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Learning to Lead V: endings and beginnings. A Daenerys and Jon reread ADWD reread project


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Hi Brash! We've discussed this many times before, but basically I think you and PatrickStormborn are the ones being too literal -- because you say that I'm wrong since nowhere in the chapter does Dany literally say she's gonna discard her concerns about innocent life and embrace a more destructive path. When one looks at all the symbols and the figurative language together, I think that is pretty clearly what they imply. I don't really see how an alternative interpretation is backed up by the text. Either one must try to avoid the implications of the visions and symbols by calling them "a fever" and therefore unimportant, or one resorts to these vague concepts of "destiny," "a grander scale," a "greater purpose" and so forth, even though this chapter has no specifics at all on what this could possibly mean (besides "go to Westeros," "be a dragon," and "fire and blood"), and even though "it's my destiny" is a type of thinking that Martin has generally mocked and subverted elsewhere in the series.

I agree with this, and this is why I don't think we can hold those visions/dreams of Viserys and Jorah popping up and telling Dany that she lingered in Meereen when her battle was in Westeros etc etc to mean much in the way of convincing Dany of anything. I don't think Dany is embracing a destiny - even though she may relate to it in these lofty terms - so much as finally grasping what she can achieve. It's why I think the final sitting down with Drogon and sharing the charred horse meat is such a powerful image of her being grounded in the reality of who she is and what she must do. I believe this acceptance of self will lead to positive change for others precisely because it was the denial of such that led to stagnation and disaster.

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Martin mocks and subverts the idea of "destiny" in the series for the normally acknowledged types within the genre. He doesn't mock or subvert destiny with his underdogs. All of the characters that are among the "cripples, bastards, and broken things" have a destiny. Bran, the "broken" clearly has a destiny north of the Wall. Jon, the "bastard" is also on a classic hero arc. Jon knows his purpose is to fight the Others. Finally, Dany is certainly one of the "broken" characters, an underdog, who by blunder, gives rise to a miracle. She has realized that she must use what she has for its intended purpose. That is her destiny. The problem that some readers have is that the in the past, dragons were used to destroy. There is more to the story than that because Dany is more than that. She knows she is more than that, she must go back to go forward. She's learned from her mistakes. She will not shout "Dracarys!" unless and until she has to.

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Martin mocks and subverts the idea of "destiny" in the series for the normally acknowledged types within the genre. He doesn't mock or subvert destiny with his underdogs. All of the characters that are among the "cripples, bastards, and broken things" have a destiny. Bran, the "broken" clearly has a destiny north of the Wall. Jon, the "bastard" is also on a classic hero arc. Jon knows his purpose is to fight the Others. Finally, Dany is certainly one of the "broken" characters, an underdog, who by blunder, gives rise to a miracle. She has realized that she must use what she has for its intended purpose. That is her destiny. The problem that some readers have is that the in the past, dragons were used to destroy. There is more to the story than that because Dany is more than that. She knows she is more than that, she must go back to go forward. She's learned from her mistakes. She will not shout "Dracarys!" unless and until she has to.

Dracarys could be the first thing she will say in TWOW :)

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Just wanted to link to this post from Sean T. Collins that is pretty close to my own views on Dany:

