Re-reading Song of Ice and Fire

Chapter 6, Jon
Summary
Jon is looking for Sam in the old library. Samwell is looking for maps of the haunted forest for their raiding. Together they bring the maps to Lord Mormont. Old Bear gives Jon lecture on Targaryen kings and questions his feelings on king Robb.

Quotes

“And his brothers?” Jon asked.
The armorer considered that a moment. “Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He’ll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he’s copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day.”

“Blind he may be, but Aemon knows what he’s about. I pray the gods let us keep him another twenty years. Do you know that he might have been king?”
Jon was taken by surprise. “He told me his father was king, but not… I thought him perhaps a younger son.”

“Robb will rule, you will serve. Men will call you a crow. Him they’ll call Your Grace. Singers will praise every little thing he does, while your greatest deeds all go unsung. Tell me that none of this troubles you, Jon… and I’ll name you a liar, and know I have the truth of it.”
Jon drew himself up, taut as a bowstring. “And if it did trouble me, what might I do, bastard as I am?”
“What will you do?” Mormont asked. “Bastard as you are?”
“Be troubled,” said Jon, “and keep my vows.”

Commentary

The entire storyline of Jon and the Night’s Watch revolves around the conflicting feelings and the fight between two strongest forces in human psyche: the bond with family and the determination to keep your honor, to keep your vows.

Jon’s will is tested once more with Robb being crowned the King in the North. Knowing that his half brother will be the heir to Winterfell is entirely different thing than knowing that he’s going to be a King. Mormont has the right of it. The message he passes o Jon though is: those feelings are not bad in themselves. They are natural. Now what can be good or bad is the way we deal with them. Jon chooses to “be troubled and keep his vows”.

Tags: Jon

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