The throwback to the beginning

[Robb_]

Jon smiled a strange, sad smile. "And pull your hood up, the snowflakes are melting in your hair."

Saddest moment in the books for me so far, a great throwback right back to the beginning when Robb and Jon last saw one another.

[the stranger in the dark]

It is a good, Sam and Jon had become brothers though out their time at the wall. For me the parallel also came from that Jon has had to change himself now being lord commander and he is sayng farewell to a brother that he knows he can't have the same relationship with. The same as Robb knew that he and Jon could not have the same relationship, Jon would be a black brother and he would be Lord of Winterfell one day.

It is not mentioned in the books to my memory but I wonder what the relationship between Benjin and Ned was like after Benjin had taken the black.