There's nothing scarier than the prospect of Kit Harrington leaving Westeros for good, so you should definitely go as "Dead Jon Snow" from Game of Thrones for Halloween. This character's death has been hotly debated. How could such an obvious hero, more obvious than those other dead Stark heroes Ned, Robb, and Cat that came before him, be gone from us so easily? I am with all of you in that I don't trust a single thing the producers are saying with regards to his fate. However, even I can admit that the Dead Jon Snow frenzy is mockable, and Halloween is the perfect time to make light of a depressing situation like this one.
What else is great about this costume? Not only is it totally in tune to the zeitgeist and sure to spark conversation at your Halloween party, but there are as many ways to interpret this concept as there are ways to interpret the Season 5 finale. It doesn't even matter whose side you are on. I have options here for the hopeful and the haters. You can celebrate your smug insistence that he's only mostly dead or rub it in the faces of your more emotionally compromised friends and me that you're certain he's never, ever, ever coming back. Here are five starkly (pun intended) different ways to dress as "Dead Jon Snow" this Halloween.
1. The "On The Nose"
If you want to make this as literal as possible, the tunic that Jon Snow was stabbed in is available from SpiritHalloween and other costume shops for $50. You'll just need to wear black pants, like these from H&M for $25 and a wig. Then, get some fake blood (which you can also get at a store like SpiritHalloween — just make sure that whatever you buy can be washed out of clothes) and start hacking away at your costume while pledging "for the Watch!"
If you're feeling more creative than a store-bought costume but don't have sewing skills, you can also take it up a notch and do full White Walker make-up or any kind of corpse/zombie makeup, but that's your prerogative. If you subscribe to the theory that Jon is coming back as a Walker, do it!!
Theatrical Blood, $3, Spirit Halloween; Frank N Furter Wig, $17, Spirit Halloween
2. Kit Harrington's Acting Contract
It's a spooky world that we live in where the first indicator of a character's alive status is the actor's legal status with the show, so why not go as Kit Harrington's acting contract? It's creative and easy. Get a white undershirt. You can have a Hanes four-pack delivered to you from Amazon for about $14. Recreate the Screen Actor's Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists logo (pictured above) with black fabric Sharpie, which you can also get on Amazon for $5.00. Under the logo, write something like:
THIS AGREEMENT, to be make the 31st of October, 2015 between HBO/Game of Thrones, henceafter called "Producer" and Kit Harrington, henceafter known as "Performer"
Then finish off your "contract" with squiggly lines or whatever legalese you choose. If you want to look at the sample acting contract I used, go wild.
Hanes Four-pack, $16, Amazon; Black Fabric Sharpie Set, $28, Amazon
3. The "R+L = J" Theory
Whisper "promise me Ned" into people's ears all night, because this "Dead Jon Snow" idea clings to the most popular fan theory that proves he's too important to be killed by a dumb kid named Olly. For this costume, you're proving that Jon Snow is not only part Stark, but a secret Targaryen, one of "the dragon's three heads" and/or the prophesied Azor Ahai whose parents are Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. So, after you fashion your hair with a Jon Snow wig like this one that you can get on Amazon for $25, you'll want a cute House Targaryen shirt like this official HBO tank that's $30 and a red dragon scale skirt like this one from BlackMilk that's $60— though if you want to save some money, there are similar leggings on Etsy for less.
4. Kit Harrington At The Belfast Airport
This is the most obscure, but my favorite. In fact, I think my roommate has already claimed this as her costume. All summer long, Game of Thrones fans have been on "Kit Harrington Watch" to make sure he hasn't cut his long Stark locks. When Kit Harrington was spotted in Ireland, the ferver really got started. Has he been filming Season 6? It's a mystery worthy of a great Halloween costume.
First, tie your hair into a "man bun" if you have enough on your head. If not, you can get a wig like the one used in the R+L=J costume above. Get a black denim jacket like this one from H&M that costs $49.99 and a too-perfect grey tee shirt for $6.99 which shows your loyalty to the Night's Watch even after what they did. For bottoms, just regular blue jeans like these that you can get at H&M for $9.95 are fine.
If you need to, a $6 black Sephora eye pencil will do for some last minute scruff. For the final touch, I even mocked up a fake Game Of Thrones Season 6 script title page — just stick that on a stack of paper, hole punch and bind them together with two brads, and you're ready to start learning your secret lines!
Eye Pencil, $6, Sephora
5. Jon Snow's Ghost (Get It?)
Not his ghost, his Ghost. The direwolf! One of the more interesting theories is that when Jon Snow "died" he warged into his pet. So, if you want a cute, simple costume, go as a white direwolf and tell everybody that you are Jon Snow, resurrected. You'll need some fuzzy ears, and I suggest you go all out with a white wolf hood like this one for $20 on Amazon. Then, add a bit of black leather to make sure everyone knows you aren't just any wolf, like this one that's $22.90 at Forever 21 that I stole from Caroline Gerdes's DIY Jon Snow costume idea for Bustle. Throw on black pants or jeans like you see in above examples, and then you've gotta add some white furry boot covers. You can get those at any costume store or on HalloweenCostumes for $20.
White Wolf Hood, $20, Amazon; White Furry Boot Covers, $20, Halloween Costumes
And now you're all ready for your topical Halloween costume. Make sure to use it this year, because I'm sure by next season we'll all see he's definitely alive and well and these costumes won't be relevant anymore.
Image: Helen Sloan/Courtesy of HBO; Wikimedia Commons; SpiritHalloween (2); H&M (4); Amazon (4); Sephora: Forever 21; BlackMilk
