What's the consensus on Wick Wittlestick and the stabbing?

[Chebyshov]

I know I read a theory about there being sorcery in Jon's last chapter (either from Mel or BR), but I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on it, especially Wick's actions.

They had no idea of Wun Wun’s strength. A horn, I need a horn. He saw the glint of steel, turned toward it. “No blades!” he screamed. “Wick, put that knife …”

… away, he meant to say. When Wick Whittlestick slashed at his throat, the word turned into a grunt. Jon twisted from the knife, just enough so it barely grazed his skin. He cut me. When he put his hand to the side of his neck, blood welled between his fingers. “Why?”

“For the Watch.” Wick slashed at him again. This time Jon caught his wrist and bent his arm back until he dropped the dagger. The gangling steward backed away, his hands upraised as if to say, Not me, it was not me. Men were screaming. Jon reached for Longclaw, but his fingers had grown stiff and clumsy. Somehow he could not seem to get the sword free of its scabbard.

Then Bowen Marsh stood there before him, tears running down his cheeks. “For the Watch.” He punched Jon in the belly. When he pulled his hand away, the dagger stayed where he had buried it. Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger’s hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. “Ghost,” he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold …

Bowen's tears seem consistent with his characterization for me, and Jon's sudden clumsiness could be due to his already injured hand (even though he flexes it a lot, this was warned to him in ACOK) or Wick's cut being deeper than he realized and is affecting him. But I cannot explain Wick's upraised hands.

What does everyone else think?

[Bright Blue Eyes]

"I'm a bad fighter with a dagger suddenly realizing I'm taking on a good fighter with a sword. Please don't kill me."

[A bowl of brown]

"I'm a bad fighter with a dagger suddenly realizing I'm taking on a good fighter with a sword. Please don't kill me."

Yeah that's pretty much my view of it. I find Jon's reaction stranger though there are plausible explanations such as shock or something.

[John Doe]

Or he wasn't sure if the other members of the Night's Watch would support him.

[Woofless]

"I'm a bad fighter with a dagger suddenly realizing I'm taking on a good fighter with a sword. Please don't kill me."

Exactly this! :agree:

This time Jon caught his wrist and bent his arm back until he dropped the dagger. The gangling steward backed away, his hands upraised as if to say, Not me, it was not me.

[Janicia]

I agree that Wick has good reason to back away from Jon with his arms up.

Bloodraven has helped Jon stay alive and rise to the top of the Night's Watch- why would he try to kill Jon now? Killing Jon would also be one of the best ways to ensure Bran's refusal to cooperate. Anyway, does Bloodraven have that capability? Giving Bloodraven the ability to mind control people from afar opens up huge possibilities for plot holes once we figure out what Bloodraven wants. Because if he could mind control people, why didn't he use that and achieve his goals 10 years ago rather than spending ages in bird heads and trees following Stark kids around?

The same objection applies to Melissandre. She hasn't been shown to have that power, and if she did, why would she have saved it for this circumstance? Doesn't she want Jon alive? And if she wanted to kill Jon, wouldn't she want to kill him in a controlled ritual to use his blood for a spell, rather than using a spell to kill him?

[John Suburbs]

Maybe it's Patchface.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Wick Whittlestick is Casca...

Just as Wick barely grazed Jon's neck with the first dagger, Casca was the first to cut Ceaser with a glancing cut to the neck. Just as Caesar caught Casca by the arm, Jon caught Wick's wrist. Just as Wick retreated and put his arms up, Casca was frighted and shouted for help. That Jon understood this to mean that Wick was denying involvement was very curious. I'm not sure what to make of that other than he might have been mistaken. That Bowen Marsh wept and claimed to be doing it for the Watch clearly alluded to Brutus...

"Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:"

And Brutus expected his fellow Romans to be glad, going so far as to persuade his fellow conspirators to ignore Marcus Antonius. Given the strong allusion to the assassination of Julius Caesar I'm assuming that Bowen will expect his brothers to be glad. I don't think he has a plan. And much like Brutus was forced to flee Rome in short order I think Bowen is in a very, very tight spot.

