Jon Connington Appreciation thread

[Fire and Blood!]

This guy became an instant favourite of mine.He wants exactly what I want - restoration of the Targaryen dinasty and ending the Beratheon line.I also like his approach for the Battle of the bells even if it was not the best decision and I admire him for raising Aegon.I will definitely support these two for as long as they are around(which I hope will be to the end).

[Stallion That Mounts Texas]

This guy became an instant favourite of mine.He wants exactly what I want - restoration of the Targaryen dinasty and ending the Beratheon line.I also like his approach for the Battle of the bells even if it was not the best decision and I admire him for raising Aegon.I will definitely support these two for as long as they are around(which I hope will be to the end).

I'm with you on everything you said except for the way he handled the battle of the bells. He spared the townsfolk because he wanted the glory of fighting and killing Robert himself. The goal was to end the greatest threat to the Targaryen Dynasty since Daemon Blackfyre and at all cost. That should have meant chopping off the head of the snake and watching the body die.

But this Connigton will not make the same mistake twice. I also want Targaryen restoration (whether its Jon, Dany, or Aegon) and an end to the Baratheon line (The Targs raised them and the Targs can end them). Lord Jon will be able to do what needs to be done and not have his conscience or vanity get in the way. Whoa onto Tommen, Myrcella, Shireen and Edric Storm. Jon will get his hands dirty so that Aegon does not have to.

[Nymeria Star-Eyes]

I want Aegon to be the instrument of Elia's justice (because MAN does she need justice) and Jon to guide him while not making the same mistakes of the past. There's no way that Jon would ever condone the murders of Tommen Myrcella Shireen et al, because, you know, he's not Tywin Lannister or Gregor. He might contemplate it, but given the opportunity, he won't be able to go through with it. It's unfortunate that Jon doesn't have the chance to face either Robert or Tywin.

I don't think Aegon's the real Aegon, but I'm hoping that the retribution against Gregor/Robert Strong/King's Landing etc happens before we find out the truth.

Of course, we all know that GRRM has a way of crushing hopes and dreams.

Anyway, this is my favorite fanart of Jon:

http://brocursion.tu...y-that-one-line

[Stallion That Mounts Texas]

I want Aegon to be the instrument of Elia's justice (because MAN does she need justice) and Jon to guide him while not making the same mistakes of the past. There's no way that Jon would ever condone the murders of Tommen Myrcella Shireen et al, because, you know, he's not Tywin Lannister or Gregor. He might contemplate it, but given the opportunity, he won't be able to go through with it. It's unfortunate that Jon doesn't have the chance to face either Robert or Tywin.

I don't think Aegon's the real Aegon, but I'm hoping that the retribution against Gregor/Robert Strong/King's Landing etc happens before we find out the truth.

Of course, we all know that GRRM has a way of crushing hopes and dreams.

Anyway, this is my favorite fanart of Jon:

http://brocursion.tu...y-that-one-line

I agree that Jon would never condone the murder of children, but the deed may be done by Connington before Jon ever comes into the picture. Aegon's hands will be clean.

[Ser Lepus]

Anyway, this is my favorite fanart of Jon:

http://brocursion.tu...y-that-one-line

I love you :bowdown:

[Nymeria Star-Eyes]

I agree that Jon would never condone the murder of children, but the deed may be done by Connington before Jon ever comes into the picture. Aegon's hands will be clean.

I meant JonCon, rather than Jon Snow.

I don't think Connington could kill the children, but even if he or one of the golden company did, would Aegon's hands really be clean? In Robert's rebellion, Gregor was the murderer and rapist, and Tywin laid the bodies at Robert's feet, but Robert was in no way blameless. It was his rebellion, and the murder was done in his name for his throne. Robert defended Gregor's actions, and that was the reason Ned and Robert didn't speak for nine years until the Greyjoy uprising.

If it went down the same way with Aegon, say some henchmen kills the kids and Connington lays them at Aegon's feet, that doesn't mean that Aegon's hands are clean. Again, it's his rebellion, and his throne. If the murders happened, it doesn't matter if he didn't wield the sword himself. As the king it is his responsibility to prevent such crimes, and if he fails then the blood is on his hands, too.

The only way Aegon might absolve himself of that guilt would be if he punished Connington and the henchmen or whoever did the murders, just as Ned had urged Robert to do. I can't see Aegon sending Connington to the wall for that, just like Robert didn't send Tywin to the wall.

