Game of Thrones ending reboot, if Jon Snow were a bad ass after his resurrection

Introduction

Have you ever had a near death experience? A friend of mine had. He was riding through the city on his bike when a car struck his wheel, he tumbled off onto oncoming traffic, and while laying face up on the asphalt and shocked, he saw a massive delivery truck driving toward him, growing larger with every second, and suddenly seconds seemed to last forever, every second, at that moment, every little expanse of time feels like forever, it feels like life is fast forwarding through your joys, and it's wonderful and painful and when it's over, when this truck smashes into me, at least it'll be quick.

It's dark. Suddenly. And just as suddenly, it's not. It's light.

He survived because he was flat enough that the truck drove over him with those massive tires hurtling around his ears, dark because he's underneath a truck, and when the truck finally drives past, the sun shines on him and he realizes he has survived. This was my friend's near-death experience.

I've had a near death experience, and although not as dramatic, a moment like that changes perspectives on life and what it all means. A near-death experience changes you. It does, it really does. So, in Game of Thrones, when Jon Snow is stabbed multiple times by other men of the Night's Watch, and he hears the voices of each of these murderous men, when he then stumbles onto the snow to gaze upon the night sky, the beautiful night sky, and the camera pans out to blood spilling onto the snow like wings - he was dead, like seriously dead. Jon Snow wasn't the only character in Game of Thrones to have died, like seriously died, ie the Red Wedding, but only two other men were resurrected on the series. The first was Karl Drogo, and that didn't end well. Then there was the redheaded man with the even redder, flaming sword. And then Jon Snow. He was resurrected.

And by the end of Season 8, he was still the same duty-bound bastard, even when he learned he was King. Like seriously. Imagine being murdered, resurrected, then duty-bound to be the executioner. For Jon Snow, did it feel like justice or revenge? Imagine a timeline when Jon Snow, after each stroke of his sword, he utters the word, "Justice," to each and every single murderous man, from the boy to Ser Allister, growling louder each time until Jon Snow reaches Lord Allister, he growls "Justice" like a mad dog because Jon meant revenge. Duty and honour killed his father. Duty and honour killed him. Duty and honour in this world meant a man like Ser Allister killed him. At that moment, Jon Snow didn't feel justice. His blood boiled with anger and hate, and when he sliced Longclaw one more time, when Ser Allister strangled and twitched, Jon Snow felt revenge climax into vengeance. It felt good.

So imagine a timeline where Jon Snow, after his resurrection, instead of being the saint he always was and lead to a horrible Season 8 (and him being sent back to the wall), Jon Snow is done with duty and honour. This is the story of how he lusts after vengeance – and the greatest vengeance is to be King.

[Obviously to fix Season 8, I had to fix things from previous seasons, but you can skip to Season 8 if you want.]

GAME OF THRONES TITLE SEQUENCE

Then, black screen.

JON: I am Jon Snow, bastard of Winterfell, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and murdered by my men. I stared into the night sky and felt it fade into black and darkness until one day, it wasn't.

Panting sound.

JON: I heard a sound through the dark. This sound, it wasn't scary, it was deep, panting, wanting, and a sound I had heard before. Ghost. When I was resurrected, I heard Ghost's deep breaths through the darkness. When I was born, when darkness broke into firelight, when I was alive once more – I saw Ghost.

JON's body lies on a table by the firelight. GHOST is beside JON, tongue out and tail wagging. JON rises, slides off the table and leans against a table leg, and GHOST comes to lick JON's face and neck.

JON: Buddy, I'm happy to see you.

GHOST licks the dagger wounds.

JON: I am alive and you are my best friend. Just before I died, I thought of you. I thought of you as the white puppy when we were in Winterfell. I thought of Winterfell and all the people there, and how I should have been happy but instead was a brooding bastard. I thought of us hunting in the God's Wood, and when we went north of the Wall, I remember how happy you were. I thought of Ygrette, and her body in the warm waters of the cave, how I made love to her, how beautiful that moment was.

GHOST lays his head on JON's lap.

JON: I sacrificed love for duty and honour. I sacrificed the most loving moment of my life for my men to murder me. Never again. Because of duty and honour, Ned failed the Starks. Because of duty and honour, I stayed north. I failed because of duty and honour. Never again.

GHOST whimpers.

JON: This may be the last time we are alone. Ghost, I want to tell you one more thing. When I was resurrected, I heard your breaths call me from the dark, and it felt like being reborn. At that exact moment, I relived my first birth, when I was a baby and emerged from my mother's womb. I was covered in blood, and blood stained the mattress between my mother's legs. But I was wrapped in a white cloth, and brought to my mother. I saw her, and she was beautiful. I heard Ned's voice. And then my mother's voice, Lyanna's voice.

GHOST's ears rise.

JON: I know who I am, Ghost. I never wanted to play the Game of Thrones, but I am the son of a Stark and a Targaryen, and I am the lawful king of Westeros. But this time, and this life, I don't play for duty and honour.

JON rises, sees his sword, and unsheaths Longclaw.

JON: This life, I play to win. JON slams his sword into the table. The sound brings DAVOS, DOLOROUS EDD, and MELISANDRE into the room.

SEASON 6, EPISODE 3: THE OATHBREAKER

DAVOS: What do you remember?

JON: They stabbed me.

MELISANDRE: Afterwards, after they stabbed you, after you died, where did you go? What did you see?

JON: Nothing. Blackness. Then it wasn't.

MELISANDRE: The Lord let you come back for a reason. Stannis was not the prince who was promised, but someone has to be.

DAVOS (to MELISANDRE): Could you give us a moment?

MELISANDRE rises and exits the room. DAVOS closes the door behind her, grabs a stool, and sits down in front of JON.

