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#Night's Watch
warsofasoiaf · 2 days
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Even though the Night’s Watch is supposed to be independent of the seven kingdoms, is the institution dependent on the goodwill of the other kingdoms for their own survival? Do you think that was why Ned wanted to pursue a policy of settling the gift, so that the Watch could become more self-sufficient?
The Night's Watch is absolutely dependent on the other kingdoms for donations of men and materiel - they simply do not have the capability of self-replenishment and lack the numbers to provide a self-sufficient system to meet their needs. Now, some might argue that for manpower specifically, that's not a bug but a feature, to have no separate loyalties from their duty. But that inability to replenish its own manpower also means that they don't have the support staff needed to do things like collect taxes from the Gift (or protect them from pillaging wildlings), establish multiple redundant workshops to repair and replace equipment, and establish a successful training program to sufficiently prep their recruits.
I absolutely think that's why Eddard pursued that policy. All that good land was going to waste because the Watch lacked the capability to utilize it.
Thanks for the question, Anon.
SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King
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shebsart · 1 year
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Why did they let Stannis Baratheon do the finger heart thing in his photo op with the nights watch
Original pic
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tronodiferro · 4 months
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The Wall is mine
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By Elenya.
Sound the horns!
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thewatcher0nthewall · 1 month
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Old Bear
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kenicat · 13 days
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Lord Commander of the Night's Watch
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frogcat7 · 2 months
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Lord Commander of Night's Watch Jeor Mormont and his pet raven who is demanding corn.
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The King and The Hand
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two charming old men
it was really fun to draw mance
and i made qhorin's long heavy braid a VERY LONG heavy braid
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sometimes-petty · 9 months
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Jon's POV in A Dance With Dragons
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Jon is a better person than I am because when the Baratheon lords started spewing shit about Mance Rayder being an usurper and pulled out the "true heir" out of nowhere I would've started biting
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agentrouka-blog · 5 months
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Unpopular opinion, but there is something very entitled about Robb utterly nullifying Jon's life choices by declaring he can easily cancel his Night's Watch vows with a bribe of a hundred prisoners and make him his legal heir through legitimizing him.
Jon took those vows. He chose them. He chose them over following Robb, ultimately, even if it took some prodding from his new "brothers". He chose them because he found a higher purpose there. The vow specifically prohibits the wearing of crowns. The vows are for life. We are introduced to House Stark with a man being killed for desertion, for breaking these vows, a lowborn ranger with no convenient family connections to save him.
There is not enough attention being paid to the absolute audacity on display here.
Robb has zero respect for the choice Jon made, for the Watch in general. Regardless of whether this corresponds with a secret desire in Jon, with a longing for legitimacy, with a Watch that is inherently flawed - Jon is as much of a convenient commodity for Robb in this moment as Sansa is an inconvenience to be discarded. Robb is... just abjectly obliterating the meaning of an institution tied to House Stark for millenia. Because it's politically convenient.
You can't tell me part of Jon would not have been alarmed by this, hurt by this.
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Jon, I understand you are sad Old Bear died but it's impolite to call your great - granduncle "Bro".
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asoiafreadthru · 3 months
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A Game of Thrones, Jon II
“I better go. I’ll spend my first year on the Wall emptying chamber pots if I keep Uncle Ben waiting any longer.”
Arya ran to him for a last hug. “Put down the sword first,” Jon warned her, laughing. She set it aside almost shyly and showered him with kisses.
When he turned back at the door, she was holding it again, trying it for balance.
“I almost forgot,” he told her. “All the best swords have names.”
“Like Ice,” she said.
She looked at the blade in her hand. “Does this have a name? Oh, tell me.”
“Can’t you guess?” Jon teased. “Your very favorite thing.”
Arya seemed puzzled at first. Then it came to her. She was that quick. They said it together:
“Needle!”
The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north.
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warsofasoiaf · 5 months
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Would it be seen as stain of house stark if benjen stark had gotten married and had a child before leaving to the nights watch? Or it be seen as a weird stark honour thing?
No. People have had gotten married and had kids before leaving for the Watch. It's about having a family *after* you join. Unless it was always the plan for Benjen to join the Watch, even before puberty.
