Here's the Real Reason Daenerys and Jon Snow Won't Be Getting Together

Starts with a D.

Are you hoping that Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow are going to get together in the forthcoming season of Game of Thrones? Well, good luck with that. Look, I don't want to be cruel, but it's extremely unlikely.

Hollywood Life has theorized one reason that this pairing won't happen, based on a recent S/ Magazine interview with Emilia Clarke, who portrays the Mother of Dragons on the HBO series. "I think that she has ultimately put aside her own need for a man," Clarke told the Toronto magazine. "She is so engaged and wrapped up in leading and being the queen and ruling and fulfilling her birth right that the idea of someone coming in and sharing that title is probably something she's not comfortable with."

That all seems in order. When we last saw Khaleesi, she had already left her lover Daario Naharis behind and set sail across the ocean to conquer Westeros. Definitely no need for any kind of husband to weigh her down in that mission.

But there's another reason it's a long shot to hope for Daenerys and Jon to get together: As we saw in last season's finale, they're related. We saw Eddard Stark climb the Tower of Joy to find his sister Lyanna dying after giving birth to Jon—and we know that Lyanna had either been abducted by Daenerys' brother Rhaegar Targaryen or run away with him. If her baby was indeed fathered by Rhaegar, then Dany is Jon's aunt. Being related isn't exactly a barrier to love in the Seven Kingdoms (ahem, Cersei and Jaime Lannister), but given how little anyone approves of that relationship, we really don't think these relatives are going to fall in love or get hitched. Plus, Jon likes redheads (RIP, Ygritte).

And finally, the biggest reason Dany has no need of Jon or, as Clarke says, any man?

Who needs a man when you have a dragon—or three?

Game of Thrones returns to HBO on July 16 at 9 P.M.

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Estelle Tang

Estelle Tang is the former senior editor of ELLE.com.