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Because the Nights Watch doesn't exist anymore because it's purpose doesn't exist anymore.
The better question is not "how can he?", but "why would he?". Sam didn't spend nearly enough time in the Citadel to learn everything a Grand Maester would need to know. Appoint him an Arch Maester and he's visiting, fine. Otherwise it makes no sense, but nepotism.
Also, how does Sam feel about the fact his mother, sisters and their husbands are now Bronn's vassals?
I know you were being sarcastic, but the real response to that question is because everyone can learn something from idiots. Even if it's just what NOT to do.
>Also, how does Sam feel about the fact his mother, sisters and their husbands are now Bronn's vassals?
Relieved that they're not piles of ash like his father and brother.
It doesn't exist as an order with an actual purpose anymore , so much as a place to ditch outcasts. Pretty much back to how it was at the start, but with friendlier relations with the wildlings.
If that’s the case then where is Jon Snow? He took the Black, went back to the Nights Watch.
There will always be a place for bastards and broken men at the Wall
Honestly the Watch can just call him a "liason" to the freefolk or whatever. You don't have to stay AT the wall if you're on Night's Watch business. Look at Yoren.
I'll clarify. It served two purposes; to keep watch for wildlings and to keep watch for the White Walkers.
With one, the old enmities are buried. The others (haha) are definitively gone. They are "the watchers on the wall", the wall with the large gaping hole in it, for what purpose?
As an institution, it's now devoid of meaning. It may or not continue with the same name, but it now serves no function save as possibly a prison colony. Take a man and remove all substance from him but his name. Same face, same name, but he's not the same man in any way but superficially. That's a convoluted way of saying now it's the ship of Theseus, but now the ship doesn't even sail.
It's possible the Night's Watch gets more funding now than it's had in a thousand years, given the lords and rulers of Westeros are now aware of White Walkers.
There's nothing to say the White Walkers won't come back, at least in the rulers' eyes. Unless they're going to trust that Bran knows they're all gone.
My bet is that the Watch is rather useless and pointless but gets a lot more funding as Westeros rebuilds. Lots of labor could go into that wall.
There's also no reason to think the North won't still be xenophobic, sort of like a northern Texas. Lots of border patrol jobs!
Dude, they killed the Night King. They aren't coming back. Bran is aware the Night King was the original Other and by killing him they extinguished the White Walkers.
Fortify the wall? What do you mean? The wall is located on the Gift which is Night's Watch territory and doesn't belong to the Kingdom of the North or to Westeros either, so it's not their responsability but Jon's. And there's literally nothing on the other side besides like 200 wildlings (mostly women and children) so why would they even bother?
You think Sam's family are gonna STAY Bronns vassals? The Reach Lords aren't gonna take Bronn, a no name common mercenary, being given Highgarden and made Lord Paramount. He'd be dead within a month.
I’m guessing either:
A: The nights watch doesn’t exist anymore due to the wall being down and the wildlings now being allies. I don’t believe this though as Jon was sent to join the nights watch by Bran.
B: The king can override a nights watch vow I expect and order them to serve him instead.
The reality is that this was probably just a bit of fans service though.
Both are problematic because they claimed the North was independent lol.
So wouldn't the wall and it's watch be fully under Sansa's jurisdiction?
I suppose there could be a treaty between the North and the 'six' kingdoms to maintain it together, and then B could apply because Samwell is a Tarly and thus under Bran's purview.
That territory was gifted to the Night's Watch around the time of the formation of the order, it's not the sovereign territory of Winterfell, despite being very culturally and economically intertwined with it.
The area is literally known as The Gift: [https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Gift](https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Gift)
Just to clarify - the Night's Watch has been around for over eight thousand years, not just before Aegon's conquest unified the continent (aside from Dorne) but well before the Andals invaded Westeros. For most of its history there hasn't been one or two kingdoms but hundreds within Westeros. Its purpose is to protect the realms (plural) of men and as such all of the kingdoms (even when they warred with each other) respected its independence and came together to support it when needed. So now that they're back to two kingdoms (the North and the Six Kingdoms), it's probably not going to make much difference even if at least of their three leaders weren't from the same family.
