Game Of Thrones: 10 Things We Learned From "The Children"

9. Jon Gives Ygritte A Proper Farewell

Back at the Wall, Jon, Stannis, Davos and the others attend a funeral for the fallen Night€™s Watch men. Maester Aemon delivers the eulogy, and the bodies are then burned on a funeral pyre. Afterwards, Jon visits Tormund in his prison cell. The wildling asks why Aemon patched up his wounds, and Jon tells him that they want to keep him alive. Tormund assumes this means they€™ll torture or execute him, but Jon doesn€™t know what€™s going to happen to him and assumes Stannis will make that decision. Jon asks Tormund if he wants to say any final words for his comrades before their bodies are burned, but Tormund says there€™s nothing more to say to the dead. Before Jon leaves, he asks him whether he truly loved Ygritte. Despite saying she wanted to kill him, Tormund knew that Ygritte loved Jon. He says that she belongs in the North...the real North. Agreeing, Jon later takes her body outside the Wall and builds a funeral pyre for her. Lighting it, he walks away without looking back, but quietly weeps for her. They may have fought against each other, but it€™s clear that Jon and Ygritte loved each other very much. Despite deceiving Mance and the wildlings in service to the Night€™s Watch, he truly felt bad about betraying her. Oppositely, though she insisted that she wanted revenge against him, Ygritte would not have been able to kill Jon. She had the opportunity twice and failed both times. Whatever allegiances they held, they cared for each other, and that€™s why Jon cried for her. At least he was able to say goodbye to her the proper way.