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”.

Chapter 70, Jon
Summary
Jon decides that he needs to join Robb and avenge with him the death of Ned. Samwell tries to stop him but he’s unsuccessful. His friends catch up with him and they manage to convince him to come back. They make it back to the Wall before the dawn. When Jon resumes his duties he discovers that Lord Commander knows everything about his attempt to escape and that he doesn’t hold it against him.

Quotes

“You said the words,” Pyp reminded him. “Now my watch begins, you said it. It shall not end until my death.”
“I shall live and die at my post, ” Grenn added, nodding.
“You don’t have to tell me the words, I know them as well as you do.” He was angry now. Why couldn’t they let him go in peace? They were only making it harder.
“I am the sword in the darkness, ” Halder intoned.
“The watcher on the walls, ” piped Toad.
Jon cursed them all to their faces.

“Do you think they chose me Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch because I’m dumb as a stump, Snow? Aemon told me you’d go. I told him you’d be back. I know my men… and my boys too. Honor set you on the kingsroad… and honor brought you back.”
“My friends brought me back,” Jon said.
“Did I say it was your honor?”

“I ordered a watch kept over you., You were seen leaving. If your brothers had not fetched you back, you would have been taken along the way, and not by friends. Unless you have a horse with wings like a raven. Do you?”
“No.” Jon felt like a fool.
“Pity, we could use a horse like that.”

Commentary

Love is the bane of honor, the death of duty.

When I first read those words I thought they were silly, that it can’t be true. That love pushes us to keep the honor and duty. After a serious thinking I was forced to agree with Maester Aemon. Love does not help us keep our honor. It makes sure that we do everything in our power to protect our loved ones and when protection is not possible we go avenge them. This has nothing to do with honor or duty.

This is exactly what is happening with Jon. The love for his father was stronger than bonds of honor and duty. Jon felt that if he had stayed on the Wall he would be disrespecting the memory of his Father, as if he forgot about him, as if he was nothing to him. I can totally understand his decision to run.

His near-successful escape had to happen though. Only going through with it and then realizing that he was not alone in his attempt to rush back to the old life made him understand that it’s “part of the job”. Aemon told him before, but Jon had to go through it himself.

The thing I liked particularly in this chapter was the way Lord Commander dealt with the entire thing. The Old Bear let it happen, announced it to Jon and managed to not alienate him by doing so. I was very impressed by their conversation. And I loved the joke about a flying horse.

Chapter 60, Jon
Summary
Jon speaks with Mormont few days after the incident with the undead. The Old Bear presents him with his family Valyrian steel sword and tells him that he sent Ser Alister Thorne away. Jon finds out through Sam that Robb is leading an army into the battle. Maester Aemon summons him and talks to him about the ties with the family that need to be severed when joining Night’s Watch.

Quotes

“Jon, did you ever wonder why the men of the Night’s Watch take no wives and father no children?” Maester Aemon asked.
Jon shrugged. “No.” He scattered more meat. The fingers of his left hand were slimy with blood, and his right throbbed from the weight of the bucket.
“So they will not love,” the old man answered, “for love is the bane of honor, the death of duty.”

“Three times the gods saw fit to test my vows. Once when I was a boy, once in the fullness of my manhood, and once when I had grown old. By then my strength was fled, my eyes grown dim, yet that last choice was as cruel as the first. My ravens would bring the news from the south, words darker than their wings, the ruin of my House, the death of my kin, disgrace and desolation.”

“My father was Maekar, the First of his Name, and my brother Aegon reigned after him in my stead. My grandfather named me for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, who was his uncle, or his father, depending on which tale you believe. Aemon, he called me…”
“Aemon… Targaryen?” Jon could scarcely believe it.

Commentary

Even though this is a different POV character, even though it happens thousands of leagues away, this chapter is a direct continuation of the message last Ned chapter brings. Love and honor don’t go well together. Love is the bane of honor says Aemon Targaryen, the one that had to watch his whole family killed in Robert’s rebellion. Definitely interesting twist to the story.