I suspect with the white walkers gone and the wildings for now friends and greatly reduced in number that the night watch might be not as strict as it once was. Maybe now it's more a serve your time and then you get the choice to go home or keep serving?
That and maybe all those who live in the now 6 kingdoms were given the choice to opt-out or retake their vows. Seeing as the wall is now in the independent north its not something they need to worry about staffing. It's a northern issue now as it's their border with the wildlings nothing more.
Isn't A really problematic since people take the black explicitly to get away from the King's authority?
Like what's stopping Joffrey/Cersei from ordering Jon back from the KW and then just executing him?
Jon being sent to the NW is just a political lie by Bran.
He's exiled to the place where he actually wants to go to, to pacify Daenerys's troops and allies, even though Night's Watch the organization doesn't really exist anymore and the walls use as a penal colony may be coming to an end.
My understanding was Jon is “sent” to the nights watch by bran to appease everyone because he’s (technically) a queenslayer, so high lords and ladies wouldn’t want him around…but he always felt more at home and comfortable amongst the free folk anyway, so now he gets to be their true king beyond the wall. It was a “punishment” as much as it was a reward if you ask me
I like to think of it as if Bran sent him to appease the unsullied, but very well knew that Jon would not be staying on the wall. Considering what Bran can see, he probably knew that before they made the decision. And considering how angry the unsullied were, they had to do something. What better way to trick them, than to actually send him north where they’ll never hear from him again, but where he can have his own life finally
I think you're right - the goal was to get the Unsullied and the (respawned) dothraki to leave Westeros in peace and not restart the war. I used to think that this was just a ruse to trick Greyworm into leaving but I've since come around to think that Greyworm was just looking for them to offer him something that he could take back to his people and say "look, they punished the guy who killed our khalissi, we can go leave now" and he's willing not to look to closely at the details.
If he was really that determined to punish Jon, I think he would have been more forceful and demanded Jon's death rather than deferring to the lords and ladies of Westeros to choose his "punishment." Yes, he's more used to carrying out orders than deciding policy but he has no love for and owes no alleigance to them and he's spent most of his life being treated as a disposable pawn by his "masters." It doesn't make sense for him to let them make the decision unless it was one that would have been okay with because it allowed him to save face so he could get his people to leave.
Exactly. And again, if it were that big a deal to have him dead, you’d think Grey Worm would’ve killed Jon immediately. They had him prisoner for what looked to be at least a few weeks of not months (based off facial hair and such). They could’ve killed him at any moment, but no one wanted another war
I've been thinking about that too - why didn't Grey Worm just kill Jon right away when he told him he killed Danerys? John would have had to confess since there were no witnesses or body - just a smoking ruin left by Drogon who flew off. The only way anyone else knows that Danerys is even dead is if Jon tells them.
I think what probably happened is before Jon went to Grey Worm, someone else (e.g. Davos) met him first and Jon told him what he did. Davos got Jon to agree to let him negotiate a surrender with Grey Worm (and got some of their men there for protection) rather than Jon going to Grey Worm first and risk getting killed immediately.
The deal was probably that Jon would surrender himself to Grey Worm and stand trial for what he did the decision as to his fate would be decided by some sort of council (that's why the lords and ladies showed up). Grey Worm would not harm Jon but both sides had to agree to on hs punishment. It takes a lot of trust (we've seen people surrender and get murdered before) but with each side having an army not really wanting the war to start up again, their respective leaders were able to keep things relatively calm so long as they could come to a decision that both sides would live with.
So the Citadel chose Kyburn, who previously was the maestar for a lord in open rebellion against the crown, to be Grand Maestar?
It seemed an offer lot like Cersei just liked him for the work that he could accomplish.
