This chapter has Jon Snow and his men heading down the ruins of Moletown to speak with the Wildlings who have taken residence there. As Jon calls, hundreds of them slowly emerge from the squalor of the tunnels beneath the town. Apparently, Moletown doesn't look like much on the surface, but underneath it has tons of tunnels and other things and that's where the people are staying to protect themselves from the freezing cold. I guess not dying is worse than living in cramped conditions with a bunch of dirty, smelly people for a bit, but still...that can't be fun.
Jon offers the people an opportunity to get more food and better living conditions by choosing to work for the Night's Watch. Interestingly enough he does not require any of them to actually take the black though I guess they could still choose to do so if they wished. It also makes sense since there are women and children who could take his offer and there have never been female Night's Watchmen. I see his reasoning as they need people to work and these are people who are serving no purpose right now, but what will happen when a Wildling army comes calling again? Will these same people bite the hand that feeds them or will they stay loyal to the Night's Watch? Jon dodges the question because he fears the true answer, I think.
Also, we see that someone has managed to elude Jon's posted guards to carve faces into the trees. Is this more important than the people simply bringing their gods south with them? I don't know. I guess we shall see. It does make me wonder if this same person is going to cause trouble in the future. If they can slip past the guards this easily, there isn't much to stop them from doing other things.
The Watch has changed in many ways since Jon Snow took command, but I don't think it could have stayed the same. Not when Wildlings are walking amongst them and when the dead are coming back to life and attacking the living.
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