It’s bizarre to think there was a time when Jon Snow wasn’t the beloved focal point of Game Of Thrones. Even those who don’t watch the series know who Jon Snow is, if only because of the endless fan speculation over Jon’s death, then his resurrection, and then his parents. Even if he’s not your favorite character, few of us outright hate the dude, especially given how essential his narrative has become as the series builds to its final episodes. But there was a time when people actually hated that moody, handsome fan favorite, like when Vox called him the worst part of the series, or Marie Claire’s passionate plea to keep him dead, to name a few. Harington heard your harsh words, and he’s still not over it.
As sensitive as the man he plays, Harington is still broken up by the criticism his character faced in the earlier days of Thrones. “My memory is always ‘the boring Jon Snow,’” Harington told Variety, reflecting on reviews of the show’s first few seasons. “And that got to me after a while,” he said. “Some of those words that were said about it stuck in my craw about him being less entertaining, less showy.”
Harington got even more stuck in his head at the end of Season 5, when he became one of the most famous characters on TV. When his former Night’s Watch Commander was stabbed to death and became pretty much all fans could talk about, from obsessively speculating over Harington’s physical whereabouts to his hair length for plot clues, it threw him into another dark mental spiral.
“When you become the cliffhanger of a TV show, and a TV show probably at the height of its power, the focus on you is fucking terrifying,” he told the trade. The crazed attention was so much he started going to therapy—celebs, they’re just like us! “I had to feel very grateful for what I have, but I felt incredibly concerned about whether I could even fucking act.” Jon Snow may know nothing, but Kit Harington smartly learned to stop reading reviews and just tune out the noise.
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Sure, he’s no Sansa, but he’s certainly not as useless as Rickon. It’s not his fault most of his siblings are cooler than him.
Damn it Rickon, how hard is it to zig-zag??
I don’t know how everyone else feels but Sansa is my least favorite of the Starks. (I barely count Rikon.) Jon Snow is absolutely fine by me.
I was saying Booo-ring.
I was saying Booo-ner.
I bet he could talk for hours about his favorite turnip.
I hate the dude so, so much. He keeps getting do-overs, and the show seems dead set on making him the hero, but I donnnnn’t carrrre abouuuut himmmm.
Kinda glad boring disturbed him more than the tawdrier parts of his fan base. He can (and has) work around boring, but working off yummy leads to Johnny Depp scarves and air of smokiness
Wait… what? I thought he was supposed to be kind of boring. In an empty-vessel hero kind of way. Would this character work if he was drenched in charisma? I think Kit Harrington is a charming actor, but I just assumed that this was a deliberately directed performance to be somewhat dour, somewhat blockheaded. I mean, he’s kind of a non-force using Luke Skywalker for a few seasons there, where his lack of wisdom literally birthed a catchphrase.I definitely don’t agree that he’s the worst part of the show. Somebody has to play the straight man, and it can’t be the dwarfs, giants, dragon-queens, or impish child assassins.
I really like how he’s played him since he came back. Very world weary, like he’s so incredibly tired. And his adamant frustration at people ignoring the gigantic army coming to kill everyone. You can tell he’s just plain tired of having to convince every single person of what’s coming.
And the scene where Dany says: “We all enjoy doing what we’re good at.”Jon: “I don’t.”
That’s the core ethos of him. Unlike most, if not all, other powerful people in GoT, Jon does not want to play the game. He doesn’t extract a thrill from defeating his enemies or gaining power. If he took pelasure from being named King, it was from being recognized as having worth and not being defined by being a bastard – same with being elected Lord Commander. After the defeat of the Night King and probably Cersei, he’d happily let Dany and Sansa rule. He wants the world to be a better place, sure. But he doesn’t think he’s the one with the answers to give it to them. He’ll fight the Night King because he’s seen him and knows what’s coming, but he never fights because he likes it.
And the scene where Dany says: “We all enjoy doing what we’re good at.”Jon: “I don’t.” Barristan Selmy tells Dany: “Rhaegar never liked killing. He loved to sing.”Like father, like son. So don’t be surprised if Jon Snow starts singing, “Between The Sheets” after he & Dany arrives at Winterfell.
Jon Snow must enjoy battle strategy and effective leadership tactics, because he is terrible at both. He should have been run out of Winterfell after the Battle of the Bastards for doing everything he could to get his entire army massacred, not being named King in the North.
Death definitely changes a man.
“Very world weary, like he’s so incredibly tired.”This is matched the change in Dondarion, who was also brought back form the dead (though multiple times.)
