Edit: Posters below seem to indicate this post was batsheet crazy so I'll snip it out. It was a long rambling theory that the Targaryens are a unique type of warg in that only they could control dragons and that dragons couldn't be controlled by anyone else. Ergo, if Bran wants to warg a dragon he has to actually possess Dany and do it through her like a psychic proxy of sorts.

This quora thread addresses a good chunk of what I was wondering. Cliffs notes: no, the Targaryens aren't wargs,

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i get carried away sometimes.

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How does one become a white walker to begin with?

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A "show only" poster who apparently does not watch the show.

One could make an argument that there appear to be two castes of White Walkers ... converted humans and trueborn. Sort of like the vampires in Underworld.

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How would you make that argument, out of curiosity? Case for: I could see them being sort of like Orcs, who were originally elves that were corrupted and became a distinct race. Or swap out Orcs for Drow...WW do have sort of a dark elf vibe. So perhaps they were originally created from the First Men by the manichean evil that The Debt refers in this post).

Different types of WW make sense because if every WW could make more WW out of the living, it would seem they would prefer to do that instead of kiling the living and animating them as a less useful, significantly less powerful wight. The one who converted Craster's child was the Night King we just saw in Episode 5.08...he's obviously special/unique in some sort of way, and being a native-race WW could be why. He animated thousands of dead wildlings at once, I would doubt that every WW has that sort of awesome power.

Case against: Night King isn't incredibly powerful because he's native WW, he's more like the witch-king of angmar, chosen by Sauron to be nazghul leader and have the most btchin toys to play with.

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Well there has to be a good reason why Eddard Stark never would reveal to him who his mother is. I still find it hard to believe Ed cheated.

Maybe he was another bastage of Robert Baratheon that he was trying to keep covered up?

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That is something Ned would do out of loyalty to Robert, for sure. But Jon Snow being a Baratheon doesn't seem to line up with anything. First reason that came to mind that suggests he's a Stark is how all the Stark children have a close companionship with their wolves, who were all of the same litter. And Jon's wolf, Ghost, is sort of the aloof outsider even among his own siblings, just like Jon. Plus, he was the one who convinced Ned to keep them, too.

Then again...Melisandre DID try and ride his pole. And when she has sex with dudes of a powerful lineage, it lets her do all sorts of nifty things like make shadow assassins. So yea that could mean he's a Baratheon. Or Targaryen? That would melt my brain but I highly doubt it. Seems like Aemon (Targaryen) would somehow figure that out, but instead before he died he honestly grieves over the fact his only kinfolk is Dany and he can't help her.

But who says Stark blood would be worthless to her? Is it a hard-and-fast rule they have to have "kings blood"? Stark is a powerful house, used to be their own kingdom before the Targs, and for a short while there Jon's half-brother Robb was even "King of the North" again. If you subscribe to the "value for value" school of thought with magic as this show seems to do...she needed to have sex with Stannis to kill his brother Renley. Same blood, same value. Right now, Stannis is marching on Winterfell against House Bolton in terrible weather conditions. Wouldn't it be much easier to just take out Roose with a shadow assassin? Jon's Stark seed would be valuable enough for that, I figure.

Could Jon be Ned's sister's kid? That would make him a Stark, but I'm not sure who the father would be. Maybe the Rhagar (sp?) the dude that stole her? Were her and Robert actually ever married, is so it could be Roberts.

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Going through and watching the old episodes... The Assassin that the Lannisters sent to kill Brann in the 2nd episode had a Valeryian Steel dagger. I'm not sure where it ends up though.

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LF ends up with it again at some point

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Got up to episode 6 last night. Ned had it in his room when he was packing up to leave King's Landing, but he left it in his room when LF tells him that he has some information regarding Jon Arryn's death. The camera seems to focus on the dagger.

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Could Jon be Ned's sister's kid? That would make him a Stark, but I'm not sure who the father would be. Maybe the Rhagar (sp?) the dude that stole her? Were her and Robert actually ever married, is so it could be Roberts.

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This is the most popular theory.

If Rhaegar is the father, wouldn't Jon have blonde hair?

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If Rhaegar is the father, wouldn't Jon have blonde hair?

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Not necessarily I don't think. I believe Lyanna had dark hair like Jon's.

When Dany was in Qarth, one of the lords there commented that Dany had the blond hair of a true Targaryean. Also several references to "the seed is strong" in the show.

Great... Now we get to have a GOT genetics discussion! Ha!

Even if it is true, does it matter? No one is left alive that could confirm it. If Maester Aemon knew, he took it to the grave. Uncle Benjen might know, but if he hasn't returned to the wall by now he's probably dead or converted to a white walker or wight.

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Could Jon be Ned's sister's kid? That would make him a Stark, but I'm not sure who the father would be. Maybe the Rhagar (sp?) the dude that stole her? Were her and Robert actually ever married, is so it could be Roberts.

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This is the most popular theory.

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At this point, given how many times it has been hinted, I think it would be an even bigger shock if Rhaegar and Lyanna weren't the parents.

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Agreed. I wasn't going to mention it for fear of 30 day bannination but since yall are talking about it...

Apparently its called the "R+L=J" theory and I came across it for the first time last night while looking into Independent George's question. It's mind-blowing. If you want to read about it, and how it seems so inevitable that it seems to be an absolute lock, the period at the end of this sentence is the link that explains it.

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When Dany was in Qarth, one of the lords there commented that Dany had the blond hair of a true Targaryean. Also several references to "the seed is strong" in the show.

Great... Now we get to have a GOT genetics discussion! Ha!

Even if it is true, does it matter? No one is left alive that could confirm it. If Maester Aemon knew, he took it to the grave. Uncle Benjen might know, but if he hasn't returned to the wall by now he's probably dead or converted to a white walker or wight.