[the_scream]

I initially read it as Wick clumsily trying to defend Jon, by slashing at his real attackers.

[John Doe]

I initially read it as Wick clumsily trying to defend Jon, by slashing at his real attackers.

That would be funny.

[James Arryn]

At the time I read Jon's reactions as more notable. If he was inexperienced, sudden sluggishness in response to immediate engagement is actually very common...your mind and senses disagree, basically, and the result is you kind of shut down for a moment before your fight or flight instincts kick in. But with Jon's experience that seemed unlikely.

I think Blue Eyes nailed it in terms of my take on Wick at the time. As it became more of an Ides issue I agree with Lord M's read. Marsh clearly sees this as a moral stand about which he is personally conflicted, so his tears also fit.

But Jon's reaction is still weird, and that can reasonably call all the rest into question. It could just be his hand issue, it could be some kind of drugging, though you'd suppose his reactions to Wick would also be slowed. Maybe they were, maybe Jon normally comes off without a scratch.

Or, as suggested, he was cut very deep by Wick and just doesn't know it. Knife wounds are very odd...having been stabbed myself...in that the feeling of cutting/piercing comes later. At first you feel the blunt force, and I know it's not uncommon for people who gave been stabbed deeply in the torso to think they've been punched. So if he's suffering an arterial laceration, he would be very quickly losing motor skills and consciousness, which would also fit the description.

But if the latter, Jon's pretty certainly dead, which might make it too major, and it just being the hand issue would be a bit too dramatically timed for my tastes. Otoh GRRM hasn't had Jin flexing every second page for no reason, so it's there, I just won't love it. So I am open to 3rd options and I agree with the idea raised here that 3rd options could recast the entire sequence.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

At the time I read Jon's reactions as more notable. If he was inexperienced, sudden sluggishness in response to immediate engagement is actually very common...your mind and senses disagree, basically, and the result is you kind of shut down for a moment before your fight or flight instincts kick in. But with Jon's experience that seemed unlikely.

His experience is almost entirely training. Yes, he fought in some skirmishes, but he was always well-prepared. He never before was the one to experience a (serious) attack out of the blue.

[Ingelheim]

His experience is almost entirely training. Yes, he fought in some skirmishes, but he was always well-prepared. He never before was the one to experience a (serious) attack out of the blue.

Well, there was this Wight he killed in AGOT. He reacted pretty quickly there.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Well, there was this Wight he killed in AGOT. He reacted pretty quickly there.

Ghost warned. He was on patrol and expecting danger. Otherwise he would have stayed in his quarters, what with expecting trial and judgement for mutiny.

[It-was-koff-the-Pie-koff]

All I know is: it was not him, it was not him.

[Ser Cory Trevor]

More like Dick whittlestick.

[OberynBlackfyre]

Yeah like what has been said before....I think what he was also kind of saying in fear was that he (Wick) probably wasn't the one that orchestrated it. If anything, it was Bowen Marsh that was the brains behind the whole thing.....so Wick was just a pawn.

[John Suburbs]

Could Wick's blade have been poisoned?

[Free Northman Reborn]

Could Jon's scabbard have been tampered with? Making him think he was clumsy for not being able to get his sword out as fast as normal.

[Mithras]

I am quite sure that Wick and the others poisoned their blades with wolfsbane. Poison is for cravens, we are told in ADwD.

bemused also has the idea that when Jon went to Selyse for the last time, the conspirators put some glue to Longclaw and that is why Jon was not able to sheathe his sword (and that is why Ghost had wanted to take a bite from them).

I think due to the paralyzing effect of wolfsbane, they will not be able to hear the heartbeat of Jon and they mistake him for dead and put him into an ice cell to preserve his "corpse" as a proof of loyalty to the Boltons and the IT.