) went when he separated from Bran. Since we haven’t seen him in quite some time, it is a possibility, right? They think that once he finds out about the Night's Watch betraying Jon, he will come back and kick some serious ass. Personally, I kind of hope this is how it all goes down. It would be sweet revenge to watch Benjen take down Alliser Thorne.

There are many ways that Jon and Benjen are connected, and whether or not you believe Jon is coming back, it seems silly that we haven’t heard anything about Benjen’s whereabouts. Why wouldn’t they have tied up his storyline? Why is Benjen, who we haven't heard about in years, the lure to kill Jon Snow? It’s all very suspect, but then again maybe the showrunners and George R. R. Martin are just playing their evil games like usual.

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