For book readers, most people are probably not surprised by Jon Snow’s apparent demise at the hands of the his sworn Night’s Watch brothers. If anything the only surprise was how he was conned into believing that his uncle Benjen Stark was still alive, leading him into being trapped. I did a small amount of speculation on his situation in my previous blog post reviewing episode 10 of season 5. However, what are the overall implications moving forward as a result?
First, the important thing to note is that Samwell Tarly along with Gilly and Little Sam are supposedly safely out of harms reach in being sent to Old Town to become a Maester at the Citadel. We do not have a clear indication of the time frame between his departure and Jon Snow’s stabbing to give him enough distance, but I’m going to assume that the Sam’s story will parallel the book’s viewpoint chapters where he travels to Old Town.
However, because Sam was one of the true loyal friends of Jon Snow, there’s no one possibly left to support Jon Snow’s cause at Castle Black outside of Eddison Tollet who saw the slaughter at Hardhome along with Jon Snow. With Melisandre retreating to the Wall and the tradition of burning bodies as a necessity to avoid future fates of people becoming part of the White Walker army, it’s likely that at the very least, Melisandre may attempt to provide a proper funeral pyre for Jon Snow.
Right now, Kit Harrington has admitted that he will not be in next season so that may allude to his physical body being missing. Although we see Jon Snow bleeding to death, there’s no guarantee that his physical form will be found either. Instead, there’s more speculation that Ghost’s presence will save him and that he’ll use the dire wolf to continue for the meantime.
Another major implication is that because he is dead, he no longer is bound to the Night’s Watch vows. I know that seems like an obvious thing but should he be resurrected somehow, the reality is that he does not have to obey the mutinous remaining brothers. Just as Stannis has hinted earlier this season, Jon Snow in practice is cleared from his duty as a sworn brother to become a true Stark and hence reclaim the North along with Winterfell.
Similarly, the Night’s Watch can now be considered damned because of what they’ve done. Although many brothers declared Jon Snow a traitor, they nonetheless killed a brother and more importantly the Lord Commander. That makes them all traitors to their sacred vows and to the Realm.
Of course, without Jon Snow to mediate between the Northerners and the Wildlings, whatever truce existed between both factions practically went out the window. However, the Wildlings are now safely on the other side of the Wall and outnumber the Night’s Watch. So even if the Night’s Watch detest them, they will be very hard pressed to be able to handle them at this stage. And with Stannis’ army gone, the Night’s Watch virtually has no allies anymore.
No doubt both Ser Davos, Melisandre and Tormund will heavily frown upon the Night’s Watch. Tormund will keep his respect for Jon Snow’s actions and will probably figure out a way to seek revenge, if not allying with the now patronless Ser Davos. It would be an odd combo to say the least but Ser Davos seems to have more sense than most people and would provide good counsel to the Wildlings if given the chance.
The reality is that without Jon Snow being there to keep everyone in check and remind people of the White Walkers, the Night’s Watch are practically goners the moment the Wall falls. No doubt at some point that will happen but because of their inherent prejudice against the Wildlings, they will not have any support for their cause.
Also, because the Wildlings are on the other side, there’s no doubt that they will seek refuge and possibly cause chaos for the other northerners. Perhaps, they might ally with Sansa Stark since she is kin to Jon Snow. We have yet to see Sansa’s true allies in the North and the only ones named in the show have been the Umbers, which Rickon was sent to with Osha.
With Jon Snow eliminated though, the Night’s Watch’s only potential allies are the Boltons. However, it’s likely that when the White Walkers hit, the Boltons (because they aren’t exactly the most worldly people around) will probably laugh off the threat until they succumb to it (unless my theory where Ramsay discovers the horn inside Winterfell’s crypts that can take down the Wall comes true).
From an IRL point of view, the sad thing sounds like we won’t be seeing Kit Harrington, possibly ever again in the series. He stated in a recent interview that he won’t be in the next season and that his death is the last time we would see him. Although Jon Snow’s character arc might be far from over, Kit’s role in the Game of Thrones seems finished for now.
I suppose that might mean that Dan and David have a certain figure to be cast in the future if, indeed, Jon Snow is resurrected as Azor Ahai. And it doesn’t look like that character will show up at all next season. Rumors/theories persist that Jon Snow’s true identity/parentage will be revealed towards the end of the series. How that comes about is anyone’s guess.
Next season though looks like we’ll mostly see chaos utterly erupt throughout the realm. There’s a lot of points of conflict where nothing but death and major battles leave hundreds of thousands of bodies ready for the incoming White Walker fleet. With Jon Snow silenced, there won’t be anyone with a strong enough voice to inform the rest of the realm from reacting in time.
What about Ghost though? I suppose we’ll see bits and pieces of him as we did this season. He’ll make cameo appearances and show hints that he DOES know something. However, I doubt Dan and David will give this version of Ghost a voice much like how Bran as Summer lacks a human voice while worging. Perhaps, without being cooped up in Castle Black, Jon Snow as Ghost will be free to roam around a bit, perhaps joining up with the rest of the pack like Arya’s dire wolf Nymeria. If not finding Nymeria, perhaps Ghost might try to locate the missing Rickon or Bran or even Uncle Benjen.