Why was janos slynt a top contender for lord commander

[King17]

Janos slynt is corrupt and was only at the wall for a few months. The wall is supposed to be a place where you get what you earn so why was Slynt a top candidate for lord commander?

[Alyn Oakenfist]

Because the Wall had fuck all in terms of experienced leaders. The only people with any kind of prior experience leading or having any real position left after the ranging were:

- Denys and Cotter, both of whom couldn't be it due to their mutual hatred of each other

- Alliser, who was despised by everybody

- Bowen, who was so obviously not fit for the job

- Othell, same as Bowen

- Janos, who at least led the Gold Coaks and had Lannister backing

- And Jon, who was basically the compromise candidate that won, simply due to being decently liked, and not having that dodgy of a history.

[Alexis-something-Rose]

Because he was friends with the Lannisters.

[Daeron the Daring]

He wasn't. He might have been if there were no Others. Otherwise, not so much.

[El Guapo]

Because this idea about the NW being a meritocracy is completely exaggerated and that it is no coincidence that the vast majority of people in leadership positions at the Wall are those that are the offspring of noble families or in Slynt's case a recent addition to the lordly class.

[Here's Looking At You, Kid]

6 hours ago, King17 said:

Janos slynt is corrupt and was only at the wall for a few months. The wall is supposed to be a place where you get what you earn so why was Slynt a top candidate for lord commander?

Because the Nights Watch is not an equal opportunity club.  Janos was raised and became a lord.  He has leadership experience.  The same system benefited Aliser Thorne and Jon Snow even if the latter had very little leadership experience.

[Alyn Oakenfist]

9 hours ago, Here's Looking At You, Kid said:

Because the Nights Watch is not an equal opportunity club.  Janos was raised and became a lord.  He has leadership experience.  The same system benefited Aliser Thorne and Jon Snow even if the latter had very little leadership experience.

First time I agree with you on anything, but yeah. The Nights Watch is mostly unbiased, however the most skilled people in terms of leadership are almost always nobles (noble bastards too) who have been groomed for something like that. Out of all the people at the Wall, the options for that were very limited, that is why they ignored things like Janos dodgy history or Jon's not as dodgy but still pretty dodgy history.

[The Young Maester]

Supposedly their was a 10 year old lord commander. This boy was a stark of winterfell, which probably means the black brothers made him their commander due to his relation to winterfell.

The same can be applied to slynt. He has Lannister (the crown) backing, which to the nights watch seems even better than having a winterfell puppet. Benjen is also another example, because I very much doubt he was the best candidate for first ranger. Yes he was one of the best rangers but you had loads of seasoned men whom were likely better. So it is likely that he was made first ranger because he was brother to the lord of winterfell. And upon election for a new commander, benjen would likely win with a massive majority.

[Rosetta Stone]

Slynt was good at one thing, politics.  He knew who to make friends with and he spoke like a leader.  People would naturally want to be lead by a lord.  It is what they were used to.  He wasn't a poor choice if only he could open his mind to the existence of the white walkers.  

[Alyn Oakenfist]

3 minutes ago, Rosetta Stone said:

He knew who to make friends

As evidenced by his powerful friends at court

4 minutes ago, Rosetta Stone said:

He wasn't a poor choice if only he could open his mind to the existence of the white walkers.  

- Lannister stooge

- Open minded about the white walkers

Pick one

[sifth]

Because Tywin had a letter sent to the watch, saying he was friends with Joffrey. Tywin wanted a pawn rulling the Watch for some daft reason. The Watch was desperate for support and many felt a friend of the winning side was the best person to lead.................despite the guy being an idiot.

[Mad King Bolton]

Janos was scum, but isn't that a prerequisite for pretty much any non northern affiliated member of the watch?  At least in this time period. Members who are actually there by choice or duty vs those forced in are as few as there have ever been.  Those who chose to go would be better prepared and carry themselves better than those who had not, and anyone the NW has with leadership experience such as lords, sons of lords, captains or battle experienced soldiers who fought on the losing side, would have a good chance to advance (wonder what the life expectancy of a ranger is...probably better than the scouts from Titan).  Janos fits the leadership experience, new lord but a lord all the same, and as stated, had the sitting king's personal support (so the letter says), which means he would have access to resources for the NW that other candidates wouldn't have.  In a NW depleted by recent events, they're pretty crazy not to have elected him even though zero would respect him.

