[Jon Snow — Characters]
Later, he and Daenerys discuss heroism, Daenerys telling him he is no hero. Tyrion disagrees, and tries to explain how he received his scar by charging through the Mud Gate. Daenerys interrupts him, stating she doesn't want him to be a hero, as they do stupid things and end up dead. She names Drogo, Daario Naharis, Jorah Mormont and Jon Snow as examples, which Tyrion notes, stating all four of these men fell in love with her. Daenerys says Jon Snow doesn't love her, to which Tyrion responds sarcastically he only stares at her longingly because he is hopeful for a successful military alliance. When Daenerys calls Jon too little for her, Tyrion says that as far as heroes go, he is quite little. Daenerys then says she knows Tyrion is brave, as she wouldn't have chosen a coward as her hand.
When Cersei arrives, she glares hatefully at Tyrion and quickly grows impatient that Daenerys has not come with him - only for Daenerys herself to make a dramatic arrival on dragonback moments later. Tyrion opens the negotiations, but is quickly interrupted by Euron Greyjoy, who mocks him and threatens Theon until Jaime and Cersei shut him down. Tyrion points out that if all they wanted to do was fight each other to the death, they would never have agreed to this meeting. Jon Snow then reveals the threat posed by the Night King and the Army of the Dead. Although Daenerys promises to uphold a truce with the Lannisters until the Night King has been dealt with, Cersei dismisses their claim concerning the Army of the Dead, saying they are simply attempting to strengthen their position while she is standing down. Tyrion replies that they have something to show her, and Sandor Clegane brings out the wight that was captured north of the Wall. Shaken by what she sees, Cersei at first seems willing to accept a truce, but only if Jon Snow agrees to have the North remain neutral and support neither Queen. To Tyrion's dismay, Jon replies that he cannot do so, as he has already declared for Daenerys. In response, Cersei leaves the summit. Furious, Tyrion rebukes Jon for not being able to make a small lie in order to secure them a political and military advantage. He declares that he will go and speak with Cersei alone - despite Daenerys's protests that she will have him murdered - or else they will be right back where they started.
Although Tyrion's skills; with political maneuvering, administration and diplomacy are extremely impressive, his record as a military strategist and tactician are more mixed. In this respect, he is similar to his father, although unlike Tywin, Tyrion's lack of skill on the battlefield has more to do with his unwillingness to inflict heavy loss of life on either side. He achieved a successful ambush at the Battle of the Blackwater; with his wildfire trap and led his troops personally on a sortie; but this alone was still not enough to win the battle; without help from Tywin and the Tyrells; indeed, the massive casualties; resulting from the wildfire shook him and (presumably); made him reluctant to use; such a devastating weapon again. This in turn; made him somewhat overly cautious in his strategy to help Daenerys win against Cersei. As a result, most of his battle plans; with the exception of capturing Casterly Rock, failed, leading Daenerys to lose her patience; with his strategy and take matters; into her own hands . Despite this, Tyrion had played a valuable role in developing and solidifying the alliance between Daenerys and Jon Snow, the King in the North.
With her father dead, Cersei once more rules the Seven Kingdoms as Queen Regent. She grows increasingly paranoid and vindictive, drinks heavily and endlessly schemes to deal with her enemies, real and imagined (Margaery, Jon Snow, Bronn, Trystane Martell, etc.). All of Cersei's schemes, with no exception, somehow go wrong - foiled, backfire or never come to fruition; even those that initially succeed - turn to be too costly.
Jaime is soon recaptured. Rickard Karstark demands Jaime's head for killing his son. Catelyn convinces Rickard to wait until Robb returns but fears that his patience will not hold. Catelyn visits Jaime's cell with her female guard Brienne . She accuses Jaime of being a man without honor because of his broken vows. Jaime explains his view that his vows frequently conflicted with one another. He asserts that he has more honor than some; he reveals that Cersei is the only one he has slept with and reminds Catelyn how her husband cheated on her and fathered Jon Snow.
