chsdbacks Chapter 33 Jon Snow 3
Chapter 33 Jon Snow 3
"His father, Lord Eddard Stark, was a man of impeccable character whom no one who knew him would doubt, while Jon Snow was the only stain on his life that was known to the world."
Mans picked up his glass and took a sip.
Ed's sense of honor was so strong that he didn't even want to mistreat his illegitimate child.
He gave his illegitimate son everything he could: a castle, honor and integrity, and the opportunity to live, eat, train, and play with his half-brothers... but he couldn't give him a sense of belonging or identity.
"Some things seem within reach, but you know in your heart they'll never be yours. Can you understand the pain of that?"
Lynn nodded; that was easy to understand.
"So the Duke of Stark's love for him became a burden?"
"Yes, if Jon Snow is a cunning man, that's one thing, but most noble bastards are like that—I don't mean to belittle them, you know, they're all forced by circumstances, by the world's views and prejudices and such."
Mans shrugged and offered a special explanation.
"But Ed insists on teaching a bastard to understand honor and integrity... In Southern culture, these two things are inherently contradictory."
A collection of contradictions.
Lynn made a mental summary.
"That's why he has a special quality that's hard for people who aren't like him to see."
It's a little embarrassing to say this, but I think he and I are somewhat similar; I'd call it a "yearning for freedom."
Mans winked at Lynn:
"So I want to give him a chance, maybe he will surprise us."
Just like you said before when you wanted to capture him alive—take a leisurely step.
Lynn pursed his lips and said:
"Alright, he's yours."
The two remained silent for a while.
After a long pause, Mans suddenly said:
"That Jon Snow said... there are wights on the Wall."
"Yes, he didn't seem to be lying when he said that—it seems the legend that the Wall has ancient magic and that the White Walkers can't get through is false."
Mans shook his head.
"The legend refers to 'White Walkers,' not 'Wight Demons,' they are different."
"The Wall is indeed magical; the Night's Watch have all heard the story of Queen Alyssa's visit to the North."
Queen Alexandra was the wife of King Jaeharis, also known as the "Arbitrator," because he reigned for several decades.
He was young when he sat on the Iron Throne and loved to travel all over the land.
On one occasion, he came to Winterfell with his queen, six dragons, and half of his courtiers to discuss state affairs with the Warden of the North. Queen Alyssa, feeling bored, flew north on her dragon, Silverwing, to see the Wall.
But Alexandria's dragons refused to fly over the Great Wall three times, roaring and howling at it, unwilling to go beyond the Great Wall, and instead turned south on their own.
This made her extremely uneasy.
Mans glanced thoughtfully at Qi Xue.
"As everyone knows, dragons are magical creatures."
Lynn scratched at her bleeding, calloused chin with her fingernails.
It did hate the cold environment when it first hatched, but it seems to have gradually adapted to it after that.
If the story of Queen Alexandra's dragon refusing to fly over the Wall is true, then her weeping blood state indicates that the problem is not beyond the Great Wall, but most likely caused by the Wall itself.
If the Great Wall really does reject magical creatures, that would be a troublesome matter.
"In any case, the fact that the ghouls can cross the Wall is good news for us."
Lynn stretched and put the question of the dragon and the Great Wall out of his mind. Anyway, it was still a long way off, and he would know the answer when he got there.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, I suggest leaving a few corpses unburned to observe the process of them turning into ghouls, and how to restrain them so they can't harm people."
I said before that I would tie up a few ghouls and show them to the people south of the Wall; this was no joke.
The message Jon Snow brought was crucial.
Mans also thought it was a good idea, but it wasn't feasible at the moment.
"It's not possible now. Sometimes there are corpses in the camp that haven't been cleared away yet, most of them frozen to death."
They did not turn into wights, probably because the Others were not nearby or were quite far away.
If you want to capture ghouls, you'll have to risk heading north. Newly arrived teams report that the closer you get to the Wall, the less likely the dead are to turn into ghouls.
Lynn was a little confused after hearing this. He couldn't understand the mechanism between the White Walkers and wights either. He could only guess based on the existing information: only corpses killed by the White Walkers and wights would become wights. If they didn't kill the corpses, the corpses would have to be close enough.
The two corpses that entered the Wall sounded like the work of the White Walkers.
"Forget it, let's wait until we get to the Great Wall! They'll come to us eventually anyway, and we won't be short of ghouls then."
Lynn said with a wry smile, and Mans also sighed.
The most important thing right now is to find the "Winter Horn" and train the soldiers to prepare for taking the Great Wall.
The Thane warriors under Kasa are already training in grappling hook climbing, troop charges, and shield formations, while the cavalry under Hamma the Doghead has selected 120 men, each with two horses, to practice lance charges and mounted archery.
Although their equipment was incomparable to that of the southern cavalry, they had undergone a fundamental change compared to the original mounted infantry.
The riders who were eliminated were not wasted; they were immediately turned into scouts.
The clan soldiers each had their own tasks: some were responsible for digging pits and finding graves, some were dedicated to hunting, and others were responsible for manufacturing and repairing.
In addition to searching for the Horn of Winter, they also searched the opened graves for anything of value.
They took everything that could be exchanged for money, including gold, gemstones, amber, jade, and ivory products, intending to use it to trade with the southerners and purchase all necessary supplies.
Well-preserved corpses were dragged out and burned to prevent them from being turned into wights by the White Walkers, while usable weapons and armor were used to equip soldiers.
"I'm a tomb raider in Westeros" - how about that?
In fact, the Free People were not completely isolated; they maintained a secret trade relationship with the Night's Watch.
In East Seaview, daring smugglers would use contraband such as steel weapons to trade with the savages for northern specialties like furs.
This group, led by a Tyrothy named Rollo Uhoris, sailed the "Pebble Cat" around the Wall and into the northern bay controlled by the Savages to conduct smuggling trade.
Ultimately, Rollo's Pebble Cat was intercepted by the Night's Watch fleet on its return voyage. He was taken to Eastwatch and beheaded on the deck, and all his cargo was confiscated.
(It was during this experience that Davos, who had once been a crew member, witnessed this highly profitable smuggling route firsthand, an event that left a deep impression on the young Davos.)
However, the Night's Watch's forces were dwindling, Eastwatch was poorly defended, and smuggling continued unabated.
After capturing the Wall, Lynn planned to use this channel to purchase food from various places to get through the winter, so he kept accumulating valuables.