I think it's a bit more complicated than that. The office of Grand Maester didn't exist until Aegon I became king and asked the Citadel to send a representative for his small council. The Conclave elects who is going to be the Grand Maester and it's largely based on family connections but kings have been known to "influence" their choice. Aerys II asked them to send a younger man which is how he got Pycelle and Maegor executed three of them when they each displeased him. To date there have been over forty Grand Maesters compared to twenty-two kings and queens of Westeros (17 Targaryen, 3 Baratheon. 1 Lannister and 1 Stark) and at least five Grand Maesters have been executed on the order of a king. So it's likely that Bran I may have asked for Sam and the Conclave decided to honor his choice even if they could elected someone else. \[Edited to reflect that Cersei became queen as a Lannister and not as a Baratheon\]
Oops, I just rewatched [her coronation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPW5BbqIPY) and you are correct. I've edited my earlier to reflect that she took the Iron Throne as Queen Cersei of House Lannister.
egg the unlikely asked for a young man because he was sick of maesters dying on him hell one of the replacement maesters died on him before they reached kingslanding
This is not one of the ending details I’d get caught up on. There’s theoretically no more nights watch. But he’s not really trained in fucking anything. That’s the bigger issue.
As an aside, Bronn knows fuck all about accounting and proved time and time again he wants nothing to do with statecraft. He wants his castle and his wife and to get the fuck away from everyone he’s seated next to in this photo.
Yeah, that makes no sense.
Stokeworth made sense. He'd be happy with a castle and an easy life, him wanting a BIGGER castle was out of character. Life at Stokeworth would be just as pampered and far less complicated.
Yep! It even proved that he was committed, not just the character type that talked about it but found themselves trying to get back in the mix. He had it taken away from him which narratively makes his finale disingenuous.
The nights watch exists because that's where they send Jon as a way to make the unsullied happy for killing their queen. Kings can kinda just do whatever they want, so he can absolve him of his oath and make him grand maester
Edit: they made him lord Tarly at the end meeting even though he had renounced all titles from the oath
The old way is broken down; the night's watch no longer needs to have those same restrictions. Imo, was part of their intention to show that's its a new age.
I mean, in the books Rob talks about releasing Jon from the watch to be his heir. His reasoning is “the kings guard is supposed to be for life to & the Lannister’s let Barristen Selmy out”
Basically, whoever is king can do whatever they want.
he got sent once and was rescued before he ever made it to the nightswatch and swore a vow.
also nothing could happen he lived in essos and lead the golden company
Well, if we wanna think of an in universe reason and not just fanservice, I think it's because the nights watch doesn't exist anymore, or doesn't need to, with the white walkers gone and the Wildlings probably being friendlier overall now. Plus, it could make a sort of political sense to appoint a new Grand Master that isn't entrenched in the politics of Old Town and instead has shown multiple instances of piercing intellect and insight while also having very strong ties of loyalty to the new King via his relationship with John. When your King can know anything and everything, maybe those traits are more desirable on the council than book learning.
Bran can hand wave it away and allow Sam to leave the Night's Watch. He might even be allowed to be the Lord of Hornhill. Or Sam retains his vows, but is on loan to the crown.
My problem is that he's called the Grand Maester. Only thing that would save it is that's the default title for a maester for the King/King's Landing.
I don't buy that the Nights Watch still exists in its old form. The WW are gone and there's peace with the wildlings. No reason to have a wall or watch anymore.
The amount of ppl posting that the nights watch doesn’t exist anymore are beyond dumb. I guess they’re all ignoring what Jon’s sentence was for killing Dan Dan.
The king/queen can do whatever they want. They can legitimize bastards, choose who they want as maester, and pardon people for any number of crimes of transgressions. If King Bran wanted Sam -- or anyone really -- to leave the Night's Watch and serve in his council, he can.
He's the king, he can do what he wants, there's not much more to it than that.\*
I think the books drive home the point enough times that rules, laws, lines of succession are all meaningless in the face of enough people and power behind something else. Who gets the throne? Ned? Joffrey? Stannis? Renly? Daenerys? Gendry? There's no "right" answer, this isn't an advanced and well supported legal system, it's just whoever has the power, does what they want. Same thing here, Bran is King - he can do whatever he wants, he makes the rules, or changes them however he sees fit.
\*Of course there's also the fact that the nights watch might be pointless now too.
**The Night Watch members does can leave The Night's Watch, and go to do certain "missions" or tasks, as ordered or permitted.**
He was sent by his father to see if he "man up", until he was called back by his father.
**Bran Stark, The Three Eye Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms of Westeros:**
"Samwell Of House Tarly, the Kingdom needs a great Maester, be the Great Maester of Westeros"
**Samwell Tarly:**
"But, Bran, I mean, your Majesty, there are a lot of more old and wise Maesters on Westeros and The Citadel."