[Foot_Of_The_King]

12 hours ago, Alyn Oakenfist said:

Because the Wall had fuck all in terms of experienced leaders. The only people with any kind of prior experience leading or having any real position left after the ranging were:

- Denys and Cotter, both of whom couldn't be it due to their mutual hatred of each other

- Alliser, who was despised by everybody

- Bowen, who was so obviously not fit for the job

- Othell, same as Bowen

- Janos, who at least led the Gold Coaks and had Lannister backing

- And Jon, who was basically the compromise candidate that won, simply due to being decently liked, and not having that dodgy of a history.

My thoughts exactly. I think the personal recommendation from Tywin is the major reason he was a contender. 

[Bernie Mac]

On 2/3/2021 at 4:46 PM, King17 said:

Janos slynt is corrupt and was only at the wall for a few months. The wall is supposed to be a place where you get what you earn so why was Slynt a top candidate for lord commander?

Because he was one of the best qualified for the role. He had been Lord Commander of the Gold Cloaks for a number of years.

This is not really controversial. Should be said, don't think many of the people who were sent to the Wall would have an issue with him being 'corrupt'.

[saltedmalted]

11 hours ago, Bernie Mac said:

Should be said, don't think many of the people who were sent to the Wall would have an issue with him being 'corrupt'.

Slynt was a contender because the opposition was fractured. Both Pyke and Mallister were better choices.

[Wouter]

On 2/3/2021 at 6:26 PM, Alexis-something-Rose said:

Because he was friends with the Lannisters.

That's bang-on, as others also have pointed out. Support of the Lannisters vs the wrath of the Lannisters - important for the watch. Normally they would choose commanders approved by the Starks, as their primary patrons. But the Starks have lost power, and Tywin is still there (as far as they knew).

I think that the later attack on Jon was also chiefly motivated by a desire to be in Bolton's good graces, as the officers of the Watch understand who's the boss in the north (at that time).

[Bernie Mac]

9 hours ago, saltedmalted said:

Slynt was a contender because the opposition was fractured. Both Pyke and Mallister were better choices.

What does that have to do with what I said?

He was still a contender, was he not?

There are a handful amount of people on the Wall qualified to be Lord Commander, Janos was one of them. He was always going to be considered. Managing thousands of men is not something that just anyone can do.

[Trigger Warning]

The guy commanded the city watch of the largest city on the continent why would he not be a contender. 

[Walda]

On 05/02/2021 at 12:08 AM, Foot_Of_The_King said:

I think the personal recommendation from Tywin is the major reason he was a contender

I think the personal recommendation of Tywin won Slynt the personal attention of Bowen Marsh. He is one of the very few men of the watch who respects the power of Tywin Lannister.

If we look at the men who shared the Lord Commander's table with Tyrion, it is easy to see why:- Alliser Thorne, Jaremy Rykkr, sent to the Wall by Tywin Lannister for fighting valiantly, loyally, for the king Tywin betrayed. Maester Aemon, the last Targaryen, his house ruined by death, disgrace, and desolation at the hand of Tywin Lannister. 

Jeor Mormont is of the North, as commanders of the watch historically tended to be. His quarrel, if he has one, is with Eddard Stark. He buried it well enough to groom Eddard's son for Lord Commander, and to give Tywin's son hearty hospitality and pleas to be remembered in King's Landing. 

There are other men in the leadership of the Watch:- Othell Yarwyck, whose prejudices are about deep foundations and wide embrasures rather than families or gods new and old. Denys Mallister and Cotter Pyke, whose family enmities and personalities are more against each other than the great lords of Stark and Lannister, or the green land's kings new and old.

