Trigger Warning

They don't control their lands anymore, the ruling power can seize them and give them to whomever they like and after the Blackwater they're kind of just there, with nowhere else to go. I doubt a lot of them believe Stannis will ever gain the Iron Throne and their own lands but they may gain something as long as they stay in his service. Stannis is no more the ruling King of Westeros than Dany is the ruling queen and similarly these supporters now rule their lands in name only, he is self proclaimed and recognised by very few with little power at the far edge of the continent. When they say they've lost their lands that's exactly what they mean, whether they have a chance of regaining them or not at that moment they are basically landless exiles.

I thought it'd be obvious that the point I was making is that the Night's Watch as an institution would neither care nor allow someone to abstain from combat just because they disagree with it morally, the post I was replying to was talking about GRRM being a conscientious objector during Vietnam, the United States had a system to handle that and as such can give someone Conscientious Objector Status, I doubt that the Night's Watch does so it's not really comparable, it's a military order and he's already in it and as such when push comes to shove he will be expected to fight. So do you think the text supports the idea of the Night's Watch granting contentious objector status? Or like me would you think it's reasonable to assume that they don't.

The influence of being a powerful and respected lord would probably be enough but I would imagine Renly probably game him pretty extensive authority to exert command within his army, Penrose mentions Tarly as being in Renly's inner circle and he's a renowned commander besides.

There aren't any conscientious objectors in the Night's Watch, it's a military order and everyone should receive a bear minimum of combat training so they aren't a liability to their comrades. If you're going to train someone to repair weapons and make arrows then you might as well also train them to fight because the very nature of the Night's Watch ensures that not only could you be attacked defending the wall but that you are also liable to go beyond it at any time and we see this with Sam, he's put in a non-combat role tending the ravens but that duty as most other duties is also applicable to the Night's Watch in the field so he has to go. The Night's Watch isn't in a luxurious enough of a position to shield people from the harsh realities of their duties just because they're a big softy. Sam's already shown development in this regard, he's not a lost cause so why should the Night's Watch immediately give in and just accept him being less helpful than he could be. Thorn's methods might or might not have made a dent given time, that doesn't mean that they should just let sam bust a big old chill whilst everyone else learns to fight and forage and work their fingers to the bone.

The thing with the kinslaying is that he may have done it if Sam had refused or he may not have, we don't know however there was absolutely no way Sam would have refused anyway so it wasn't really even a real ultimatum.

I think you're focusing on the way we'd use that to describe a student in a modern school learning academic subjects too much. Sam literally cannot swing swords with another person without breaking down when he reaches the Wall and Jon has to pull strings to completely remove him from training, his extreme cowardice and aversion to physical conflict and pain does make him a kind of special needs student in the context of martial training. He can be the smartest person in the world but if he falls over and cries at the thought of a few bruises then surely he could be considered as having special needs when it comes to learning to fight and potentially kill people.

I mean sure of course it's part of the story but there wouldn't be much discussion on the board if we ended every topic with that. Sam is what the story has made him but it's still entertaining to have a debate over the circumstances that have brought about certain things within the story.

Phase 1 officer training still teaches the basics of soldiering in the UK the same as phase 1 for enlisted men, and I don't think many other countries wouldn't have similar basic for officers either. An officer still needs to know how to be a soldier before he can be trained in everything an officer needs to know as well as leadership, if anything officer training is harder. You specialise in phase 2, and as the American USMC put it "Every Marine a rifleman". Sam doesn't even perform all the roles of a steward, he basically just gets a free pass because he can read and write and it shows when he has to be carried away from the Fist.

It's all well and good saying Sam should have been excused because he wasn't suited to being in a military order but he is in one at the end of the day and he got people killed because of it before the White Walker forced him to tackle his cowardice. You can argue against Thorne's methods but clearly Sam shouldn't have just been shipped off to Maester Aemon before being forced to adapt the needs of the Night's Watch because he still ended up in the field on the march with a military ranging and in turn became a burden, at the very least he should have been forced to improve his fitness.

I don't dislike Stannis I dislike his fanboys.

She's probably just exaggerating about Luthor's death, horse could have hit a rock and stumbled or anything.

Freys aren't continuously touting their claims on Riverrun.

The entire point of castles is that they're hard to take by storm, most castles in history that were captured didn't fall to storm. It's not like Robb has much choice in leaving castles untaken or taken. The idea that Robb can march into the West without some level of castle, keep or fortification being between himself and where he came from is ridiculous, are you suggesting he besieges and captures every fortress in the West along his line of march? Castles are entirely too undervalued in this community, maybe GRRM's had a pretty heavy influence on that but come on.

I don't really see it, whenever anyone brings up the show or mixes up show and novel information they get shut down pretty quickly.

Same situation if not worse, Edmure's not just going to marry Robb's discarded one night lover from a poor house. He'd have to pass her off to someone much lower on the totem pole.