Kit Harington: Jon Snow's lingering respect for Rayder leaves him conflicted 

\'Game of Thrones\' Kit Harington: Jon Snow\'s lingering respect for Rayder leaves him conflicted

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When Jon Snow (Kit Harington) first joined the Night\'s Watch in Season 1 of HBO\'s "Game of Thrones," he did so as an idealistic, somewhat callow young man who saw the world in clearly defined black and white moral terms.

As "Thrones" returns for its fifth season Sunday (April 12), however, the character has been dramatically changed by his two years (give or take) at Castle Black and his experiences in the wilderness of the North. Ygritte, the beautiful wildling who fell in love with Jon when he infiltrated her army, died in the huge battle at The Wall that capped Season 4, and Jon\'s time with the wildling leader Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) taught him that people often aren\'t as they first appear.

"When we first meet Jon [in Season 1], he is all about honor and duty," explains Harington to  Zap2it. "It\'s very clear to him who are the bad guys and the good guys. Where we find him this season is really interesting, because having spent time with who he thought were the bad guys -- the wildlings, whom he now calls the Free Folk -- he doesn\'t really trust anyone who he maybe should trust as he would have done before."

That puts Jon in a decidedly awkward situation where his allegiances are concerned. The men of Castle Black were rescued at the eleventh hour by the army of Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), head of the royal family once served by Jon\'s father, Eddard "Ned" Stark. Stannis holds Rayder captive as the new season opens, yet Jon\'s lingering respect for the latter leaves him conflicted as to where his loyalties should lie.

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"Before, he would have gone into Stannis\' pocket straightaway, when they first met," Harington says. "But now Jon is world-weary. He\'s seen a lot of death, so now he sees shades of gray in people, which makes him more cautious and perhaps astute when it comes to dealing with what this world throws at him. I really think Jon is more cynical now, essentially. He knows what his duty is, he knows what he swore to, and that still is the core of him, because he\'s a man of his word, like this father. But he is far more cynical about who he trusts and who he doesn\'t."

He\'s not allowed to reveal whether the new season finally will see Jon Snow venturing out of the North, but Harington says that if he does, Jon likely will return eventually to his homeland.

"Throughout the season there are opportunities for him to leave," Harington says. "The likely answer to that question (of whether he does leave) perhaps lies in how he has had a chance to do other things in the past rather than stay at Castle Black -- and how he turned those opportunities down."

The actor says he\'s very excited for fans to see the upcoming new episodes, although he has some advice for them: "Don\'t get too attached to anyone."

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