  • I like Daenerys.
  • I was going to say “She’s a good dude” like I did with Jon, but…Well, let’s put it this way: I think she’s a good dude at heart. She has a capacity for empathy that’s all but unparalleled by anyone in the entire series — empathy for the suffering of others regardless of their nationality, religion, social station, you name it. It’s so unusual for someone of her rank to care this deeply about the absolute lowest of the low that it’s almost like a genetic mutation. You can see that in how her inner circle reacts with stunned surprise and dismay to each new attempt to right some wrong — she might as well have grown a third arm in the middle of her back, that’s how weird it is to them. That makes her a powerful potential agent of change in this world, the same way the sudden arrival of people who can read minds and shoot force blasts out of their eyeballs and control magnetism and whatnot would. She’s a goddamn moral X-Man.
  • The problem is that justice from Daenerys Targaryen looks an awful lot like a bloodbath from anyone else. Dany’s primary method of effecting social change is killing the people who were in the way, and with a flair for the dramatic in doing so that suggests she gets some enjoyment out of the violence quite aside from its ameliorative effects for the slaves or what have you. I think that in the initial excitement of her campaign in Slaver’s Bay, with these truly odious and cruel slavers dropping like flies, it was very easy for me to start screaming “MOTHER! MOTHER!” along with everyone else, but in the immortal words of Proposition Joe, she’s got more bodies on her than a Chinese cemetery. The freedom she offers comes with a heaping helping of fire and blood. Only death can pay for life.
  • Has she disappointed me in her latest chapters? No, I can’t say she has. Politically, she’s in what I’d call the single most difficult position of anyone in the series. It’s only by holding up some shortcut, I think, that we can look at her conduct as disappointing. For example, if we say to ourselves “Well, fuck Slaver’s Bay and fuck the slaves, she should just burn her way to King’s Landing now,” and then she fails to do that, then we get disappointed, but we need to ask ourselves if that move at this moment in the narrative (in the middle of Dance somewhere, that is) would be satisfying thematically, or be good for the societies Dany hopes to rule or influence, or make sense for who she is as a person. I think the answer is no in all three cases.
  • That’s not to say that at the END of Dance, she might be born-again hard and become a Genghis-like unstoppable juggernaut warlord — although I still think so many seeds of a Volantene slave revolt on Dany’s behalf have been planted that it’d make no sense for Martin to have her forsake her “children.” But if she does that there will be a price to pay for her humanity, her empathy, the quality that made her who she is. It won’t be 100% awesome, you know what I mean? It’ll hurt, as it should.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

This is perhaps a bit presumptuous of me seeing as the re-read's finished and I, er, basically skipped town halfway through, but I've compiled from my posts around the boards, with various edits and additions, an argument for the relief of Hardhome I'd like to offer for discussion. You can read my essay on LiveJournal, and I'd prefer that any substantial replies be directed there. Anonymous comments are enabled, so you should be able to post without an account. I hope everyone enjoys the read! Even if you disagree vehemently, lol, and despite the somewhat atrocious length.

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This is perhaps a bit presumptuous of me seeing as the re-read's finished and I, er, basically skipped town halfway through, but I've compiled from my posts around the boards, with various edits and additions, an argument for the relief of Hardhome I'd like to offer for discussion. You can read my essay on LiveJournal, and I'd prefer that any substantial replies be directed there. Anonymous comments are enabled, so you should be able to post without an account. I hope everyone enjoys the read! Even if you disagree vehemently, lol, and despite the somewhat atrocious length.

I read and loved your Hardholme analysis. The only thing I have to add is a possible solution for the obsidian shortage. In AGOT, when Luwin talks of the COTF, obsidian comes up. He even shows some to Bran and Rickon, who demands four because he's four. (While I don't think Bran has his, it will be interesting to find out if Rickon took his obsidian when he fled Winterfell.) Luwin may not be the only maester with obsidian. More importantly, the Citadel might have a stock pile of the stuff. So it's good news for Jon and the NW that Sam is there. Of course the usual problems apply.

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This is perhaps a bit presumptuous of me seeing as the re-read's finished and I, er, basically skipped town halfway through, but I've compiled from my posts around the boards, with various edits and additions, an argument for the relief of Hardhome I'd like to offer for discussion. You can read my essay on LiveJournal, and I'd prefer that any substantial replies be directed there. Anonymous comments are enabled, so you should be able to post without an account. I hope everyone enjoys the read! Even if you disagree vehemently, lol, and despite the somewhat atrocious length.

I just finished reading your essay and thought it was really great and I agree with all you have said. I'm not sure what Jon and the NW will do about getting obsidian though. Hopefully there is some more somewhere else other then dragonstone, unless it is already on the way...?

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I'm glad you enjoyed my essay, Harlaw's Book, Isildur's Mane. I fear I've sent most people running for the hills with the damnable length, lol. Yet I remain unapologetic for my verbosity and have, in fact, added a couple more paragraphs in the last section ("A Narrative Perspective") about how the fallout of the assassination attempt might change the Wall's situation. Truly, I'm hopelessly obsessed. :blush:

As for the NW's obsidian shortage, the children of the forest once gifted the black brothers with dragonglass every year. It's quite possible that some of these caches have been left abandoned in the castles that are now slowly undergoing renovation, just waiting to be found. Shipments of obsidian could also be sailing north from Dragonstone; they simply haven't arrived as of the end of ADWD on account of the choppy seas.

