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Chapter 18: Catelyn
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Game of Thrones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Power
Climate Change and Collective Action
Gender and Power
Honor and Integrity
Identity
Summary
Analysis
Jon fights with another recruit of the Night’s Watch, Grenn, to practice combat. Jon beats him easily as he does all the others, even though he’s three or four years younger than them. The boy complains that Jon broke his wrist. Later that day, Grenn and three of his friends corner Jon in his room. They say he’ll have to pay for what he did earlier. One of the boys grabs Jon, but Jon gets out of the hold before attacking the other boys. The armorer of the Wall, Donal Noye, breaks up the fight.
Early on, it becomes clear that Jon is not doing well, at least socially, in the Night’s Watch. He seems to be making enemies left and right, and his willingness to cause harm to his opponents in combat training reveals a latent capacity for malice that is a striking contrast to the leadership qualities he displayed while in Winterfell.
Themes
Jon thinks that no one told him the truth about the Wall except for Tyrion. The Wall is a cold and mean place, and his uncle Ben has practically ignored him since they arrived. According to Ben, old family ties have no place in the Night’s Watch. The other men who have taken the oath are his brothers now, and Jon will have to earn each step he takes here. Jon misses his siblings, but he misses Arya most of all. He thinks that he’ll make his solitude a kind of armor.
This passage establishes Jon’s conflict between duty and love. On the one hand, once he takes his vows, he’ll be duty-bound to serve the Night’s Watch in perpetuity and renounce his family ties. On the other hand, he misses his family and the sense of belonging that they gave him. The novel suggests that what Jon chooses—love or honor and duty—will say a lot about his character.
Themes
After Donal breaks up the fight, he tells Jon that he has been acting like an entitled bully. He acts like he thinks that he’s better than the other people of the Night’s Watch because he was raised in a castle. But, Donal says, they need every man they have on the Night’s Watch, and Jon’s upbringing doesn’t make him better than anyone else. Plus, Jon has been humiliating people while practicing combat. Unlike Jon, those men and boys haven’t been trained in combat before. Jon needs to help train the other recruits without making them sacrifice their dignity. Jon leaves the conversation feeling ashamed of how he’s been acting.
Donal’s speech to Jon depicts the Night’s Watch as one of the only places that is free of the strict hierarchies that define life throughout the rest of Westeros. In Donal’s telling, the Wall is the one place where one’s birth doesn’t completely determine one’s outcomes in life. Donal’s description of Jon as entitled also draws comparisons between Jon and Joffrey. Jon knows that his actions have been out of character and feels ashamed for what he’s done as a result. Joffrey, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to feel any guilt or shame for the things he does, pointing to the inherent differences between Jon and Joffrey even when some of their actions might be similar.
Themes
Jon looks up at the Wall. It’s the largest structure humans have ever built and stands over 700 feet tall. The Night’s Watch has been depleted, though. There were once 5,000 of them, but now there are only about 500. Jon then sees Tyrion. The two haven’t seen much of each other since the journey to the Wall. Tyrion invites Jon to eat with him, and Jon accepts. While they’re eating, Ser Alliser, the master-at-arms, tells Jon that Lord Commander Jeor Mormont wants to see him at once. He has news about Bran.
The dwindling number of people in the Night’s Watch suggests that many people in the realm see the role they play in protecting the realm from the Others as obsolete. The reader, though, knows that the Others are on the rise and therefore knows how important the Night’s Watch is. The novel sets up that dramatic irony to show how the political conflicts in the novel take place amid a situation in which collective action will be required to meet the threat of the Others.
Themes
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In Commander Mormont’s office, Jon reads through the letter that’s been sent. He’s overjoyed to learn that Bran has woken up. He runs back into the dining hall and tells Tyrion the news. For a moment, Tyrion looks shocked. Others around Jon join him in his jubilation, but Grenn tells Jon to stay away from him. Jon apologizes for hurting Grenn’s wrist and offers to help him learn to defend against the maneuver he used. Ser Alliser overhears and remarks that Jon is trying to take his job training recruits. Jon says he thinks he could help out, and Ser Alliser looks at him with contempt.
Tyrion's shock at hearing the news that Bran has woken up shows that he is at least concerned that now that Bran has woken up, he might tell people that Jaime pushed him from the tower. Tyrion’s shock could also be a sign that he might have been involved in conspiring to kill Bran (as Catelyn believes) and is just learning now that the plan wasn’t successful.
Themes
