Game Of Thrones: 5 Times Jon Had A Brilliant Plan (& 5 Times He Just Got Lucky)

More than any other character in Game of Thrones, Jon Snow had a knack for finding himself in dangerous situations. Whether it was huge battles, being surrounded by enemies, or being betrayed by supposed allies, there were a lot of sticky situations he needed to get himself out of over the course of the show.

In some of these instances, Jon proved why he was such a skilled warrior as he was able to think on his feet and find solutions others overlooked. However, there were also times when Jon was more or less useless and he managed to survive out of pure luck.

Brilliant Plan:

Lying To Mance Rayder

Though Jon eventually found kinship with the Wildlings, when he was brought before Mance Rayder at the beginning of season 3, he was still seen as a brother of the Night’s Watch. In order to pull off his plan of making them believe he was abandoning the Night’s Watch, he needed to come up with a convincing story.

Lying has never been a skill of Jon’s but he was able to think on his feet quite quickly. He told Mance that he was abandoning the Night’s Watch because they allowed Craster to give his newborn sons to the White Walkers. It was a convincing enough reason that Mance let Jon live.

Sealing The Tunnels

Jon made plenty of enemies during his time in the Night’s Watch and it didn’t help that he spent an extended period of time with the Wildlings, pretending to be one of them. By the time Jon returned to Castle Black, many like Allister Thorne didn’t trust him, even when he had good ideas.

With the Wildling army approaching, Jon recommended sealing off the tunnels below Castle Black. Thorne refuses as it would prevent them from traveling Beyond the Wall, but when the battle was upon them, Thorne admitted he should have listened to Jon.

Silencing The Mutineers

When it came to defending the Wall against the Wildlings, Jon seemed to have much better ideas than anyone else. After learning that several of the Night’s Watch members led a mutiny at Craster’s Keep, Jon realized they could give the Wildlings valuable information about their defenses.

Before the mutineers can be caught by the Wildlings, Jon led a mission Beyond the Wall to silence the mutineers and bring them to justice for murdering the Lord Commander.

Defeating Styr

Jon Snow was one of the greatest fighters on Game of Thrones as well as a man of honor. But he also proved that in a deadly situation, he was willing to fight a little dirty in order to survive. Such was the case when facing off with the powerful Wildling named Styr.

Styr was able to overpower Jon and severely beat him to the point that it looked as though Jon was in some serious trouble. However, Jon cleverly spat a mouthful of blood into Styr’s face, giving him enough time to deliver a killing blow.

Making Peace With The Wildlings

In some ways, Jon was a hero ahead of his time and that always causes problems. After spending time with the Wildlings, he realized they were no different than anyone on the other side of the Wall and they just wanted to survive.

More importantly, Jon recognized that fighting with the Wildlings was distracting from the more dire threat of the White Walkers. His decision to allow the Wildlings through the Wall was not a popular one with the Night’s Watch, but it saved many lives and strengthened Jon’s army.

Got Lucky:

Defeating A White Walker With Valyrian Steel

Though Jon can go toe-to-toe with just about any other warrior in the show, he really met his match when he fought a White Walker for the first time at Hardhome. After seeing that his normal weapons were useless against the creatures, Jon looked defeated.

But just as the White Walker was about to deliver the kill shot, Jon raised his Valyrian steel sword which blocked against the Walker’s blade. Jon was as surprised as the White Walker, especially when the sword then killed the creature.

Battle Of The Bastards

There is no denying that Jon Snow was a brave character, but sometimes that bravery got in the way of rational thinking. After Rickon was killed by Ramsay Bolton, Jon fell right into the obvious trap as he foolishly charged into the battlefield all on his own.

From there, the entire battle became one moment of luck after another as Jon narrowly avoided death. From his army saving him from a charging cavalry to Sansa showing up at the last minute to win the battle, Jon should have died multiple times.

His Mission Beyond The Wall

While the idea of trying to get all of Westeros to unite against the common enemies of the White Walkers, Jon’s play to do so was not very well thought-out. He decided the easiest thing to do would be to go Beyond the Wall, capture a soldier from the Night King’s army and bring it back as proof.

Not only did Jon have no idea if that would work, but he also didn’t seem to have an exit strategy at all. After he and his team are predictably surrounded by the Night King’s army, they are saved when Daenerys and her dragons just happen to find them in the vastness of the Northern land.

Battle Of Winterfell

Many fans felt the character of Jon Snow was largely ruined by the end of the series and the Battle of Winterfell was seen as the beginning of that decline. Though the idea of having Arya as the one to kill the Night King made sense, Jon himself did nothing productive during the fight.

After sitting on his dragon for a while, he then ran around Winterfell, avoiding getting killed only to be cornered by the Night King’s dragon. He eventually decided that all he could do was yell defiantly at the dragon as it prepared to kill him, but Arya saved the day at the last minute.

Being Resurrected

Moreso than almost any other character on Game of Thrones, Jon cheated death a lot. So perhaps it was not all that surprising when he was ultimately killed off in season 5, albeit briefly. After members of the Night’s Watch turn against him, Jon was brutally executed.

However, Davos came up with a plan to have Melisandre use her magic to resurrect Jon. Had Davos or Melisandre not been there, Jon just would have remained one of Game of Thrones‘ many dead characters.