Game of Thrones season 8's second episode was a big shocker to Daenerys Targaryen. Jon Snow revealed his parentage to Daenerys as he stood next to the statue of his mother, Lyanna Stark. While it was revealed in the previous season's finale that Jon Snow is Rhaegar and Lyanna's son, Jon broke the news to Daenerys in the second episode of the eighth season. Discussing Daenerys' reaction to Jon's news, Emilia Clarke has come out in support of her character.
It is no surprise that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. While he does have the Stark blood in him, Jon Snow is not Ned Stark's son. Sadly though, the thought of him having fallen for his blood relative (Daenerys Targaryen) didn't settle down easily. In the second episode of the eighth episode when Jon Snow did have a dialogue with Daenerys about his true parentage, Daenerys' reaction had more to do with Jon Snow having a better claim at the Iron Throne as the last male heir of House Targaryen.
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Emilia spoke about how and why Daenerys reacted in a certain way. She said, "The related thing, to her, is so normal. She could have easily married her brother. It's not a thing. It's a thing for Jon, but let's just forget about that. The main thing is we're up for the same promotion and I've been working for it for my entire existence." Further adding to it, Clarke stated, "This is my whole existence. Since birth! Dany literally was brought into this world going: RUN! These f—ers [in Westeros] have f—ed everything up. Now it's, 'You're our only hope.' There's so much she's taken on in her duty in life to rectify. There's so much she's seen and witnessed and been through and lost and suffered and hurt to get here... and Jon doesn't even want it!"
In the same interview as EW spoke to the writer of the second episode, Bryan Cohman, he explained in detail about Jon's forlorn reaction to Daenerys being his blood relative. "What really upsets Jon is that he's a blood relative to the woman he's in love with," Cogman said. "Jon is taken aback when essentially the first thing she says is acknowledging that he has a claim to the Iron Throne. Kit and Emilia play it beautifully. It's a very difficult scene to pull off; so much has to go on behind the eyes."
Earlier after Jon Snow found out about his true parentage (in the first episode, that is), EW contacted Kit Harington to get his views on it. To this, Harington stated, "That's the thing I love about Jon, his purity. He doesn't f—ing want [the Iron Throne]. He doesn't want that f—ing information. He doesn't want to know. He has no ambition for the throne. He's never wanted that. The end of the world might be coming soon but at least he's in love with somebody and knows who he is, and then comes this sledgehammer.... If Jon could go back in time and say: 'Whatever you're about to say, don't tell me,' he would. He'd happily be in ignorance."