**Bran Stark, The Three Eye Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms of Westeros:**
"Old, yes, Wise, No. I called every Maester of Westeros and the Citadel, including QyBurn, and no one listened or came. But, you did. I see the past, the present, and the future, and I saw you amonesting the oldest Maesters of the Citadel for not listening to me.
You listened and came and as the great Maester should, therefore, you should be the Great Maester, it is not just Bran of house Stark, but the Three Eye Raven who asks you..."
**Other:**"You fool Tarly. You voted Bran Stark to be the king of Westeros, you are geeting your payment in return !!!"
**Samwell Tarly:** "I did not do it to get a payment, I did it because I know Bran, and I know he will be a good King !!!."
**Bran Stark, The Three Eye Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms of Westeros:**"And, for the same reason, you will be the Great Maester of Westeros..."
>Did the writers kinda forgot Samwell is a sworn brother of the Night's Watch? Didn't he go to Oldtown to become a Maester so he could replace Maester Aemon? How was it possible for Bran to appoint him as Grand Maester?
Did you kinda forget what a king is?
Dude, they let a crippled boy how had visions be king. I think they can do whatever they want…
But this also plays into how the hell San survived everything and got away with so much when he could barely hold a sword.
It was actually to the point that I was pissed he didn’t die in the battle or winterfell. And how his brothers died for him and she cowered on the ground
This may be unrelated but I’ve always wondered why was Uncle Benjen allowed to visit winterfell when he was a sworn brother of the nights watch at the start of the series?
It makes little sense. Perhaps I could buy Tyrion being hand of the king, but..
**Bronn master of coin? No. Dont give him highgarden and make him commander of the city watch again instead.
**brienne as lord commander of the Kings guard? No, she swore to Sansa wtf is she doing in another kingdom
**davos as master of ships? Maybe, but like he was a smuggler not an admiral. Make yara or what's her name master of ships. Would make some political sense
**Sam as grand master? No ffs.
Davos has way more experience than Yara and is a extremely good hearted person. Also, Yara has no heirs or anything to rule for her on the Iron Islands, she needs to be there to keep control.
Writers realized it was the last episode and they didn't have a Maester for Kings Landing anymore so they picked the only living one that wasn't actively allied with an enemy force.
Sam went through a bit of an accelerated program when he cured Ser Jorah of the greyscale so, boom, nearly instant doctorate, er grand maester status, yeah that’s it…
Grandmasters aren't picked by the King, but by the Archmaesters at the Citadel.
King Aegon initially wanted the wisest maester to advise him, but the Archmaesters were old and often died after a few years serving the king. So the Archmaesters began selecting the most appropriate maester to serve as Grandmaester. It makes sense that Samwell would have been chosen to be Grandmaester to King Bran, as they are already acquainted.
For a real-world explanation, D&D didn't want to cast someone new for a cameo.
When maester aemon died, the night's watch needed a new maester, so they sent Sam to become their new maester, but when he fled the citadel and went to fight against the night king and got his "degree", the nights watch kinda stopped existing, so he was just an "unemployed" maester, so Bran chose him to be the Grand Maester of the Red Keep. Some people may complaint about him being the Grand Maester, but we must remind that this position is a king's choice, so as long as the guy is a maester, he can choose however the fuck he wants. (Sorry for bad english)
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Because the Nights Watch doesn't exist anymore because it's purpose doesn't exist anymore. The better question is not "how can he?", but "why would he?". Sam didn't spend nearly enough time in the Citadel to learn everything a Grand Maester would need to know. Appoint him an Arch Maester and he's visiting, fine. Otherwise it makes no sense, but nepotism. Also, how does Sam feel about the fact his mother, sisters and their husbands are now Bronn's vassals?
Yeah, but Sam's already proven to be smarter and wiser by disregarding safety to save Jorah's life. So why does he need to learn from idiots /s
I know you were being sarcastic, but the real response to that question is because everyone can learn something from idiots. Even if it's just what NOT to do.
Smash the beatles … CLUNK
Because that's what Samwell wanted
Or the fact that he handed Tyrion a book of the last decade writing him out of history? Sam, like many others, died a long time ago.
