Aspiring actors everywhere, great news: Kit Harington might have just revealed the secret to nailing an audition—at least, any try-out for a role in a brutal, violent fantasy world. All you have to do is come in with a black eye. Really! The Jon Snow actor had one when he came in for his Game of Thrones audition, and that seems to have worked out splendidly.

“I’d been in a fight the night before,” Harington explained in a video interview with W Magazine. “I’d got in this fight with this guy in McDonald’s.”

Wait, Jon Snow eats at McDonald’s? I’d always thought he’d be more of a Wendy’s guy. You know, because he has a thing for redheads? I’m sorry; go on, Kit.

“I went into the McDonald’s with this girl I was sort of dating at the time, and it was late at night, and there was no seats. I asked this guy and the girl he was with if we could sit on the same table, and they said yes.”

After that, things apparently got ugly: the guy started being very rude to Harington’s date, calling her names. Like any chivalrous knight, Harington stood up and called him out—challenging him to a modern-day duel, right there in the middle of the fast food establishment. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was not intimidated—and instead stood up, too, and kept up his rude behavior.

At that point, Harington felt he had to throw the first punch. (“Otherwise I’d look like a wimp.”) Unfortunately, he got beaten down—but on the bright side, “I think that man who punched me in the face may have helped me get the job, so thank you.”

There you have it, folks. Black eye. That’s the golden ticket. But one has to wonder: was this the moment Harington was flashing back to when he accidentally punched his co-star Iwan Rheon in the face?