Jon Snow is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. He is a prominent point of view character in the novels, and has been called one of the author's "finest creations" and most popular characters by The New York Times.
Jon is portrayed by Kit Harington on the HBO series Game of Thrones. In 2012, Harington was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television for the role.
In A Game of Thrones (1996), Jon Snow is the 14-year-old bastard son of Eddard "Ned" Stark, lord of Winterfell, and half-brother to Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon. Described as having strong Stark features with a lean build, long face, dark hair and grey eyes, he has the surname "Snow"—customary for illegitimate children in the North—and is resented by Stark's wife Catelyn as a reminder of Ned's affair. Jon is the same age as Robb and enjoys a warm relationship with his siblings, particularly the tomboy Arya, who resembles Jon and, like him, does not feel like she fits in. Ned treats Jon as much like his other children as propriety and his honor will allow; still, as somewhat of an outsider, Jon has learned to be independent and to fend for himself when necessary. Jon idolizes his father, but is wounded by Ned's refusal to identify his mother. At the beginning of the story, Jon adopts the albino direwolf he names Ghost; he later finds that at times he can "inhabit" the wolf and share its experiences.