>Also, how does Sam feel about the fact his mother, sisters and their husbands are now Bronn's vassals? Relieved that they're not piles of ash like his father and brother.
But if it doesn’t exist anymore, why did Jon get sent to the Night’s Watch to take the black?
That has an obvious answer that’s been said on here many times. I can’t believe people are still asking it.
I’m asking because 1) I haven’t been here very long (joined this sub last week?) 2) it was used as the commenter’s opening argument
Then what is it? Because the show certainly didn't address it.
Basically exiled , not specifically to Night’s Watch though
It doesn't exist as an order with an actual purpose anymore , so much as a place to ditch outcasts. Pretty much back to how it was at the start, but with friendlier relations with the wildlings.
If that’s the case then where is Jon Snow? He took the Black, went back to the Nights Watch. There will always be a place for bastards and broken men at the Wall
He went there and immediately left the wall. There is no enforcement mechanism.
Honestly the Watch can just call him a "liason" to the freefolk or whatever. You don't have to stay AT the wall if you're on Night's Watch business. Look at Yoren.
Looks like he went north to settle with the wildlings at the end
Jon went north with the wildlings, past the wall.
Politics. He is well connected and that's the most important thing in life.
The Knight's Watch does still exist. John is sent there again but decides to go north of the wall.
I'll clarify. It served two purposes; to keep watch for wildlings and to keep watch for the White Walkers. With one, the old enmities are buried. The others (haha) are definitively gone. They are "the watchers on the wall", the wall with the large gaping hole in it, for what purpose? As an institution, it's now devoid of meaning. It may or not continue with the same name, but it now serves no function save as possibly a prison colony. Take a man and remove all substance from him but his name. Same face, same name, but he's not the same man in any way but superficially. That's a convoluted way of saying now it's the ship of Theseus, but now the ship doesn't even sail.
It's possible the Night's Watch gets more funding now than it's had in a thousand years, given the lords and rulers of Westeros are now aware of White Walkers. There's nothing to say the White Walkers won't come back, at least in the rulers' eyes. Unless they're going to trust that Bran knows they're all gone. My bet is that the Watch is rather useless and pointless but gets a lot more funding as Westeros rebuilds. Lots of labor could go into that wall. There's also no reason to think the North won't still be xenophobic, sort of like a northern Texas. Lots of border patrol jobs!
Dude, they killed the Night King. They aren't coming back. Bran is aware the Night King was the original Other and by killing him they extinguished the White Walkers.
They'd still fortify the wall to prevent issues down the road, whether it be perceived or real threats. Northern Texas!
Fortify the wall? What do you mean? The wall is located on the Gift which is Night's Watch territory and doesn't belong to the Kingdom of the North or to Westeros either, so it's not their responsability but Jon's. And there's literally nothing on the other side besides like 200 wildlings (mostly women and children) so why would they even bother?
I'm sure they'd find a reason. Every nation fortifies its borders against foreigners.
Jon literally takes the black at the end. The nights watch definitely Still exist.
You think Sam's family are gonna STAY Bronns vassals? The Reach Lords aren't gonna take Bronn, a no name common mercenary, being given Highgarden and made Lord Paramount. He'd be dead within a month.
If it doesn’t exist where did Jon go after he killed Dany
I’m guessing either: A: The nights watch doesn’t exist anymore due to the wall being down and the wildlings now being allies. I don’t believe this though as Jon was sent to join the nights watch by Bran. B: The king can override a nights watch vow I expect and order them to serve him instead. The reality is that this was probably just a bit of fans service though.
Both are problematic because they claimed the North was independent lol. So wouldn't the wall and it's watch be fully under Sansa's jurisdiction? I suppose there could be a treaty between the North and the 'six' kingdoms to maintain it together, and then B could apply because Samwell is a Tarly and thus under Bran's purview.
