I am aware that Jon Snow does not worship the Seven. However, if we take a more omnistic or pantheistic view of religion (as I do in real life, and as the Faceless Men do in the series), it’s easy to interpret the Seven as representing universal traits desirable for any well-rounded, moral human being – all traits that Jon Snow most embodies during his tenure as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.

Father, or the Father Above, representing judgment. He is depicted as a bearded man who carries scales, and is prayed to for justice.

“I will not hang him,” said Jon. “Bring him here.”

“Oh, Seven save us,” he heard Bowen Marsh cry out.

The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, “Edd, fetch me a block,” and unsheathed Longclaw.

Beheading Janos Slynt for insubordination is certainly the most obvious example of Jon enacting justice as Lord Commander. He even performs the act by his own hand, as his own father taught him. But there is also a bit of the Father in his dealings with the free folk. First in executing Mance by the arrows of the Watch, not by the flames of Stannis’s red god.

“And now his watch is done,” Jon murmured softly. Mance Rayder had been a man of the Night’s Watch once, before he changed his black cloak for one slashed with bright red silk.



Then in negotiating free folk hostages before they passed through the Wall – a good representation of the “scales” the Father is said to carry, I think.

The hostages went first—one hundred boys between the ages of eight and sixteen. “Your blood price, Lord Crow,” Tormund declared.

Mother, or the Mother Above, representing motherhood and nurturing. She is prayed to for fertility or compassion, and is depicted as smiling with love, embodying the concept of mercy.

“I sent her to find Tormund Giantsbane and bring him my offer.”

“If we may know, what offer is this?”

“The same offer I made at Mole’s Town. Food and shelter and peace, if he will join his strength to ours, fight our common enemy, help us hold the Wall.”

In addition to necessary judgment, Jon also shows great compassion and mercy in his dealings with the free folk. A lot of this compassion has to do with feeding them (commonly a role of a mother). He even makes the trip to Mole’s Town himself, to personally oversee the food’s distribution.

“We’re feeding you as best we can, as much as we can spare. Apples, onions, neeps, carrots …”



He also offers shelter and the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood to those who will help defend the Wall, and peace for all. Hell, he even offers amnesty to the fucking Weeper!

Jon had not forgotten the heads the Weeping Man had left him, with bloody holes where their eyes had been. Black Jack Bulwer, Hairy Hal, Garth Greyfeather. I cannot avenge them, but I will not forget their names. “But yes, my lord, him as well. We cannot pick and choose amongst the free folk, saying this one may pass, this one may not. Peace means peace for all.”

(Now that’s what I call mercy.)

Warrior, representing strength in battle. He is prayed to for courage and victory. He carries a sword.

“My lords, when Donal Noye was slain, it was this young man Jon Snow who took the Wall and held it, against all the fury of the north.”

Surely Jon won his position as Lord Commander in great part because of his valor during the Battle of Castle Black. And he doesn’t let those warrior skills get rusty even after the battle is won – discussing military strategy with Stannis, and giving fighting advice to the new recruits. He even spars three-on-one with Emmett’s best new fighters. When Sam asks him why he trains so much at swordplay,

In answer, Jon had pressed Longclaw into Sam’s hand. He let him feel the lightness, the balance, had him turn the blade so that ripples gleamed in the smoke-dark metal. “Valyrian steel,” he said, “spell-forged and razor-sharp, nigh on indestructible. A swordsman should be as good as his sword, Sam.”

And of course, he also wins the loyalty of the free folk, who value strength above all.

“I don’t like you, crow,” [Halleck] growled, “but I never liked the Mance neither, no more’n my sister did. Still, we fought for him. Why not fight for you?”

The dam broke then. Halleck was a man of note. Mance was not wrong. “Free folk don’t follow names, or little cloth animals sewn on a tunic,” the King-Beyond-the-Wall had told him. “They won’t dance for coins, they don’t care how you style yourself or what that chain of office means or who your grandsire was. They follow strength. They follow the man.”