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Nah, they could easily pull out someone that was Lyanna's best friend or something and "she confided this in me before she died!"

OR... Varys or Littlefinger could know somehow, and be holding the info for whenever it suits them. That wouldn't surprise anyone, would it?

I think there will be a character that Jon will run into at some point with his parents information that either:
1. Everyone thought was dead (like Benjen), or,
2. Is totally new

I don't think it will be someone like Varys or Littlefinger.

See I could see Uncle Benjen, but I just don't see them creating a whole new character to reveal it. It seems too sloppy for me.

Why would Ned lie to his wife about having a ******* child? Seems like he'd lie about not having one.

I'm sure he promised Lyanna he wouldn't tell anyone. If King Bobby B had found out Jon was a Targaryen, he wouldn't have thought twice about killing Jon.

As for the blonde hair, all the Targaryens were blonde, but they were also almost all the product of incest between two blonde people.

I was hoping Aemon would be the one to reveal Jon's parentage and I did start to question the theory a bit when he died. But, the way Little Finger talked about Lyanna and Rhaegar to Sansa made me think that he knew somehow and of course Varys is Varys, so he may know as well.

To protect his sisters kid.

If the kid was half Targaryen then he would be the target of assassins just like Dany and her brother.

Seems like the secret was so big and that he had to. They'd have murdered the child.

I don't think anyone can control the dragons except Bran. Even Dany can't really control them.

Jon burned his hand when he killed the wight, so he doesn't have the same super power as Dany, but neither did her brother. So, I don't think that pokes a hole in the R+L theory.

Dark hair is a dominant gene, so he'd have dark hair from his Stark side.

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I've been rewatching the series from the beginning to catch the SO up and the R+L=J theory seems to be pretty damn obvious when you hear some of the quotes from the characters.

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It's obvious if you've read about the theory, but it wouldn't be obvious to someone who hasn't read about it.

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I agree with that. I've watched closely and don't think I would have picked up on Jon's parentage theory if it wasn't already floating out there.

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I don't think anyone can control the dragons except Bran. Even Dany can't really control them.

Jon burned his hand when he killed the wight, so he doesn't have the same super power as Dany, but neither did her brother. So, I don't think that pokes a hole in the R+L theory.

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Can't control them right now. It just goes against everything intuitive to suggest that the primary heroine of the show wouldn't be able to control the creature her entire identity is built upon. Everything in her life is based on those dragons. Not just her world-renowned family legacy, either, but her personally. Before Drogo's funeral pyre she was effectively a good-as-dead widow and irrelevant to history, abandoned by pretty much everyone, and had nothing. After the pyre, she had dragons. She spun that into the fealty of the few remaining dothraki as her bloodriders, making her a legit Khaleesi in her own right and therefore an actual Noble in the broad sense of the term. She continues spinning that until she is where she is now, unquestioned Queen of Meereen, beloved and respected by all common folk, with a good sized army composed entirely of fighters who are Spartan-levels of badass.

All because of those 3 dragons hatching. But the Mother of Dragons isn't going to be able to control dragons? Meh. Why isn't it as simple as the dragons going through an adolescent stage like puberty...just a troublesome phase that will pass?

I think you'd really enjoy the Quora thread I linked in my post at the top of this page (58).

Spilner seemed to at least enjoy the post I made (as one might be fascinated by a trainwreck, which it kind of was) before I edited out about 1500 words, so I'll briefly* recap it.

Asking why the dragons are out of control requires some background on both the type of creature they are, who the Targaryens are, and their relationship. Dragons are clearly magical, and are like wild animals (instead of sentient magical beings like WW) in how they behave/kill/etc. The Targaryens controlled them adeptly, however. So how were they able to do that? Magical and psychic means (akin to wargs)? No evidence of this sort of mental bond/possession is ever made in the show. Did they have to domesticate and train them, like canines? This is probably the answer.

So why are they out of control? Well, it's not because Dany is somehow innately unable to do so because of who she is...she has the blood of people known to control dragons. I think we can just rule out her somehow being a Targaryen lemon, too.

Is it because she simply doesn't know how, and that in the 150 years that dragons were gone from the world that knowledge was lost? Maybe, but take your pick of common tropes in the fantasy genre to drive plot:
* Knowledge of ancient arts found again in a discovered scroll/tome/etc. That could come out of anywhere.
* Knowledge of ancient arts are forbidden for being heretical so true believers (like Targaryen faithful in westeros) pass it down verbally through the generations till it can be revived.
* Divine/magical revelation. There's been plenty of stuff happening in dreams and visions on this show.

But they are probably just rapidly maturing animals who are by nature violent, predatory and powerful that are getting their ass kicked by hormones, and they'll grow out of it. Maybe just bored as hell too, the most stimulating thing they do is kill some livestock and Momma even gets mad at them for THAT. Ugh, mom is the worst!!!! We never get to have any fun!!! Another canine parallel...one of the things I hate about labradors is all the exercise they need, because I'm lazy. But if they don't get the activity they need they will act out and absolutely destroy your house. Wait till the dragons get a bit older, across the narrow sea, and Momma says its okay for them to unleash their blast furnace halitosis upon thousands of actual people and revel in glorious carnage.

And anyway, I have doubts that wargs are able to posses magical beings anyway. But if Bran does at some point take Droggon out for a joyride, its highly unlikely IMO that its because Dany can't.

*for me, this is brief, my apologies

I certainly won't rule anything out. Bran not withstanding, I think the Stark kids and their Direwolves is a good analogy. They're still wild animals, even if they can be trained.

And we know that the Targareyans and their warriors rode dragons when they conquered the seven kingdoms. Dany will have an advantage when it comes to that because they obviously view her as a mother figure.