Really good point about the maesters having obsidian in stock, Harlaw's Book. There's no way at the moment of getting that supply up to the Wall, but that may very well change as Sam, who has firsthand experience of the importance of dragonglass, continues to explore the Citadel while pursuing his studies there. I'd add that, as obsidian is volcanic in origin, Dany and the other characters in Essos could end up bringing some to Westeros, as well, for whatever reason, from Valyria and the surrounding lands.

To conclude, there seems to be plenty of sources for GRRM to plausibly write Jon as procuring obsidian from. If, you know, GRRM weren't otherwise occupied with Jon kind of dying. :laugh:

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  • 3 weeks later...

...Not planting trees =/= endless fire and blood. Dany has now realised that her role is not to plant trees. Her role is to conquer, to subdue Westeros so that trees can be planted by others -- by the people...

Yes that was the way I read it it too. Like Harlaw's book was saying our characters are lining up with their ancesteral archetypes and that's made clear here with Daenerys replaying her ancestor's role on Dragonstone starting with nothing except three dragons.

Like Aegon's conquest I fully expect hers to be destructive, but one that will lead to a new political reality and maybe other changes too.

Honestly, that quote makes no sense at all. Either you're a tree planter, or you're not. If you conquer, you still have to rule afterwards, unless your conquest is that of the Dothraki version, where you plunder everything and move on. If that's all Dany intends to do with Westeros, then she is a villain without question. If her intention of rule after her conquest, then she has to be a planter.

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  • 10 months later...

Crime of opportunity or passion? Planned crime, but botched by intervening causes (one big giant + one stupid Southron suitor; one nasty pink letter; or both)?

I do think the pink letter made them panic. As far as they knew, the Boltons were coming to skin them alive. They had to protect themselves and, as they saw it, the Watch. I also think the plan was already forming or formed, and the crime was a rushed job. How they expect(ed) to contain the ensuing chaos though I have no clue.

Clearly the Queens Men, if ever they were in cahoots, became a threat post-letter anyway, since Ramsay wanted the queen and the witch. I suppose it's feasible the conspirators believed they could contain the unarmed wildings if they truly thought they'd had no access to weapons. And once Jon was dead, a new leader could rally the brothers, provided the kill was done quietly.

Anyway, madness. Bloody madness.

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  • 3 months later...

The last chapter of Dany in ADwD is heavy with the manner of Dany's death.



“I’ve brought you a peach,” Ser Jorah said, kneeling. It was so small she could almost hide it in her palm, and overripe too, but when she took the first bite, the flesh was so sweet she almost cried. She ate it slowly, savoring every mouthful, while Ser Jorah told her of the tree it had been plucked from, in a garden near the western wall.



A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness



The peach and sweetness mean trouble in ASOIAF and the Wall is where it should take place.



The Wall has stood for what, eight thousand years?”


The Long Night has come before. Oh, eight thousand years is a good while, to be sure…”



As the sun was gilding the distant spires of Dragonstone [Dany names the hill where Drogon made his lair as Dragonstone], Dany stumbled onto a low stone wall, overgrown and broken. Perhaps it had been part of a temple, or the hall of the village lord. More ruins lay beyond it—an old well, and some circles in the grass that marked the sites where hovels had once stood. They had been built of mud and straw, she judged, but long years of wind and rain had worn them away to nothing. Dany found eight before the sun went down, but there might have been more farther out, hidden in the grass.


The stone wall had endured better than the rest. Though it was nowhere more than three feet high, the angle where it met another, lower wall still offered some shelter from the elements, and night was coming on fast. Dany wedged herself into that corner, making a nest of sorts by tearing up handfuls of the grass that grew around the ruins.


As the world darkened, Dany settled in and closed her eyes, but sleep refused to come. The night was cold, the ground hard, her belly empty. She found herself thinking of Meereen, of Daario, her love, and Hizdahr, her husband, of Irri and Jhiqui and sweet Missandei, Ser Barristan and Reznak and Skahaz Shavepate.



Dany comes across a wall in her last chapter in ADwD, she counts 8 circles that marked the sites where hovels had once stood. I think the wall and the number eight clearly symbolizes the Wall which endured eight thousand years ago and will be destoyed just like the hovels. We also note how the night is coming, the world is darkening and the night is growing cold. How Dany thinks of her city and her people reminds me of Quentyn’s tragic thoughts.



Quentyn did not want to die at all. I want to go back to Yronwood and kiss both of your sisters, marry Gwyneth Yronwood, watch her flower into beauty, have a child by her. I want to ride in tourneys, hawk and hunt, visit with my mother in Norvos, read some of those books my father sends me. I want Cletus and Will and Maester Kedry to be alive again.



