| Jon VI | ||||||
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| A Clash of Kings chapter | ||||||
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| POV | Jon Snow | |||||
| Place | Skirling Pass | |||||
| Page | 537 UK HC (Other versions) | |||||
| Chapter chronology (All) | ||||||
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Jon V ↑ | ||||||
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↓ Jon VII | ||||||
Jon Snow captures Ygritte in the Skirling Pass.
Synopsis
As Qhorin Halfhand’s party moves through the Skirling Pass, they note watchers high up in the pass. Stonesnake and Jon volunteer to dispatch the watchers, and Qhorin warns not to let them sound a horn. Stonesnake teaches Jon how to climb a sheer cliff face, and they eventually reach the top above the wildlings. They find there are are three wildings, one watching with a horn, one by a fire, and one asleep. Stonesnake kills the watcher before he can sound his horn, and Jon cuts down the man by the fire with Longclaw. Jon prepares to kill the sleeper, who turns out to be a spearwife, Ygritte. She yields to them, and Jon takes her captive, despite Stonesnake's warning that she should be killed.
When she learns that Jon is a bastard son of a Stark lord, Ygritte tells him the wildling story of Bael the Bard. Supposedly, before he joined the free folk, he was a raider, or, according to Stonesnake, a murderer and robber. Lord Brandon Stark wanted Bael's head, but was never successful in capturing the bandit. To teach the lord a lesson, Bael slipped into Winterfell as a singer called Sygerrik of Skagos; Sygerrik means 'deceiver' in the Old Tongue of the First Men, which the giants still speak. In return for his performance, Bael requested the fairest flower in Winterfell, and the lord gave him a rare winter rose from the glass gardens. In the morning, however, the singer was gone along with Lord Brandon's daughter, with only the rose left on her pillow.
A year later, the lord's daughter was found in her bedchamber with a young baby. Bael had hidden her in the crypts of Winterfell. Thirty years later, when Bael led the wildlings south as King-Beyond-the-Wall, it was his son, the new Stark lord, who slew Bael at the Frozen Ford, since the bard would not harm his son. Upon returning home, the young lord's mother killed herself when she found out Bael was dead. The young lord was said to have eventually been killed and skinned by one of his bannermen. Jon does not believe the story, which claims that the blood of the Starks and the wildlings is the same.
When Qhorin and the others arrive, Ygritte recognizes the Halfhand and confirms that the wildlings would kill him if he yielded. Qhorin’s men state that she should be killed, and Qhorin leaves Jon alone with Ygritte to carry out the task. Ygritte tells Jon that Mance Rayder would accept him if he ran off with her. Jon, about to behead her with Longclaw, finally stops himself and tells her to run off.
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References and Notes
- Analyses and summary of the chapter in the course of a 10th reread by Slynt.
- Review and summary by Leigh Butler.
- The synopsis was copied from AOL member vbkorik27 previously at [1].