But I don't think Connington will kill any children with his own hand, or respect/condone/praise any henchmen that did it. Because he's not Tywin, he doesn't have a Gregor, and Aegon isn't Robert.

[Stallion That Mounts Texas]

I meant JonCon, rather than Jon Snow.

I don't think Connington could kill the children, but even if he or one of the golden company did, would Aegon's hands really be clean? In Robert's rebellion, Gregor was the murderer and rapist, and Tywin laid the bodies at Robert's feet, but Robert was in no way blameless. It was his rebellion, and the murder was done in his name for his throne. Robert defended Gregor's actions, and that was the reason Ned and Robert didn't speak for nine years until the Greyjoy uprising.

If it went down the same way with Aegon, say some henchmen kills the kids and Connington lays them at Aegon's feet, that doesn't mean that Aegon's hands are clean. Again, it's his rebellion, and his throne. If the murders happened, it doesn't matter if he didn't wield the sword himself. As the king it is his responsibility to prevent such crimes, and if he fails then the blood is on his hands, too.

The only way Aegon might absolve himself of that guilt would be if he punished Connington and the henchmen or whoever did the murders, just as Ned had urged Robert to do. I can't see Aegon sending Connington to the wall for that, just like Robert didn't send Tywin to the wall.

But I don't think Connington will kill any children with his own hand, or respect/condone/praise any henchmen that did it. Because he's not Tywin, he doesn't have a Gregor, and Aegon isn't Robert.

Fair enough, but the children need not die at all. If Cersei and /or Jaime can be persuaded to come clean (with a threat of killing the children otherwise) Tommen and Myrcella need not suffer any harm. They can live out the rest of their lives at the Rock as the incestuous bastards that they are, and under Tyrion's protection.

[Nymeria Star-Eyes]

Yeah, I'm certainly hoping for no children deaths at all.

I mean, I want Aegon to kill UnGregor, but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

I don't think Aegon's rebellion is going to go well at all.

The narrative has been very clear so far that the Boy King trope ends badly for everyone (Robb, Joffrey, even Dany and Tommen to an extent). I don't see that changing suddenly for Aegon, even if he did have "the blood of the dragon". We already see that he's making choices that JonCon doesn't think are very good ideas (the kingsguard, leading the charge at Storm's end). The reason he went directly to westeros was because Tyrion was trying to play him, not because it was a good plan. I can only imagine this is going to get worse.

[Spring Bass]

I figure "Aegon's" attempt will fail badly as well, after one or two triumphs (taking Storm's End, and possibly getting Arianne Martell's collaboration if Doran Martell dies).

That's what makes Jon Connington so tragic. He just wants to redeem himself by putting the son of his beloved silver prince on the Throne, but he's probably about to fail for the same reasons that he failed at Stoney Sept: he got arrogant and impatient. If or when Aegon turns out to be the Westerosi equivalent of Perkin Warbeck, he's going to end up in a bad place again - except this time, he'll likely have started a devastating Greyscale outbreak while he's at it.

I guess you could say I appreciate Jon Connington, but not because I like him - I pity him. It's because he's so interesting, so human, and so flawed yet determined.

[James Arryn]

If he had managed to kill or capture Robert he could have ended the Rebellion then and there and saved the lives of an untold number of people. Is that worth killing or injuring the few hundred (?) people from that one town? Maybe?

Assuming he knew while he was doing it that that was the choice he was making.

Yes, but the honorable and noble Rhaegar would at least be alive (or at least would not have been killed by Robert). That is what I mean about JonCon's emotions interfering with his judgement.

Sorry to harp on about this, but I see this kind of assumed hindsight as a means of criticizing decisions a lot and it always irks me. I don't think his emotions interfered with his judgment in terms of 'a dishonorable choice would have left Rhaegar alive'...that's way too direct. Yes, as it turns out when an unexpected army turned up and Robert unexpectedly had proven impossible to find, that cost them that battle, and in terms of chaos theory may have cost RT his life, but in terms of what he knew at the time, I don't see any reason for making the 'burn the whole town' call.