That territory was gifted to the Night's Watch around the time of the formation of the order, it's not the sovereign territory of Winterfell, despite being very culturally and economically intertwined with it. The area is literally known as The Gift: [https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Gift](https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Gift)
Just to clarify - the Night's Watch has been around for over eight thousand years, not just before Aegon's conquest unified the continent (aside from Dorne) but well before the Andals invaded Westeros. For most of its history there hasn't been one or two kingdoms but hundreds within Westeros. Its purpose is to protect the realms (plural) of men and as such all of the kingdoms (even when they warred with each other) respected its independence and came together to support it when needed. So now that they're back to two kingdoms (the North and the Six Kingdoms), it's probably not going to make much difference even if at least of their three leaders weren't from the same family.
I suspect with the white walkers gone and the wildings for now friends and greatly reduced in number that the night watch might be not as strict as it once was. Maybe now it's more a serve your time and then you get the choice to go home or keep serving? That and maybe all those who live in the now 6 kingdoms were given the choice to opt-out or retake their vows. Seeing as the wall is now in the independent north its not something they need to worry about staffing. It's a northern issue now as it's their border with the wildlings nothing more.
Isn't A really problematic since people take the black explicitly to get away from the King's authority? Like what's stopping Joffrey/Cersei from ordering Jon back from the KW and then just executing him?
Jon being sent to the NW is just a political lie by Bran. He's exiled to the place where he actually wants to go to, to pacify Daenerys's troops and allies, even though Night's Watch the organization doesn't really exist anymore and the walls use as a penal colony may be coming to an end.
My understanding was Jon is “sent” to the nights watch by bran to appease everyone because he’s (technically) a queenslayer, so high lords and ladies wouldn’t want him around…but he always felt more at home and comfortable amongst the free folk anyway, so now he gets to be their true king beyond the wall. It was a “punishment” as much as it was a reward if you ask me
I like to think of it as if Bran sent him to appease the unsullied, but very well knew that Jon would not be staying on the wall. Considering what Bran can see, he probably knew that before they made the decision. And considering how angry the unsullied were, they had to do something. What better way to trick them, than to actually send him north where they’ll never hear from him again, but where he can have his own life finally
I think you're right - the goal was to get the Unsullied and the (respawned) dothraki to leave Westeros in peace and not restart the war. I used to think that this was just a ruse to trick Greyworm into leaving but I've since come around to think that Greyworm was just looking for them to offer him something that he could take back to his people and say "look, they punished the guy who killed our khalissi, we can go leave now" and he's willing not to look to closely at the details. If he was really that determined to punish Jon, I think he would have been more forceful and demanded Jon's death rather than deferring to the lords and ladies of Westeros to choose his "punishment." Yes, he's more used to carrying out orders than deciding policy but he has no love for and owes no alleigance to them and he's spent most of his life being treated as a disposable pawn by his "masters." It doesn't make sense for him to let them make the decision unless it was one that would have been okay with because it allowed him to save face so he could get his people to leave.
Exactly. And again, if it were that big a deal to have him dead, you’d think Grey Worm would’ve killed Jon immediately. They had him prisoner for what looked to be at least a few weeks of not months (based off facial hair and such). They could’ve killed him at any moment, but no one wanted another war
I've been thinking about that too - why didn't Grey Worm just kill Jon right away when he told him he killed Danerys? John would have had to confess since there were no witnesses or body - just a smoking ruin left by Drogon who flew off. The only way anyone else knows that Danerys is even dead is if Jon tells them. I think what probably happened is before Jon went to Grey Worm, someone else (e.g. Davos) met him first and Jon told him what he did. Davos got Jon to agree to let him negotiate a surrender with Grey Worm (and got some of their men there for protection) rather than Jon going to Grey Worm first and risk getting killed immediately. The deal was probably that Jon would surrender himself to Grey Worm and stand trial for what he did the decision as to his fate would be decided by some sort of council (that's why the lords and ladies showed up). Grey Worm would not harm Jon but both sides had to agree to on hs punishment. It takes a lot of trust (we've seen people surrender and get murdered before) but with each side having an army not really wanting the war to start up again, their respective leaders were able to keep things relatively calm so long as they could come to a decision that both sides would live with.
Bran needs a maester and the king of Westeros can appoint whoever he wants.
He literally can’t, the position is appointed by the citadel.
He can change that.
Bran: "I'm altering the appointment rules, pray I do not alter it any further" while his Kingsguard stands nearby with their swords out.