Thanks for the question, Anon.
SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King
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asoiafcanonjonsnow · 8 months
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JONSNOWFORTNIGHTEVENT2023
DAY 3: MENTORS AND MENTORSHIP
ENCOURAGING MENTOR
"You'll have to work at it every day." He put the sword in her hands, showed her how to hold it, and stepped back. "How does it feel? Do you like the balance?" … Until you find a partner, watch how they fight in the yard. Run, and ride, make yourself strong.  - A Game of Thrones - Jon II Jon was showing Daeron how best to deliver a sidestroke when the new recruit entered the practice yard. "Your feet should be farther apart," he urged. "You don't want to lose your balance. That's good. Now pivot as you deliver the stroke, get all your weight behind the blade." - A Game of Thrones - Jon IV "Well fought," Jon said to Horse, "but you drop your shield too low when pressing an attack. You will want to correct that, or it is like to get you killed." "Yes, m'lord. I'll keep it higher next time." Horse pulled Hop-Robin to his feet, and the smaller boy made a clumsy bow. - A Dance with Dragons - Jon I
Mentorship is a recurring theme in Jon Snow's journey, as he takes on the role of teacher and guide to those around him. With patience and expertise, Jon imparts his knowledge and skills to help others grow and improve.
In one instance, Jon hands a sword to Arya, instructing her on its proper handling and asking for her thoughts on its balance. He encourages her to practice every day, emphasizing the importance of consistent effort. Jon's guidance goes beyond the physical aspect of combat; he also advises Arya to observe and learn from others, emphasizing the importance of continuous practice and self-improvement.
Among his fellow recruits at the Night's Watch, Jon serves as a mentor figure. He patiently trains them in combat techniques, offering guidance and correction when necessary. He provides constructive feedback and motivates his brothers to push themselves further.
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jozor-johai · 5 days
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Reread the AGOT Prologue last night, and I was so caught up this time in how the dynamics of that chapter are a microcosm of the class dynamics in Westeros.
Not such a long post, but putting it after the cut for ease.
Waymar Royce, of course, stands in for the Lords, with his wealth and name and undeserved authority, while one-named Gared and Will are the smallfolk.
In this chapter, with a speaking cast of 3, there's already this question of where does power lie? In this scene, the smallfolk outnumber the lords 2-to-1, and neither believe in Waymar, but ultimately each of them defers to the lord's authority (the ratio is much more extreme in Westeros at large, but this works for a 3-person dynamic). Will and Gared also trust each other, and trust each other's expertise, more than either of them think Waymar should be trusted in any capacity—he's not leader by merit (he has much less experience than either of them), he's not leader by popular appeal (they laugh at him in their cups), and he's not leader by age (younger than the both).
And we see already in this small moment the ways in which authority attempts to deal with usurpation—which we will see played out over and over again throughout the entirety of ASOIAF.
Gared challenges Waymar's authority on the basis of experience, which is a justified complaint. Faced with an inarguable position, Waymar responds with unnecessary cruelty: "you ought to dress more warmly, Gared." This is one way for the upper class to keep the smallfolk in line—to flaunt their wealth and advantage, and to push back visciously against challenges. This is the Tywin technique, one which we see done consistently throughout the series.
The significance of this being a mental confrontation cannot be overstated: when confronted with Varys' riddle, Tyrion later observes that the rule "All depends on the man with the sword." Here, Gared is the man with the sword—he's a man-at-arms, and the better swordsman. While "Will doubted it[Royce's sword] had ever been swung in anger," "Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Gared pulled it[his own sword] from its scabbard." Gared could fully kill Royce here, if he dared. And so the challenge, for Waymar, is to make sure Gared never dares. Power lies where men believe it lies, so Waymar's job as authority figure is to demoralize Gared, so he does not outright challenge Waymar's authority. (This is the role of public humiliation—another 'Tywin tactic,' but which is also used broadly).