He thinks Tywin would have, but he's also coloring that call with the hindsight of now knowing that Ned Stark's army was about to appear, and a need to lash himself...but if neither man knew that at the time, the only reason to suppose that Tywin would have burned the village would be that he doesn't care either way about hundreds dying, so why take any chance? But that would also mean he would also do that in each and every other instance where he doesn't know the outcome, and do you really see Tywin burning villages (or similar err-on-the-side-of-caution/mass murder) left and right 'just in case', or surviving long if he does?

He has an exceptionally cold and pragmatic mind, but without the benefit of hindsight, I think assuming Tywin burns the town because Robert's supposed to be in it as a matter of course would also have him wreaking havoc on a pretty unstoppable scale given the number of dangers he has faced since. Arya's loose, possibly in King's Landing? Burn it to the ground, that's safer. Dondarrion is hiding out in the forests? Forests burn too. Etc. It's only because we know what happened as a consequence of not burning Stoney Sept that the choice even seems real, imo. At the time Robert had won one battle and lost another, and wasn't really considered that much of a real threat...no more than, say, the KB. It's not like 'burn the town or let Rhaegar die' was even a real consideration.

[Vandalism]

He was different. Definitely something in this guy that the other new characters did not really have. An X-factor of sorts.

The fact that he's called the Griffin Reborn makes him sort of epic and bad ass; a guy who has returned to his land to reclaim what is his by rights.

Also, he seems very sensible from what we read about his short, easy victory in the storm lands. And the fact that he didn't take years to travel from the Free Cities to Westeros makes me automatically like him (and dislike Dany more).

[James Arryn]

And the fact that he didn't take years to travel from the Free Cities...

I like him too, but he did take years and years. We just didn't read about them.

He waited for a lot of things to fall into place too.

I'm not defending Dany...I'm as frustrated with her paralysis as anyone...she was initially one of my favorite characters, now I feel a slight let down when I turn a page and see a ne Dany chapter...but Connington was floating around the Rhoyne for years and years before we ever saw him.

[ed Lannister]

Assuming he knew while he was doing it that that was the choice he was making. Sorry to harp on about this, but I see this kind of assumed hindsight as a means of criticizing decisions a lot and it always irks me. I don't think his emotions interfered with his judgment in terms of 'a dishonorable choice would have left Rhaegar alive'...that's way too direct. Yes, as it turns out when an unexpected army turned up and Robert unexpectedly had proven impossible to find, that cost them that battle, and in terms of chaos theory may have cost RT his life, but in terms of what he knew at the time, I don't see any reason for making the 'burn the whole town' call. He thinks Tywin would have, but he's also coloring that call with the hindsight of now knowing that Ned Stark's army was about to appear, and a need to lash himself...but if neither man knew that at the time, the only reason to suppose that Tywin would have burned the village would be that he doesn't care either way about hundreds dying, so why take any chance? But that would also mean he would also do that in each and every other instance where he doesn't know the outcome, and do you really see Tywin burning villages (or similar err-on-the-side-of-caution/mass murder) left and right 'just in case', or surviving long if he does? He has an exceptionally cold and pragmatic mind, but without the benefit of hindsight, I think assuming Tywin burns the town because Robert's supposed to be in it as a matter of course would also have him wreaking havoc on a pretty unstoppable scale given the number of dangers he has faced since. Arya's loose, possibly in King's Landing? Burn it to the ground, that's safer. Dondarrion is hiding out in the forests? Forests burn too. Etc. It's only because we know what happened as a consequence of not burning Stoney Sept that the choice even seems real, imo. At the time Robert had won one battle and lost another, and wasn't really considered that much of a real threat...no more than, say, the KB. It's not like 'burn the town or let Rhaegar die' was even a real consideration.

At the time robert was holed up in stoney sept,,robert had won some victories and some like ned,jon arryn,hoster tully were rallying armies to robert's aid, from their regions and was not an unexpected army as you put it and aerys had already figured out robert had become a big threat since the blacfkyres and that's why he sacked the previous hand merryweather and appointed jon as the hand of the king to deal with robert before they the armies could link up and become formidable force to fight against.....connington hesitated to finish robert off and the consequence was placing the targs dynasty at peril which eventually led to downfall of the targs from the events at stoney sept....from his recollection i guess he was trying to justify the way he handled the responsibility at stoney sept that would have brought glory to himself by slaying robert personally.