I should have kissed one of the Drinkwater twins, or maybe both of them. I should have kissed them whilst I could. I should have gone to Norvos to see my mother and the place that gave her birth, so she would know that I had not forgotten her.



This makes me think that Dany will be killed by a dragon. This may be an actual dragon, or the last dragon (Jon) or a dragon in her belly.



Off in the distance, a wolf howled. The sound made her feel sad and lonely, but no less hungry. As the moon rose above the grasslands, Dany slipped at last into a restless sleep.


She dreamed. All her cares fell away from her, and all her pains as well, and she seemed to float upward into the sky. She was flying once again, spinning, laughing, dancing, as the stars wheeled around her and whispered secrets in her ear.


The next morning she woke stiff and sore and aching, with ants crawling on her arms and legs and face. When she realized what they were, she kicked aside the stalks of dry brown grass that had served as her bed and blanket and struggled to her feet. She had bites all over her, little red bumps, itchy and inflamed. Where did all the ants come from? Dany brushed them from her arms and legs and belly. She ran a hand across her stubbly scalp where her hair had burned away, and felt more ants on her head, and one crawling down the back of her neck. She knocked them off and crushed them under her bare feet. There were so many …


It turned out that their anthill was on the other side of her wall. She wondered how the ants had managed to climb over it and find her. To them these tumbledown stones must loom as huge as the Wall of Westeros. The biggest wall in all the world, her brother Viserys used to say, as proud as if he’d built it himself.



The lone wolf might be Arya/Nymeria. What Dany dreams of looks like a sweet death, much liked by the Kindly Man.



Those ants coming from the other side of the Wall and biting all over Dany are definitely wights. There were two kinds of ants; small yellow ones and large red ones. The ants are coming over the Wall, which means the ward on the Wall is dispelled. To press this point further, GRRM mentions the Wall itself here.



“In the khalasar, they used berries like these to flavor roasts,” she decided. Saying it aloud made her more certain of it. Her belly rumbled, and Dany found herself picking berries with both hands and tossing them into her mouth.


An hour later, her stomach began to cramp so badly that she could not go on. She spent the rest of that day retching up green slime. If I stay here, I will die. I may be dying now. Would the horse god of the Dothraki part the grass and claim her for his starry khalasar, so she might ride the nightlands with Khal Drogo? In Westeros the dead of House Targaryen were given to the flames, but who would light her pyre here? My flesh will feed the wolves and carrion crows, she thought sadly, and worms will burrow through my womb. Her eyes went back to Dragonstone. It looked smaller.


Sunset found her squatting in the grass, groaning. Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up she was shitting brown water. The more she drank, the more she shat, but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew, and her thirst sent her crawling to the stream to suck up more water. When she closed her eyes at last, Dany did not know whether she would be strong enough to open them again.



Dany eats green berries and they made her sick. Her stomach cramps are unbearable. These are obviously the pains of child birth. Her flesh (whatever she has) will feed the wolves and carrion crows (Starks, the NW, Jon). She looks at symbolic Dragonstone where she was born and it looks smaller. Which means her death is near and all the distance she travelled is her life. She closes her eyes and at the end, she will not open them again.



Since I believe Victarion will ride Rhaegal the green dragon, his green berries will get Dany pregnant and she will die in the childbirth. Victarion often says he has no luck with wives.



The important thing with the ants and the Wall symbolism is that she turned her back to the Wall and slept while the ants (wights) were passing over the Wall (and biting her own ass). I think this shows that she and her dragons will be busy fighting fAegon while their help is much needed in the failing defense against the Others.



About the green berries that caused the miscarriage of Dany, there is some interesting connection with Dunk and Egg in TSS.



Dunk was serving Ser Eustace Osgrey and they had to assemble a militia to face the forces of the Red Widow, consisting mostly of knights. They had no hope but Dunk tried nonetheless and required Egg’s help as well.




Egg looked indignant. “I have to serve smallfolk?”


“Not serve. Help. We need to turn them into fighters.” If the Widow gives us time enough. “If the gods are good, a few will have done some soldiering before, but most will be green as summer grass, more used to holding hoes than spears. Even so, a day may come when our lives depend on them. How old were you when you first took up a sword?”


“I was little, ser. The sword was made from wood.”