Tywin is too arrogant to realize that the watch, full of baseborn churls and traitors as it is, is not a place full of men who will bow to him instinctively, serve him without question, see the value of cultivating his alliance. Bowen Marsh is practically the only officer of the Night's Watch that is ready to, but happily he is also the officer that reads and responds to Tywin's correspondence.

It seems to me too, that this rapprochement between Bowen Marsh and Lord Tywin came about after Lord Commander Mormont marched out on the Great Ranging. I might be paranoid, but the "slain, with all his strength" letter seems a bit premature. Perhaps, if Bowen Marsh had been in command, there would have been no hopes held for Benjen Stark or Waymar Royce (tbh even Jeor Mormont does not hold out much hope of seeing Waymar again) but in his place I would wait as many days from the return of the messageless crows as it took the men to arrive at the Fist, before deciding that "all his strength" had perished.

Perhaps the mutiny at Craster's Keep was not as spontaneous and food-based as we are led to believe. Maybe Karl, Ollo, Dirk, Oss, and either Garth of Oldtown or Garth Greenaway were using food to rally men to their cause, and had intended to ensure Mormont and all who were loyal to him were slain before they ever left Castle Black.

Maybe Bowen Marsh would have let them live at Craster's Keep undisturbed, as Chett had dreamt of doing, if Lord Commander Mormont never returned. Marsh would only have to make the deal with one, none of the others need know he was complicit. He might not even have had to make a deal. Hearing whispers of the plan in the wormways while the men tallied their secret larders might be enough. Or maybe I am seeing what isn't there, and Marsh wrote to the five kings at Aemon's suggestion, as it takes time to bring levies to Castle Black, and it takes about as much time for a victorious wildling host to march from the Fist of First Men to Castle Black as it does for the remnant of their own force to return. As Sweet Donnel and Ulmer were among those who returned, I am not sure that all the mutineers stayed behind.

Then, there were Chett's mutineers too. Yes, they failed, but Dirk and Ollo were part of that plot and Chett can't have been the only one to have thought "If none of them ever returns to the Wall, no one will ever come looking for us, they’ll think we died with the rest."

Unlike Chett, whoever had that thought after the Fist of First Men would not have the risk of killing Wythers and Locke to ensure Smallwood got command. 

It is possible someone even smarter than Chett might have worked out that the wildlings were massing in huge numbers, and whatever amount of rangers you sent out after them, there was a good chance they would not come back, if they ventured far enough from the wall.

The Others seem to have a very human quality in Chett's capter. They are lurking, spying, listening in on their plans. Also, they have goaded the Lord Commander out from Castle Black, by taking a ranging party here, a wildling villiage there. Dragging the corpses of Rykkr and Flowers to the Godswood. The Others have at least six of Chett's fourteen, and they are about to visit the mutineers of Craster's keep when Sam leaves. 

It seems at odds with Marsh's personality that he would lead forces into battle down to the Bridge of Skulls, with Ser Wynton Stout in command at Castle Black. Mance knew he would take the bait - clearly Mance knows more of Bowen Marsh than I do. I can only assume he knew the command of Castle Black would devolve on Maester Aemon and Donyl Noye, and that, by chosing his deputy by rank rather than ability he was providing justification for an experienced commander with Tywin's patronage and a Lordship to take over for Ser Wynton before he returned for the choosing.

I do wonder if there was something else that riled him up - he seems a stolid character, ideally suited to being castallen, preserving and inventorizing assets, staying put. I would have thought it would take more than Mance's feints and Tywin's letter to gee up Bowen Marsh to the point he ventured out to fight wildlings. Maester Aemon and Donal Noye both might have seen through Mance's feint, but if either warned Marsh, they did not dissuade him.

His willingness to pander to the Lannisters is never explained. Aemon understands the politics of the realm and Mormont the politics of the watch well enough to take a kindly personal interest in the son of Tywin Lannister, but we have not learned why Bowen Marsh was on hand to fill Tyrion's glass. 

