[LugaJetBoyGirl]

This morning at Technicon George read a Jon chapter. It was totally awesome. It covers the discussion between Sam and Jon from Jon's point of view. Here's what happens.

Jon is in his office/solar thing. He's reading a letter that Aemon wrote up and he is not very happy about it. It's for the Lannisters in Kings Landing, asking them to help the Watch. Jon thinks about how much he hates Lannisters. He sends for Gilley. She comes in and he tells her that she is going to have to switch the babies and leave. She obviously doesn't want to do this because she thinks that Melisandre will burn her baby instead. Jon explains that once they find out that the baby is not Mance's, Stannis won't let her burn an innocent. Giley is upset and cries, saying something along the lines that she and Sam saved the baby from the cold, how can she leave it? Jon is pretty much a hard ass and says 'you saved one baby from ice, now save another from fire.' He makes her stick her hand in the candle flame to sink in how much worse it would be to die by fire. She has no choice about it so she runs from the room.

Also, Jon keeps thinking "kill the boy' but we don't really know wtf he is talking about.

Then Sam comes in, and the scene plays out from Jon's point of view. Not that different from Feast but you can tell what he's thinking. He tells Sam that he's going to send Giant and Janos Slynt to different forts to fix them up and watch for wildings trying to climb the wall, since he has to seperate Janos from Aliser Thorne to keep trouble from happening. Sam reveals, incidentally, that Janos Slynth was originially given the command of the Gold Cloaks by Jon Arryn. Sam doesn't want to become a Maester because he's afraid of blood, etc etc. Jon tells him he has to go and thinks 'kill the boy, kill the boy for us both.' He also makes some angry comments about the Lannisters, about how Tommen and Bran fought together in the yard at Winterfell, how Bran won, but Bran is now dead and Tommen wears a crown nestled in his stupid yellow Lannister curls. Eventually Sam leaves, upset.

Jon also thinks about the letter of Aemon's that he had to sign and his conversations with the old man. Aemon had told him 'I'm going to tell you something that I told Egg when he was declared king. He was 33, a man grown, with kids of his own. But I told him in order to rule, he had to kill the boy inside him. Kill the boy and let the man be borne.' So now we know why Jon was thinking 'kill the boy' every time he had to be a hard ass.

He goes to bed and doesn't have any wolf dreams, but has a nightmare. Nothing really special, prophetic, or such like. The next morning he sees Sam, Aemon and Gilley off.

Jon goes out and walks the wall, talking to the Watchmen in person, visiting, hearing things face to face; he even chats with the King's men. (It's very Ned-like.) He hears from one Watchman that Stannis sent some knights south but no one knows why, and Jon thinks 'Stannis has his secrets, and i have mine.'

Then he meets with Giant, and gives him the command of one of the forts with 20 Watchmen and 10 King's men. He tells him about all the things he needs to do to repair the fort, that he will be getting a Maester and two ravens for emergencies. Giant rolls out.

Next Janos Slynt comes in. Jon tells him that he is getting the command of a fort, with 20 Watchmen and 10 King's men. Janos flips and is totally impertinant, calls Jon a boy, and says that he is not going. Jon says 'yes you are. be ready at first light.' Janos leaves, scoffing at Jon.

Next morning, Janos isn't in the yard ready to leave. Instead he is in the hall eating breakfast with Aliser Thorne and their cornies, laughing about the whole thing. The hall is full of men, Grenn, Pip, Donal, King's men, Thorne's supporters, etc.

Jon walks in with like 7 guys behind him. He says 'Lord Slynt, you are supposed to be preparing to leave.' Slynt's all 'whatever.' He and Thorne laugh. Jon says 'I'll give you one more chance.' Janos says some stupid ass shit about how he doesn't have to listen to a boy, that he has friends in King's Landing.

Jon gives the signal, but he knows he is making a gamble because so many watchmen supported Slynt and Thorne in the election. Two guys grab Slynt and pull him out of his chair. Everybody in the hall is like 'oh shit.' Thorne grasps his sword hilt, looks at Jon, and then removes his hand, slinking away from Slynt. Janos now realizes that he is in serious trouble. He is dragged from the hall into the yard. Slynt makes a big scene, yelling about his friends in Kings Landing. 'I was the Lord in Harrenhal' he cries. Stannis and his men come out to watch and so does pretty much everyone else at Castle Black.