Not too long ago I was talking with a friend of mine, who’s also Song of Ice and Fire enthusiast, about Maester Aemon. We were discussing if Robert knew that there is one more Targaryen alive in Seven Kingdoms. I was convinced that the King knew about Aemon, but he didn’t care. As the Maester said himself, that was who he was once, not anymore. Now I’m not sure about that. There is no evidence that Rober knew about Aemon. Regardless though, I don’t think that he would harbor the same hatred towards the man who was so dedicated to his new life that he didn’t leave the wall when his family was hunted down.

Chapter 52, Jon
Summary
Night’s Watch party examines the bodies found outside the Wall. Mormont decides to takes the corpses into the keep for Maester Aemon to examine. When they get back to Castle Black Lord Commander tells Jon about the news from Kings Landing. When Alister Thorne calls Ned a traitor, Jon launches at him with a dagger. He is seized and locked away. In the night Jon hears sounds outside his cell and finds out that one of the bodies has come to life. Jon follows it to Mormont’s chambers and with Ghost’s help finally kills it using fire.

Quotes

UUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo.
The sound faded slowly to silence. One blast meant rangers returning, and Jon thought, I was a ranger for one day, at least. Whatever may come, they cannot take that away from me.

“They say the king loved to hunt. The things we love destroy us every time, lad. Remember that.”

“I told you not to do anything stupid, boy,” the Old Bear said. “Boy, ” the bird chorused. Mormont shook his head, disgusted. “And to think I had high hopes for you.”

The sword laid the intruder open to the bone, taking off half his nose and opening a gash cheek to cheek under those eyes, eyes, eyes like blue stars burning. Jon knew that face. Othor, he thought, reeling back. Gods, he’s dead, he’s dead, I saw him dead.

Commentary

I’m a bit disappointed with this chapter. First of all, Jon’s behavior. He was pictured as a boy who could control his anger. To see him launch at Ser Alister like that seemed a bit out of character. Then we get the scene where the Other conveniently kills the guard at Snow’s cell and moves to Mormont’s chambers. And Jon appears at the precise moment when Lord Commander needs saving. This is not how Martin usually rolls the dice. It’s just too convenient.

That being said, there are a few interesting things in this chapter. First off, if you have not noticed yet, Lord Commander Mormont is the father of Ser Jorah, the outcast knight, who’s in Dany’s service (and is spying on her for Varys). We’re also discovering the effective weapon against the undead. Even though swords are not effective against them there is a weapon that works much better: fire. There is a reason why the wildlings burn the bodies of their fallen. They have no intention of having them come back to haunt them.

Chapter 48, Jon
Summary
The boys are officially accepted into the ranks of the Night’s Watch. Each one gets an assignment that fits their skills. Jon is sent to the Stewards, not to Rangers like everyone expected. Samwell and Jon go out beyond the Wall to say their words in front of the Old Gods, at the heart tree. Before they go back to the Wall Ghost brings them hand of a fallen Ranger.

Quotes

“A man of the Night’s Watch lives his life for the realm. Not for a king, nor a lord, nor the honor of this house or that house, neither for gold nor glory nor a woman’s love, but for the realm, and all the people in it. A man of the Night’s Watch takes no wife and fathers no sons. Our wife is duty. Our mistress is honor. And you are the only sons we shall ever know.

I’ll wager that’s why Lord Mormont requested you, Jon. What else could it be? He wants to groom you for command!”
Jon was taken aback. It was true, Lord Eddard had often made Robb part of his councils back at Winterfell. Could Sam be right? Even a bastard could rise high in the Night’s Watch, they said. “I never asked for this,” he said stubbornly.
“None of us are here for asking,” Sam reminded him.
And suddenly Jon Snow was ashamed.

Commentary

Jon makes a mistake in thinking that the best thing that could happen to him is getting assigned to the rangers. He’s guilty of looking down on stewards. He’s not making new friends with his reaction on the news that he’s about to be one of them. Luckily Samwell manages to open his eyes and look on what is really going on, how this assignment means much more than being responsible for “washing old man’s smallclothes”.

Second part of the chapter brings us outside the Wall. Boys say their words at the heart three. Martin hints that there are powers beyond the walls that have not been introduced yet. “The gods are watching.” There is a hope that beside the Others there are more things from the old world occupying this land. For now though, it’s the white walkers that make a first move against the world protected by the Wall. The ploy with leaving the undead for the Night’s Watch to be found suggests malicious intelligence. The Others are going to be a cunning foe.