Alliser Thorne seems more the type to take the opportunity to lead a host in combat, but I don't know that Alliser Thorne would have done, if he were in Marsh's place. His military experience was not about leaving the walls of King's Landing to defend the swampy delta of the Trident. He would not clear the way for Lord Tywin to take command, so why would he make way for Lord Tywin's lowly frog? Alliser would see through Mance's tactics - he would not leave Castle Black undefended on such slight provocations, however numerous. But at the time he was still on his way back from King's Landing, or at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea after his humiliating audience with Tyrion.

Thorne arrived at Castle Black at the same time as Lord Slynt. Jon Snow assumes they are responding to the raven Maester Aemon and Donal Noye sent in ASoS Ch 48 Jon VI. But I think, all in all, Cotter Pyke has given Ser Alliser and Lord Slynt his van, as he set off to fight the wildlings raiding between Eastwatch and Castle Black, knowing there was a choosing in the offing and the Watch needed a fighter. Perhaps Bowen Marsh was thinking along the same lines, hoping to win some support for his heroic efforts from the Shadowtower men.

It is clear, from Ser Wynton Stout "asleep in the window seat" of the Lord Commander's solar in ASoS Ch 69 Jon IX, that Slynt has taken the rule of Castle Black under his aegis, just as Jon himself had in ASoS Ch 64 Jon VIII where Maester Aemon, insisting his own role was only to advise,  advised that Donal, who had been deputised by Stout at Aemon's recommendation, had deputised Jon before he died and there was no-one else to command Castle Black.

When the men of Eastwatch arrived, Stout no doubt acceded to Ser Alliser's request that Lord Slynt should take operational command as the highest ranked person there, possibly also per Bowen Marsh's written directive. 

Lord Slynt's first order of business is to call for Jon Snow, which makes sense to Aemon as Jon Snow has had operational command and knows the current dispositions of the enemy and Castle Black. Aemon was not to know that Lord Slynt had already been primed by Ser Alliser to court martial Jon Snow.

We can tell Ser Alliser is behind this firstly by the way he greets Jon as "the turncloak" and then by the way Slynt defends him and his courtesies against the "traitor's bastard" and allows Ser Alliser to question the "prisoner". We can also see it in the charges. Ser Glendon brings in Rattleshirt, who witnessed Jon murder his commanding officer. Yet Jon is not being charged with murder or mutiny but for oath-breaking, cowardice and desertion. Alliser wants to be sure Jon Snow dies as a snivelling outcast, and isn't remembered as a warrior mighty enough to slay the legendary half-hand, or a rebel, or any such grand charge.

Slynt of course wants to be known as the man that killed the dangerous traitor Ned Stark, but was betrayed by the imp of Lannister. Either would be enough to endear him to Alliser. That, and his still burning ambition (note how he clings to his title) combined with his stupidity, make him the perfect vehicle for Alliser's malice. He babbles a bit when Jon states Eddard was murdered.

Ser Alliser also blabs a bit when Jon tells Slynt "I don't know what your head is stuffed with". He equates the killing of Qohrin with the killing of Mormont at Craster's keep, and accuses Benjen Stark of getting in Mances ear and orchestrating both, which sounds not a little unhinged. It makes me think a few unhinged speculations of my own. Like Alliser's animus against Jon Snow is due to Alliser's involvement in a plot with Bowen Marsh to overthrow Jeor Mormont and Benjen Stark and have Southerners take the watch. Like Bowen Marsh intended to sacrifice Castle Black to a wildling attack, and Slynt and Thorne had been racing down to take stock, and take credit for salvaging and commanding whatever part of the Watch had not been destroyed, and perhaps hoping to assassinate Mance there before Stannis and his forces ousted the wildling rabble for them.

Aemon puts a stop to their nonsense with a letter to Cotter Pyke. While Pyke can't read, both Slynt and Thorne know he is with Stannis, who can read. Odd that neither of them mentioned the imminent arrival of the King to anyone. That they sent Jon out to kill Mance just before Stannis arrived, and didn't mention a word about all the kings heavy horse and all the king's men until he was literally at the gate. I notice that Bowen Marsh and Septon Celladar are among the few that still suspect Jon. 