DAVOS: You were dead. And now you're not. That's completely fucking mad, seems to me. I can only imagine how it seems to you.

JON: I did what I thought was right. And I got murdered for it. But now I'm back. I'm not the same man, Davos.

DAVOS: Almost dying changes a man. I almost died, in the Battle of Blackwater. I survived by swimming underneath the waves, but saw my own son die in green flames. When I was washed ashore, all I wanted was vengeance. I wanted vengeance for my son's death. But who was responsible? It was Stannis who lead the army, and it was the Lannisters who used wildfire to burn us alive. But it was me who failed to protect my son. I hated Stannis, the Lannisters, and myself. Myself the most. In time, I forgot my hate. I had to survive, and fatigue makes a man weary so that he forgets about hate and vengeance. I've made my peace. Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, do you hate the men who stabbed you, including the boy?

JON: I hate that I failed.

DAVOS: Good. Never fail us again. Good men die when a leader fails.

CUT TO: CASTLE BLACK - COURTYARD

DOLOROUS EDD, TORMUND, the faithful Night's Watch members, and the Wildlings are all gathered in the courtyard, staring up at the entrance to the room JON was in. JON emerges on the balcony, supported by DAVOS. He stares out at the crowd, then walks down the steps with the help of DAVOS and begins walking through the crowd. The men on either side part to let him pass. TORMUND walks up the middle to confront JON.

TORMUND: They think you're some kind of god. The man who returned from the dead.

JON: I'm only a man who has faced death.

TORMUND: And won. But you're no god.

TORMUND moves closer to JON and whispers in his ear.

TORMUND: I saw your pecker. What kind of god would have a pecker that small?

JON and TORMUND both chuckle and embrace. JON winces, then spies JARAN DRAGEN and begins walking towards him.

JARAN DRAGEN: Lord Commander...

JON: Ser Jaran.

[brief pause]

JARAN DRAGEN: If you ever fucking leave me again, I'll cut your throat myself. [Proceeds to hug Jon]. Don't do this shit to us ever again.

JARAN and JON hug, and JON winces yet again.

JARAN DRAGEN: Seeing as you did not put me at the gallows beside my good friend Ser Alliser...will you forgive me, Lord Commander?

JON: I will grant you amnesty if you promise fealty to me.

JARAN: You're Lord Commander, I pledge to serve the Night's Watch.

JON: Fuck the Night's Watch. The killing blade, it struck here. [JON walks closer and points to the soft underside of JARAN's belly with the blunt end of Longclaw. JON presses hard.] It hurt. Does this hurt now? [JARAN'S face winces.] Pledge fealty to me.

JARAN: Yes, yes, yes.

JON: Good.

JON walks up to DOLOROUS EDD. They embrace.

DOLOROUS EDD: Your eyes are still brown. Is that still you in there?

JON: Mostly. Hold off on burning my body for now.

DOLOROUS EDD laughs.

DOLOROUS EDD: Why mostly?

JON: I died Edd. Returning from the dead isn't something that happens like the change of seasons. A part of me died forever.

DOLOROUS EDD: Which part of you died, Jon?

JON: The part of me who gave a fuck about duty, honour, and the Night's Watch.

INT. CASTLE BLACK – JON'S CHAMBER

JON is sitting by the fireplace. He is looking to the ground. Someone knocks on the door. DOLOROUS EDD walks in.

DOLOROUS EDD: It's time.

JON gets up, drops his vest with the stab holes in it on the table, and grabs his sword Longclaw.

CUT TO: CASTLE BLACK – COURTYARD

MELSIANDRE is standing on a balcony overlooking the courtyard. TORMUND, DAVOS, the wildlings, and the Night's Watch are all in attendance. JON walks past them, going up the stairs towards the gallows. DOLOROUS EDD accompanies him. BOWEN MARSH, GARRET DANSEN, OTHELL YARWICK, ALLISER THORNE, and OLLY are standing on a platform with their hands tied and ropes around their necks. JON looks up at them. [Editor's note. Instead of the setup where one slice executes all, Jon has to slice each one individually because it's more dramatic.]

JON: If you have any last words, now is the time.

GARRET DANSEN: Seven hells. I thought they were joking. Out of all the people who have died in the last fifty years, only you come back. The bastard of Winterfell. Very well, Jon Snow. I accept my fate. I wish you good fortune when the White Walkers come for you.

JON as he slices Longclaw: Justice.

BOWEN MARSH: You shouldn't be alive. It's not right.

JON: Neither was killing me.

JON as he slices Longclaw: Justice.

OTHELL YARWICK: My mother's still living at White Harbor. Could you write her? Tell her I died fighting the wildings.

JON nods, then as he slices Longclaw: Justice.

ALLISER THRONE: I had a choice, Lord Commander. Betray you or betray the Night's Watch. You brought an army of wildlings into our lands. An army of muderers and raiders. If I had to do it all over knowing where I'd end up, I pray I'd make the right choice again.

JON, eyes enraged, then slices: Justice.

JON looks at OLLY. OLLY stares back at him, unwavering.

JON: When your family dies, when your father, your mother, then each one of your brothers, when your entire home is murdered and slaughtered, you're no longer innocent. Your boyhood ends. I know because it happened to me.

OLLY: I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

JON: Murder is murder. JON slices Longclaw. JON: Justice. JON sheathes his sword, then walks up to DOLOROUS EDD.

DOLOROUS EDD: We should burn the bodies.

JON: You should.

JON takes off his cape and hands it to DOLOROUS EDD.

DOLOROUS EDD: What do you want me to do with this?

JON: Wear it. Burn it. Whatever you want. You have Castle Black.

JON walks down the stairs.

JON: Upon my death, my watch is ended.

Everyone in attendance watches JON walk away, joined by GHOST.