Why did Jon and the Wildlings travel on the north side of the wall when they arrived back at Castle Black from Hardhome
In Game of Thrones season 5 episode 9 titled "The Dance of Dragons" Jon and company arrive at Castle Black after a disastrous battle against the White Walkers at Hardhome. They leave the battle at Hardhome on boats. So they most likely stopped off at Eastwatch by the Sea and marched towards Castle Black. Here is a map of Westeros for reference:
Theoretically when they arrived at Eastwatch it would make more sense for them to travel to Castle Black on the southern side of the Wall. But in the show we see Jon and company arrive back at Castle Black but they are on the northern side of the Wall. Why did they do this? It doesn't make a lick of sense. The White Walkers and the wights are all north of the Wall. They faced potentially more attacks by traveling on the north side of the Wall. Eastwatch and Castle Black are around a 100 miles apart so it would've taken several days to make that journey. That would've left them in danger by being on the north side of the Wall and they could've gotten attacked again by the White Walkers and the wights.
It just doesn't make logical sense to me. It feels like the writers only did this to falsely create dramatic tension when Ser Allister Thorne hesitates on whether or not to let Jon and company through the main gate back into Castle Black.
Is this just bad writing by the TV show writers? Or am I missing something? Cause for Jon to lead his people along the north side of the wall just makes him seem dumb.
Best Answer
Well, my answer is not verified by any official source yet according to me it makes much logical sense so as justify their choice to travel from the North side of the wall to reach Castle Black. All above comments assume the premise that they reached Eastwatch first and then started marching towards Castle Black but it nowhere confirmed that they landed in Eastwatch. They might have landed as soon as they were far enough from white walkers because Stannis's ships could support a limited number of wildlings also some of them were on small boats( like Jon himself) so they couldn't travel that long distance on the water. And also WUN WUN wouldn't have walked the whole way to Eastwatch on water. So since they landed at North they arrived at the North gate of Castle Black.
Alternatively, let's assume they did reach Eastwatch after that if they chose South path they would have to face people of The Gift and Mole Town where wildlings already have a bad reputation owing to the fact that they ransacked many villages around the wall so these people can be potential threats, on the other hand, Jon knows that white walkers are far and the North path is clear of any obstacle or potential enemies so they chose that way.
And Lastly I agree with you that irrespective of their choice of the path the writers wanted to show Alliser's disagreement with Jon's decision so they just staged that Castle Black scene.
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Why did the wildlings stay north of the wall?
(The orphaned wildling boys pelted Jon Snow, for instance, since they had lost their fathers to crows). Those patrols North of the Wall were perceived by wildlings as an invasion, and those South of the Wall thought of it as a joke.Why did Jon have to go back to the wall?
But poor Jon, he was actually sent to the wall as punishment for killing Daenerys Targaryen, which is technically fair since he killed a queen and all.Why did Jon Snow cross the wall?
Jon being sent to the Wall was a compromise. As Tyrion explained, either giving Jon to the Unsullied or setting him free completely would have started a war. Jon still wanted nothing to do with ruling Westeros, so his "punishment" suited him just fine.Why did Jon Snow go to the wildlings?
Jon and Tormund, along with other members of the Night's Watch, arrive at the wildling town of Hardhome to convince the rest of the wildlings to join them in the upcoming war against the White Walkers and their armies of wights.The Game of thones- Wildlings come to protect Jon Snow's dead body
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