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The cold Jon felt.


FearFacesNorth

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Everything about Jon's last chapter is different to the rest; the pace, the wording and conclusion. If there is anything I learned throughout my years of knowing GRRM's work, it's that everything is deliberate, and this chapter is no exception to that statement.

Jon feels 'the cold', which is something I find odd. He's spent how long beyond/at the Wall? Unless Marsh undressed him while stabbing him, I don't see any reason for Jon to all of a sudden feel the cold he's been trained to ignore all of a sudden. Unless it's not real cold.

Jon's last chapter is the only chapter GRRM ends with an ellipsis (the three dots/'...') which is symbolic of a fragment of a sentence being omitted from a text. This means that the ending 'Jon didn't feel the fourth knife, only the cold...' is going to be directly continued in his next chapter.

This is where my tinfoil hat theory comes from. The cold he apparently feels is phantom. Remember his dreams from GoT? How, no matter where he ran, he always ended up descending the stairs to the Crypts of Winterfell but he could go no further. Well, after the shock of three (four?) stab wounds he was sent into a dreamlike state and is finally able to reach the Crypts and stand in front of his mother's grave, where he learns of his true parentage.

I know there are many other theories out there, with a great deal of evidence, so no hassle please. A brother's gotta keep himself entertained until TWoW.

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I pretty much agree. If you remember earlier he had a training fight with Iron Emmett, got hit on the head and whoosh he`s back in winterfell fighting with Robb at 6 years of age or thereabouts. I believe he`s not dead, just experiencing a similar flashback in anger.


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Everything about Jon's last chapter is different to the rest; the pace, the wording and conclusion. If there is anything I learned throughout my years of knowing GRRM's work, it's that everything is deliberate, and this chapter is no exception to that statement.

Jon feels 'the cold', which is something I find odd. He's spent how long beyond/at the Wall? Unless Marsh undressed him while stabbing him, I don't see any reason for Jon to all of a sudden feel the cold he's been trained to ignore all of a sudden. Unless it's not real cold.

I always thought the "cold" and not feeling the fourth knife was Jon going into shock or a rush of adrenaline. But the theories that he warged Ghost at the time of his death have some merit IMO.

Jon's last chapter is the only chapter GRRM ends with an ellipsis (the three dots/'...') which is symbolic of a fragment of a sentence being omitted from a text. This means that the ending 'Jon didn't feel the fourth knife, only the cold...' is going to be directly continued in his next chapter.

Thaaaat's very interesting. It would definitely be different to start the next Jon chapter with "dot dot dot (fill in the blank)"

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I pretty much agree. If you remember earlier he had a training fight with Iron Emmett, got hit on the head and whoosh he`s back in winterfell fighting with Robb at 6 years of age or thereabouts. I believe he`s not dead, just experiencing a similar flashback in anger.

Perhaps a Bran-type dream state is imminent. AKA some unknown force breaking the news to Jon that he's a Targaryen.

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i felt he fell face first in snow or something

Perhaps a Bran-type dream state is imminent. AKA some unknown force breaking the news to Jon that he's a Targaryen.

no just a flashback from anger to a younger age. I`m not certain but would they not clear the snow around castle blacks grounds?

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I always thought the "cold" and not feeling the fourth knife was Jon going into shock or a rush of adrenaline. But the theories that he warged Ghost at the time of his death have some merit IMO.

Paralysis might also be a contender. Melisandre thinks he's dead due to his paralysis, sacrifices his body for king's blood, all the while Jon watches from the eyes of his direwolf.

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Paralysis might also be a contender. Melisandre thinks he's dead due to his paralysis, sacrifices his body for king's blood, all the while Jon watches from the eyes of his direwolf.

i think IF he is really hurt he is slowly dying and melisandre goes after him as a sacrifice while he still lives.

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over several hours it does, over moments it doesn`t. what sort of defence would let snow build up on its grounds and be snowed in?

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I never noticed the ellipses thing but that is incredibly interesting and, no doubt, significant in some way. And you're right that that's what it means as punctuation: Something is missing there. The only other comparable POV is probably Catelyn at the Red Wedding, and in that case, the punctuation was definitive. She died, period.



As to what it means for Jon, there are several possibilities. Maybe he's drifting into unconsciousness, not dead but not lucid either. Maybe his consciousness is drifting into Ghost. There are some (admittedly nutty) theories that Jon's assassination does something to the magic of the Wall and the cold is the Others beginning to arrive. That one's a stretch.


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I'm not sure how to post quotes from the book but, my favorite part from Jon's last chapter is when it is mentioned how after he is stabbed "in the cold night air the wound was smoking".


I always found this very interesting because only from Jon's wound and Drogon's blood is the word smoking used to describe them.


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I'm not sure how to post quotes from the book but, my favorite part from Jon's last chapter is when it is mentioned how after he is stabbed "in the cold night air the wound was smoking".

I always found this very interesting because only from Jon's wound and Drogon's blood is the word smoking used to describe them.

Yep, that's a detail that people have spotted. Both wounds are "smoking" parallels Jon with Drogon and it has a few people wondering if this is meant to be the "smoke" part of "salt and smoke." It's a pretty specific/deliberate turn of phrase to use.

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no just a flashback from anger to a younger age. I`m not certain but would they not clear the snow around castle blacks grounds?

I would like a flashback where he overhears something that Ned said, perhaps at the godswood, that at the time didn't mean anything to Jon, but when he hears it now he realizes his parentage.

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