The burning down of stoney sept was just highlighted by myles toyne to give him insight of how probably tywin would have crushed robert when he had the upperhand before anyone could come to his aid and offer pardons to whoever turns up to aid robert with an army after they find stoney sept in ruins....connington had the time and opportunity to end robert for good but from the turnout of the events in stoney sept and the POV of myles toyne it's probably safe to say he let his emotions reign in his judgement(for personal glory in slaying robert) rather than carryout fully the task aerys gave him which was to destroy robert before his strength could grow and pose a greater risk to the targs

[Elric of Melnibone]

One of the best new characters introduced in ADWD.

Admire the man for not doing a Tywin Lannister/Hoster Tully to Stoney Sept town. He could have easily burned the entire town to the ground but didn't want to be a butcher. Tywin wouldn't have hesitated to do that and Hoster Tully put entire villages to the sword during Robert Rebellion.

After he got his army he from Essos to Westeros pretty quick (take a lesson Dany).

He was one of the best things in ADWD (after Reek, Davos). And is also tragic considering the grayscale.

He like Barristan will also prove invaluable for more info on Roberts Rebellion.

Know like other characters he has bad points aswell, but I admire the mans loyalty to Rhaegars memory and his willingness to raise his son (Connington doesnt doubt the lads parentage for a second).

Thoughts?

Love it, agree 100%

For one, I love the redemption arc his character brings now

Of course it's going to all get screwed up in every possibly way, like for every character in ASOIAF, but he was a really compelling character for me.

Plus there was something so refreshing about Aegon's decisiveness and saying "screw going East, I'm taking Westeros myself", then a few chapters later seeing JC and the GC swoop into Westeros so efficiently and take Griffin's Roost without breaking a sweat

With the ridiculously drawn out disaster that Dany's plotline has become, I guess it just makes it so much more refreshing to see JC/Griff and Victarion just kick ass and take names in contrast

[Rheagar Prime]

I honestly hope he is rhaegar's son just to give jon some peace and i want to see aegon and jon snow meet up come on both lost their mom's if they are who the book and theories claim them to be. I do see aegon taking storms end although tyrion was playing him to gain favour with dany and for his own game it was the damn right advice with all the feuds and the depleted kingdoms he can win much easier. Dany will have nothing to do if she ever reaches westeros.

Back on point the guy seems to be the right mentor for a hot like aegon, he is nothing like rhaegar at that age but come on alot of boys weren't like rhaegar i see jon bring some great character development out with aegon to let ppl like him. I hope he does help him sit on the throne b4 he dies guy deseves some peace and tywin and robert are dead so it's not like he can seek vengeance anymore.

[Rhaegar The Rocker]

As much as I empathize with JonCon, I secretly want Aegon to be crushed and JonCn broken into some tragic figure. I know that's dark, but I sort of want the heartbreak.

[Mulled Wino]

I hope he fails spectacularly.

I cant read another thing about how bad he wanted to impress Rhaegar and how bad he wanted to be his friend. Puke

[Where Boars Glow]

I find him to be a particularly tragic character. He is obviously trying to redeem himself for failing Rhaegar, but I don't think Aegon is actually Rhaegar's son. So if Jon becomes a political player like I think he will, Connington might actually end up fighting against Rhaegar's true son, which I find really depressing.

I can't even imagine what he is going to do if he finds out about R+L=J. Refuse to believe it? Turn on the boy he's practically raised? I'm fascinated to see where his story goes, but I really don't see it ending well. Which is a shame because, despite his gruff persona, he actually seems like a good guy.

I think Connington goes Liam Neeson in Taken on Illyrio....maybe Varys too.

[Hamilton]

The Griffin Reborn chapter in Dance was one of the best in the series.

[Where Boars Glow]

I want Aegon to be the instrument of Elia's justice (because MAN does she need justice) and Jon to guide him while not making the same mistakes of the past. There's no way that Jon would ever condone the murders of Tommen Myrcella Shireen et al, because, you know, he's not Tywin Lannister or Gregor. He might contemplate it, but given the opportunity, he won't be able to go through with it. It's unfortunate that Jon doesn't have the chance to face either Robert or Tywin.

I don't think Aegon's the real Aegon, but I'm hoping that the retribution against Gregor/Robert Strong/King's Landing etc happens before we find out the truth.

Of course, we all know that GRRM has a way of crushing hopes and dreams.

Anyway, this is my favorite fanart of Jon:

http://brocursion.tu...y-that-one-line

Love the comic