A question on Mance Rayder

[King Ned Stark]

From what I remember, Meltells Jon that Mance can rescue Arya, and breaks the Rattleshirt glamour. She explains to Mance that she is traveling north with a body of water on one side.

My question, why did Mance bypass that girl altogether and go to Winterfell? Why would he need six spearwives "for a certain ploy" if he was just supposed to scoop Arya up in her travels?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[Nuncle Stark]

I thought Mel got the vision wrong, like she does sometimes. Mel doesn't know the fake Arya at Winterfell is fake. Mel thinks she is the real one. So she sent Mance down to rescure that girl, and the best way to do it in a castle full of Boltons and Freys is with backup, especially the female variety that can blend in better and etc. 

 

Right? ;)

[unitron]

It is curious how Mel and Mance discuss in which direction the girl is riding on which side of what lake, as though her vision was surveillance camera footage instead of something symbolic or metaphorical, and yet he makes specific plans to smuggle her out of Winterfell as a washerwoman instead of catching up to her on the road somewhere.

 

 

Every time George drives me nuts, it's on questions of logistics like that.

[MaesterSam]

IMO, Mance and Mel always had their own plan that they never shared with Jon. You are right, the washerwomen seem quite unnecessary if he is only going to intercept the fleeing girl and bring her to the Wall. Given the plan Jon was told, there was no reason for Mance to go to WF.

[RobertRivers]

The spearwives were for a "certain ploy" he had in mind. For some reason, I don't think this ploy involved the killings in winterfell.
Side note: if I remember correctly, bran and company only take 3 or 4 swords while theon thinks 4 or 5 swords after he goes down the crypt. I think it is somehow relevant to the ploy.

[The Holy Goat]

IMO, Mance and Mel always had their own plan that they never shared with Jon. You are right, the washerwomen seem quite unnecessary if he is only going to intercept the fleeing girl and bring her to the Wall. Given the plan Jon was told, there was no reason for Mance to go to WF.

 

I agree that Jon probably didn't have any idea that Mance would go to Winterfell. I'm actually not sure Mel did either. I think both of them was under the impression that Mance would wait at Long Lake and snatch the girl up when heading north. Going to Winterfell might've been something Mance decided on his own when the girl never showed up by Long Lake. The Women he brought with him might be in order to make her feel more secure, since a group of men is easier to take for hostile bandits.

[John Suburbs]

My impression of the vision was that Mel thought it was a glimpse of the future. So she sends Mance to Winterfell to free Arya with the idea that somehow she would eventually flee to the north on her own -- most likely because Mance & co. are dead.

 

And as the Goat said, he probably had it from any number of sources on the road south that Arya was still in Winterfell, so he might as well head there rather than freezing his balls off beside a frozen lake.

[ErasmusF]

My impression of the vision was that Mel thought it was a glimpse of the future. So she sends Mance to Winterfell to free Arya with the idea that somehow she would eventually flee to the north on her own -- most likely because Mance & co. are dead.

 

And as the Goat said, he probably had it from any number of sources on the road south that Arya was still in Winterfell, so he might as well head there rather than freezing his balls off beside a frozen lake.

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