“Common boys fight with wooden swords, too, only theirs are sticks and broken branches. Egg, these men may seem fools to you. They won’t know the proper names for bits of armor, or the arms of the great Houses, or which king it was who abolished the lord’s right to the first night . . . but treat them with respect all the same. You are a squire born of noble blood, but you are still a boy. Most of them will be men grown. A man has his pride, no matter how lowborn he may be. You would seem just as lost and stupid in their villages. And if you doubt that, go hoe a row and shear a sheep, and tell me the names of all the weeds and wildflowers in Wat’s Wood.”


The boy considered for a moment. “I could teach them the arms of the great Houses, and how Queen Alysanne convinced King Jaehaerys to abolish the first night. And they could teach me which weeds are best for making poisons, and whether those green berries are safe to eat.”


“They could,” Dunk agreed, “but before you get to King Jaehaerys, you’d best help us teach them how to use a spear. And don’t go eating anything that Maester won’t.”


The next day a dozen would-be warriors found their way to Standfast to assemble among the chickens. One was too old, two were too young, and one skinny boy turned out to be a skinny girl. Those Dunk sent back to their villages, leaving eightthree Wats, two Wills, a Lem, a Pate, and Big Rob the lackwit. A sorry lot, he could not help but think. The strapping handsome peasant boys who won the hearts of highborn maidens in the songs were nowhere to be seen. Each man was dirtier than the last. Lem was fifty if he was a day, and Pate had weepy eyes; they were the only two who had ever soldiered before. Both had been gone with Ser Eustace and his sons to fight in the Blackfyre Rebellion. The other six were as green as Dunk had feared. All eight had lice. Two of the Wats were brothers. “Guess your mother didn’t know no other name,” Bennis said, cackling.


As far as arms went, they brought a scythe, three hoes, an old knife, some stout wooden clubs. Lem had a sharpened stick that might serve for a spear, and one of the Wills allowed that he was good at chucking rocks. “Well and good,” Bennis said, “we got us a bloody trebuchet.” After that the man was known as Treb.


“Are any of you skilled with a longbow?” Dunk asked them.


The men scuffed at the dirt, while hens pecked the ground around them. Pate of the weepy eyes finally answered. “Begging your pardon, ser, but m’lord don’t permit us longbows. Osgrey deers is for the chequy lions, not the likes o’ us.”


“We will get swords and helms and chainmail?” the youngest of the three Wats wanted to know.


“Why, sure you will,” said Bennis, “just as soon as you kill one o’ the Widow’s knights and strip his bloody corpse. Make sure you stick your arm up his horse’s arse, too, that’s where you’ll find his silver.” He pinched young Wat beneath his arm until the lad squealed in pain, then marched the whole lot of them off to Wat’s Wood to cut some spears.


When they came back, they had eight fire-hardened spears of wildly unequal length, and crude shields of woven branches. Ser Bennis had made himself a spear as well, and he showed them how to thrust with the point and use the shaft to parry . . . and where to put the point to kill. “The belly and the throat are best, I find.” He pounded his fist against his chest. “Right there’s the heart, that will do the job as well. Trouble is, the ribs is in the way. The belly’s nice and soft. Gutting’s slow, but certain. Never knew a man to live when his guts was hanging out. Now if some fool goes and turns his back on you, put your point between his shoulder blades or through his kidney. That’s here. They don’t live long once you prick ’em in the kidney.”


Having three Wats in the company caused confusion when Bennis was trying to tell them what to do. “We should give them village names, ser,” Egg suggested, “like Ser Arlan of Pennytree, your old master.” That might have worked, only their villages had no names, either. “Well,” said Egg, “we could call them for their crops, ser.” One village sat amongst bean fields, one planted mostly barleycorn, and the third cultivated rows of cabbages, carrots, onions, turnips, and melons. No one wanted to be a Cabbage or a Turnip, so the last lot became the Melons. They ended up with four Barleycorns, two Melons, and two Beans. As the brothers Wat were both Barleycorns, some further distinction was required. When the younger brother made mention of once having fallen down the village well, Bennis dubbed him “Wet Wat,” and that was that. The men were thrilled to have been given “lord’s names,” save for Big Rob, who could not seem to remember whether he was a Bean or a Barleycorn.




I gave the whole quote for this sorry lot not because it is one the most hilarious things GRRM wrote, but also it is very similar to the lot by which Jon held the Wall against Styr and Mance long enough.



