Originally posted by JHB4UK:
R+L=J is simplistic and the fav theory of fanboys and fangirls who want Jon Snow to be the true king....and to ride dragons...and burn up all the ice zombies...and marry Danny, for a happily ever after story end.
Problem is the books do not support that. if anything it is that Danny is the child of Rhaegar & Lyanna. OR, her & Jon are twins of R&L.
When did Ned Stark dream about the Tower of Joy, about the promise he made his sister? After Varys convinces Robert to send an assassin to kill Danny. He doesnt think or worry about Jon Snow one second the rest of the 1st book after he is sent to The Wall. If Jon is the Keanu Reeves super-savior of this story, it is strange that Ned agreed to someone so important joining the Nights Watch so easily (after being manipulated into doing it by Maester Luwin).
The story is more interesting if Jon Snow is the bastard son of his older brother. That makes Ned devious and calculating; by claiming Jon as his son, he denied Jon the right of inheritance to Winterfell as the son of the older brother. GRRM very much likes to mix things up into gray, hero characters do evil things, evil characters make heroic choices.