You can be the straight man without being boring. Look at Ned or Stannis.
Ned was pretty boring and Stannis was a fanatic, which to me is not a straight man quality.
Part of the essence of Jon Snow is that other characters are always projecting onto him what they think he should be. The lads at the Wall harass him by calling him “Lord Snow” even though he doesn’t think of himself as a nobleman, for example.I don’t see much of a difference between the way Jon acts on the show and the way he acted in the book, but the major difference is Kit Harington’s performance, which I find pretty bland. I’ve only seen him in a few things: GoT and as the bad guy in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, in both of which he gives a pretty subdued performance most of the time. I think he’s really good when he’s angry and shouting, but most of his dialogue is delivered in a sort of bored monotone.The only other thing I’ve seen, or rather, heard him in is the How to Train Your Dragon movies as Eret. He’s barely in the third one, but I thought his voice work in the second one was quite good. I think he’s an actor who probably would shine in certain roles but hasn’t really found them yet. I’d love to see him as a motormouth petty criminal in a Guy Ritchie movie.
I also find Kit Harrington to be pretty boring, and wish they would have cast Richard Madden as Jon.
He DID play him pretty him stiff, somtimes.
His character is boring. He’s never bothered me as an actor, but Jon Snow is boring as shit. Always being perfectly noble with a moral compass that always points true north, and occasionally looking scared, isn’t a very interesting character trait. This is fine. There are enough interesting and terrible people in GoT.
Robb Stark was boring, Jon Snow is just kinda mopey, like he just listened to the entire Joy Division discog.
Perhaps his “boring” nature is veiled trauma from neverending shit that proceeded once King Robert came around to fuck up everyone’s lives? You writers/people are so obtuse/eager to twist word salad to fit your (wrong) viewpoints.
I still find him absolutely tedious. Sure, he’s not fun and lively like Tyrion, and no one expects him to be, but he also doesn’t have the sort of gravitas that lets you pull off stoic and grim, like Stannis or Ned. He’s just a boring character who we’re suddenly stuck with.
“Boring” is possibly the most useless adjective in reviewing, amateur or professional. It tells us nothing but what the speaker/writer feels, but doesn’t give the slightest clue why they feel it. More boring characters than Jon Snow? Stannis, Gendry, Shae, the Mountain, by his way too long delayed end Littlefinger, Ygritte, Robb, Robb’s wife who was too boring to remember her name, and, yes, sorry, Gilly. But then I find characters who do things for no reason generally to be unconvincing, and that’s what I find boring.I will note that children’s programming is chock full of characters who are lively. They move about and gesticulate, speaking in loud, enthusiastic voices, make expressive facial gestures while reacting to everything and say really funny, really warm and sometimes really scaredy things.
The Mountain’s more of a prop than a character.
You’re right. There are still a stunning number of people eager for the Hound and the Mountain to confront. I think any battle that doesn’t end with the Mountain winning handily would be BS. But that’s not what’s going to happen, is it? Here then is another example of “boring,” fake happy endings foisted into the finale.
The best possible outcome would be Sandor saying “I’ve gotten over you” and walking away.
You completely lost me at Littlefinger. The schemer with the crooked smirk, I was fascinated by him from the first scene. He has charisma, mystery, an air of ‘I know far more than you’ around him like a shroud… Each their own preference, but this one I’m baffled by.
People who call Jon Snow “boring” are the same kinds of people who say Boba Fett is their favorite Star Wars character. Boba Fett wears a bucket on his head, says like two words, and dies like a punk, but, hey—he looks cool, and that’s all they care about. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker is carrying the whole narrative on his shoulders. He’s the guy who drives the story and makes us care, even when the rest of the movie has gone to shit with Ewoks and Tarzan yodels and bullshit.In other words, people who call Jon Snow “boring” are people who don’t understand how stories work, and don’t see what Harrington is bringing to the narrative. He’s not Rain Man; he’s Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise may not win the Oscar, but he’s carrying the whole movie, and he’s who the audience, ultimately, identifies with.I hope Harrington’s psychiatrist told him something along those lines.
He *IS* boring tho! Nothing against Kit, mind, but Jon Snow is like something out of a mid-teens distracted fantasy during chemistry class. Handsome yet baby-faced, fierce warrior yet amazing in bed (apparently introducing the Wildlings to certain tongue maneuvers..). Oh and he’s the brash young rebel who is ALWAYS right about EVERYTHING. Uggh.. Super cringey. Sorry, but Samwell Tarly is far more interesting! I skip over Jon’s scenes in the early seasons (just now starting S4).