Perhaps Gared would dare to challenge Waymar's authority if he were not alone. When Varys follows Tyrion's thinking that the man holding the sword might have some real power, he questions: why do the men with swords obey kings at all, then? Tyrion posits: "Because these child kings and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other swords." So perhaps the issue is unity, a majority feeling—one man cannot rebel, lest his own class turn against him, but perhaps many can. We see this as the series goes on in instances like with the Sparrows, who amass enough numbers that they can imprison the queen, or with the sellswords in Meereen, who might turn the tide of battle if they switch sides (to the side that they believe might win).
To gain this advantage, Gared and Will would have to be a united front. In the beginning of this chapter, Will was a neutral figure, he's not willing to actually challenge that authority, he didn't want to be involved in the confrontation, but knew "he known "they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later." Later, though, after witnessing Gared's demoralization, Will nearly steps in himself—in defense of Gared, out of respect for Gared's experience, and in a moment of class solidarity, Will speaks up to defend Gared, and is cut off:
"If Gared said it was the cold …" Will began.
"Have you drawn any watches this past week, Will?"
Here, Waymar's goal, as ruling class of this interaction, is to prevent class solidarity within the smallfolk. If Waymar responded too rudely, or with too much aggression, this might bind Gared and Will together for certain, and Waymar might be usurped (this is the result of the repeated aggressions of Aerys II, resulting in his death, or the repeated aggressions of Tywin which spawned the aforementioned Sparrows).
So Waymar has to employ a different strategy: (still a bit snidely) Waymar plays the role of 'encouraging mentor,' invoking this idea that he deserves to rule by the merit of being inherently 'wiser' or a keeper of 'knowledge'. He suggests that Will figure out for himself, under Waymar's guidance, that the cold could not possibly have killed the wildlings. Led more gently by Waymar, Will seems to decide for himself that Waymar is correct. In short, Waymar is able to reposition Will to be on his side, not Gared's, by leveraging his initial assumed authority and the existing attitude of elite education, even as that makes Will go against his own first-hand experience.
This is another tactic that we see repeatedly used throughout ASOIAF (and the world)—the ruling class acting as though they are simply elevating the ("innocently wrong") subjugated class to a more aware and knowledgeable position. If we believe the Maester conspiracy, they are the most obvious example of this, but the fact that it is only the lords who have access to Maesters means this is implicitly true without even needing a conspiracy—the ruling class is already gatekeeping knowledge and education from the subjugated class. (As an aside: the Maester conspiracy, ironically, is only concerned with the possibility of an even higher authority secretly gatekeeping knowledge from the nobility—in other words, the fear that the Maesters are treating the Lords the way that the Lords treat the smallfolk).
So let's return to Varys' final proposed answers to his own riddle: "Some say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the gods. Others say it derives from law." Waymar has employed the knowledge-as-power against Will, and we're also constantly up against the backdrop of law-as-power: The Night's Watch.
Waymar references "Mormont," someone who Waymar does not want to disappoint, and they all consider the agreed-upon terms of the Night's Watch. Even in this microcosmic scenario, they are part of a system, one where this authority figure is, seemingly, held to his own authority figure, and one where the "rules" of the interaction have been determined long before now. In the end, once Waymar decides, "the order had been given, and honor bound them to obey." They have all agreed to a set of laws, already, which keep them bound to Waymar's authority.
So, ultimately, it is in this moment that despite Gared and Will being fully correct in their fears, despite being more experienced, wiser, older, and in all ways better rangers than Waymar, authority itself held true, and Waymar marched them all on towards his own death.
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thewatcher0nthewall · 2 months
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“Septon Cellador spoke up. “This boy Satin. It’s said you mean to make him your steward and squire, in Tollett’s place. My lord, the boy’s a whore…a…dare I say…a painted catamite from the brothels of Oldtown.”
And you are a drunk. “What he was in Oldtown is none of our concern. He’s quick to learn and very clever. The other recruits started out despising him, but he won them over and made friends of them all. He’s fearless in a fight and can even read and write after a fashion. He should be capable of fetching me my meals and saddling my horse, don’t you think?”
- Jon {A Dance With Dragons}
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Donal Logue as Bowen Marsh
Conan Gray as Satin Flowers
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Jon Snow
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