Maiden, representing innocence and chastity. She is usually prayed to to protect a maiden’s virtue.

“You are my only hope, Lord Snow. In your father’s name, I beg you. Protect me.”

Alys Karstark, fleeing a forced marriage, fearing rape from her own uncle, comes to Jon for protection. HE LITERALLY PROTECTS HER VIRTUE (I can’t even deal with how fucking perfect it is). He does the same for the wildling women of Hardin’s Tower, punishing their would-be rapists.

“Three drunken fools mistook Hardin’s for a brothel, that’s all. They are in the ice cells now, contemplating their mistake.”

He also represents the Maiden’s chastity in his own person, as he re-dedicates himself to his vow of celibacy, post-Ygritte.

Zei grabbed Owen by the hands, spun him around in a circle, and gave him a long wet kiss right there for all to see. She tried to kiss Jon too, but he held her by the shoulder and pushed her gently but firmly away. “No,” he said. I am done with kissing.

Smith, representing crafts and labor. He is usually prayed to when work needs to be done, for strength. He carries a hammer.

The Lord Commander’s Tower was a shell, the Common Hall a pile of blackened timbers, and Hardin’s Tower looked as if the next gust of wind would knock it over …



There is certainly a lot of work that needs to be done around the Wall during Jon’s command. Castle Black, particularly, is in ruins following the siege. Jon has builders working from dawn to dusk repairing the great stair. But the ruins stretch far beyond Castle Black, to all the other forts along the Wall as well. He manages to garrison three castles – Icemark, Greyguard, and Long Barrow – commanding that his lieutenants work to get them into shape.



“The fort is in a sorry state, admittedly. You will restore it as best you can. Start by clearing back the forest. Steal stones from the structures that have collapsed to repair those still standing.”

But the real kicker for Jon as the Smith, if you ask me? HE LIVES IN THE FREAKING ARMORY.

With Stannis in the King’s Tower and the Lord Commander’s Tower burned to a shell, Jon had established himself in Donal Noye’s modest rooms behind the armory.

(And he doesn’t even move out after Stannis marches to Winterfell.)

Crone, representing wisdom. She carries a lantern and is prayed to for guidance.

“Knowledge is a weapon, Jon. Arm yourself well before you ride forth to battle.”

“I will.”

Jon Snow may initially “know nothing”, but he certainly does something about it. He spends a great deal of time with Wun Wun to learn all he can about the giants’ culture.

You know nothing, Jon Snow, Ygritte might say, but Jon spoke with the giant whenever he could, through Leathers or one of the free folk they had brought back from the grove, and was learning much and more about his people and their history.

He also tasks Sam with researching the Others in the annals of the Castle Black library. It is this knowledge of their greatest enemy that is of the utmost importance to Jon. He even confines a few corpses to the ice cells, hoping that they will rise as wights.

“Monsters they may be, but they were men before they died. How much remains? The one I slew was intent on killing Lord Commander Mormont. Plainly it remembered who he was and where to find him.” Maester Aemon would have grasped his purpose, Jon did not doubt; Sam Tarly would have been terrified, but he would have understood as well. “My lord father used to tell me that a man must know his enemies. We understand little of the wights and less about the Others. We need to learn.”

Stranger, represent[ing] death and the unknown.

The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow.

The Stranger does not so obviously represent a desirable trait for a well-rounded, moral human being; but it is arguably the aspect most related to a person’s spiritual nature, and to the spiritual nature of the world. This spirituality of “the unknown” is in the connection between Jon and Ghost, growing stronger as the days go by; and in the magic of the Wall and Melisandre’s red god.

“Your Wall is a queer place, but there is power here, if you will use it. Power in you, and in this beast. You resist it, and that is your mistake. Embrace it. Use it.”

Indeed, Jon is completely surrounded by death and the unknown at the Wall.

Dead things in the wood. Dead things in the water.



And of course, what could possibly represent death for Jon more than his very own.