Jon says, 'Take him to the wall.' He thinks, 'I could send him away somewhere else, but if I send him to east watch, he'll come back to cause trouble.'

'Take him to the wall,' Jon says, 'and hang him.'

Slynt freaks, yelling, struggling, kicking as they throw him into the cage and start lifting. 'I have friends, if Tywin Lannister were alive you would never...' His voice fades away as he is lifted to the top. The rope they found was a hundred feet long but the wall is seven hundred feet tall. They hear his neck crack as he hits the end of the rope.

Jon glances back at Stannis. Stannis nods, then turns and goes back inside.

Yes!
The end.
So so so so satisfying.

Oh, and for the Hound fans, GRRM pretty much said that he was alive, saying 'it will be very interesting to finish his story, since he is such a grey character.'

This post has been edited by LugaJetBoyGirl: 30 March 2008 - 09:36 PM

[Peter Dyckman-Campbell]

Um.

Holy shit. That sounds FANTASTIC.

Incidentally, I think this is actually Jon 2, not Jon 1. Sam appears in Jon 1, and this chapter covers his last day on the Wall (and then some, or so it seems).

ETA:

So Jon Arryn was responsible for the careers of both Janos Slynt and Petyr Baelish, plus a key early supporter of the marriage to Cersei? Is there any villain in King's Landing who _didn't_ get a career boost from Lord Arryn? :P

This post has been edited by The Fat Man: 30 March 2008 - 09:50 PM

[Cryler]

Jon's chapters seem to have just gotten more difficult to wait for.

[Other-in-Law]

Wow. So much for doing it yourself, the First Man way.

[respectabull]

I'm not sure that the Watchmen would have approved if Jon Chopped off Janos's head. It is easier to hang a man than to decapitate him.... plus didn't you know, Jon is Valyrian, not of the first men....

[Peter Dyckman-Campbell]

respectabull, on Mar 31 2008, 00.01, said:

plus didn't you know, Jon is Valyrian, not of the first men....

Well, Jon is both Valyrian _and_ of the First Men, and more importantly believes himself to be a descendant of the First Men.

Having said that, I think you're on to something. The problem isn't that the black brothers would disapprove of decapitation as opposed to hanging; the problem is that Slynt has to be dispatched quickly, and a formal trial-plus-execution with the back-and-forth that Ned and Robb have done involves some time to set up and perform, time in which Alliser Thorne may be gathering Slynt defenders to force some kind of showdown.

It's also significant that this is in many ways a mirror image of the trial (such as it was) that unCat gives to Brienne; the use of hanging only reinforces the parallel.

[shevchenko65]

Well... Jon just payed Slynt back for Ned.

And the fool brough it on himself.

[Eponine]

Also, Jon tells Gilly that if she won't leave with Mance's baby, on the day that Mance's baby is killed, hers will die the same day. Pretty harsh.

The guy who Jon talks to about Stannis' men going South calls them the "wrong-way rangers". Jon speculates that since Davos (and Sallador Saan or some of his men?) were going to talk to some of the Northmen to try to win them to Stannis' cause (he said exactly where they were going but I forget), he thinks that these other men might have been sent to other Northern lords, but wonders if they'll end up deserting when they get away from the Wall.

[Atreides]

Jon giving a show of authority by hanging Slynt...excellent! He shows the Watch and Stannis that he means business, and he avenges his father (though does he actually know how much involvement Slynt had in Ned's downfall?).

[shevchenko65]

Jon is my favorite character.. gotta say can't wait for the book.

[Peter Dyckman-Campbell]

Eponine R, on Mar 31 2008, 00.19, said:

The guy who Jon talks to about Stannis' men going South calls them the "wrong-way rangers". Jon speculates that since Davos (and Sallador Saan or some of his men?) were going to talk to some of the Northmen to try to win them to Stannis' cause (he said exactly where they were going but I forget), he thinks that these other men might have been sent to other Northern lords, but wonders if they'll end up deserting when they get away from the Wall.

According to the Davos spoiler chapter, Davos was sent to White Harbor to treat with the Manderlys. (This is indeed where he ends up too, if Manderly can be believed.)

