Special Encounters #6: Kit Harington & Rose Leslie
It shouldn’t be hard for one to guess where and how Kit Harington and his costar Rose Leslie met. Yes, we’re talking about the Jon Snow and the Ygritte of the Game of Thrones, the series that has made us bite our nails almost every episode for the last 6 years.
Having blossomed at the set, they were able to not only start a relationship, but maintain one. Their love has recently ended with a happily-ever-after. This love story also has a nostalgic taste to it!
Spoiler alert: This content may involve “a bit of a spoiler” for those who haven’t watched the series yet!
All the Times Without Eye Contact…
The handsome and the dearie Jon Snow of the Game of Thrones, Kit Harington had no idea how his life would turn around in 2011 when the filming of the second season started. Having spent the majority of his time on the set under tough conditions, Kit had nothing but Game of Thrones in his life for the previous year. Thanks to the series’ gaining worldwide popularity, Kit also became the center of female attention. No wonder his personal life often got caught on the paparazzi radar!
The day filming of the second season began, Kit Harington met his costar and on-screen partner Rose Leslie, although it wasn’t easy for them to become friends right away. The producers of the Game of Thrones were so strict when it came to keeping the plot a secret – the cast were given the scripts only before the filming and in separate rooms, or they had to read it in far corners of the set even avoiding “eye contact”. Therefore the duo couldn’t even come face to face, let alone get closer. But of course, if love is bound to happen, it will happen!
By the Power of Northern Lights!
Meanwhile things got even more thrilling in the second season and Jon Snow, who went beyond the Wall, fell in love with Ygritte, a wildling and a member of the Free Folk living there. To put it another way, the characters they played had already kindled love in another world long before Kit and Rose fell in love with each other in the real world.
As much as they didn’t have the opportunity to get closer on the set, Kit and Rose started to see each other thanks to Jon Snow and Ygritte’s romantic scenes. Who wouldn’t anyway, under the beautiful Northern Lights of wild Iceland? And thus, the couple secretly began seeing each other. They were under too much pressure though – a producer they were responsible to, the strict contracts they were bound to and of course the huge number of fans crazy curious about the tiniest thing they did… Regular couple things like walking hand in hand and going on romantic trips became things they could only dream of. They had to depend on the “We’re just friends” cliché of the celebrity world, which help up (until they were spotted hand in hand in a simple cafe in London!)
Despite Ygritte’s Tragic End…
Always keeping the distance with the tabloid press even after their disclosure as lovers in 2015, the modest couple never got tired of looking into each other’s eyes with love – even being bullied by Kit Harington’s fans didn’t hold them back from shouting out their happiness. Having announced their engagement the old fashioned way with a newspaper ad last year, our couple recently tied the knot in an amazing wedding in the castle owned by Rose’s family in Aberdeen. (Rose has Scottish royal ancestry and even spent her childhood in the castle!)
So the tragic end in Jon Snow and Ygritte’s world remained a terrible fictional event, while a happy ending was unfolding in Rose and Kit’s real world lives.
Love isn’t the only thing these two love birds share, they also have quite a bit of humor between them. Kit Harrington played a pretty stellar prank on his then-girlfriend Rose, and we’re OBSESSED with her hilarious reaction.
In case you don’t remember, here’s the link:
