Episode 60: A GAME OF THRONES, JON VIII: "The Once and Future King" featuring special guest Kim Renfro! SHOW NOTES!

Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish. 

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn. 

Welcome to the sixtieth episode of the Not A Cast, entitled: “The Once and Future King: An Analysis of AGOT, Jon VIII,” in which Jon Snow, Zombie Hunter, is confronted with split loyalties and hears some heavy advice on that subject from his secret great-great-great uncle Aemon. Oh, and he gets a sweet Valyrian steel sword too, I guess. 

This is my very favorite Jon chapter in book one, so I’ve been looking forward to it, and all the more so because of our guest this week: Insider writer, debunker of Bran-as-Night-King theories, and author of The Unofficial Guide to Game of Thrones, which you can pre-order now on Amazon--welcome to the notacast, Kim Renfro!

Kim intro

This episode is brought to you by our Small Council: 

• Hand of the King WolfmanZack 
• Grand Maester Timothy W
• Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N. 
• Lord Travis, Master of Ships and Warden of the Waves
• Ser Keith J, Master of Whisperers
• Lord Philip the Merciful, Master of Laws
• Jancy O, Lady Commander of the Night’s Watch
• Lord Gene Master of Coin
• Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes
• Ragged Michael, Warden of the North
• Nelson the Hammer, Prince of Dragonstone
• Scarlett the Other Red Woman and Mistress of Whisperers
• Lord Baby the Onion Baby
• Lord Blackheart the Defiant, Master of Zorse 
• Lord Micah Warden of the West and the Kraken’s Bane
• Lord James: the Jim that was Promised

Thank you councillors very much!

Spoiler warning: All published books - 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!

Question

Ser Chris L asks:

Thinking ahead to next year while preordering my copy of Fire and Blood, I decided to grab the 2019 ASOIAF illustrated calendar. 

I recommended it, and am happy to spend next year listening to your podcast and making plans under some pretty sweet artwork, like Lady Stoneheart or Bran’s Fall (I’ll attach images below hopefully in order of reference in this email). 

Thing is, there’s an image I wanted to ask your opinions on, not that it’s your responsibility but because I couldn’t find answers online and thought that you NotACast guys might be able to answer anyway. 

Every month has quotes from the book that kinda describe the image, like stoneheart’s has the quote about her multiple names and Brans quote is directly from the fall scene. 

The confusing is the image for December. I can only identify Jon because of longclaw and based on appearance alone I can’t determine who the rest are or what this moment is. Blond haired red priestess?Dany? who knows? Other person, no clue without any context. And the quote is “when you play the game of thrones...”

What do you think?

Synopsis

Jon Snow is alive! At least for the time being. His gamble of throwing the burning drapes at the undead Othor worked! Hooray! Go, Jon. But his victory came with cost.

Our chapter opens with Lord Commander Mormont and Jon Snow conversing in the Lord Commander’s chamber. Elsie Mormont asks Jon if he’s well, and Jon lies and says, yeah, totally fine. I only just got second-degree burns on my hand while fighting a goddamn zombie in your own chambers, Elsie Mormont. But other than that, right as rain. And hey, Mormont, what’s up with your beard? You shaved it off after it got burned in the fire, and now you look, and this is just great old, disreputable and grumpy. Just the idea of Mormont looking disreputable gives me the giggles.

Mormont knows that Jon isn’t being truthful; so, he asks after his hand. It’s healing, and Jon flexes the fingers of his sword hand for the first but definitely not the last time. His hand hurts like motherfucking hell, and Jon would have scars for life on those hands. But the good news is that at some point, the hand would heal. Besides, Mormont helpfully puts in that Jon will be wearing gloves most of the time up here at the Wall.

Ah, yes, so very comforting for Jon. He only had to deal with the agonizing pain that kept him writhing around on his bed at night. Oh, and the PTSD. He was dreaming about Othor, but with a fun twist:

In the dream, the corpse he fought had blue eyes, black hands and his father’s face, but he dared not tell Mormont that.

And Jon, your hand will return to full function, but guess what or who isn’t returning!? Benjen! Dywen and Hake had looked for Uncle Benjen, but they hadn’t found him. So, I hope you’re not too torn up given your intense pain, your PTSD, your dreams of Ned with black hands and blue eyes or that your uncle is still missing! Jon knows all this already as word always spreads quickly in Castle Black to Elsie Mormont’s dismay.

But enough of these happy topics, Jon let’s turn our attention now to the apocalypse and the end of all human and animal life at the hands of winter and the White Walkers. According to Maester Aemon, the cold winds are rising, and Westeros is about to endure a winter that the world has never seen before.

Winter is coming. The Stark words had never sounded so grim or ominous to Jon as they did now.

But let’s detour quickly and talk about the pressing issue of the day: the dismissal of Ser Barristan Selmy from the Kingsguard! Wait, what? Yes. There was a bird the night prior from King’s Landing, but it hadn’t contained information about Ned or Jon’s sisters. Instead, Pycelle had sent a letter to the Night’s Watch about how Barristan was now a traitor, because that seems very important in the grand scheme of things. And this after Mormont had sent two ravens to King’s Landing to inquire after Ned and Jon’s sister, but Pycelle hadn’t deigned to respond.

It would not be the first time, nor the last. I fear we count for less than nothing in King’s Landing. They tell us what they want us to know, and that’s little enough.

Way to be the worst, Pycelle.

Well, Jon thinks that Mormont only tells him what he wants to know. And Jon isn’t entirely wrong. Mormont had concealed from Jon that Robb was marching south. Only Samwell Tarly had bothered to let Jon know that little detail. Now, Jon concedes that Mormont probably didn’t want him pining after going off to fight with Robb, but still. It would have been nice to know.

But anyways, Jon, let’s talk about the burning atrocity of a hand that you call your hand again. Will it heal soon? Sure. Soon enough. Mormont nods, adopting the look of the wise, old mentor trope.

“Good.” On the table between them, Lord Mormont laid a large sword in a black metal scabbard banded with silver. “Here. You’ll be ready for this, then.”

Jon is confused. I know. He’s always at least a little confused. But he’s more confused this time. Bloodraven, er, Mormont’s raven, flies down from Mormont’s head onto the table and squawks at Jon to take it! But Jon, still confused, asks what this is all about. What it’s all about, you big dodo, is that Mormont is giving you his sword. He doesn’t use it these days, and yes, Jon, you’ll need to get the pommel repaired. But it’s yours.

Jon takes the sword with his non-burnt hand, and pulls the sword from its scabbard. And lo and behold, it’s Lightbringer! Ohhh, another mistake in the notes. It’s not lightbringer (yet). But it’s a very special sword for a very special boy. It even has a white wolf’s head in the pommel with red eyes. But it’s not just your regular, old two-handed greatsword. It’s a bastard blade that’s a “hand and a-halfer” sword. But then Jon realizes something: it’s Valyrian steel.

Mormont confirms Jon’s suspicion, and gives a little backstory about how the sword had been in House Mormont’s possession for five generations until Jorah Mormont made the small, very minor mistake of selling human beings into slavery to maintain his wife’s lifestyle. Before running away from Ned Stark’s justice like a very brave bear, Mormont had done the only decent thing in his entire life: he left his family’s ancestral sword behind. And then he ran like hell, because, brave Ser Jorah bravely ran away.

But this gift sends Jon wheeling into memory. He’d wanted to be a brave man doing brave things when he was Bran’s age. He’d even imagined saving Ned’s life, and this resulting in Ned naming Jon a Stark and giving him Ice. But even as a kid, Jon knew this was a just a child’s foolishness. He could never hope to be a Stark. (Because he’s a Targaryen, right guys!?) So, Jon tries to return the sword, but Mormont’s not having it.

I would not be sitting here were it not for you and that beast of yours. You fought bravely … and more to the point, you thought quickly. 

You see, they all should have known that fire can kill wights. It wasn’t that long ago (a mere 8,000 maybe more, maybe fewer years) that the Long Night had come, and the Night’s Watch should have remembered. 

Well, Jon can’t really remember what happened 8,000 years ago, but he sure as shit can remember what happened when he dropped a hot mixtape on the undead Othor. Don’t look at me like that, Emmett. The hot mixtape was fiery drapes he threw at Othor. It’s a metaphor. And then Othor had burned up to a crisp, thrashing around, melting away until the bone gleamed through. And then whatever demonic force was gone. And wow, must be quite the scene, George! Wonder if this was originally in the draft version of Jon VII before GRRM cut it to Jon VIII. 

Anyways, about those dreams he’s been having of Ned, Jon has a little more detail about them:

Yet in his nightmare he faced it again … and this time, the burning corpse wore Lord Eddard’s features. It was his father’s skin that burst and blackened, his father’s eyes that ran liquid down his cheeks like jellied tears

Jon’s scared of the dream, but he pushes that aside when Mormont tells him that the sword is payment for Jon saving Mormont’s life. He finally accepts the sword and knows he should feel honored by it, and yet … Mormont isn’t his father. Which, of course, Jon, he ain’t. Lord Eddard is my father. Which, of course, Jon, he ain’t. These are father figures, Jon. You will learn this is GoT, S08E01. 

But as Jon starts to thank Elsie Mormont, Jeor stops him:

I want no courtesies either. So thank me no thanks. Honor the steel with deeds, not words.

Jon nods and wonders if the sword has a name. Longclaw, the Elsie responds. Jon thinks that’s a pretty good name. He’ll keep it. Besides, wolves have claws just like bears. Mormont likes the sound of that, and he urges Jon to wear the sword over his shoulder like a movie-hero would. And you need to train with Ser Endrew on fighting with a two-handed sword. And who is Ser Endrew? Why, he’s Ser Endrew TARTH! Our first canonical House Tarth mention in ASOIAF I believe. He’s on his way to Castle Black from the Shadow Tower. And Ser Alliser is on his way out the door too. On over to Eastwatch-by-the-sea.

Jon’s a little puzzled by this. (When isn’t it) He asks why Alliser is being sent away. Well, because Mormont ordered it. Alliser is off to deliver the wrist of Jafer Flowers -- the one that Ghost tore off beyond the Wall. He’s to bring the wrist to King’s Landing to let the court know that there’s trouble up on the Wall. Won’t you help us? You won’t? Oh … okay. But there’s a secondary reason for sending Alliser to King’s Landing. LC Mormont is putting distance between Jon and Ser Alliser. Jon, you did almost stab him that one, and Alliser did very much try to provoke said almost-stabbing. But sum all the lessons up, go be a man, stop acting a boy. You got a mayun’s sword now. 

Mormont scratches his stubbled-jaw and dismisses Jon to his duties.

And that is AGOT, Jon VIII, quite a chapter, Kim and Emmett, but I feel like it’s a little incomplete.

beat

Lol, we ain’t done yet!

Outside of Mormont’s chambers, everyone at-a-boy’s Jon. Jon fake-smiles back at everyone, but he’s fuckin’ pissed. He’s Jon. He’s 14. And he has very real feelings. But before he can express his feelings, his buddies jump him. But this time, they don’t want to kill him. He’s won their allegiance. What they want is for Jon to show them his, uh, sword. Is that weird? It sounds weird when I say it like that.

Anyways, Jon looks at them all and accusing them of knowing. Well, of course they knew. They’re not as dumb as Grenn. You are so, insisted Grenn. You’re dumber. And gotta hand it to you Grenn, you win this round of Pyp and Grenn jape. 

Halder puts in that he helped carve the stone for the pommel, and Samwell got the garnets from Mole’s Town. But they even knew before that. Donal Noye was working on it in the forge, and nevermind all that. Sword! Sword! Sword! Let’s see your sword, Jon! Show us your …. Uh sword. God, still sounds weird.

Jon unsheathes Longclaw and shows it to the boys, declaring it to be Valyrian steel. Pyp japes about how Jon is the first brother to ever be honored for burning down the Lord Commander’s tower, and everyone laughs, except Jon. He manages a smile. He hadn’t truly burned down the Elsie’s tower, just kind of gutted it a bit. Besides, the fire Jon started had destroyed Othor’s corpse. 

But Othor wasn’t alone in doing white walker work. His wight compatriot Jafer Flowers had risen from the dead too, and while he or it had been cut down by a dozen sword cuts, he/it murdered Ser Jaremy Rykker and four other brothers of the Night’s Watch. How in the world do you fight something that can keep taking sword hits over and over again and still come? Jon wonders. Jafer’s entity had only finally perished when it plunged its own dagger into its bowels, and I am very curious about that. We’ll need to talk about that a bit more.

But these memories send Jon into a fouler mood. He lies and tells them he needs to get Mormont’s supper prepared, sheaths his sword and then makes away from his friends quick fast and in a hurry. They didn’t know about what it was like to face the undead. They didn’t know anything about the fighting in the Riverlands. How could they hope to comprehend?

Jon gets back to his chambers and finds Ghost. Yes, Ghost, the direwolf. He is an important part of Jon’s identity, symbolizing his Stark side while his dragon-riding … sigh, why bother at this point? Anyways, Ghost watches him with his red eyes, and Jon shows Longclaw to Ghost, letting his direwolf know that the wolf with red eyes in the pommel is him. It’s really Ghost who deserves the honors, not Jon. And this sends Jon into memory yet again, thinking about finding Ghost outside of Winterfell: 

He was all alone, apart from the others in the litter. He was different, so they drove him out.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, buddy. We know who you’re really talking about here, Jon.

But wait, Sam is here. Does he want to see Longclaw? Did he know about it? Well, Sam was heir to Randyll at one point and got to hold Randyll’s valyrian-steel sword Heartsbane a few times. But he never liked it. The sword always scared him. But he ain’t here to talk about all that. Maester Aemon wants to see Jon.

Jon is suspicious. Why? And Sam, you didn’t tell Maester Aemon, did you? You didn’t tell him that thing about me knowing that Robb marching south against the Lannisters, right? Right!? You did. Goddammit, Sam. Why? Well, Sam didn’t want to. But the maester sees things that no one else sees.

He’s blind! Jon practically shouts.

But Jon heads off the Maester Aemon’s chambers anyways.

Jon finds the old man at the rookery, giving the ravens bloody strips of meat. He asks Aemon if he wanted to see him, and Aemon says, yup. And now come get your hands bloody with me. He tells Jon to toss the meat into the cages, and the birds will do the rest. Jon proceeds to toss bloody meat into the cages and watches the birds fight over the meat. He wonders aloud at Mormont’s bird who only eats fruit and corn, and Aemon, maester of bringing the heat says:

He is a rare bird. Most ravens will eat grain, but they prefer flesh. It makes them strong, and I fear they relish the taste of blood. In that they are like men … and like men, not all ravens are alike.

Jon says nothing. Smart, Jon, but he wonders why he’s been brought here. Aemon goes onto talk about how doves and pigeons can carry messages, but ravens are stronger, larger, bolder, more clever and can defend themselves against haws. But ravens are also black. They eat the dead. So, the godly don’t take kindly to ravens. Baelor the Blessed tried replacing the doves, but we at the Night’s Watch prefer ravens.

Okay, thanks for that, Jon sort of says. The wildlings think we’re crows. Yeah. They do, Aemon agrees. They are both beggars in black, hated and misunderstood. Jon’s still, always confused. Why is he here talking about ravens and crows? Ah, as to that, Maester Aemon’s got some wisdom to bring:

“Jon, did you ever wonder why the men of the Night’s Watch take no wives and father no children?”

“No.”

“So they will not love,” the old man answered, “for love is the bane of honor, the death of duty.”

Well, that shit ain’t right, Jon thinks. But he’s not about to disagree with the 100 year old maester. But Maester Aemon sees Jon:

Tell me, Jon, if the day should come when your lord father must needs choose between honor on the one hand and those he loves on the other, what would he do?

Oooooooh boy. Jon tries to think this through. Ned wouldn’t dishonor himself, but then again, he fathered a bastard. He fathered Jon, right? No, wrong, Jon.

He would do whatever was right. No matter what, Jon stammers out.

And man, I got that ol’ time religious urge to read all of Aemon’s lines. I won’t, but I at least have to read this one:

Then lord Eddard is a man in ten thousand. Most of us are not so strong. What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms … or the memory of a brother’s smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great lory, and our great tragedy.

HO-LY SHIT. Out-fucking-standing, George! 

But Aemon ain’t done. He states that the Night’s Watch doesn’t allow wives or children so that the men of the NW won’t be tempted to forswear their vows to defend the realms of men from the darkness to the north. But still, every man in the Night’s Watch had brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers who gave them names (like Aegon). They came from all over Westeros, from a hundred kingdoms before the Targaryens showed up. And damn, Jon, they kept their vows. When Aegon landed and killed Black Harren (of Harrenhal fame), the Elsie of the NW was none other than his brother. And they had 10,000 men manning the Wall. Did Elsie Hoare march? No. And that’s been the way up here for thousands of years.

