Chapter 27: Eddard AKA Small Council, Big Minds & The Renly Gambit

This chapter opens up with the Small Council listening to the plea of the Captain of the City Watch Janos Slynt, who is requesting additional men to address the problem that the influx of people attending the Tourney of the Hand has caused.

Ultimately Ned tells him to hire fifty new men and that he will also loan him twenty men from his house to help keep the king's peace until after the tourney is over.

The council then turns to other matters, but in the course of conversation we learn that Stannis once proposed the banning of brothels. This notion was shot down by the King who asked he he’d like to outlaw eating, shitting and breathing while at it.

Once council business is finished, Ned returns to the Tower of the Hand where he resumes his investigation into the death of Jon Arryn. As requested from Grandmaester Pycelle, Ned now has the book Jon Arryn requested before he died. A large book entitled The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children , by Grand Maester Malleon.

His reading is interrupted by Jory who as requested has followed up on the leads provided by Littlefinger. Jory reports that the stable boy who is now part of the city watch only reported that the former Hand of the King was in good physical shape, frequently went riding and often did so with Lord Stannis.

We also learn that Ser Hugh of the Vale refused to discuss anything with Jory as he is not a knight and his arrogance may simply be due to his recent elevation to Knighthood. But Ser Hugh did say he would be willing to talk to the Hand of the King.

The serving girl had nothing but simple common rumors and gossip, but the pot boy who was dismissed and is now working making shoes revealed that Jon Arryn had commissioned a new suit of armor and that Lord Stannis helped him in the design it. In addition the pot boy says the visited a brothel together.

This strikes Ned as very odd behavior as he had learned from the council that Stannis hated brothels. Ned decides to follow up on these leads, unfortunately they didn’t know which brothel they visited so he instructs Jory to start looking into it. A task that Jory solemnly sears he will perform and notes that he will have little problem finding other Stark bannermen to help assist him with.

We also learn that Ned is puzzled as to what could have caused Stannis, a man Ned knows to be nearly fearless to flee back to Dragonstone. Ned is also further perplexed by Renly who showed him a locket with the picture of Margaery Tyrell and wants to know if she looks like Ned’s sister Lyanna.

Ned muses that a young Renly who reminds him of Robert may be falling in love with a young girl that others think resembles a young Lyanna. I’ll post more on this after the chapter summary in a bit called “The Renly Gambit” as it’s really significant part of the story, that Ned completely misses.

Ned decides that he will follow up with the smith that Lord Arryn commissioned the armor from. He arrives at the smithy of Thobo Mott after a quick journey through the marketplace. Thobo makes a good showing of his wars and even notes that Ser Loras Tyrelle the Knight of Flowers buys all his armor from him.

Ned asks about Jon Arryn and Thobo indicates that when Lord Arryn came by he was more interested in his apprentice Gendry than any armor. Ned then asks to see the boy and is taken back into the foundry where he is working.

Gendry tells Ned that the former hand of the king asked about him, if he enjoyed his work, who is mother was and what she looked like. He also says that Stannis looked at him like “I was some raper who done for his daughter.”

Gendry goes on to say that his mother died when he was young, but he recalls she was blonde and worked in an alehouse. This causes Ned to take a really close look at his features.

Ned thanks him for his time and lets him get back to work. On the way out he gets Thobo Mott to reveal that Gendry’s apprentice fee was paid by some lord (Really Varris in disguise) who wore no sigil and paid twice the normal fee. Ned tells Thobo if Gendry ever decides he wishes to become a soldier then he is to send him immediately to him.

The chapter ends with Ned getting back on to his horse and wondering why Jon Arryn and Stannis took an interest in the life of one of Robert’s bastard born children, and why it would have cost him his life.

But as noted prior I’d like to go back to Renly and what his is up to in showing Ned the locket with the picture of Margarey Tyrell.

Essentially he is trying to get rid of Cersei and replace her with Margarey. In doing so Renly is showing his ability to maneuver politically using both the Tyrell’s desire for greater social standing and Roberts lust for young and beautiful women to solve problems.

