except character development NEVER ends. right up until lord vader saves his son from palpetine at the end of the SW trilogy.
Arguably Ned Stark got more character development than he did his entire season alive. Everything he was seen saying and doing was a deception and that was seasons ago. GODS, a Targaaaaaaaaaaaaarian baby on a open field Ned. He suffered 17 years of wrath of a pissed off wife without telling her the truth. Apparently he told Benjen though as he seems to always have known Jon was Aegon, 50th of his name.
It's been so long since I read the books I completely forgot about this. I actually think this is going to depart entirely from the books then. Show-Aegon probably got merged with show-Jon and the Golden Company is going to just be a fancy sellsword group with no particular ties. The "revelation" of Jon's heritage in the show is the fan favorite that has been circulating for years, so perhaps that's still the same in the books - maybe just with a different name, and in the books he would have been a 3rd contender or perhaps simply a complication for whatever book-Aegon and book-Dany were going to politic out.
Of course this is mostly wishful thinking that the books won't be quite so terribly contrived and trope-ridden as the show is now
Edit: They COULD still have book-Aegon be in with the Golden Company in the show, but it's kind of a big reveal to have with absolutely no hints or references, and the whole Golden Company storyline is already completely different than it was in the books so I'm not sure there's even a reason to do it. Unless they do something wonky like:
- Cersei hires Golden Company, which all show up at King's Landing
- Leader of the Golden Company reveals himself as Aegon, and basically usurps KL and the throne then and there because they're already in the city
- Dany and her entourage have to deal with the shit in the north and then come down to find a_Targ__heir_05 as appeared on the throne and doesn't want to share, or demands Dany subserve him, whatever. Conflict happens
Early on like episode 2 or 3 of the series Jon told Benjen at Winterfell he wanted to join the Night's Watch and Benjen mentioned he could never father children in his lifetime service and Jon basically said he didn't care and Benjen replied you would if you knew what it meant or something along those lines. It was clear Benjen knew what his heritage was.
A bit different and sticking to what I said last night which seems in line with what JP said in that article Cad posted.
it suggests he knows she liked rhaegar. he put two and two together after she dies having a baby, Ned likely just told him. its his brother after all.
Oh ya, I couldn't find where what you put mentioned anything about what I was quoting but that video I linked explained that meeting and the whys and hows he possibly knew as well. I haven't read the books so it all makes sense after watching that video and reading that. Pretty sure it confirms he knew regardless if Ned told him or not. I still question if he is even dead though. We assume so and he should be, but he was already dead. What is dead may never die. Kappa.
Nah, at least for me I am 99.97321234342 sure on this. I questioned why Benjen sacrificed himself at the lake in episode 6 of this season. After watching the finale then seeing the scene I remembered from a month ago I was 95% sure. Now seeing Benjens history and that video made before the season 7 just makes it 99.97321234342% sure for me. You can still believe he just joined the Nights Watch to hide from a life of fun in Kings Landing and sacrificed himself ( possibly ) to save Jon so he could get his dick wet if you like though. I won't hold it against you.