By this point in the novels, Arya is presumed dead by most people in Westeros, including her mother and older brother. Tyrion tells his father that Varys and Jacelyn Bywater searched for her for more than half a year, but in vain. When Catelyn asks Cleos Frey , who has been acting as an envoy ferrying peace terms between Robb and Tyrion, for news of her daughters, she is disturbed when Cleos only mentions seeing Sansa at court. Catelyn wonders whether Arya, always more difficult to control than Sansa, is being deliberately kept out of sight by Cersei for fear of what she might do or say, or if something even worse has happened to her. The belief that Arya is dead, along with the news of the apparent deaths of Bran and Rickon, is what prompts Catelyn to release Jaime in the hope that her last daughter can be returned to her. Later, Robb bluntly states that his youngest sister is probably dead, since no one has seen her since their father's death, and as a result, he names his half-brother Jon Snow as his heir should he die without issue.
Ned was a very loving father to all of his children, including Jon Snow, his "bastard son", even though Catelyn was of a different opinion. He was very patient with Sansa's dreamy notions, visibly tolerating her adoration of the idea that she'd marry a handsome prince. When he tried to point out to her that Joffrey lacked bravery, strength of character, and even morality, a 13-year old Sansa was unable to see the truth at the time. He had a strong relationship with Arya, and was one of the few who could tolerate her feisty, adventurous mentality, and even encouraged it. He was, in many ways, like his son Robb, in that his sense of honor and duty ruled every aspect of his being, and he was a charismatic leader to those who served him. Ned had good relationships with both Robb and Jon Snow, the latter who Ned raised as his own alongside his lawful children. Like Robb, Jon inherited Ned’s traits of honor and duty. Ned treated Jon as his son - regardless of his legitimacy, and despite Jon being his nephew, not his son by blood. Ned was willing to sacrifice his own honor to protect Jon, and spent years letting everyone - including his whole family - believe that Jon was his bastard son to ensure Jon's protection. Ned also took responsibility on Catelyn's actions, claiming he had ordered the arrest of Tyrion Lannister even though he had no idea until confronted, this proves that Ned was capable of sacrifice his honor in order to protect his family. Ned's death provoked such a brutal reaction from all of his family because they all loved him more than words could say.
Occasionally, Ned could be self-righteous in his honor, acting as an "honorable fool", as Robert called him. He was quick to judge Jaime's actions as dishonorable, despite himself publicly proclaiming to have sired a child out of wedlock with another woman, which he did in order to protect his nephew (Lyanna's son Jon Snow, birth name Aegon Targaryen) from Robert's wrath. He also accused Jaime of sticking to his Kingsguard vows when his family was being tortured and murdered by Aerys, something he did not do when meeting Barristan Selmy. He also had a tendency to choose personal honor over his duties as a leader of millions, ignoring pragmatic decisions for ones that would allow him to maintain his dignity, even at the potential danger of those he swore to protect (though he usually believed that he'd be capable of warding off the threats). This could be seen in the way he chose to deal with Cersei, and his refusal to participate in Daenerys's assassination, in spite of the immense threat her brother and the Dothraki presented to the Seven Kingdoms (which indeed has been realized, several years later, in an extremely devastating manner ).
Theon owes to Luwin that he has done terrible things in his futile attempts to gain power and respect but he refuses to deviate from the course he has set, saying he has gone too far to ever pretend to be anyone else, and also adds that Jon Snow will likely kill him in revenge for allegedly killing Bran and Rickon. He readies his men for a glorious death in battle, giving a rousing speech, but is betrayed and knocked out by Dagmer, who plans to turn him over to the northern forces so the rest of them can go home. Luwin attempts to aid Theon but is stabbed in the abdomen by Dagmer, who then has Theon dragged away with his head covered by a cloth bag.
Theon is cordial but distant with the rest of the family, and has a bitter rivalry with Ned Stark's illegitimate son Jon Snow; both Theon and Jon are close with Robb, but Theon resents Jon because he is accepted and treated as a son by Ned despite being a bastard, while Jon dislikes Theon for his arrogance, highborn status and Robb's regard for him. In the show, Theon appears to be friends with both Robb and Jon.
On the night of Stannis's wedding, Robert violated his wedding bed by sleeping there with Delena Florent (Selyse's cousin). Although Robert swore that he had been drunk and had not realized to which bedchamber he entered and never meant to shame Stannis, Stannis never forgave him for that insult. For that reason, he resents Edric Storm, whom Delena gave birth to, since the youth's presence is a constant reminder of that offense (similarly to the way Catelyn feels about Jon Snow); yet, Stannis allows Edric to spend time with Shireen.