Unlike his brothers who are great military leaders, Renly’s strengths lay in political maneuvering and being a visionary in the sense of forseeing how things will play out… So without any fuher ado I present to you:

The Renley Gambit

Should proof of the incest between Cersei and Jaime come to light and Robert to be convinced that Tommen, Marcella and Joffrey are not his Renly is predicting that this will plunge the realm into war with the Lannisters.

The Lannisters could easily deny this and claim that Robert is just drunk, lusting after other women, incompetent as ruler, looking for a way to get out of paying back the crowns largest debt holder, etc.

Renly is predicting that the following houses would back the King

Stark, Tully, Baratheon (Obviously), Greyjoys might be forced to aid them as they have Theon as a hostage, and maybe even House Martell of Dorne could join in as they really want to take revenge upon the Lannisters for the actions of the Mountain and Tywin during the Rebellion.

Lysa Arryn might side with the king, or remain neutral in the conflict as would some of the Targaryen loyalists.

This leaves the Lannisters only real potential ally as House Tyrell of Highgarden who fought against Robert in his Rebellion. Both houses have lots of money and could field sellsword armies. Highgarden is kinda like the breadbasket of Westeros, shares borders with the Lannister held lands, so they wouldn’t have to rely on outside trade for supplies. Just as we see in the story they could marry Joffrey and Margaery to seal the alliance.

But Renly’s plan to wed Margaery to Robert would see the Tyrell’s their ambitions to see one of their own become royalty. At the same time it would heal a political rift that was caused during Robert's Rebellion when the Tyrells fought for the Crown and kept Stannis in Storm’s End under siege.

Most importantly Renly’s plan would deny the Lannisters the only potential ally in the realm and would result in the Lannisters being surrounded on all sides by foes. The Tyrells are likely to go for it as either alliance would see Margaery made Queen, the only real difference to them is how difficult of a war they wish to fight.

Siding with the Lannisters would mean a long drawn out war that will drain a lot of resources and more than likely see them having to fight defensively and trying not to be invaded. Siding with Robert would likely mean a quick wedding and a much shorter war as it will boil down to everyone against the Lannisters.

The bottom line is Renly is showing his brilliance in addressing a solution to the issue of succession and is proactively working to get out ahead of it, unlike Stannis and Jon Arryn who are more concerned with finding evidence to support that will plunge the realm into a civil war over succession.

That's it for this chapter, next chapter Cat snaffles Tyrion.

Chapter 26: Jon AKA Every Hero Needs a Sidekick Named Sam

This chapter opens up with Jon helping some of the other recruits to improve their fighting skills in the practice yard. Jon is not only showing leadership skills but also showing he has taken the advice given to him by the blacksmith to heart.

The training is interrupted by the arrival of a new recruit Sam Tarley. Sam is clearly out of shape weighing in at 20 stone which converts to 280 lbs. Sam is given an initial sparring partner of Halder who was raised in a stone quarry and trained to be a stone mason. Needless to say it is a very one sided affair with Sam on the ground yielding and cowering.

Ser Alliser orders Sam up and when he hesitates he has Halder strike him with the flat of the blade. This goes on for a bit until Jon steps forward and defends Sam who at this point is unable to get up.

This prompts Ser Alliser to have Jon square off against three foes. Fortunately Pyp and Grenn decide they will help Jon and even the odds. Jon’s side wins and Alliser calls an end to the days training.

Afterwards Sam thanks Jon and the others but flat out admits he is a coward. Jon tries to be encouraging telling Sam he will do better the next day, but Sam assures Jon he won’t as he never gets better.

After this scene we then get a glimpse as to what life is like at Castle Black and some of the various tasks they assign the new recruits. While doing his chores Jon thinks of the words Tyrion said to him “Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it ,” Jon realizes that there is an unusual sort of honest courage with Sam in admitting he cowardice.

This leads Jon to catch up with him afterwards and to have a chat with him to understand him better. It is here we learn that Sam is the son of Lord Randyll Tarly who defeated Robert’s forces at the battle of Ashford.