[Angalin]

As the Things would say, in their present Stuart Little phase: "Holy mackerel, said Snowbell!" Great chapter, and thanks for the synopsis! :D

Thoughts: this will make Tyrion very happy, if ever he hears of it. Also, we know that the penalty for desertion from the Watch is beheading (according to his Nedliness, anyway); do we know that it's any different for mutiny/insurrection? And I have utterly forgotten what Aemon's letter is about, the one that Jon signs here.

[Peter Dyckman-Campbell]

Angalin, on Mar 31 2008, 00.32, said:

And I have utterly forgotten what Aemon's letter is about, the one that Jon signs here.

It was a letter proclaiming that the Watch is neutral in the War of the Five Kings, and that they only aided Stannis in his defense of the Wall.

[Angalin]

Ah! Thank you. Very Aemon-ish of him. ;)

[shevchenko65]

Does Jon read the passage Aemon marked off in that book in this chapter?

[MethodMan]

OMG. Orgasmic. I love you jon :(

[LugaJetBoyGirl]

shevchenko65, on Mar 30 2008, 23.39, said:

Does Jon read the passage Aemon marked off in that book in this chapter?

No, Aemon tells him about it and he says he'll read it.

And okay, that's right, this must be Jon 2. For some reason I forgot that Jon runs into Sam in the hallway in Jon 1.

This post has been edited by LugaJetBoyGirl: 31 March 2008 - 12:02 AM

[LugaJetBoyGirl]

Atreides, on Mar 30 2008, 23.19, said:

Jon giving a show of authority by hanging Slynt...excellent! He shows the Watch and Stannis that he means business, and he avenges his father (though does he actually know how much involvement Slynt had in Ned's downfall?).

Yes, I forgot to say that part. I think (if I remember correctly, I didn't take notes) that Jon looks at Janos while in his office and wonders how big of a part he played in killing his father. He thinks about how easy it would be to pull out his sword, cut through bone, fat, sinews, and chop off his head.

His anger about what's happened to his family really comes out in this chapter.

[Peter Dyckman-Campbell]

LJBG:

Is the implication that Jon had this planned from the beginning as a way to force a showdown and hang Janos? Is there anything about Jon having men hold the winch cage, for example, or expecting Janos to balk at his orders? Or does Jon make his decision on the spot, face to face with Janos?

[LugaJetBoyGirl]

The Fat Man, on Mar 31 2008, 01.05, said:

LJBG:

Is the implication that Jon had this planned from the beginning as a way to force a showdown and hang Janos? Is there anything about Jon having men hold the winch cage, for example, or expecting Janos to balk at his orders? Or does Jon make his decision on the spot, face to face with Janos?

Well, when he is talking about his plans to send Janos away, he mentions that Janos must be a good leader, even if he is a jerk. He's got to know how to deal with men or he would have never made it into the the Gold Cloak position. Perhaps this is where the Jon Arryn tidbit came in (i can't remember exactly).

I couldn't say when I was hearing it that Jon knew Slynt would refuse from the beginning, since we didn't know what was coming, but now looking back it seems clear that he strongly suspected it it would come to that. (His nightmare by the way involved sewing a head onto a body, so maybe his feelings about Robb and about the forthcoming thing with Slynt are mixed up in there).

He must have known that he would have to hang him when he walked into the hall because he had all the men with him, following behind him and they seemed to know what he wanted them to do; all Jon had to do was nod. He also had Long Claw strapped across his back, which is one of the reasons Thorne backs down. And I don't think it is Jon's habit to wear that thing to breakfast :) He knew there might be a fight coming.

Also, Jon's thoughts right before he says 'hang him' made me think that he'd been thinking about the problem a lot, had weighed every option, and knew he had no other choice.

BTW, I was wondering about the hanging rather than the beheading too. At first I thought that a Night's Watch escapee is one thing, but direct treason against one's lord is grounds for beheading. But then I remember Robb and his only beheading moment. So that wouldn't work. It may well be that personally beheading the accused is a Stark thing. No one else seems to do it. Jon is of the Night's Watch, not of the Starks. Perhaps personally chopping off Janos' head would have looked too much like revenge, but by having the other men obey him in his gallows command, it reinforced his authority to a greater degree.