we can only die

its kind of cute that the valemen in braavos when asked about how the war in westeros is going are like war? what war? our lady and her little son have kept us well out of that! + its like yeah for them lysa is awesome literally the wisest kindest move any lord has made from the smallfolk pov. every other great house begging the arryns to send all their peasants to die in the riverlands and they didn’t do that. mostly out of spite admittedly but still

GRRM’s inclusion of Mance Rayder among Jon’s expansive catalogue of father figures is a very clever one, beyond just being a retread of the fantasy protagonist gaining a temporary teacher who imparts wisdom then leaves. It’s the way Mance’s identity as father-figure and king play into Martin’s subversion and deconstruction of the secret prince trope. Because he is Rhaegar’s son, many of us would expect Jon to inherit the Iron Throne once his identity is revealed. After all, that’s the rule of the genre and Jon is as clear cut a fantasy protagonist as you can get in ASOIAF. But we’re five books into a seven-book series, and Jon is nowhere near the Iron Throne. Not only that, but he still doesn’t know who he truly is. Instead, he’s spent three out of the five books interacting with Mance’s kingdom, building their trust and becoming Mance’s spiritual heir. Jon even completes what Mance tried and failed to do when he manages to bring wildings south of the Wall and install some sort of working peace with the Watch. By the end of ADWD, Jon has pretty much become the de facto leader of the wildlings and there’s thousands more left to save. So if GRRM is to subvert the hidden prince trope in any way, it looks like he already has. Jon may not be the one to inherit Rhaegar’s kingdom at the end, but it sure looks like he’ll inherit all of Mance’s. And it’s quite clever to have the fantasy protagonist not take over his father’s kingdom by virtue of his birth, but instead rule a stand in’s by virtue of his actions.