Such is the price of honor.

You see, Jon. Honor has its cost. When the sun is shining, the birds are singing, honor seems so damn easy. But sooner or later, the hard day comes. 

Jon looks Aemon over and asks whether this is his day or something. Maester Aemon turns and looks Jon over, and Jon feels as though Aemon is seeing deep into Jon’s heart. He feels naked, exposed. Angry, he throws the rest of the meat into the cages and lets the birds go wild over the food. Aemon places a hand on Jon’s shoulder:

It hurts, boy. Oh yes. Choosing … it has always hurt. And always will. I know.

You know nothing, Maester Aemon! Wait, did Jon just paraphrase Ygritte’s signature line? Fucking word thief. Aemon sighs and asks Jon if he thinks he’s the first that’s ever been tested. He shakes his head, and by God, I’m reading this in whole:

Three times the gods saw fit to test my vows. Once when I was a boy, once in the fullness of my manhood, and once when I had grown old. But then my strength was fled, my eyes grown dim, yet that last choice was a cruel as the first. My ravens would bring the news from the south, words darker than their wings, the ruin of my House, the death of my kin, disgrace and desolation. What could I have done, old, blind, frail? I was helpless as a suckling babe, yet still it grieved me to sit forgotten as they cut down my brother’s poor grandson, and his son, and even the little children …

Jon sees that Aemon is crying. Who are you? Jon whisper-asks, almost in dread. Aemon smiles a toothless smile and states that why I’m only a Master of the Citadel, a man of the Night’s Watch. Don’t you know, Jon? We put our names aside when we done the collar and take our vows. But that’s not the full truth.

My father was Maekar, the First of his Name, and my brother Aegon reigned after him in my stead. My grandfather named me for Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, who was his uncle, or his father, depending on which tale you believe. Aemon, he called me …

Jon is fucking flabbergasted. You’re freaking Aemon Targaryen!? A secret Targaryen!? HERE!? On the Wall!? Has such a thing ever been done before!?

Aemon was once a Targaryen, true, but no more. He turns to Jon:

I cannot tell you stay or go. You must make that choice yourself and live with all the rest of your days.

As Aemon has.

As Aemon has …

And that is AGOT, Jon VIII.

Wow

W-o-W

WOW

What a fucking chapter closer, guys. I don’t know. I may be out of the mainstream on some of this stuff, but George’s “let me describe this sword in intimate detail” thing doesn’t really tickle me in my fancy places, but once George gives the microphone to Aemon Targaryen, this chapter becomes transcendent, brilliant, pathos-laden, amazing. I love it. I love it so much. This is the best Jon chapter in AGOT.

Depth

This is the first time I really feel gravitas in this storyline to match what’s going down in the south. As we’ve said, the individual beats of Jon’s AGOT arc are strong, building him up effectively from scowling outsider to nascent leader of men. But the stakes haven’t been especially high--with the white walkers offscreen after the Prologue, there’s no urgency like in King’s Landing, no external issue that Jon has to confront with his newfound inner growth.

That all changes in Jon VIII, in part because we’re coming off of a zombie attack in Jon VII...but despite the cliffhanger ending in that chapter, the attack itself isn’t the central focus of this chapter. Instead, Jon VIII looks at Jon’s decision-making and conflicted identity through the lens of the older men around him, LC Mormont and even more so Maester Aemon. Their discussions give his internal struggle more weight by connecting it to the wider magical and political struggles. For me, this is where Jon Snow starts to feel like an anchoring protagonist in his own right, where he starts to work really well in context instead of just in isolation. 

I love Jon Snow to pieces, and this is absolutely one of his best chapters in the series. I’ve always been drawn to the “reluctant leader” trope, so like Aragorn before him and Harry Potter after, Jon Snow is one of the all-time greats when it comes to sad-boy fantasy protagonists I apparently have unrelenting fictional crushes on. 

For me, Catelyn’s chapter just before this and now Jon’s chapter are working in an echo of the final line Varys left Ned with in the dungeons. “The choice … is entirely yours.” We never get another POV chapter from Ned, so we’re left wondering what choice he will make as we cut back to the other characters. Catelyn’s chapter works to show us how she and Robb would grapple with the same issues (Family, duty, or honor?) and now Jon’s chapter here has him directly confronted with a hypothetical we know Ned is mulling over. Us readers, and George, know that Ned will choose love over honor. It makes Aemon’s speech all the more powerful, and Jon’s reaction is very telling.

Thoughts on Jon’s “Hero’s Journey” and “First Kill the Parents” rule. If we think about the typical structure of a hero’s journey arc, then Jon’s inciting incident can be any number of things. First joining the Night’s Watch, fighting Othor, and going Beyond the Wall are all good candidates. But in another kind of story, Ned’s death would be Jon’s inciting incident. But that’s not how George likes to play, and Jon’s journey is specifically centered around the Wall and the Others instead of the War of the Five Kings. 

The structure of his hero’s journey, and how its a bit atypical, reminds me of the rule used in most fantasy/fairy tale storytelling where kids or young adults are the protagonists, called “First Kill the Parents.” I took a children’s lit class in college where we spent a whole month on this, because it’s everywhere! The idea is that younger protagonists can’t possibly go on a big, life-risking adventure if their parents are around, because then you’d have to explain narratively why someone parents are being so irresponsible. 

I believe I once saw a reddit post that touched on this, but part of Martin’s genius with A Game of Thrones is how he backs into the story. Again, in another kind of fantasy epic, we could start the book after Ned’s death, still following his children as they plot revenge and get into hijinx. I can totally imagine a book jacket saying “Their father has been executed, and the Seven Kingdoms are in chaos. Robb, Sansa, Bran, Arya, and Jon Snow (sorry Rickon you are a baby) are at opposite corners of the realm, fighting for the chance to be a family again” or whatever. 

