LogFAQs > #874575455

Past the technical/level, I think, part of what makes that assault so good is that it's completely unexpected. We go there with twenty minutes left in the episode. Most of the conflict of the storyline seems to come from the Lord of Bones (who gets all his skulls unceremoniously beaten in by Tormund in a hilarious scene) and from the skepticism of the Free Folk. Karsi is introduced as someone who might be a STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER ally who might potentially raise some issues. Nothing seems to be going overwhelmingly wrong. And then Karsi says that she'll see her kids soon, and you know s***'s about to hit the fan, and then there comes the f***ing horde. Madness, slaughter, Longclaw, jubilation, necromancy... silence.

This might look like stretching for praise, but one of the scenes that kind of encapsulates what I love about this arc is the final scene right before Jon gets stabbed. He's just sitting in his office - dark, cold, and lonely - reading letter after letter of rejection. (See the book notes for more of my love of logistics.) Jon Snow has executed his biggest detractor and saved thousands of Free Folk - and here he is, friendless and unprotected, still unable to gain the notice of the people he's trying to protect. And it's crushing how excited he gets to see his Uncle Benjen. It's a cross, because of course it is - For the Watch. It's a brutal, unfair end to a short, radical reign. And there spreads his blood.

(Then we're left to the devilishly sexy Red Woman. 'You know nothing, Jon Snow.')

Book notes: Holy s***, this arc is f***ing amazing in the books. Loving S5 Jon as much as I did, I had no clue that his book counterpart would have so much more - and superior - content.

There are Karstark power plays and marriages to the Magnar of Thenn. There's constant worrying about food as Jon trades wood to Braavos and takes loans from Tycho Nestoris. There's a process of resettling the Free Folk in the land known as Brandon's Gift. There's recruiting and training of new brothers of the Watch. There's the secret aiding of Stannis with the clansmen as Jon advises him. There's Mance Rayder, alive, and performing major shenanigans in Winterfell. There's massive delegation of friends and coworkers to other castles as the Night's Watch again extends beyond Castle Black. There's a sexy-ass Wildling Princess who wants the D (along with Melisandre). And there's the thunderous, earth-shaking Pink Letter, complete with giant wrecking Baratheon men. And of course... there's a massive cliffhanger that has been left hanging for six years and will take probably eight to resolve, because f*** you, George R. R. Martin.

Stannis is massively enjoyable on screen at Castle Black, but in the books he makes tons of awesome cracks, such as refusing to suffer an abomination born to Craster and his daughter Gilly - 'This is not King's Landing.'

One detail that the books emphasize Jon is responsible for: sending his friends away. It's

Also, let's not pretend that the books' Alliser Thorne wouldn't have participated in the mutiny had he been there.

Here's Hardhome in the books, a chapter ending that deserves special attention: Dead things in the wood. Dead things in the water... Night falls, he thought, and now my war begins.

This is another one of the arcs that made me want to do this list. I hated Jon so much during Seasons 1 and 2, and Season 3 only warmed me up on him very slightly. Yet through persistence and attrition, he winds up claiming one of the show's GOAT runs in Season 5. Worth it.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness