Read Winter is Coming: Symbols and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones for Free Online

Wall and keep Winterfell for himself and his own sons. Further, if Jon is Brandon’s son, there’s really no reason to hide it.
Is Jon Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen’s Son?
    The Targaryen connection would make sense, as Ned would protect a young Targaryen from Robert, who let young Aegon and his sister be slain and whose “hatred of the Targaryens was a madness in him” (I:112). And Ned, willing to die for honor, seems unlikely to have betrayed his new wife Catelyn, pregnant with his child… more likely, he valued his dying sister and her child above all—even that new wife’s sensibilities. An honorable man doesn’t cheat on his wife, but an honorable man protects his sister’s child and keeps his oath to tell no one his parentage… even if this creates family discord. Lyanna’s final words, “Promise me,” haunt Ned through the first book. She lay dying surrounded by blood… unlikely for a fever, more plausible for childbirth. In turn, her suicide or murder makes the fever unlikely unless the wound went septic. And what promise was it, if not that Ned take her child?
    Jon resembles his father and Lyanna. (In the book, all of Ned and Catelyn’s children are red-haired like the Tullys except for Arya who resembles Ned. Lyanna is described as resembling Arya with the traditional Stark coloring.) This would also explain the Kingsguard’s presence guarding Lyanna instead of fighting beside their prince at the Ruby Ford—they are sworn to protect the king and his family, so why else would they be at the Tower of Joy? Three fight with Rhaegar on the Trident, one (Jaime Lannister) defends the king himself plus Rhaegar’s wife and children in the capitol. None guard the queen, Viserys, and unborn Daenerys. And three members of the Kingsguard, including the two most legendary, are guarding Rhaegar’s girlfriend?
    Daenerys’s vision in the House of the Undying includes blue roses (Lyanna’s favorite) blooming from an ice wall, a likely allusion to Lyanna’s child at the Wall (II:515-516). It also parallels the book’s legend of Bael the Bard and the blue rose, in which a Stark daughter is stolen from the family, only to give the House a son by her lover.
    The blue rose image certainly repeats in Ned’s memories, as Lyanna begs for his help. “He thought of the promises he made to Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he’d paid to keep them”(I:380). One promise is to bury her at Winterfell, but that wouldn’t have a heavy price. However, Catelyn’s and Jon’s lives have been made miserable because of the secret.
    Another interesting parallel in Ned’s thoughts may be a clue:
He remembered Rhaegar’s infant son, the red ruin of his skull, and the way the king had turned away, as he had turned away in Darry’s audience hall not so long ago. He could still hear Sansa pleading, as Lyanna had pleaded once. (I:199)
    Sansa pleaded for her pet’s life, and Robert ignored her just as he let the Targaryen children die without mercy. These in Ned’s mind are tied to Lyanna’s plea—to protect another innocent from Robert’s wrath. Robert had already sworn to eliminate the Targaryens, and smiled at the death of Rhaegar’s other children. Only total secrecy would guarantee Jon’s safety. Within a page of discussing Wylla with Robert, Ned’s thoughts turn to the young Targaryen children and Lyanna both dying in the war.
Ned thought, If it came to that, the life of some child I did not know, against Robb and Sansa and Arya and Bran and Rickon, what would I do? Even more so, what would Catelyn do, if it were Jon’s life, against the children of her body. He did not know. He prayed he never would. (I:486)
    This quote has a few intriguing teases: Ned lists his children but leaves out Jon. Perhaps not his child? He also fears that Catelyn cannot be trusted with Jon’s life, because everyone has a price. This emphasizes why he’s told no one— not Catelyn, not Jon, not his trusted friends. When he and