Chapter 7 - Jon Snow - Kill the boy

Well, if I thought that Jon was having trouble acting as Lord Commander with his men before, I feel a lot better now.  The main point of this chapter was clearly Jon battling within himself and trying to force down the boy he was to become the man he must be.  I liked how Jon's thoughts of "kill the boy" are ambiguous in the beginning and that you don't realize that he is speaking metaphorically until the end.

Jon was never the most fun-loving of the male characters in the series.  He always had a more serious air about him most likely due to his life growing up as Ned Stark's bastard.  But, despite that, he could still afford to share a cup with his friends or joke around with fat Sam Tarly.  Now, he can do none of those things and he must make the hard decisions that he never had to make before.

The way he handled Gilly was crazy.  This is not the Jon Snow we knew before.  He can't apologize or second guess the decisions he makes and that's clear with how he forces her to take Mance's child and leave her own going as far as to force her to touch a flame to understand the pain.  Likewise, with Sam he refuses to deal with his pathetic whining and forces his decree unswervingly.  He even agrees to sign his name to a letter hoping to appease the Lannisters when he really wants to murder them all.  He is making the tough decisions and he's not hiding from them.

When he executed Janos Slynt at the end I must admit that I smiled.  I hated Slynt ever since he was involved in the betrayal of Ned Stark.  Jon was clearly in his rights to kill Slynt, but I wonder if there will be any rumblings that this was payback for Ned.  Or perhaps it is not common knowledge what Slynt did and nothing will come of this.  I especially likd that Slynt was so strong and defiant until just before the sword was about to fall and then he turned into a coward.  The comparison between Jon and Ned cannot help but be made.  One of the first things we see Ned do is to execute a Night's Watch deserter with his Valyrian blade.  Now, Jon is doing basically the same thing with his.  I suppose that Jon was content to hang Slynt and then remembered his father's own rules.  If you pass the judgment, you should swing the sword.

Jon swings the sword and with that swing, I believe that the child is dead.

Also, it was awesome hearing Maester Aemon mention Egg a bit more since we know just how much of a child he was from the Dunk and Egg tales.