Jon Connington

That makes perfect sense.

But then you get a dance with dragons, in which not only does Dany stay in Meereen longer than anyone expects her to, still in the area, you know, still in Essos by the end of that book, but then you get the Young Griff plot, where he goes for Westeros first, and is making allies along with the Golden Company, and in Arianne's released Winds of Winter chapter, she's going off to meet with Young Griff and John Connington to negotiate Dornish support for their cause.

Which makes it seem like the force that at least strikes the initial blow against the Lannister regime is that group.

Young Griff, John Connington, the Golden Company, any allies they may get along the way, including Dorn.

Which would make Arianne the younger, more beautiful queen that leads to Cersei's downfall and maybe the death of her remaining children.

Which...

Some of them fled in fear for their lives, others were ordered by the king.

Dany and Viserys, of course, come to mind first, but there's also Ser Jorah Mormont, Ser Barristan Selmy, Jon Connington, and of course Tyrion Lannister.

Yeah, Tyrion's the best known, but that's a pretty long list.

The common thread for everyone just named, apart from exile, is a burning desire to get back at those who wronged them.

Instead, Oswell Wendt is the true believer.

Many lawheads like me who have seen the play suspect that Oswell's character has been merged slightly with John Connington's.

John Conn has been written out of the play.

and Arthur Dayne's link to Rhaegar has been underplayed to allow Elia to be slightly removed from Rhaegar's plans, freeing her to have more volition of her own.

Every Captain General of the Golden Company who dies has their skull cleaned, dipped and set atop a pike as well.

When John Connington reunites with the Golden Company, there's a brief moment where he's waiting outside the Captain General's tent and he takes in the sight of the golden skulls, one for each former commander.

We do know members of House Blackfyre would occasionally join, if not lead, the Golden Company, but it wasn't long before there were no Blackfyres left.

Bittersteel's death came in 241, but by 258 there was only one male Blackfyre, Maelys, called Maelys the Monstrous.

But if such a gift truly exists...

She looks over at John's snow and orders them out.

Hours later, she returns, her face sunken but accompanied by the Lord Commander, who emerges from the room, his face ashen but very much alive.

The rest of them rush around, including Rob, who embraces him, but there is little time for celebration as they must plan their next move.

John explains everything that has happened in the Night's Watch, including the White Walkers and Whites.

Stannis confirms this, and they realize just how close the Long Night truly is.

Yet, at the same time, they only have two of the Seven Kingdoms by their side.

Yet it is not brute force that decides the war, but the shadows that lurk in the Riverlands.

Though they outnumber the Golden Company, the center of the Targaryen army is pushed back, especially when Jon deploys his secret weapon, elephants that rush into the center and scatter their forces.

Sir Aerys tries to rally them, cutting down one elephant driver, but falls to John Connington's axe.

He signals for their cavalry to charge and smash into their flanks, yet just as the center is about to fold, Sir Mandan and Sir Barristan lead the cavalry charge.

While not as skilled as the veilmen, the two rode around, waving torches and frightening the elephants while the Dothraki warriors harassed them with arrows.

The fight is short, but brutal.

The old knight moved with the speed of a man half his age, parrying the mercenary's wild blows before running him through with a clean thrust to the heart.

Sir Mandan is even more fierce, cutting through his countrymen straight to John Connington, whom he cuts down.

The remaining Golden Company troops falter.

actually any melisandre chapter in winds is gonna be just you know wild wild

Well, so is any John chapter.

I wake

up in the middle of the night thinking about a goddamn John chapter.

Or a ghost chapter.

Or a

who's going to lead that stand.

Obviously, probably Danny from the South, but who else? Who else are people going to stand behind? Well, I mean,

For example, there's a couple characters that just aren't in this at all that you may have expected to be.

Jon Connington's one of the more famous ones.

Jon Connington was at the tournament of Harrenhal, but there isn't a single noted thing by George that he did.

We just know he was there.

So for them to cut him out is like, yeah, they didn't...

He believes very fully in Rhaegar.

Oswell is the character that has the most belief in Rhaegar.

He's sort of a com- combination of Jon Connington's vibes in that he's sort of portrayed as being in love with him.