Boatsex or "epic boatsex" refers to the shipping theory that the characters Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen will have sexual intercourse while on boat during the seventh season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones. Following spoiler leaks leading up to the seventh season, which hinted at love scenes between the characters, fans, especially on Reddit, began referring to their scene as "boatsex." Their speculation was later confirmed in the season finale of season seven.

In October 2016, spoilers for the seventh season of Game of Thrones leaked onto the internet to much speculation and fervor. On October 17th, 2016, Redditor^[1] maureencreates layed out the known spoilers in a timeline, predicting what episode they would occur in the /r/FreeFolk subreddit. For the section on episode seven, they wrote:

"Jon and Dany have sex for the first time on a boat headed North."

The post received more than 750 points (99% upvoted) and 640 comments before archiving. "Boat sex" became one of the most widely discussed spoilers on the subreddit.

On October 19th, Instagram ^[4] user @kortajarenajon^[4] posted a picture fro the marketing materials of Game of Thrones with the caption "So proud of having these talented people filming in my hometown. It has been delightful meeting you @dunmug #GameOfThrones #Euskadi." The post (shown below) received more than 24,000 likes and spurred more speculation about the scene in the /r/freefolk subreddit.^[5]

Later that month, On October 27th, 2016, Redditor^[2] matserban a leaked video of the scene they share in the subreddit /r/freefolk. The video has since been removed, but this is among the earliest mentions of the phrase "boat sex."

Several days later, on October 31st Redditor Edmures_Floppy_Fish posted on a thread about the spoliers, referring to their scene as "boat sex." They wrote, "CLEGANEBOWL happens after the dragon pit scene, while Jon and Dany have boatsex."

As the seventh season approached, more interest and references to boatsex emerged on Reddit. On May 29th, 2017, a since-deleted Reddit account launched the /r/Boatsex subreddit.^[9] As of August 2017, the subreddit has more than 160 subscribers.

On July 26th, Redditor^[6] petyr_b posted a series of captioned images of Jon and Daenerys meeting for the first time in a thread entitled "32 days until Boatsex" in the /r/freefolk subreddit. The post (shown below, left) received more than 11,700 points (94% upvoted) and 395 comments.

The following day, Redditor^[7] iampissed0ff posted an image of Jon landing on a beach with a behind-the-scenes photo of Daenerys expressing excitement. The post (shown below, right) received more than 4,100 points (95% upvoted) and 100 comments.

Several days later, on July 30th, Redditor^[11] Other_accountant asked about "boat sex" in the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit.

On August 27th, HBO aired the seventh episode and season seven finale of Game of Thrones, which features a scene where Jon and Daenerys have sex on a boat. The post inspired more references and memes on Reddit.

That day, Redditor^[10] snowstormms posted a series of images of King Joffery dying from a previous episode of Game of Thrones in a thread "entitled there will only be two types of people after epic boatsex. we will never be the same again." The post (shown below) received more than 2,700 points (97% upvoted) and 90 comments.

The following day, Redditor^[8] DankisKhan posted the BOATSEX UPVOTE PARTY, in which users would attempt to get "boatsex" on the front page of Reddit. The post received more than 55,000 points 75% upvoted and 4,000 comments.