‘Game of Thrones’: Jon Snow Takes Flight During Season 8 Premiere

Season 8 of Game of Thrones has just begun, and it is already making history with Jon Snow‘s first solo flight on dragonback.

Game of Thrones returned on Sunday for its eighth and final season. There was no shortage of action in the premiere episode, as the show prepares to wrap up its decade-long dominion over the world TV with the final battle against the Army of the Dead.

Warning! Spoilers for Game of Thrones lie ahead!

One of the biggest developments in the season premiere was Jon Snow’s (Kit Harington) impromptu flight on Rhaegal, one of Daenerys Targaryen‘s (Emilia Clarke) dragons. The two young rulers were walking through the yard outside of Winterfell in the episode when Daenerys’ Dothraki soldiers came to warn her that the dragons were not eating enough.

Dany felt that the dragons were despondent because they hate the frigid north. She did her best to comfort them and was surprised to see how interested they were in Jon as well. Before long, Rhaegal, the smaller of the two, lowered his head, and Dany encourage Jon to climb up.

Jon officially became the second character ever to fly on dragonback in the series by himself. Even Dany did not ride a dragon until Season 5, when Drogon rescued her from the fighting pits in Mereen. Last season, she was able to hoist a few other characters onto Drogon’s back with her, but other than that only she has enjoyed the freedom of flight.

The scene continued as Dany and Jon landed near a waterfall, reminiscent of one of Jon’s formative experiences north of the wall. The two kissed and the dragons watched with interest — one of the funnier moments in a relatively grim episode.

Of course, the thing that allows Jon to ride a dragon, and that draws him and Dany so close may soon come between them. As we saw, Jon learned the truth of his parentage on this week’s episode. Meeting by Ned Stark’s grave, Sam informed his friend that he was actually the secret son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targeryan — the man for whom that dragon was named.

Now, the series is building towards a conflict between Jon and Dany, as the northern lords are furious that Jon gave up his crown for her. Sam asks pointedly whether Jon thinks Dany would do the same for her people as he has done for his.

It’s clear that there are a lot of questions left to answer in this final season of the epic fantasy series. There are just five episodes left to find out how humanity will survive the war for the dawn and who will sit on the Iron Throne when the dust settles.

Game of Thrones airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.