[ADWD SPOILERS] Jon 2

[The Oncoming Storm]

Hehe, Slynt finally got it! Too bad Alliser didn't draw his sword. I'm sure he'll get it too sooner or later...

I'm beginning to LIKE Jon! :thumbsup:

[mcb]

Janos Slynt, for the win!

Yeah. What's interesting, he had been acting precisely the same way with Tyrion, right before Tyrion put him in chains and sent to the Wall. And now he tried to pull the same shit. And since "I have powerful friends in King's Landing!" hadn't worked in King's Landing, why did he assume that "I have powerful friends in King's Landing!" would work on the Wall?

On the bright side: I'm certain he's learned his lesson and won't make the same mistake for the third time.

[Rangers30]

Take THAT, Janos Slynt!

SNOWNED!

[Kirazi]

I really liked the chapter. I think it was necessary to see both parallels - because this time we got to see Jon's internal struggle/humanity in his decisions with Gilly and Sam. Like Jon is thinking, "kill the boy" - he is just growing up, not being cruel.

Also, so proud of Jon for offing Janos, and in the way his father taught him!! Way to show em Jon!

[Tyrion Lannister]

I really liked the chapter. I think it was necessary to see both parallels - because this time we got to see Jon's internal struggle/humanity in his decisions with Gilly and Sam. Like Jon is thinking, "kill the boy" - he is just growing up, not being cruel.

Also, so proud of Jon for offing Janos, and in the way his father taught him!! Way to show em Jon!

Agreed. I really enjoyed seeing that conversation from Jon's point of view.

[luizfar]

When I started reading and realized we'd see the same conversation from AFFC again, only from Jon's perspective this time, I was thrilled.

In my opinion it was really cool, though I think GRRM could have explored even more the differences between the feelings Jon and Sam had during the dialogue.

And the second half of the chapter made me quite nervous, but it was awesome! Take that, Slynt! Snowed indeed!

It was a great chapter! Way to go after Quentin's, which I found relatively boring.

Kill the boy.

[Tyrion Lannister]

Forgot to mention, I really like the very end of this chapter, where Stannis meets Jon's eyes and gives him a brief nod. It's a very little thing, but I just felt like it was Stannis' way of saying 'Nicely handled.' Taking off Slynt's head for his insubordination was exactly the sort of unyielding justice that Stannis would approve of.

[RICKON4KING!!]

Just read it, awesome is the only word that comes to mind.

[All-for-Joffrey]

Interesting. When I saw GRRM in Madison a little over three years ago, this was the chapter he read. The ending was different then though. It ended with Janos Slynt being hanged on the wall by Emmett after being taken up the winch cage. I believe the last words were something like "up and up and up." As I was reading this chapter, thinking I knew what would happen, I thought it was strange that Jon wasn't executing Slynt himself and then all of the sudden it changes and Jon thinks "no this isn't right." (which was awesome)

George's first ending was cool but this was too. I'm wondering if GRRM went back after reflecting on it and realized that the decapitation ending was much more in keeping with Jon's character or if he was initially taking Jon's character in a slightly different, less goody-goody Ned, direction and decided to change that in subsequent chapters, prompting him to change the ending to this one.

I guess we'll never know but it's interesting to think about.

[Early Earl]

Take THAT, Janos Slynt!

Man, I wanna see Cersei's face when she gets word of it. So much for taking over the wall, stupid!

[arya_underfoot]

he died too quickly for me. i would've liked to see some more begging from slynt. maybe fall at stannis's or melisandre's feet and beg them to intervene, or plead to alliser thorne to draw his sword, or just something more humiliating. but no, he had a quick, clean death. much more than the bastard deserved.

[ZombieWife]

I strongly disagree. I loved that chapter! When I realised that we were getting the same events we already knew from Sam's POV from Jon's this time, I pulled out Feast and read them in parallel. Amazing! For example, where Jon just notices that Sam's looks like he wants to add something more at one point, but doesn't think more of it, Sam is actually torn about telling him that his brother Bran is still alive. Again when Jon has no idea why Sam doesn't wnat to become a maester. Very well done, I think. I love that "Rashomon" or "Ender's shadow" feeling where you realise that the same events, the same conversation even can be so entirely different for each of the participants.

Good post. I agree. I'm not finding it tedious at all. I rather enjoy seeing Jon and Stannis play their game. I like seeing more of the Red Witch. I like seeing Ghost. :) In AFFC, I remember thinking, "Okay, Jon really did something uncharacteristic in giving Gilly Mance's baby and leaving hers there..." But, this chapter, being in Jon's POV, helped with that considerably.

I'm still rooting for Alliser Thorne to do the right thing. You never know. :)

[ZombieWife]

Man, I wanna see Cersei's face when she gets word of it. So much for taking over the wall, stupid!

I want to see Cersei's face with a LOT of things, this being one for sure!

[Joke]

While it was a great chapter, I didn't really buy the "hang him -- no wait -- off with his head" thing.

Ned's "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword" approach was such a big part of who he was (and was so well-ingrained in Jon and the others) that my immediate reaction was "Jon can't hang him -- he needs to behead him, himself".

So having Jon change his mind (and getting that smirk from Slynt when he thought Jon had relented) felt like cheap drama to me. Jon had clearly been planning this; he knew well in advance that he'd execute Slynt if Slynt didn't comply. I find it hard to believe he hadn't fully thought through the _method_ of execution as well.

[Lord Crispy of Bacon]

no, I think Jon expect Janos to take the command --he is Ned's son in that regard.

[The Adequate Jon]

I was thinking about all the beheadings we've seen so far: Ned, Theon, Robb, and Joffrey (he orders it done). None of them have happy endings (except maybe Theon).

When I was reading ACOK, I noticed that Sansa at one point thought I hope someone cuts Slynt's head off.

[AnotherDeadStark]

Jon was badass in this chapter! Really enjoying his story and loved that Slynt died :)

[AndyFatBastard]

Janos Slynt getting his just desserts was the sweetest moment in this story in a long time. The manner of it was just perfect, too. Here's hoping for more like that.

Regarding Jon being like Ned, I don't think he can make the same mistakes Ned did. Ned thought that winning the war of words was how to win the game of thrones. It was inaction that killed him. Jon hasn't said much, his actions have spoken for him. Different kettle altogether.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

Oh god that was awesome. I love how it on about jon was thinking about tying him to his horse and so on and then he said "And hang him" My face probably matched Janos'.

I just realized that right before their conversation he was wondering how easily hit would be to chop his head off, and like 5 pages he's doing it.

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

This chapter was too long, IMO, and the conversation with Sam ought to have been clipped a bit. I just read this so it was really annoying to literally have pages verbatim again. I get wanting to hear Jon's feelings about the conversation but that could have been done in other ways. Have him recount his frustration later on, for example. GRRM does that a lot.

Still it was a good chapter for the rest of the scenes. I like the "kill the boy" stuff - he's actually learning to be a man and a leader instead of a bratty teen. I am finally liking Jon after 3 books of near-constant eye-rolling. :rolleyes: He does still take himself far too seriously, however. But I don't think that'll ever change.