Being the oldest son Sam was expected to follow in his father's footsteps but was never able to. His father tried nearly everything he could to get Sam to man up. Over a dozen masters of arms tried and failed to make Sam into a soilder. Randyll even hired warlocks from Qarth who bathed Sam in bulls blood in a ritual attempt to free Sam of his cowardice. Even this didn’t work and when a second son was born Sam was largely ignored in favor of this younger brother.

Eventually while skinning a deer (A reference to Randyll’s victory against the Baratheon forces in the rebellion) Sam is told he will take the black as his father can’t allow the family blade, titles and lands to fall to someone in his view is incapable of bringing honor and glory to the house name.

This notion is reinforced with the threat that should Sam not take the black he will suffer a fatal accident while out hunting.

John then shares a dream that he frequently has. In this dream Jon is looking for family members in an abandoned Winterfell. Specifically he mentions looking for Ned, Arya, Robb and Bran in both the rookery, which is empty as well as the stables, which he finds full of bones.

The bones in the stables foreshadows death for those who have or will ride out for the south. Specifically Ned and Robb who both seem to have gone south seeking justice.

I think the empty rookerie signifies a loss of communication or at the least foreshadow being unable to communicate via conventional methods. Most likely this is for the other two Starks Jon mentions looking for, Bran and Arya.

Lastly Jon mentions feeling compelled to go down into the crypts below Winterfell. He even gets scared and yells out “I don’t belong.” before waking up. Now a lot of people point to this passage as supporting evidence of R+L=J theory. Afterall Lyanna Stark is buried down in the crypts. Personally I think they may be on the right track but they have overlooked the fact that Brandon Stark, Ned’s older brother, is also buried down in the crypts as well.

Jon ends up convincing the other recruits to take it easy on Sam in the training yard and all agree to not go at him with full force with the exception of one recruit. Rast flat out says if he is told to fight Sam he says “I’m going to slice me off a rasher of bacon.”

This prompts a late night visit to Rast while he is sleeping. Jon and some of the other recruits hold his arms and legs while Ghost grabs on to Rast by the neck with his jaws. Jon then reminds Rast that should something happen to Sam the rest know where he sleeps.

The following day the recruits take it easy on Sam and when ordered to attack they only strike him lightly, much to the disgust of Ser Alliser Thorne.

The chapter ends with Sam thanking Jon for helping him out and for being a friend, Jon tells Sam they are not friends, but brothers.

Chapter 25: Eddard AKA The Motives of Experts

This chapter starts off with Ned discussing the death of Jon Arryn with Grand Maester Pycelle. Pycelle is an elderly man and has been serving as Grand Maester to the King for nearly 40 years. Pycelle states that he thinks Lord Arryn was ill for a time but Pycell just assumed it was the burdens of running the Seven Kingdoms, he also had family issues with his son being sickly and his spouse Lysa being high strung that was troubling the former Hand of the King.

Yet literally a moment later when Ned asks him about Arryn’s final sickness Pycelle says he came to him one day seemingly fit as ever and the next morning he was doubled over in pain too sick to get out of bed. Pycelle claims he dismissed Colemon as he is less experienced and didn’t have as much understanding of treating elderly people as Pycelle.

OK I have absolutely no medical training or experience.. So I googled the phrase “Chill on the Stomach” and I got this as a result:

Together, chills and abdominal pain may be the result of a number of infectious conditions, both bacterial and viral.

Conditions associated with abdominal pain and chills include:

• appendicitis
• bacterial or viral gastroenteritis
• common cold
• infectious mononucleosis
• influenza (flu)
• malaria
• meningitis
• pneumonia
• urinary tract infection

OK so there are a good number of issues that Lord Arryn could have had that lead to his death.. Until you consider the fact that Maesters in Westeros are the equivalent of Physicians in their world, and Grand Maester Pycelle should be one of the most knowledgeable and experienced in the land.

So let's take a look at that list again..

As High As Honor or As Dead As A Doornail

First if Lord Arryn had a appendicitis or a UTI he would have had a LOT of discomfort prior  and wouldn’t have looked as “hale and healthy as ever” the day before.  So we can cross those off the list.

