A Clash of Kings — Jon V
Qhorin Halfhand picks Jon for a scouting party into the Skirling Pass — small blades to find where Mance's strength has gone.
The chapter retold
Qhorin Halfhand, one of the Watch’s most respected rangers, picks Jon for a small scouting party bound into the Skirling Pass — a handful of men rather than an army, sent to find out where Mance Rayder’s wildling strength has actually gone, since the emptied haunted forest hasn’t explained it.
The chapter is a quiet handoff of trust: Qhorin choosing Jon specifically marks him as more than Mormont’s steward, a ranger being tested for real work in dangerous country. It also sets Jon on the specific path that will define the rest of the book’s northern plot — a small, exposed party walking straight toward the heart of Mance’s gathering strength, with no idea yet how badly that mission is about to go.
This movement: The March on the City
- Stannis's fleet and host converge on King's Landing; Tyrion counts chain links and wildfire pots.
- Robb wins the Crag in the west while his cause rots behind him; Catelyn frees the Kingslayer for two girls' lives.
- Arya spends her third death to buy Harrenhal's gate — the man offers more, and Jaqen gives her a coin and a phrase.
- Jon, taken in the Frostfangs, kills the Halfhand at his order and kneels to Mance Rayder with clean hands and a black heart.