The teachings of Dunk here (which were very good and eventually made Egg the beloved king of the smallfolk) are comprehended by Jon very early.



Although Jon was a bastard, he had this superiority complex against these former thieves, rapists, and murderers. Then like Egg, he learned to befriend them and be accepted by them.



However, he struggled to continue this attitude after being the LC. He put a certain distance between himself and his old fellows.



Dany showed some affection to the common folk like her Mhysa thing (while she was caring for the victims of pale mare) or previously her mercy on the rape victims. I think she will never learn this lesson as well as Egg or Jon because she was always a queen/khaleesi/Mhysa. Dany never stood at a position equal to the common folk like they did.


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  • 1 year later...
Quote

This is going to be a little long and might come off as "Jon apologetic", but anyway...

Despite my initial desire to throw the book against the wall when I first reat it I think is a good ending for Jon's arch. It ties nicely with Aemon's advice at the beggining of Jon's story: Kill the boy. Kill the boy and let the man be born. Jon starts ADWD as half a boy despite his past experiences and with an idealistic view of leadership similar to Dany's own views. As his story progresses we see him let go of this illusions and until finally the boy is killed.

I think Jon was caught the entire time of his time as LC between a knife and a hard place. Hundreds of years of neglect, ignorance and ill suited recruits left the Night Watch and it’s LC facing this new threat, the real threat, at a disadvantage on every ground without any aopportunities but what he could be able to create for himself; something that Jon tried his best to do at every turn. Leadership is not necessarily about a position position or a title but finding purposes, goals, etc.
Given the circumstances then I feel the best Jon could do as a leader was to gamble on whatever opportunities he saw that would increase the chances for survival for his people. It doesn’t matter if it is an alliance with a former enemy, a shaky relation with an Iron Throne pretender or an impossible loan from the Iron Bank. Every decision that led some of his men to turn against him gave them the chance for survival they never would have had if Jon hadn’t been willing to throw tradition aside or use his own life as collateral to ensure the conditions necessary to make it through the winter. I think in many ways we can translate many of Jon’s actions and decisions into the phrase “as long as there is life there is hope”.

Am adamant against believing that assassination attempt=failure. First, because until the TWOW we won’t know just how many men were actually part of the conspiracy and how much was plot beforehand. Given what we have analyzed previously is very possible that Marsh wasn’t speaking for the whole of the NW as he often times claimed.

Second, as leaders are examples of real achievements and not just mere defenders of achievements we see that Jon managed to achieve many important things in his short time as LC. When Jon took command the night watch had just lost most of its best, there was a very somber mood in Castle Black, despite the long summer they didn’t have enough food for the long winter coming even leaving the wildings aside and no prospect of even money to buy more , they were facing the double threat of wildings and Others with an undermanned wall, Stannis was demanding not only fealty but castles in exchange for his help, the Iron Throne was for the first time showing interest in the wall but not to support it but to use it as another pawn in the GOT, not to mention that they stood in no position to obtain help from the Iron Throne not only because of Stannis but because Jon is the son of Eddard Stark as Cercei and Tywin made clear in previous chapters.
In other words, the conditions were unique so Jon had to rely in his own judgement and the good advice he received from people like Aemon, Sam, Mance, Dalla, etc. Now as his arch closes we see how much he has tackled all this problems and what he got to show for it:

- Replenish the Night Watch with their former enemy and thus removing one enemy (the wildings), decimate the number of potential wights for the Others while strengthening the defenses along the wall
- Obtain the loan from the Iron Bank that ensures his people to survive the NW. Given the way the IB operates is important to note that he practically use his life as collateral here. I have seen many people refer to this as the eternal “plot gift”. However I think it is fair to analyze why Tycho is there in the first place. Is certainly not to see Jon but had Jon not maintain cordial relations with Stannis then Tycho never would have bother to made his way to Castle Black. Like many of Jon’s so called “plot gifts” Tycho’s visit is a result of Jon’s actions and decisions.
- He managed to navigate a very difficult and unprecedented political sphere in the NW and still kept the NW functioning in a relatively autonomous way despite Stannis.
- This is my personal take but I feel that in JON XII, before the letter there was a significant change in the mood in Castle Black. I got the feeling that the increase number of people brought life and even hope in a way back to CB and given what they were facing morale is important.

And these are just the ones that relate directly to the NW.