When the choosing begins, Thorne puts his own name forward, but by the third day he has withdrawn from the running and put his influence, such as it is, entirely towards Slynt.

As soon as Jon hears there is a choosing in the offing he realises it will come down to Ser Denys Mallister and Cotter Pyke.

The other two contenders he briefly considers are old, cautious Ser Ottyn Wythers, in the rearguard and second in command to Lord Commander Mormont, and bold persuasive Thoren Smallwood in the vanguard commanding the scouts. Then he remembers both died on the Fist of First Men.

Ser Ottyn had seniority, and was not senile like Ser Wynton. Smallwood hated wildlings and showed some military skill, although he was not courteous and the half-hand called him a fool.

They both seem to me to be at best a poor man's stalking-horse for Mallister and Pyke. I'm wondering why they flitted across Jon's brain for even that fleeting second. Tyrion in King's Landing saw straight away that Mallister and Pyke were the only real contenders. Neither Jon or Tyrion considered Thorne a goer at all. 

However, he was ambitious enough to put his name in at the chosing, coming sixth after Slynt, Marsh, Yarwyck, Mallister, and Pyke. A weak sixth, in a field of thirty, and weaker rather than stronger after others withdrew. Still he had no inclination to resume his post as master-of-arms, not even when Jon Snow took the duty on himself.

Slynt was fifth in the first choosing - a very strong start for such a new brother. I suppose the five that came with him from King's Landing might think it worth their while to promote him, but he would need more than these - there are 589 voters, and the winner needed at least 393 votes. 

Slynt's ever increasing vote count still mystifies me. Once he had the support of Bowen Marsh, and through him, Othell Yarwyck, the increase makes some sense, but while these two were still in the running? .

Unlike King's Landing, Slynt could not promise promotion, and I am not sure the men of the Night's Watch earn a salary (although, how else could they pay for the buried treasure of moletown?) He might have Lord Tywin's favour, but Tywin is far away. Lord Baelish and the crown coffers likewise. On the stick side of the equation, he has only five men who killed for him in his glory days, and it is doubtful they would feel obliged to continue, as their loyalty led them to the Wall with him. The Wall is not King's Landing, where goldcloaks can kill where they like. Slynt is surrounded by King's men and Queen's men and brothers of the watch, all armed and battle-hardened, unlike the weavers of the Street of Looms and the denizens of Fleabottom. Slynt has no easy targets, no trusty henchmen, and nothing to gain from killing voters. So he has to use his charms, such as they are.

So, the six votes he started with then the five or four that Alliser garnered (we know that Alliser becomes a promoter of Slynt's interest - although not that his supporters would all transfer to Slynt. I would love to know who voted for Alliser, even more than who voted for three-finger Hobb). Assuming all 49 of Bowen Marsh's men gave Slynt their vote too (unlikely as that may be) there are still the thirty Slynt managed to take from Mallister and Pyke.

How? Their commanders loathe him, King Stannis loathes him. That he could get thirty voters to change their vote to him, is impressive.The only notion I have is that all the twenty-three that put their names forward in the first count but then withdrew, and all the seven supporters they shared amongst them, had bitterly preferred Slynt to anyone that they thought stood a chance of winning, anyone they actually knew. Which seems unlikely.

Even as the compromise candidate, even as the dark horse that nobody knew well enough to outright loathe, Slynt's success in the polls shows us that Sam is not the only influence peddler working behind the scenes.

TL;DR Slynt needed more support than the Lannisters could give him to be the contender he was.

[CamiloRP]

1 hour ago, Walda said:

I think the personal recommendation of Tywin won Slynt the personal attention of Bowen Marsh. He is one of the very few men of the watch who respects the power of Tywin Lannister.

If we look at the men who shared the Lord Commander's table with Tyrion, it is easy to see why:- Alliser Thorne, Jaremy Rykkr, sent to the Wall by Tywin Lannister for fighting valiantly, loyally, for the king Tywin betrayed. Maester Aemon, the last Targaryen, his house ruined by death, disgrace, and desolation at the hand of Tywin Lannister. 