But by starting months ahead of Ned’s death, we get both the sneaky punch of his death and then it becomes the inciting incident for Robb and Arya and Sansa’s journeys. 

Jon of course gets a double dose of “First Kill the Parents” because he’s one of our main protagonists on the clear Hero’s Journey path.

Puzzling through this Jon chapter, it’s always fun to look at the meta angle and why GRRM placed this chapter chronologically where he did. As we know, GRRM does not write chapters in the order that we read them, often writing in one POV for several chapters before switching to another POV. But then he orders (and often re-arranges/re-orders) chapters to best fit the story he’s telling. And here, Jon VIII is placed precisely correct in the narrative at the tail-end of a five-chapter prelude to the War of the Five Kings. Westeros is gearing up to fight itself, and while the Stark (and Stannis) causes are the just ones, does it really matter who sits the Iron Throne when dead men come hunting in the night? That’s why this chapter picks up right where it does. It’s a reader cue to show us how even though everyone is getting ready to go to war against each other, the threat of the Others hangs over all. The Others won’t care if you’re a Stark or Lannister. Winter is coming for everyone. So, here, we’re reminded of the true threat of the Others. And then we have a Dany chapter next week that reminds us where salvation might be found.

• The sad old bear
  • As with Tyrion’s last chapter letting us know right away he successfully hoodwinked the clans, this chapter immediately literally tells us Jon’s OK
  • And while we get a vivid flashback to the corpse burning, as well as learning about the gruesome showdown with the other one, that’s not the focus here
  • Instead, the focus is on how this attack has shaken LC Mormont, and how he’s taking refuge in Jon as his (literal) savior, surrogate son, and successor
  • He’s trying to regain his composure, only partially succeeding; he asks if Jon’s well, noting that he can cover his burns with black gloves (a subtle reminder of his suddenly urgent duty, but also a connection to the black hands of the wights) 
    • Also love this imagery of the black of the Night’s Watch covering up any ugliness of your past. (S7E7, Jaime drawing a black glove over his golden hand just as snow begins to fall in King’s Landing).
    • Jaime parallel comes up when Jon has to use his left hand to wield it for the first time
  • He’s muttering asides to himself, complaining about birds and gossips, but it’s just covering up his shame: we should’ve known, we should’ve REMEMBERED!
    • Far be it from me to not criticize Papa Bear, but 8,000 years ago is a long time!
      • It’d be like if the Sumerians reappeared, and we back-handed our foreheads and exclaiming, “We should have known! We should have remembered that we need to use slingers and javelins to win against chariot warfare!”
  • All the fears he expressed to Tyrion when the latter visited the Wall have come true, and he thinks it’s his fault. 996 Lords Commander before me managed to get the job done. Will I be remembered as the one who let it fall apart?
  • He’s wondering if he’s wasted his entire life, made all the wrong choices, and what he’s going to leave behind...and so is Aemon. And so is Ned in his cell.
• Dawn of the dead
  • Ned himself has become the walking dead in Jon’s nightmares, poor kid
  • That gets at something we’ve talked about before, how GRRM uses the wights and Others as metaphors for the people who haunt us, the loss and obsession that either brings the best out of us (Ned) or the worst (Tywin). 
  • You can see that in the show as well, albeit more visually--look at the connection drawn between the ice magic of the white walkers and the crypts of Winterfell
  • That metaphorical-zombie dynamic is also at work with institutions like the Night’s Watch, the Kingsguard, or (at the extreme) the Unsullied
  • Look no further than how callously the LC said to Tyrion that Jon and the other young ones just need to forget their homes and families. Yikes!
  • This is the dark side of Jeor Mormont, a sympathetic character in many respects with genuine paternal fondness for Jon (and arguably Sam)
  • He has this gigantic blind spot about the institution to which he’s devoted himself, not only in terms of class background as we said regarding his speech in Jon VI, but the demands it makes on one’s humanity to wear that black (or white!) cloak
  • You do wonder in the narrative whether GRRM choosing to emphasize Mormont’s blindspot regarding the institution of the NW is intended to set the foundation for Mormont’s Great Ranging.
    • Obviously, there’s a big wall of difference (Get it? GET IT!?) between Mormont’s words to Jon and Tyrion and the mission creep of the Great Ranging.
      • But the flawed mentor figure to Jon works in tandem with Mormont as a flawed LC of the Night’s Watch with the original mission of the Great Ranging envisioned to be a personnel recovery mission of Benjen Stark which then becomes “Let’s crush Mance Rayder!”
        • Does Mormont’s lofty ideal of the NW inevitably lead to an overconfidence that nearly gets everyone killed?
• A bastard sword for a bastard
  • So how does the Old Bear intend to resolve this challenge to his worldview? How else do you cut the Gordian Knot, but with a big shiny sword?
  • There’s a lot going on with Longclaw:
    • It’s the LC’s way of thanking Jon for saving his life
    • It’s also his way of declaring that Jon is Lord-Commander-in-waiting 
    • It’s also his way of merging Stark and Mormont heritage into a single weapon for the Watch, for the realm, a representation of his beliefs
    • It’s also also his way of exorcising his demons about Jorah, the restless ghost in his mind like Ned in Jon’s (or Lyanna in Ned’s)
    • Symbolically, Longclaw having been forgotten and then brought back to life by the meeting of fire and ice reflects Jon’s heritage, and how Valyrian steel relates to both fire and ice--forged by the former, deadly to the latter
    • It also stands in for the Watch itself, a sleeping sword in the darkness...
    • And of course, it’s the fantasy protagonist getting his big shiny sword!
    • Possible discussion here about Longclaw being a weapon that can kill White Walkers (we assume, given the show’s events?) 
  • As such, there are implications for all of the above when this attempt to knit everything together with the big shiny sword doesn’t actually work. 
