If Jorah Mormont Survives, How Does He Fit Into ‘Game of Thrones’?
There’s a reason he wasn’t in Westeros to begin the series. Jumping back now could get complicated.
The last time Jorah Mormont caught up with Daenerys, it was in Season 6, Episode 5. His greyscale wasn’t so advanced then — it was basically just a nasty-looking rash on his forearm — but its presence meant that Dany had no choice: She had to send him away. Dany banished him once again, but ordered him to find a cure and left him with a promise: "When I take the Seven Kingdoms, I need you by my side."
Now it appears that Jorah will find the cure. Sure, Sam Tarly’s attempt to scrape off the greyscale— now black, hardened, and covering most of Jorah’s arm and chest — seems incredibly risky, but why would this plot be in the show if Jorah’s fate is to just die of the disease he’s had since Season 5? As Jason Concepcion said on the latest episode of Binge Mode, "You don’t go through this and not survive."
So if Jorah does end up by Dany’s side, what could that mean for the potential Jon-Dany alliance?
"We now have to start to think about the fact that there are Mormonts in a couple of these clans," said Mallory Rubin. "Jorah Mormont being with Dany, Lyanna Mormont being with Jon. Is that potentially good news? A bridge, a family bridge that could help Jon and Dany find more common ground if things don’t go well for them when they meet up?"
But there’s a wrench in that. Jorah was in Dany’s service in the first place because he was exiled from Westeros after participating in the slave trade — his reemerging on the continent could be bad news.
"Or could it go the other way?," Rubin continued. "Because Jorah, as he reminds Sam and us, is dead to his family. Lyanna is young, very young, [so] did that hatred and prejudice and shame carry over? Would she welcome him? These are questions we should start to ask ourselves."
And though it appears Jorah has a place in the wars to come, Jason and Mallory both feel he won’t make it out of the series alive.
"I mean, maybe something else will kill him," Rubin added. "Maybe he’ll die in battle or sacrifice himself to protect Dany. I could definitely see something like that happening, and I think it would be a fitting end for his character."
Listen to the full podcast here. This transcript has been edited and condensed.