Talisa notices that Catelyn is making a prayer wheel for the Faith of the Seven , and offers to help. Catelyn explains that they can only be made by mothers who are praying for the welfare of their children. Catelyn reveals that she has only made them twice before, one of which was when she was praying for Bran to wake from his coma. It worked after a fashion, as Bran did survive but he lost the use of his legs. Talisa asks after the other time, and Catelyn reveals that when the boys were young children, one of them had a pox. Maester Luwin said that if he survived the night, he would be all right, and Catelyn sat with him all through the night. Catelyn reveals this boy was Jon Snow, and when her husband first brought him home as a baby, she couldn't bear to look at him. She inwardly prayed for the gods to take him away and make him die. When Jon came down with the pox, Catelyn tells Talisa, "And I knew I was the worst woman who ever lived. A murderer. I'd condemned this poor, innocent child to a horrible death all because I was jealous of his mother . A woman he didn't even know." So Catelyn prayed to all seven gods to let Jon live and made a prayer wheel. She stayed up with him all night, praying to the gods that if they forgave her earlier wish that Jon would die, she promised she would urge Eddard to have Jon legitimized as a Stark and she would raise him as her own son. Jon recovered but Catelyn tells Talisa, "And I couldn't keep my promise. And everything that's happened since then... all this horror that's come to my family... it's all because I couldn't love a motherless child." In grief over the loss of her father and husband, and over the apparent deaths of her two youngest sons, Catelyn believes the gods are punishing her with this war.
Catelyn's resentful and less loving side was brought out in the situation of Jon Snow, who was publicly believed to be her husband's illegitimate son with an unidentified woman. However while conversing with Talisa, she does admit that she regrets not loving Jon Snow realizing he was an innocent boy who just want a mother's love and believes all the bad things that happened to her family was all because she could not love Jon. Like her sister Lysa, she also has a jealous side to her, though Catelyn's is not as extreme as Lysa's.
Cornering Jon Snow, Ygritte aims an arrow at him. Seeing him weakens her resolve and she hesitates, only to have Olly shoot her through the chest from behind. Jon holds her in his arms, and she weakly asks if he remembers the cave where they made love - where she said she wished they could stay forever and not have to face the war and death outside. Ygritte says they should have stayed in that cave. When Jon insists that they will return there, she tells him " You know nothing, Jon Snow " and then dies.
When Euron Greyjoy takes too many liberties during the parley, threatening the fragile peace, Cersei orders him to sit down or leave. Clegane threateningly steps forward to further stress her point. During the parley, Daenerys's group releases a wight to prove the threat the undead pose. Clegane was ready to shield Cersei from the wight, but Sandor yanks it back with a chain. When Jon Snow later reveals to Cersei that he already swore allegiance to Daenerys, Cersei calls off the parley and returns to the Red Keep with her retainers, Clegane included. To convince her to accept the armistice, Tyrion follows her and is escorted to her chambers by Clegane, who visibly makes Tyrion uneasy. Clegane escorts Tyrion into the room and remains in the back while Cersei and Tyrion argue and discuss.
In A Feast for Crows , Samwell Tarly tells Jon Snow about old annals claiming that "dragonsteel" is lethal to the White Walkers , like dragonglass - they both suspect that "dragonsteel" is another name for "Valyrian steel", but haven't been able to put it to the test yet. This would be contradictory as the Wall and Winterfell existed thousands of years before Valyria was even founded, unless, perhaps, it did not actually originate in Valyria. In the show, this it is confirmed that the two are the same when Jon Snow kills a White Walker during the massacre at Hardhome .
As part of their plan to capture a wight as proof of existence of the army of the dead, Jon Snow and his men, lighting a campfire to get their attention, ambush a group of Wights led by a White Walker . Jon himself kills the White Walker, at the same time destroying all but one of the wights under his command. While taking refuge from the wights on an island in the middle of a frozen lake, Beric Dondarrion advises Jon to kill the recently arrived Night King, potentially ending the threat of the Walkers and their army. As Daenerys and her dragons arrive to rescue the party, the Night King hurls an ice javelin at Viserion , killing him and sending him crashing into the frozen lake. He throws another at Drogon , but the dragon narrowly avoids it and escapes. Jon stays behind and fights his way to the Night King, only to fall beneath the ice of the lake. Later, after wights haul Viserion's corpse out of the lake, the Night King resurrects him, bringing the beast under his control as an undead ice dragon .