Jeor Mormont is of the North, as commanders of the watch historically tended to be. His quarrel, if he has one, is with Eddard Stark. He buried it well enough to groom Eddard's son for Lord Commander, and to give Tywin's son hearty hospitality and pleas to be remembered in King's Landing. 

There are other men in the leadership of the Watch:- Othell Yarwyck, whose prejudices are about deep foundations and wide embrasures rather than families or gods new and old. Denys Mallister and Cotter Pyke, whose family enmities and personalities are more against each other than the great lords of Stark and Lannister, or the green land's kings new and old.

Tywin is too arrogant to realize that the watch, full of baseborn churls and traitors as it is, is not a place full of men who will bow to him instinctively, serve him without question, see the value of cultivating his alliance. Bowen Marsh is practically the only officer of the Night's Watch that is ready to, but happily he is also the officer that reads and responds to Tywin's correspondence.

It seems to me too, that this rapprochement between Bowen Marsh and Lord Tywin came about after Lord Commander Mormont marched out on the Great Ranging. I might be paranoid, but the "slain, with all his strength" letter seems a bit premature. Perhaps, if Bowen Marsh had been in command, there would have been no hopes held for Benjen Stark or Waymar Royce (tbh even Jeor Mormont does not hold out much hope of seeing Waymar again) but in his place I would wait as many days from the return of the messageless crows as it took the men to arrive at the Fist, before deciding that "all his strength" had perished.

Perhaps the mutiny at Craster's Keep was not as spontaneous and food-based as we are led to believe. Maybe Karl, Ollo, Dirk, Oss, and either Garth of Oldtown or Garth Greenaway were using food to rally men to their cause, and had intended to ensure Mormont and all who were loyal to him were slain before they ever left Castle Black.

Maybe Bowen Marsh would have let them live at Craster's Keep undisturbed, as Chett had dreamt of doing, if Lord Commander Mormont never returned. Marsh would only have to make the deal with one, none of the others need know he was complicit. He might not even have had to make a deal. Hearing whispers of the plan in the wormways while the men tallied their secret larders might be enough. Or maybe I am seeing what isn't there, and Marsh wrote to the five kings at Aemon's suggestion, as it takes time to bring levies to Castle Black, and it takes about as much time for a victorious wildling host to march from the Fist of First Men to Castle Black as it does for the remnant of their own force to return. As Sweet Donnel and Ulmer were among those who returned, I am not sure that all the mutineers stayed behind.

Then, there were Chett's mutineers too. Yes, they failed, but Dirk and Ollo were part of that plot and Chett can't have been the only one to have thought "If none of them ever returns to the Wall, no one will ever come looking for us, they’ll think we died with the rest."

Unlike Chett, whoever had that thought after the Fist of First Men would not have the risk of killing Wythers and Locke to ensure Smallwood got command. 

It is possible someone even smarter than Chett might have worked out that the wildlings were massing in huge numbers, and whatever amount of rangers you sent out after them, there was a good chance they would not come back, if they ventured far enough from the wall.

The Others seem to have a very human quality in Chett's capter. They are lurking, spying, listening in on their plans. Also, they have goaded the Lord Commander out from Castle Black, by taking a ranging party here, a wildling villiage there. Dragging the corpses of Rykkr and Flowers to the Godswood. The Others have at least six of Chett's fourteen, and they are about to visit the mutineers of Craster's keep when Sam leaves. 

It seems at odds with Marsh's personality that he would lead forces into battle down to the Bridge of Skulls, with Ser Wynton Stout in command at Castle Black. Mance knew he would take the bait - clearly Mance knows more of Bowen Marsh than I do. I can only assume he knew the command of Castle Black would devolve on Maester Aemon and Donyl Noye, and that, by chosing his deputy by rank rather than ability he was providing justification for an experienced commander with Tywin's patronage and a Lordship to take over for Ser Wynton before he returned for the choosing.

I do wonder if there was something else that riled him up - he seems a stolid character, ideally suited to being castallen, preserving and inventorizing assets, staying put. I would have thought it would take more than Mance's feints and Tywin's letter to gee up Bowen Marsh to the point he ventured out to fight wildlings. Maester Aemon and Donal Noye both might have seen through Mance's feint, but if either warned Marsh, they did not dissuade him.

