Poor old Mance Rayder is being burned to death by Melisandre. I rather liked him. He's not going quietly, either, he's having a good old shout about it. Can't say I blame him. At least Jon has the courtesy of shooting him with some arrows. I'm not sure if that's what Melisandre had in mind, but there we are.
They open the gates and let through wildlings who are prepared to bend the knee to Stannis. I'm not sure what good it will do, since it's that or starve or get killed by wights; they're hardly going to be very loyal. They're also now on the right side of the wall for plotting revenge against the Watch or Stannis, should they fancy that idea. If I was a wildling I'd think settling the gift and taking control of the wall would be a pretty nice outcome. By the time people down south notice it'll be time to defend against white-faced blue-eyed monsters from the north anyway, not to mention something of a convenient fait accompli.
Bowen Marsh reckons they should just block up the tunnels through the wall. This sounds far too obvious. Should have done it years ago.
Jon wins the chapter: "Men love to complain about their lords and their wives. Those without wives complain twice as much about their lords." Hee hee.
Or is it Bowen Marsh: "What's a god compared to a nice bowl of onion soup?"
Jon is avoiding his friends because he's got some idea that in order to kill the boy and become a man and be a proper lord commander he can't just hang out with his mates any more. This seems daft enough that it's sure to come back and bite him. Why can't he just promote his friends so they can all hang out in the officers' mess? There's a lot to be said for a bit of nepotism. Instead he sends Pyp and Grenn to Eastwatch-by-the-sea.
Maester Aemon has left him a book that says the sword of light should be hot. But Stannis's sword is cold, which bothered Aemon. I have a new theory that it's the right sword, but it won't be hot until wielded by the right person. Such as someone who can get dragon eggs to hatch...