His major mistakes I feel were keeping Ghost his best protector away in the end, underestimating the strong prejudice against any type of change in men like Marsh and his lot and probably sending all of the most loyal to him away thus isolating himself. I know he didn’t have much choice but I always felt he could have at least kept one or two. In his efforts to do what was best for the Watch he failed to notice that he was moving too fast and not everyone was following.

As for his infamous decision to go South at the end I think is unfair to say what were his exact plans. We don’t know if he meant to storm Winterfell (though I doubt it given his previous thoughts about how impregnable WF could be even in its current state) or if he meant to meet Ramsey halfway.
As for him breaking his vows I confess I always view Jon’s last decision as oathbreaking (though Butterbumps, Ragnorak and other made a good case against this) yet I never condemned him for it. To the contrary, I admire his acknowledgement that the values and honor of an institution or an individual are not above the lives people. In short I admire his desire to stand for what’s right the same way he has always done through his whole story. I know there are many who interpret this desire to follow the right path as weak or boring and I respect those opinions but I always thought that doing the right thing is precisely what makes him a strong character. Doing the right thing is not easy and to do it, following the dictates of your own conscience, can be unpleasant to many people even those a person is trying to lead.


 

I agree with you. Marsh is a coward in my opinion. Notice how he NEVER said: the men AND ME. He always avoid responsibility even for his opinion! It is shameful enough if someone can't take responsibility for their own actions, but how "brave" is a man, who can't do that for his thoughts?

 

ETA: I had some other things to say, so I simply continue this answer...

Also, I am sad to read so many Jon hater comment about his decisions. Seriously what do they want Jon to do???
Lets see: If he would have decided differently - not saving his sister(!?), giving the Queen's men to Ramsay(!?), etc... than this very same people would say the same and worse: that Jon is a bad leader, even worse person - how could he not try to save his sister? He is not good for the NW, for the realm, etc. The big theme with Jon's storyline (and Dany's too) is that you have to make difficult decisions, and that they have to face the problems rationally. To be brave is not only to fight without fear in a battlefield, but to make hard decisions, to face reality ( = look. Don't look away Bren because father will know...). 
Jon made the decisions, he thought was right. While Jon had Tyrion's advise to accept the truth and reality against lying to himself, Dany didn't. And Dany's whole ride into queen-ship is "running forward without a stop to examine the surroundings". Jon stops, thinks, makes decisions, evolve, stop, things, etc. He was not afraid to learn from (other's, even enemy's) and his own mistakes. Dany made decisions (with good intent) but with rushed examining. She never lived with for ec. amongst the Mareenes, so she could understand the culture. Jon lived with the Free Folk, and learned from them. He became more, Dany didn't. This is connected to Dany's "If I look back I am lost" policy. She is not willing (she is afraid) to see the truth, and to learn from it. But is you are unwilling to learn from your own!!! mistakes, how would you learn from others's? or at all?

So Jon's tragedy is inevitable, Dany's wasn't.

Jon's decision to go to Winterfell was the excuse, not the reason for his murder. 
And see, the intention of killing Jon Snow was all over the place well before Jon was LC. By Thorne, then Slynt/Tywin, then we see the paranoid Cersei to make preparation for his mutiny/murder. Then Selyse says WHEN Jon dies at Hardhome, then they get a more reasonable LC. I am actually was surprised Jon survived so far without a failed murder attempt...

 

(P.S.
I understand why people think Jon should have consult more with his man, that he should have sit with them at dinner, etc. But Ned's advice was for a different power structure. Lordship - where the leader's position is unquestionable, while the NW is is a democratic MILITARY force. Those who worked in any military system would know, that no commander ASKS for the soldier's opinion on major decisions. The LC gives order, the people obey. No question. This is the basic of the disciplined army. So IMO Jon said "more" that he was supposed to (and Marsh and co. never listened), and if someone tells me that was a mistake - I would accept that sooner then the opposite.  
Sorry, I just have to wrote this out of my system.

And another thought:
It there is a constant theme with Jon and Dany than it is the importance of good advisers. No one is perfect, no one knows everything. A good leader is a wo/man, who can choose his/her advisers wisely. I think what Jon and Dany needs the most is honest, wise advises.

And I do not know if we could discus this here. But there are a different type of advisers with them.

Jon - the honest, hard truths. Aemon, Sam, Mance, Donnal Noyle, etc...

Dany - the white lies, half truths, lies. Jorah, Barristan, Mopatis, etc...

 

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