His willingness to pander to the Lannisters is never explained. Aemon understands the politics of the realm and Mormont the politics of the watch well enough to take a kindly personal interest in the son of Tywin Lannister, but we have not learned why Bowen Marsh was on hand to fill Tyrion's glass. 

Alliser Thorne seems more the type to take the opportunity to lead a host in combat, but I don't know that Alliser Thorne would have done, if he were in Marsh's place. His military experience was not about leaving the walls of King's Landing to defend the swampy delta of the Trident. He would not clear the way for Lord Tywin to take command, so why would he make way for Lord Tywin's lowly frog? Alliser would see through Mance's tactics - he would not leave Castle Black undefended on such slight provocations, however numerous. But at the time he was still on his way back from King's Landing, or at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea after his humiliating audience with Tyrion.

Thorne arrived at Castle Black at the same time as Lord Slynt. Jon Snow assumes they are responding to the raven Maester Aemon and Donal Noye sent in ASoS Ch 48 Jon VI. But I think, all in all, Cotter Pyke has given Ser Alliser and Lord Slynt his van, as he set off to fight the wildlings raiding between Eastwatch and Castle Black, knowing there was a choosing in the offing and the Watch needed a fighter. Perhaps Bowen Marsh was thinking along the same lines, hoping to win some support for his heroic efforts from the Shadowtower men.

It is clear, from Ser Wynton Stout "asleep in the window seat" of the Lord Commander's solar in ASoS Ch 69 Jon IX, that Slynt has taken the rule of Castle Black under his aegis, just as Jon himself had in ASoS Ch 64 Jon VIII where Maester Aemon, insisting his own role was only to advise,  advised that Donal, who had been deputised by Stout at Aemon's recommendation, had deputised Jon before he died and there was no-one else to command Castle Black.

When the men of Eastwatch arrived, Stout no doubt acceded to Ser Alliser's request that Lord Slynt should take operational command as the highest ranked person there, possibly also per Bowen Marsh's written directive. 

Lord Slynt's first order of business is to call for Jon Snow, which makes sense to Aemon as Jon Snow has had operational command and knows the current dispositions of the enemy and Castle Black. Aemon was not to know that Lord Slynt had already been primed by Ser Alliser to court martial Jon Snow.

We can tell Ser Alliser is behind this firstly by the way he greets Jon as "the turncloak" and then by the way Slynt defends him and his courtesies against the "traitor's bastard" and allows Ser Alliser to question the "prisoner". We can also see it in the charges. Ser Glendon brings in Rattleshirt, who witnessed Jon murder his commanding officer. Yet Jon is not being charged with murder or mutiny but for oath-breaking, cowardice and desertion. Alliser wants to be sure Jon Snow dies as a snivelling outcast, and isn't remembered as a warrior mighty enough to slay the legendary half-hand, or a rebel, or any such grand charge.

Slynt of course wants to be known as the man that killed the dangerous traitor Ned Stark, but was betrayed by the imp of Lannister. Either would be enough to endear him to Alliser. That, and his still burning ambition (note how he clings to his title) combined with his stupidity, make him the perfect vehicle for Alliser's malice. He babbles a bit when Jon states Eddard was murdered.

Ser Alliser also blabs a bit when Jon tells Slynt "I don't know what your head is stuffed with". He equates the killing of Qohrin with the killing of Mormont at Craster's keep, and accuses Benjen Stark of getting in Mances ear and orchestrating both, which sounds not a little unhinged. It makes me think a few unhinged speculations of my own. Like Alliser's animus against Jon Snow is due to Alliser's involvement in a plot with Bowen Marsh to overthrow Jeor Mormont and Benjen Stark and have Southerners take the watch. Like Bowen Marsh intended to sacrifice Castle Black to a wildling attack, and Slynt and Thorne had been racing down to take stock, and take credit for salvaging and commanding whatever part of the Watch had not been destroyed, and perhaps hoping to assassinate Mance there before Stannis and his forces ousted the wildling rabble for them.