  • The gift of Longclaw makes Jon spiteful, not grateful; sad, not happy; it contributes to him running away from the Watch, not feeling at home at last
  • Why? Because of his messy unresolved humanity. Because of his connections to the home and family that both LC Mormont and Maester Aemon have sacrificed.
  • He recoils inside, realizing that this is not the sword he wants, this is not the father he wants, and the Old Bear is hiding the truth about his real dad from him
  • Jon sees the sword not as an honor but a soul-stealing bribe, cold hard steel as a replacement for the warmth of a brother’s smile and a father’s love
  • While Mormont’s intentions are good, this is the equivalent of Mance being stripped of his unique red-silk cloak in favor of another blank-slate black one
  • This is in spite of the heartwarming detail that so many of Jon’s brothers contributed to the remaking of the sword, making it a gift from all of them
  • It’s an expression of their devotion to him, personally, not just the abstract concepts of duty and brotherhood and sacrifice, and not as a replacement son
  • I like the detail of Jon projecting his anger with LC Mormont onto Sam when he comes to fetch him. GRRM uses bear imagery to describe Sam (“he was wrapped in a heavy fur cloak that made him look ready for hibernation”).
    • This unconcious lashing out at Jon’s friends reminds me a lot of Harry in “Order of the Phoenix.” That book gets a lot of flack, but I find moody, angry, volatile Harry Potter much more relatable than most other Harrys, and so I also feel a kinship to confused, hostile, sad Jon. 
    • GRRM did this first, and Rowling followed, but the concept of your teenage-fantasy-protagonist being, well, very teen-like is more compelling than a smooth and shiny young hero taking up the sword with no qualms
  • Even that’s not enough to quiet the turmoil in Jon’s soul, because he still feels like the sword is designed to distract him from what matters
  • The pain he’s feeling is not only about being asked to give up his Stark identity, but also that his Stark identity itself was always this agonized complicated thing:
    • He was all alone, he thought, apart from the others in the litter. He was different, so they drove him out.
    • There’s a heavy emphasis on “shame” and feeling “craven” tied into it too. It’s not just a bitterness over being left out — Jon feels ashamed of how he used to dream of saving Ned and being given Ice, and therefore usurping Robb’s place. (“What kind of man stole his own brother’s birthright?”) 
      • Now Robb is the one publicly marching to defend Ned (and trying to literally save his life) and Jon can’t do a darn thing about it. He is once again wishing for a piece of that glory Robb gets, then feels shameful over that wish, and now his lack of place in House Stark is being thrown in his face when Mormont does the thing Ned never would in a very cavalier way. (PS WHO FORGETS THEY HAVE A VALYRIAN STEEL SWORD?!)
  • There’s a statement in there about the fantasy genre, that shiny swords should be used to spark character dilemmas rather than solve them; they’re not substitutes for actual character development, and to Jon’s credit, he knows it!
  • This is deconstruction done well, not taking potshots at tropes but revealing the need for a deeper emotional truth, and then unabashedly unironically pursuing it
  • Jon doesn’t need a new sword or a new dad; he needs someone to be honest with him, as Ned could never allow himself to be. Enter Maester Aemon.
• The greater good***
  • While Aemon’s worldview has its own shortcomings, as we’ll get into, he’s more honest with Jon about the pain and confusion he’s feeling than the Old Bear was
  • First of all, his gift isn’t a big shiny hero sword--it’s bloody strips of meat! Fun!
    • Jon’s fingers were in the bucket, blood up to the wrist.
  • In part, this contrast is about Sandor’s nihilistic mission statement in book two: “Swords are for killing, strong arms and steel swords rule this world, I hurt myself today to see if I still feel,” etc 
  • Longclaw is a marvel of craftsmanship, but it’s also an instrument of death; Jon compares it to Ice, which will soon be covered in its owner’s blood...
  • But it’s also about metaphorical blood: the bonds of family, with which Jon is wrestling now and with which Aemon has wrestled for so long
  • The birds, meanwhile, just want to eat them all! That’s the thesis of AFFC, that the war and mortality in general devour everything, like how the Night’s Watch (or the Citadel, as Maester Aemon notes) erases your name
  • Ravens are also messenger birds associated with prophecy, especially as linked to Greek god Apollo. (See also, Odin/Edgar Allen Poe/Neil Gaiman/etc)
  • These are the walls closing in on Jon: the fading bonds of family, the horrors of war and death, and his anger and helplessness as the two converge in the south
  • LC Mormont tells Jon to get over it all, similar to how Anakin Skywalker’s mentors told him to repress his love and his fear of death. How’d that work out?
  • Aemon acknowledges the contradiction and tries to explain it, and while I don’t entirely agree with his conclusions, I appreciate that he makes the effort
  • His argument is that the Night’s Watch is meant as a tempering force on humanity, at large and within the individual soul, in service of the greater good
  • Our passions leave us vulnerable to “the darkness to the north.” Our wars are born of attachment, of love, and so love must be purged to forge the true steel.
    • Kill the boy, and let the man be born.
  • Again, you can see a metaphor in the Others using the restless dead as their soldiers. Aemon is saying Jon must leave his ghosts behind in order to grow up
  • There is something coldly admirable about this devotion, the attention to duty and discipline and self-sacrifice, the vision of a continent united for the benefit of all...
  • ...yet it’s also lacking in basic humanity, which makes it not only repellant on some level, but also doomed to fail as we see again and again in this story
  • What of a Jaime Lannister, caught among contradictory oaths, or a Mance Rayder, forced to fight and hate his people rather than defend and forget them?
  • This worldview demands that you be a duty robot, and if you fail, it’s because you’re weak, rather than the demand being fundamentally wrong in the first place
    • “Love is the bane of honor, the death of duty.”

