9. What If Jon Snow Had Not Hesitated?
HBOIt was in the frozen wastes beyond the wall when Jon Snow offered to kill the wilding encountered by him and Qhorin Halfhand, upon realising that his captive was female Jon hesitated to kill her and was ultimately unable to do so, consequently leading to his capture and infiltration of the wildling camp. It was upon seeing Ygritte's face beneath the hood that caused Jon to falter, unable to cope with beheading a female, but what if Jon had not hesitated to kill her? If Jon had not paid attention to his softer side, he'd have swiftly killed the wildling, rejoined Qhorin and his rangers, therefore he'd never enter the wildling encampment. The effects of this initially seem minimal, until you give thought to Mance Rayder. If Jon was never captured, he never knew about Rayder's army of 100,000, he never informed the night's watch, and as a result they never had the foresight to request reinforcements. With no Stannis Baratheon or his cavalry, it seem obvious that Mance Rayder would take the wall and invade south, perhaps even going as far as to conquer Westeros.