Aemon puts a stop to their nonsense with a letter to Cotter Pyke. While Pyke can't read, both Slynt and Thorne know he is with Stannis, who can read. Odd that neither of them mentioned the imminent arrival of the King to anyone. That they sent Jon out to kill Mance just before Stannis arrived, and didn't mention a word about all the kings heavy horse and all the king's men until he was literally at the gate. I notice that Bowen Marsh and Septon Celladar are among the few that still suspect Jon. 

When the choosing begins, Thorne puts his own name forward, but by the third day he has withdrawn from the running and put his influence, such as it is, entirely towards Slynt.

As soon as Jon hears there is a choosing in the offing he realises it will come down to Ser Denys Mallister and Cotter Pyke.

The other two contenders he briefly considers are old, cautious Ser Ottyn Wythers, in the rearguard and second in command to Lord Commander Mormont, and bold persuasive Thoren Smallwood in the vanguard commanding the scouts. Then he remembers both died on the Fist of First Men.

Ser Ottyn had seniority, and was not senile like Ser Wynton. Smallwood hated wildlings and showed some military skill, although he was not courteous and the half-hand called him a fool.

They both seem to me to be at best a poor man's stalking-horse for Mallister and Pyke. I'm wondering why they flitted across Jon's brain for even that fleeting second. Tyrion in King's Landing saw straight away that Mallister and Pyke were the only real contenders. Neither Jon or Tyrion considered Thorne a goer at all. 

However, he was ambitious enough to put his name in at the chosing, coming sixth after Slynt, Marsh, Yarwyck, Mallister, and Pyke. A weak sixth, in a field of thirty, and weaker rather than stronger after others withdrew. Still he had no inclination to resume his post as master-of-arms, not even when Jon Snow took the duty on himself.

Slynt was fifth in the first choosing - a very strong start for such a new brother. I suppose the five that came with him from King's Landing might think it worth their while to promote him, but he would need more than these - there are 589 voters, and the winner needed at least 393 votes. 

Slynt's ever increasing vote count still mystifies me. Once he had the support of Bowen Marsh, and through him, Othell Yarwyck, the increase makes some sense, but while these two were still in the running? .

Unlike King's Landing, Slynt could not promise promotion, and I am not sure the men of the Night's Watch earn a salary (although, how else could they pay for the buried treasure of moletown?) He might have Lord Tywin's favour, but Tywin is far away. Lord Baelish and the crown coffers likewise. On the stick side of the equation, he has only five men who killed for him in his glory days, and it is doubtful they would feel obliged to continue, as their loyalty led them to the Wall with him. The Wall is not King's Landing, where goldcloaks can kill where they like. Slynt is surrounded by King's men and Queen's men and brothers of the watch, all armed and battle-hardened, unlike the weavers of the Street of Looms and the denizens of Fleabottom. Slynt has no easy targets, no trusty henchmen, and nothing to gain from killing voters. So he has to use his charms, such as they are.

So, the six votes he started with then the five or four that Alliser garnered (we know that Alliser becomes a promoter of Slynt's interest - although not that his supporters would all transfer to Slynt. I would love to know who voted for Alliser, even more than who voted for three-finger Hobb). Assuming all 49 of Bowen Marsh's men gave Slynt their vote too (unlikely as that may be) there are still the thirty Slynt managed to take from Mallister and Pyke.

How? Their commanders loathe him, King Stannis loathes him. That he could get thirty voters to change their vote to him, is impressive.The only notion I have is that all the twenty-three that put their names forward in the first count but then withdrew, and all the seven supporters they shared amongst them, had bitterly preferred Slynt to anyone that they thought stood a chance of winning, anyone they actually knew. Which seems unlikely.

Even as the compromise candidate, even as the dark horse that nobody knew well enough to outright loathe, Slynt's success in the polls shows us that Sam is not the only influence peddler working behind the scenes.

TL;DR Slynt needed more support than the Lannisters could give him to be the contender he was.

Well fuck, this is great.