Signs and symptoms for Malaria show up a one to three weeks prior to the infection. So again Jon Arryn wouldn’t have looked healthy the day prior.

With meningitis Lord Arryn would have had headaches, yet Pycelle doesn’t mention any symptoms other than a chill on the stomach, so that's out. Additionally some obvious physical signs rule out some of the others on the list. Pneumonia is a sickness that hits the lungs so again Arryn would have had obvious respiratory issues. Mononucleosis (Better known as Mono) has obvious signs like the swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck for one. Gastroenteritis would be accompanied with vomiting and diarrhea, and would have been gradually building up. So again he would have discomfort prior and more than likely would have sought out the aid of a maester.

This just leaves the common cold and influenza. Now a funny thing about the flu, it has the name influenza due to the fact that people back in the day thought it was influenced by the cold. Considering this chapter opens up with Pycelle rambling about how this is the hottest summer in recent memory, the flu isn’t too likely a suspect. This just leaves the common cold, which wouldn’t be too likely to cause him to be unable to get out of bed, so either it was something Pycelle had never seen before or he is just trying to feed Ned a line of BS..

So why is all this important? Well first, it shows Maester Colemon actually figured out that the Hand of the King was poisoned. According to Pycelle Maester Colemon was using wasting potions and pepper juice trying to purge Lord Aarryn. Pycelle claims that out of concern that Jon Arryn being elderly may have been killed by Colemons treatment dismissed him and took over care for the Hand of the King.

Is this true? Or was Maester Colemon having success and Pycelle intervened to ensure the poison finished off Jon Arryn? Pycelle never mentions the measures he took in Lord Arryn’s treatment beyond that when he thought he was beyond all help he provided milk of the poppy so Jon Arryn wouldn’t suffer in his passing.

Another thing that doesn’t seem to bother Pycelle is that many of those conditions are diseases that if not kept in check could easily turn into epidemics, especially in a word like Westeros where they have yet to invent penicillin or other modern forms of medicine. Malaria thrives in hot environments where there is poor sanitation and lots of people. So a potential breakout should be a big concern for Pycelle, but he doesn’t even mention it. Hell even Lysa kept Robert Arryn away out of fears that the boy might fall ill.

Lastly if Jon Arryn came and visited Pycelle literally the day prior to get a book and something was troubling him, even if he had already addressed the situation with Maester Colemon, it seems likely that he would have gotten a second opinion from Pycelle.

Even King Robert noticed the situation with his Hand, in the Crypts below Winterfell he said to Ned:

Robert:I’ve never seen a man taken sicken so quickly.”

Robert: “The sickness was like a fire in his gut, it burned right through him.”

So if anything this should convince Ned that the warning in the secret message Lysa sent to him was indeed the truth. Jon Arryn was poisoned. It should also lead Ned to at the least suspect that Pycelle is at the least guilty of incompetence and at worst an accomplice in the death of Jon Arryn.

Ned even asks Pycelle if he ever seen something similar and Pycelle feeds Ned a big heaping steaming pile of BS.

Pycelle: “I will tell you this: Every case is different, and every case is alike. Lord Jon’s death was no different than any other.“

When Ned suggests it may have been poison Pycelle seems almost shocked at the suggestion and even throws suspicion at Lord Varys noting that the Spider comes from Lys where poisons are more commonplace. When asked if the Queen was with the King at the time of the death of Lord Arryn Pycell indicates she wasn’t as she was on the road with the family on the way to Casterly Rock.

After the brief discussion Ned asks Pycelle for the book that Lord Arryn wanted and Pycelle says he will  send it to Ned.

The bottom line is that either Pycelle is no longer fit to do his job as he may be getting old and senile, or he put the final nail in the coffin of Jon Arryn by dismissing Maester Colemon and denying proper medical treatment and thus allowing the poison to kill the Hand of the King..

