Wylla not necessarily Jon Snow's mother
Ned does not say that Wylla is the mother of Jon Snow. We are led to assume that because;
- Ned claims Jon Snow as his bastard son, bringing him back from Robert Rebellion wars,
- Robert talks about all the women they had during campaigning, implying that Ned had only (?) one woman he slept with (as opposed to Roberts numerous), and Ned provides the name of the women: Wylla.
- You're right. I edited the text slightly. - Regards, KarinS 20:08, August 17, 2011 (UTC)
- Robert specifically asked him what the name of the mother of his bastard was, and Eddard says (rather reluctantly) "Wylla." That seems pretty clear-cut to me that this is, at least, the story Eddard is propagating.--Werthead 12:15, August 18, 2011 (UTC)
- The way I remember it is this: Robert asks Ned about the mother of Jon, suggests that it was this one women and then wonders about her name. It's the second question ('What's her name again?') that Ned answers, not the first ('Who is Jon's mother?'). I'll check the episode and transcribe that fragment later today. - Regards, KarinS 08:43, August 24, 2011 (UTC)
Here's a transcript of their conversation in The Kingsroad, starting at circa 20 minutes into the episode:
Robert en Eddard sit down to eat something.
Robert: 'Gods! This is country! I have half a mind to leave them all behind and keep going.
Ned: I have half a mind to go with you.
Robert: What do you say, just you and me on the Kingsroad... Swords at our side, a couple of tavern wenches to warm our beds tonight...
Ned: You should've asked me twenty years ago.
Robert (laughs): Huh! There were wars to fight, women to marry... Never had a chance to be young.
Ned (smiles): I recall a few chances.
Robert (guffaws): Ha ha ha... There was that one, ah, what was her name, that common girl of yours... Becca, with the great big tits you could bury your face in...
Ned: Bessy. She was one of yours!
Robbert: Bessy! Thank the gods for Bessy! And her tits! ... Yours was, eh, Elena, no. You told me once... Eh, Meryl? Your bastard's mother...?
Ned (suddenly aloof): Wylla.
Robert: That's it! She must have been a rare wench to make Lord Stark forget his honor. You never told me what she looked like.
Ned: Nor will I.
Robert: We were at war. None of us knew if we were going to get back home again. You're too hard on yourself. You always have been. (silence) I swear that if I weren't your king, you would've had hit me already.
Ned: The worst thing about your coronation is that I'll never get to hit you again!
Robert: Trust me. That's not the worst thing.
It's a classic. Robert asks a question and in the same sentence, he states what he thinks to be a fact. Ned answers the question, which leads Robert - and us - to assume that the second part was indeed a fact. But in this little conversation, Robert proves to be an unreliable narrator: he doesn't even remember the girl's name, not even the name of the girl he himself had slept with. And it's not likely that Ned impregnated a woman during the war and then patiently waited for their baby to be born, just as it would be unlikely that he'd gotten word from her months later that she was pregnant and then showed up afterwards to fetch the lad. - Regards, KarinS 22:37, August 24, 2011 (UTC)