5. Jon : The Bastard

Location: King's Welcome feast at Winterfell's Great Hall

Characters: Jon, Benjen Stark, Tyrion Lannister

This chapter is from Jon's point of view. It is the King's welcome feast at Winterfell. Jon, being a bastard, is not allowed to dine at the king's table whereas his brothers and sisters , the stark children can. The feast started with Ned stark accompanying the queen to the table. She is as beautiful as the men said. She had beautiful long golden hair and emerald green eyes. She did not even look at Ned when he accompanied her. Jon could see through her smile. Next came the King, accompanied by Lady Stark. He was a big disappointment to Jon. He had heard about Robert Baratheon from his father - the demon of the Trident, the fiercest warrior of the realm, a giant among princes. Jon saw only a fat man, red-faced under his beard, sweating through his silks.

Then came Robb accompanying princess Myrcella, Arya with prince Tommen and Sansa with Joffrey. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall.

Next came the Lion and the Imp, Ser Jaime Lannister and Tyrion Lannister. Jaime was twin to Queen Cersie, tall and golden, with flashing green eyes and a smile that cut like a knife. People called him the Lion of Lannister to his face and called him 'Kingslayer' behind his back. Jon found it hard to look away from him. "This is what a king should look like" he thought. Beside him was Tyrion Lannister, the youngest of Lord Tywin's brood and by far the ugliest. All that the gods had given to Cersie and Jamie, they had denied to Tyrion. He was a dwarf, half his brother's height, struggling to keep pace on stunted legs. His head was too large for his body, with a brute's squashed-in face beneath a swollen shelf of brow. One green eye and one black one peered out from under a lank fall of hair so blonde it seemed white.

Benjen Stark joined Jon at his table. He was sharp-featured and gaunt as a mountain crag, but there was always a hint of laughter in his blue-grey eyes. He dressed in black as befitted a man of the Night's Watch. Benjen exclaimed about Jon's wolf that its a very quiet wolf to which Jon explains that he never makes a sound, Thats why he named him Ghost and because he is white. Ben told Jon that there are still direwolves beyond the wall and they hear them on their rangings.

In earlier chapters, its hinted that Jon's eyes did not miss much. There are numerous details indicating the same - "A bastard had to learn to notice things, to learn the truth that people hid behind their eyes". When Benjen noticed that Ned wasn't in a festive mood, Jon pitches that the queen is angry too as his father took the king down to the crypts and the queen didn't want him to go - to which Benjen Stark says "You don't miss much, do you. Jon? We could use a man like you on the wall".

Jon asks Benjen to take him with him to join the Night's Watch but Benjen is hesistent as the Wall is a hard place for a boy. Jon tries to reason that he is almost a man and will turn fifteen on his next name day and bastards grow up faster than other children. Daeren Targaryen was one of Jon's heroes who conquered Dorne when he was only fourteen. But Benjen thought that he lost ten thousand men taking the place and another fifty trying to hold it. His conquest just lasted a summer and he died at eighteen. War isn't a game.

Jon really wanted to serve in the Night's Watch. He had thought on it long and hard. Robb would someday inherit Winterfell, would command great armies as Warden of the North. Bran and Rickon would be his bannermen and rule holdfasts in his name. His sisters Arya and Sansa would marry he heirs of other great houses and go south as mistress of castles of their own. There is no place for a bastard like him.

Uncle Benjen explains to him that the Night's Watch is a sworn brotherhood. They have no families. They will never father sons. Their wife is duty, their mistress is honor. Until Jon has known a woman, he cannot understand what he will be giving up. He says to Jon "Come back to me once you have fathered a few bastards of your own". Jon says angrily "I will never father a bastard". After this Jon leaves the feast and goes out.

Outside, Jon meets Tyrion Lannister. When the dwarf reaches out to pet his wolf, the wolf bares his fangs in a silent snarl. Tyrion asked Jon if he is Ned Stark's bastard and it bothers Jon. Tyrion says that Jon has more of the north in him than his brothers. Tyrion counsels Jon that "All dwarfs may be bastards, yet not all bastards need to be dwarfs". When Tyrion was leaving "When he opened the door, the light from within threw his shadow clear across the yard, and for just a moment Tyrion Lannister stood tall as a king". This may have some hidden meaning.

So , now we know what is Night's Watch and what taking the black means.

However the purpose of the Night's Watch is still not clear.