Now on the way back to his chambers Ned comes across Arya who is practicing balancing exercises. Arya asks what will become of Bran and Ned tells her that he won’t ever get to live his dream of becoming a knight but there are a lot of other paths in life that he may take. Arya asks if she will ever be able to do some of the things Ned suggests Bran may do and when Ned tells her that she will become a queen and rule a castle, and her sons will become knights and princes, Arya disagrees and tells her father that is Sansa fate, not her. She then immediately goes back to practicing her balance exercises in her training for being a water dancer.

When he finally gets back to his chambers he is visited by Littlefinger. Unlike Pycelle who seems to be trying to impede or at least deflect Ned’s investigation Littlefinger has found a few leads for Ned to follow.

A pregnant kitchen girl hastily wed to one of Lord Renly’s grooms, a stablehand who joined the City Watch, a potboy discharged from service for theft, and Lord Arryn’s squire.”

This is fortunate as the rest of the Arryn servants returned to the Vale with Lysa. As Ned decides he will send for them Littlefinger points out that he is being watched by servants of both Varys and Queen Cersei.

Littlefinger then asks Ned the following:

“Is there a man in your service that you trust utterly and completely?”

Ned replies with a simple yes and Littlefinger tells him the wiser answer was no. But he suggests Ned sends this person to the leads as Neds movements are being watched.

The chapter ends with the following passage:

“Lord Petyr,” Ned called after him. “I … am grateful for your help. Perhaps I was wrong to distrust you.” Littlefinger fingered his small pointed beard. “You are slow to learn, Lord Eddard. Distrusting me was the wisest thing you’ve done since you climbed down off your horse.”

In truth Ned, without realizing it, has just admitted he wouldn’t expect betrayal to come from anyone in his own house. This is also pretty telling of how easy it is to get in on Neds good side, but this is a plan that Littlefinger seems to do quite often.

Provide some assistance in someway to win favor and then use that social capital and trust he has built up to get some sort of advantage be it to remove himself from suspicion or to put himself in a spot of greater power and influence. I’ll point this out in future chapters as we continue. But for now it’s enough to know that this is all part of how Littlefinger sets up people to be deceived or to position himself to be able to move into a place of greater power and influence.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 19: Jon AKA Not Just a Bastard, but also kind of a Dick

This chapter is really our first look at life for Jon Snow as a new recruit to the NIght’s Watch. It opens with Jon training in the practice yard against a fellow new recruit Grenn. It’s pretty clear that Jon is far superior to Grenn as he strikes him cleanly a few times and ends up disarming him with a hit to his wrist.

Overseeing the training of the new recruits is Ser Alliser Thorne, the master at arms of Castle Black. Alliser takes a hard approach to training. He is verbally abusive giving nicknames to the trainees and insulting them when they fail.

Ser Alliser Thorne: “The bastard hamstrung you, opened your empty skull, and cut off your hand. Or would have if these blades had an edge. It’s fortunate for you the watch needs stable boys as well as rangers.”

Grenn has been given the nickname the Aurochs and Jon has been given the name Lord Snow, which much to his dismay has caught on with the other recruits. Jon is also being trained with about twenty other recruits, but hasn’t made friends with any of them as of yet. After the practice he finds himself walking back to the armory alone. Some of the other recruits are Jeren, Todder AKA Toad, Daeron, Pyp, and Halder. Jon has defeated them all in the yard and figured out their weaknesses in spite of most of them being two to three years older than he is.

As Jon is removing his armor back in the armory he notices how cold it really is at the Wall and briefly laments how nice it was back at Winterfell. This is only a minor passage but worth noting since it was also part of Bran’s dream sequence in his previous chapter, just as he had visions of the circumstances of his sisters, mother and father were all experiencing at the time. This is noteworthy as a few passages later Jon has a brief vision or an image in his mind of his uncle Benjen lying dead in the snow.

He thinks back to just three days after he arrived and noted his uncle Benjen didn’t pay him mind and is more focused on his duties as the First Ranger. Benjen even explained to Jon that at the Wall you have to earn everything, and since Jon is just a new recruit he’s not all that important at this point. Benjen even says he is nothing but a boy until he proves himself to be a man of the Night’s Watch, and further lets him know that family ties will not buy him any favors.

