Ranking The 20 Deaths of Game of Thrones Season 5
By Ani Bundel
11. Janos Slynt
Jon Snow’s election to the position of Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch has a few things in common with Donald Trump’s candidacy for the presidency. Let me explain. Jon wasn’t considered a serious candidate for the position. In fact, he wasn’t considered at all until Sam stood up and nominated him without warning. Jon was the proverbial outsider candidate, the random wildcard. When he won by one vote over Alliser Thorne, it was as much a moment of triumph for our hero as it was the beginning of a budding problem. After all, Jon was not just young, but inexperienced.
How do you command the respect of those you now command when your lieutenants think they are more experienced, worldly, and wise than you? Well, as Thorne said to Jon in “The Watchers on the Wall,” you can’t let yourself be second-guessed by “clever little twats.” That’s what happened with Janos. He was the clever little twat with the mouth, the overbearing, overweening egotist who thought he could tell off the Lord Commander and get away with it. Not happening. Jon could have let someone else do the deed, but he is Ned’s son. The man who passes the sentence swings the sword. It was Jon’s first time, and Janos’ last.