Quoth the raven,

The boy is not particularly bright and he has a temper. His best place is with Robb. With Bran getting crippled, Robb would need an assistant. Jon may not be commander material but he can fill the shoes of a Jorey and a Tommard. In addition to Fat Tommard, Winterfell will have a loyal armsman called Long Jon. It's not because he's endowed in the middle.

What would be your red line for the Stark characters? Many of us here already do not like Jon, Arya, and Sansa. So that threshold for them has been passed for me. I was never drawn to Jon and Arya. I never liked them. I never rooted for them. Sansa was annoying from the start. My dislike for them grew as the story progressed. Rickon, I suppose if he were to resist the unification of Westeros under Targaryen rule. Same for Bran. I support another family, House Targaryen, under the rule of Queen Daenerys.

Direwolves belong in the north. Her death should have been another warning to the Starks to go back home. The south is no place for them. All of the Starks, alive or dead, will return to the north. That includes their four legged friends. Look back in history. Lyanna died in the south and the Starks went through hell to get her remains returned to the north. Arya, Sansa, Robb, and Jon will return to Winterfell one way or the other, alive or dead. Robb's head is coming back home. Greywind's pelt will be returned to where it belongs. Jon comes back as a wight. Arya's corpse might not go back north but her soul in Nymeria will. Ned would not have allowed Lady's pelt on Cersei's shoulders. That is an insult to the wolf and the family. Besides, Ned failed to realize the depth of Sansa's affections for Joffrey.

Stannis is a very cruel man. He barbecued his own soldiers for the crime of eating the dead. They ate the dead to survive. What Tarly did to Samwell does not even compare.

Put yourself in place of a commoner. You serve Randyll Tarly in The Reach. Would you want Samwell to be your next lord? Ask yourself the same question, but put yourself in place of a commoner in the Westerlands. Do you want Tyrion as your next lord? Which lord would do a better job at managing his lands and people?

Why turn down Tyrion as match for their daughters? Pride. It was also Tywin's pride to think his son would be a suitable match for these girls. Pride, family pride to be more specific, is one of the great sins in this epic tale. Why do people care so much that he's a dwarf? Girls today would hesitate to date a dwarf. Westeros girls will be even more hesitant to marry one. Who can really blame Sansa in this matter. Heir to Casterly Rock is not a sure thing. Tywin could do as Randyll and pack his son off to the wall.

They need the backing of the Iron Throne to take Winterfell and the north. Which they have. The marriage to Arya was to make their rule more acceptable to the stubborn people of the north. That marriage was lubrication to help eliminate any lingering friction.

None will survive in Westeros. The Starks and their Baratheon friends will be great houses no more. The Starks are actually no longer a great house. I agree with @Mon ami There is no reason for feudalism to continue in Westeros if the smallfolk are no longer getting anything of value from their lords. I don't think the minor lords will survive and neither should the great lords. A prolonged winter will bring on an Ice Age. The power of the lords is related to their control of the land. Well, if the land is covered in snow it is of no use. The snow will not cover every land on the planet. Else, no living thing will survive. The fact that species survived the last long night is proof that some areas remained frost-free and able to support agriculture, if in primitive form. Sothoryos, southern Essos, and southern Dorne will remain free of ice. The people who have not been wighted will flee and migrate to those places. We are already seeing important characters moving east to meet with the Dragon Queen. They are the first but will not be the last. I am sure the Starks will survive as a family for a while but they will die too. There is only so much dead flesh for them to scavenge and eat. They are not leaving the north. The Starks and their wolves will freeze inside Winterfell and join their ancestors in the basement.

Therefore Robb was not a king and did not have the authority to change Jon's status from bastard to true born. They may not care about the legality of the will. Wildlings could care less about such things. And if Mance has his way and sway, it will go very badly for the ruling families in the north. We don't know what shape the survivor between Roose and Stannis will be. If they are too weakened? A chance for Mance to do some serious mischief in the north. Jon can succeed Mance easily. This is facilitated if the M + L = J theory is true. Jon will never be popular with the ruling families and they will hate him for creating the insult that becomes Lord Thenn. The man who will now control the land which belonged to Alys. Many, many people will have major problems with that. But it won't matter if Mance becomes the new king of the north. Jon will always be a bastard in the eyes of the traditionalists. But their days are numbered if Mance gets his way. Jon is an idiot but Mance is not. Mance is a real danger to the lords in the north. The Boltons will have to lose for Jon to benefit from this paper from Robb.

I don't think it's possible for Rhaella and Rhaegar to be her father. Rhaegar and Aerys were not on good terms but I doubt the singing prince would do that. I also do not think Queen Rhaella would do that to her family. But I have seen many theories of Rhaegar + Lyanna = Daenerys. I don't put much stock on it but it is possible. Rhaegar + Ashara = Daenerys is also possible. But why would Ashara do a free dive into the rocks if she had a daughter. Maternal instincts would guide her to live so she can take care of baby Daenerys. Here are the most supported parents. King Aerys II and Queen Rhaella Rhaegar and Lyanna Rhaegar and Ashara King Aerys II and Ashara Who fathered Daenerys is not really all that important. She is the Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Dothraki, heir to Westeros, Mhysa, Queen of Meereen, etc., etc., etc. She is carving out a Queendom for herself in the east. It matters not to the Dothraki, Ghiscari, the Dragons, Moqorro, Vic where she came from. She is obviously Valyrian and at least half Targaryen. She can claim millions of acres in Essos based on her connection to the Valyrian dragonlords. The dragons prove her heritage, whether it's from Aerys and Rhaella or some other Valyrian. She is the heir to Westeros because she is the last known kin of King Viserys, Third of His Name. Westeros will need serious rebuilding at the end of the long night and I think our Daenerys will build her own Queendom from the ruins.

This whole series is really about family. Loyalty and devotion to the family of origin. Look at the terrible things done by Jon Snow because he was motivated to help the Starks. Theon wants his own family to belong to and did evil things in hopes of getting the Greyjoys to accept him. Family is at the core of this epic story. George Martin wanted to give the families their special traits. The Targaryens being at the top of the food chain would get the most things which are special to them. An Elric lookalike race of beings from a continent that sank long ago. George Martin was inspired by Michael Moorcock's lead character. The Qartheen are a strange people but if Valyrians can have light skin why not them.

He was a Stark. According to Old Nan.

Van Gogh is right near the target. There is more though. Daenerys is the riddle. A reading of the House of the Undying section in A Clash of Kings proves it. She is the Child Of Three, Mother Of Dragons, and all of those roles and titles. Those titles and roles make up who she is. Aemon could have been more direct but he was in delirium. Dragon eggs not hatching? Because they were looking at the technique. They failed because they were thinking there was a step by step guide. There's not. It takes the right person to resurrect the dragons. The short form of what Aemon was saying: We were blind. Literally in his case. They were looking at the wrong clues. Sphinx at the citadel will lead Samwell to the wrong conclusion. He will be looking at the wrong clues because he will naturally focus on the first Sphinx he meets.

After. He came along after. The Night's Queen was a survivor of the war. While the Night's King was a Stark.

Catelyn would send Jon off to Skagos while Ned is away on a hunting trip. Perfect place for Jon. He's too wild for the maesters to teach.