Jon even recalls one day he saw Benjen off at dawn before he went out ranging beyond the wall. Benjen reminded Jon that he has to prove himself he does tell Jon they will talk when he gets back.

Needless to say nether the Wall nor the Night’s Watch is what Jon expected and he is also feeling a bit homesick, missing his half sisters and brothers.

As Jon is musing over his new life his pondering is interrupted by Grenn, Toad and two others who are unhappy in how badly they have been getting beaten by Jon in the practice yard. A fight starts, where Jon seems to be giving as good as he is taking even though he is outnumbered four to one. Before any real harm can be done the fight gets broken up by Donal Noye the one armed blacksmith.

Donal dismisses the others to receive attention and to return to their quarters but instructs Jon to remain behind. He sits Jon down and explains a few things to him that Jon really hasn’t considered.

First he tells Jon to get over being disappointed.  He signed up and it’s too late to go back now. Noye also talks to Jon about his attitude. He tells him he is acting like he is better than everyone else and that he is not only bullying the boys in the yard but he is humiliating them as well and that is nothing for him to be proud of.

Jon is taken aback by the notion that he’s a bully. In his view he is easily superior and he does admit internally that besting people older than he is a source of pride. He also keeps in mind that he is younger than the other recruits he defeats in practice.

Noye points out to Jon that those he beats are scared of him, and most likely never held a weapon before arriving at the wall, unlike Jon who was trained by the master at arms Ser Rodrik Cassel. That realization does seem to bring Jon down to earth a bit.

We also learn a bit about Donal Noye. He was a blacksmith who forged Robert Baratheon’s great war hammer, and lost his arm during the siege of Storm's End during the rebellion. Donal then came to the wall in his thirties as his life as he knew it was over.

This is a sort of juxtapose with Jon as Donal is someone who has lived life, fought in wars, and really had a chance before coming to the wall to start a new life as a member of the Night’s Watch. Jon by comparison never did those things. He was raised and trained in Winterfell  and then went to the Wall without any other life experiences to speak of prior.

This is also something that Jon’s uncle Benjen warned him about and even tried to convince Jon to live life a bit before deciding to commit to the Night’s Watch. Jon has a bit of angst and some regrets that he never thought he would have when he was back at Winterfell.

As much as Jon doesn’t like the notion that the other recruits are now his brothers Donal reminds him that his commitment is for life and that Jon better be careful or else the other recruits might try to kill him in his sleep.

Essentially Donal’s advice is that regardless of how Jon may think or feel about the other members of the watch, he has to live with them and get along. Should he keep going down the road he seems to be set on he will find a lot more enemies than friends. Noye sends Jon off to go and think on his situation.

While looking up at the wall Tyrion strikes up a conversation with Jon. Tyrion asks if Jon wants to know what is on the other side and while he does wish to know what is beyond the wall Jon pretends he doesn’t as he has learned it’s not a good idea to let others know what your desires are. Unfortunately we are never given a good reason as to why.

Perhaps it’s due to being a new recruit and he fears Ser Alliser will use whatever he learns in training against him. He could also be a bit paranoid at being manipulated by the other members on the wall who might use such information for their own ends. Regardless Jon keeps quiet his true desire to go ranging beyond the wall.

Tyrion notices that Jon doesn’t like the nickname he has been given of Lord Snow and offers the following advice:

Tyrion: “Would you rather be  called the Imp? Let them see that their words can cut you, and you’ll never be free of the mockery. If they want to give you a name, take it, make it your own. Then they can’t hurt you with it anymore.”

The two go for a walk to the common hall and on the way they discuss that Ghost is being kept in separate stables from the horses and also the notable conditions of disrepair the castle has fallen into.

Castle Black apparently used to house 5,000 fighting men along with the mounts and servants. But now it’s home to roughly 500 men and they can’t keep up the repairs. We learn that there are nineteen castles/strongholds along the wall but only three of them are manned. Eastwatch by the sea, the Shadow Tower by the mountains and Castle Black in the middle. All the others are deserted.

That's a lot of empty castles!

Tyrion also mentions that Benjen has been gone too long and Jon recalls his vision of his uncle lying dead in the snow. We also learn that Benjen went out to find Ser Waymar Royce who was killed off in the Prologue by the Others.

When they sit down in the common hall they get mutton stew, but before they can eat Ser Alliser Thorne tells Jon that Lord Commander Mormont wishes to see him. Jon initially assumes it’s bad news about his uncle, but after Tyrion threatens Alliser he does reveal that the Lord Commander has news from Winterfell concerning Jon’s brother.

Assuming the worst Jon runs off to Lord Jeor Mormont. Mormont gives Jon the letter and he learns that Bran has awoken and will live. Jon is so delighted by this news that he runs back to the common hall and shares the news with Tyrion.

Jon at this point even apologizes to Grenn for the wound he inflicted and offers to help him get better.

Alliser Thorne decides to get a barb in by suggesting that Jon will have a harder time teaching Grenn to fight than he would teaching a wolf to juggle. Jon taking Tyrion's advice makes a joke of the situation and accepts the challenge claiming he would like to see his direwolf Ghost learn how to juggle.  

This gets a laugh from Tyrion, the trainees and even the cooks. Ser Alliser however is not amused at being made the butt of Jon's joke and tells him he has made a very grievous error.

This is the start of Jon’s evolution and also starts to bring in elements of him becoming into a leader. As we saw in prior chapters Jon is perceptive when it comes to others. He noticed the fear that had terrorized Gared the deserter in Brans first chapter, and also noted it wasn’t fear of punishment that Ned was about to deliver. Further he also noticed the sullen mood of both Ned and Queen Cersei at the dinner in Winterfell. Lastly he has also been able to break down individual tactics and fighting styles of his fellow recruits, suggesting a keen eye to detail that he has been able to meet with application of tactics.

By making a joke at Ser Alliser Thorne’s expense while offering to help his fellow recruits get better Jon is unifying people who all are dealing with the same problem.

Another thing that we shall see is that Jon seems to be taking to heart good advice provided to him by those around him that he trusts. He replied to Ser Alliser “Lord Snow” remark with a joke of his own, taking Tyrions advice, and is offering to help the other recruits to become better and face the challenges taking to heart the advice of Donal Noye.  

This also shows another quality of a good leader. The ability to think and adapt quickly. Thinking on one's feet is vital in a battle and being able to make quick adjustments on the fly can mean the difference between life and death.

One final thing I’d like to mention here is the “vision” that Jon has of his uncle Benjen lying dead in the snow. It’s interesting that Jon gets this vision and not Bran who until now has certainly had the most vivid dreams and visions with some sustenance.

But here is the question that I hope to  answer as things move forward. Are these “visions” prophecy or are they merely relating things that are happening or happened recently?

If it’s prophecy then one has to ask if it’s set in stone, or if it’s a prediction that may or may not come to pass depending on the actions of the person receiving the vision. .

Most all of Bran’s coma dream vision was of things that were happening at that point in time. Rob training, the maester practicing astronomy, Hodor moving an anvil, his mom traveling on a boat, his sister's troubles on the way to King's Landing, etc.

In fact very little of it seemed to actually be prophetic in nature and a lot of it were more like updates on current events. So we have to wonder about the nature of Jon’s vision. Is it a premonition or is it just a flash of insight of things that have occurred?

For now lets consider this, the visions that Bran received up to this point regarding his family members and people who he knows well have been pretty accurate. So we have no reason to believe that the vision Jon has of his uncle Benjen is any less accurate.

Visions, prophecy, dreams, premonitions and the significance and meanings behind them are all recurring themes through out the books and a topic we will visit time and again.

Now I fully realize that you can never be fully certain a character is dead in A Song of Ice and Fire unless it's confirmed on page and even then it's not 100% certain. But it's a pretty good bet that Benjen Stark has somehow met his end somewhere beyond the wall.