That did not sound right to Jon...

• More often than not, this produces not perfect paragons, but “broken men”
• And even when you do finally get a genuine paladin for the people, namely Beric Dondarrion, it comes at cost of his soul:
  • "Can I dwell on what I scarce remember? I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?"
• As it turns out, of course, Ned Stark is not the “man in ten thousand” who would put his duty above his love. Ned risked it all for love, and, well, I love him for it!
  • We also know that he’ll choose love over honor a second time, when he falsely confesses to treason to try and save Sansa’s life. The two choices Ned makes with the biggest lasting consequences are the ones where he places love above all else. But Jon tragically has no way of knowing that. At least not yet, w/r/t Lyanna and himself.
  • In Ned’s chapter when he goes to Cersei with the truth, he specifically thinks about how Barristan would advise him to “do his duty” and that “honor would require” him to tell Robert the truth. Then he thinks of the children. 
  • Also worth mentioning how we see the House Tully words play into this ethos. “Family, duty, honor” — makes it clear that your loved ones should come above all. Robb is more Tullyish than Jon, and his conflation of all his duties/honor/love with Jeyne Westerling and the grief he felt after hearing about Bran and Rickon’s “deaths” is part of what led to to the Red Wedding. 
  • Jon’s answer of “he would do whatever is right” is also really interesting to me. It’s such a non-answer. What is the “right” thing to do? Uphold your honor, or protect your family? Jon has no way of knowing Ned is mulling this choice in the dungeon of King’s Landing. 
• With the benefit of several books and show seasons worth of hindsight, I think we can conclude that the man GRRM is actually sneakily describing here is Stannis
• We’re recently coming off Eddard XV, in which Stannis is framed partially as a potential savior, but also as a punisher: Ned stripped of his humanity, of his love.
  • There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.
• The Night’s Watch asks you to cast your heart into the fire, to defend life at the cost of all that makes life worth living. You either die fighting the zombies and join their ranks, or live long enough to see yourself become one anyway.
• Targaryen(s) alone in the world
  • This is not an abstract question for Maester Aemon, any more than it is for Jon
  • Remember what he says in Season 6: his warm memories of the life he lived before are more real to him than the cold hard reality of life on the Wall
  • He still remembers “the warmth of a brother’s smile,” he knows from his own bitter experience that oaths are “wind and words” next to a life lived for love
    • The gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy. 
  • And so we get one of the big reveals in book one, and you gotta love how well GRRM unites character work, emotional themes, and worldbuilding here
  • Aemon’s Targaryen heritage easily could’ve come up in a neutral conversation between Jon and LC Mormont--as it does later, in Jon’s first chapter in book two
  • But GRRM preserves the actual reveal for this scene, because it not only fleshes out the Targaryens’ backstory, it perfectly brings all the chapter’s ideas together
    • And the Aemon reveal works so beautifully as not occurring earlier, because it beautifully captures what Aemon is trying to communicate to Jon:
      
      “Who are you?" Jon asked quietly, almost in dread.
      
      A toothless smile quivered on the ancient lips. "Only a maester of the Citadel, bound in service to Castle Black and the Night's Watch. In my order, we put aside our house names when we take our vows and don the collar." 
      • Where Mormont can’t help but talk about Maege or Jorah, Aemon embodies the values of the Night’s Watch. He’s Maester Aemon. Once a Targaryen, but now a man sworn to the Citadel and the Night’s Watch.
      • It also works well, because on a meta level, I’m sure GRRM was itching to do this reveal, but it’s timing and placement breathe naturally in the narrative.
        • Aemon ain’t the guy to go about talking about his Targaryen name. It’s only when he has the chance to learn Jon something that he finally does so.
  • It’s not just that Aemon has his own story of grief at a distance, it’s that in his story, Ned Stark’s on the side of the villains! The Baratheons and Lannisters who came to power by wiping out Aemon’s family, down to even the little children!
  • It’s a perfect example of what Aemon was talking about, what the LC was trying to get at with the gift of Longclaw--putting aside the past for the common good. 
  • After all, Jon and Aemon aren’t enemies just because their families were on opposite sides of the Rebellion, are they? (What about Jon and Dany?)
  • But Aemon’s eyes still shine with tears when he talks about poor Rhaenys and Aegon VI, the dead innocents Varys threw in Ned’s face down in the black cells
  • Just as Jon can’t just forget Ned, Ned can’t just forget Lyanna, Jeor can’t just forget Jorah, and show-Sam can’t just forget his family, Aemon can’t just forget everyone he’s lost, and the crucial decisions he’s made along the way
  • Should I have taken the throne, thus dodging Summerhall and the Mad King? Should I have tried to mentor Viserys in exile? Should I have, should I have…
  • As with the LC blaming himself for age-old institutional problems, these aren’t very rational questions (Aemon couldn’t have seen Aerys coming, nor lasted long in penniless exile) but they make sense emotionally, and can’t be logic-ed away
  • Jon will likely face the question of whether or not to wear that same crown. R+L=J ties everything together; those are Jon’s siblings Aemon is mourning! 
  • The crown is often framed in the series as a self-sacrificial burden that empties you of your humanity, even as it tempts you with promises of power (like the One Ring...probably a coincidence). Will Jon run this gauntlet? Should he? Must he?
  • We can see a similar dynamic in Season 8: just because it’s right in the abstract to put the game of thrones and all the history and emotions that go with it aside, that doesn’t make it easy (or, indeed, practical) for a given person or faction to do
  • Aemon may make himself argue that “love is poison” a la Cersei, but unlike LC Mormont, he doesn’t tell Jon that he should stay. He knows the cost all too well, and feels he has enough blood on his hands already, literal and otherwise. 

