THIS THREAD CONTAINS BOOK AND TV SPOILERS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
I haven't read the book and I have no idea how closely the HBO series follows them but, I just spent a week watching the first three seasons so I'm all caught up for the new season that starts tomorrow night. My question is...who the fuck is Jon Snow's mother?
My speculation is that his parentage does not include Ned Stark at all but instead that he is Robert Baratheon's trueborn son by Cersei Lannister.
Now hear me out!
1. Cersei enters Bran's room as he lay unconscious from being pushed out a window by Jaime Lannister. She then described to Cat how she lost her firstborn son (a boy with beautiful black hair).
2. Cersei loves her brother and wants her son by him to be king. The only way to accomplish this is by removing Robert's son from the line of succession. Cersei is cold-hearted but not cold-hearted enough to murder her own child. The only way to remove that child entirely is to make Robert and everyone else believe it dead.
3. The only way she can enlist Ned Stark's help is to tell him the child is a bastard, that Robert is not the father. She knows Stark as a man of honor. He would never standby and allow a child who was not Robert's inherit the throne but he'd also be aware that telling Robert would mean the death of the child and probably the mother.
4. Both Jaime and Tyrion show a marked interest in Jon Snow when they visit Winterfell. Tyrion even goes so far as to escort him to the Wall.
5. It's also possible that Cersei really believes the child died because she stated they took it away before she could see it. Which leads to the possibility that one or both of her brothers are responsible for the lie and getting Stark's help.
So how far off am I from the book? Is that question answered? Maybe it got asked and answered in the other GoT threads but I've not read them
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the new season! I haven't had as much fun speculating about some aspect of a TV series since BSG.