Foreshadowing/Groundwork

So the most obvious setup we get in this chapter is Alliser Thorne’s mission to warn the crown about the wights. GRRM basically needs to do this so assholes like us won’t point out that it’s a PLOT HOLE for the LC not to at least make the attempt, but he also needs to prevent the cavalry from actually coming...until it comes from an unexpected direction, namely Stannis

GRRM almost certainly hadn’t invented the Blackfyres at this point, which means that when he did, he probably went back to this chapter just to set up a parallel between Daemon’s anointing at his father Aegon IV’s hands and this wistful dream of Jon’s: 

Afterward Lord Eddard would declare that Jon had proved himself a true Stark, and place Ice in his hand. Even then he had known it was only a child’s folly; no bastard could ever hope to wield a father’s sword.

And that also works as setup for the temptation Jon himself will face from Stannis, who offers Jon lordship and legitimacy...but he’d have to get past the shame and guilt he feels here

Jon’s reaction to his friends is also a telling sign of how his direct encounters with the White Walkers, wights, and wildlings will lead to him being set apart from his brothers in black and eventually people like Daenerys. He feels resentful of them in a way because they didn’t experience Othor firsthand, and aren’t as traumatized as he is. 

What is honor compared to a woman’s love? Would that we could ask Rhaegar Targaryen this as he stole away with Lyanna Stark, feeding fuel to a war that would end with the near annihilation of the Targaryen line and a baby boy born named in a secret tower. And will that boy, Jon Snow, think back on those words when he’s older and falls in love with a wildling girl kissed by fire? The Halfhand may have ordered him to blend in with the wildlings, but Jon knows a part of him traded in his honor as a black brother for the warmth and comfort of Ygritte’s arms. How did Robb Stark feel when he fell into the bed of Jeyne Westerling, accepting the sweet comfort of her love even though the cost would be his own life.

What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms? Ned Stark knows. He knew the moment Lyanna placed Jon into his arms. “Promise me, Ned,” his dying sister had said. “Promise me.” Was it Ned’s duty to tell his the newly crowned King Robert Baratheon the truth about Prince Rhaegar and Lyanna? Was he supposed to return home to his wife and trueborn baby Robb, and tell them what happened in the Tower of Joy? But Ned made his promise, and knew the boy would never be safe if anyone in the realm knew the truth. Ned lied, dishonoring himself and his wife, and he swallowed that dishonor with every breath Jon took. Ned chose family over honor once before, and he will do it again. 

Or the memory of a brother’s smile? The last time Jon would ever see Robb, they smiled at each other in the snow. “You Starks are hard to kill,” Jon said confidently, not knowing it would be Robb and Ned who would lose their lives soon, leaving him, Bran, Arya and Sansa behind. This can also be inverted as we think forward to Arya’s conflict over Needle. “Needle was Jon Snow’s smile.”

“I heard of a man who had a razor made of Valyrian steel,” declared Toad. “He cut his head off trying to shave.” — Ned foreshadowing?

Theory/Debate

Does Maester Aemon know that he hasn’t lost his family after all, that he is in fact speaking to another Targaryen? Has he read the books?? Does he know R+L=J???

Evidence For (And for those who are reading our show notes, check out the Davos Fingers Podcast “Team Jon” patreon episode)

• As we learn in AFFC, Aemon regularly communicated with Rhaegar about the Prince that was Promised, the red comet, the nature of prophecy, all that jazz
• It’s not unreasonable to think Aemon might have known about the revelation we see Rhaegar reach in the House of the Undying: “there must be one more.” 
• If he did, he might’ve put two and two together RE Rhaegar running off with Lyanna, especially if there really is a premeditated ice-and-fire “recipe” at work
• Later on, Aemon repeatedly compares Jon to Egg, a telling reference point
• He also leaves Jon the Jade Compendium to read, which makes reference to Azor Ahai
• And of course, he perceives that Stannis’ sword isn’t the real deal, in the same chapter where he nudges Sam along to get Jon elected Lord Commander
• All of which might suggest that Aemon knows Jon is Rhaegar’s son and a candidate for The Promised Prince Azor Ahai Ziggy Stardust Superstar, and is subtly positioning him where he needs to be in order to fulfill the prophecy and save the multiverse from thanos
• The irony, that only a blind man sees the truth! As Sam says in this chapter: “I mean I think he knew, he sees things no one else sees...”

Evidence Against

• That’s a lot of “ifs” up there! Not unreasonable conclusions, but it’s a house of cards
• All we know for sure from what Aemon said to Sam as he was dying is that he knew Rhaegar no longer believed himself to be the candidate, rather Aegon VI
• As such, Aemon might well believe the dream to be dead as of AGOT
• Aemon has plenty of other reasons to take an interest in Jon--he’s the next generation of leadership for the Night’s Watch and is gearing up to fight the white walkers
• If Aemon knew more than that, surely he could provide more than subtle hints!
• Above all: if Aemon knew that Jon was Rhaegar’s son and the outcome of an attempt to create the PTWP, why would he be so convinced in AFFC that it had to be Daenerys?

I can see the case for both, but I like the more tragic dynamic of Aemon mourning the ruin of his house and death of his family with Jon right in front of him and never knowing the truth — Jon is the only living embodiment of both Stark and Targaryen, a young king lying in wait, frozen with indecision at the farthest end of Westeros. Aemon trying to help him without knowing this bombshell truth is really poignant, and heartbreaking. They were the family each other sought, but the follies of their other kin (Rhaegar, Ned) kept them in the dark.

Conclusion

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