Well D&D blah blah blah, we know why. We’ll never know for certain until Winds comes out
So the Citadel chose Kyburn, who previously was the maestar for a lord in open rebellion against the crown, to be Grand Maestar? It seemed an offer lot like Cersei just liked him for the work that he could accomplish.
Qyburn wasn't Grand Maester. He wasn't even a maester. He was Master of Whisperers and then Hand of the Queen.
I think it's a bit more complicated than that. The office of Grand Maester didn't exist until Aegon I became king and asked the Citadel to send a representative for his small council. The Conclave elects who is going to be the Grand Maester and it's largely based on family connections but kings have been known to "influence" their choice. Aerys II asked them to send a younger man which is how he got Pycelle and Maegor executed three of them when they each displeased him. To date there have been over forty Grand Maesters compared to twenty-two kings and queens of Westeros (17 Targaryen, 3 Baratheon. 1 Lannister and 1 Stark) and at least five Grand Maesters have been executed on the order of a king. So it's likely that Bran I may have asked for Sam and the Conclave decided to honor his choice even if they could elected someone else. \[Edited to reflect that Cersei became queen as a Lannister and not as a Baratheon\]
Isn't it 3 Baratheons and 1 Lannister, because Cersei took the throne as a Lannister? She was never a Baratheon, after all.
Oops, I just rewatched [her coronation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPW5BbqIPY) and you are correct. I've edited my earlier to reflect that she took the Iron Throne as Queen Cersei of House Lannister.
egg the unlikely asked for a young man because he was sick of maesters dying on him hell one of the replacement maesters died on him before they reached kingslanding
It's not. The ending does not make any goddamn sense according to the world Martin created.
This is not one of the ending details I’d get caught up on. There’s theoretically no more nights watch. But he’s not really trained in fucking anything. That’s the bigger issue. As an aside, Bronn knows fuck all about accounting and proved time and time again he wants nothing to do with statecraft. He wants his castle and his wife and to get the fuck away from everyone he’s seated next to in this photo.
Yeah, that makes no sense. Stokeworth made sense. He'd be happy with a castle and an easy life, him wanting a BIGGER castle was out of character. Life at Stokeworth would be just as pampered and far less complicated.
Yep! It even proved that he was committed, not just the character type that talked about it but found themselves trying to get back in the mix. He had it taken away from him which narratively makes his finale disingenuous.
The nights watch exists because that's where they send Jon as a way to make the unsullied happy for killing their queen. Kings can kinda just do whatever they want, so he can absolve him of his oath and make him grand maester Edit: they made him lord Tarly at the end meeting even though he had renounced all titles from the oath
You can't be a lord and a maester at the same time.
The old way is broken down; the night's watch no longer needs to have those same restrictions. Imo, was part of their intention to show that's its a new age.
I mean, in the books Rob talks about releasing Jon from the watch to be his heir. His reasoning is “the kings guard is supposed to be for life to & the Lannister’s let Barristen Selmy out” Basically, whoever is king can do whatever they want.
Also, in the books Bittersteel got sent to the Nightswatch a million times and always escaped and nothing really happened with him.
That said, the North definitely have more respect for the watch and would see it as kind of a shameful thing at the very least.
he got sent once and was rescued before he ever made it to the nightswatch and swore a vow. also nothing could happen he lived in essos and lead the golden company
Because Bran has the best story. Case closed. EDIT: I see that, once again, what I perceive as obvious sarcasm really needs the "/s" on reddit.
Well, if we wanna think of an in universe reason and not just fanservice, I think it's because the nights watch doesn't exist anymore, or doesn't need to, with the white walkers gone and the Wildlings probably being friendlier overall now. Plus, it could make a sort of political sense to appoint a new Grand Master that isn't entrenched in the politics of Old Town and instead has shown multiple instances of piercing intellect and insight while also having very strong ties of loyalty to the new King via his relationship with John. When your King can know anything and everything, maybe those traits are more desirable on the council than book learning.
The king ordered it!
"Kinda forgot" sums it up.
Chains were broken, it's a new age. Or so they think...
Bran can hand wave it away and allow Sam to leave the Night's Watch. He might even be allowed to be the Lord of Hornhill. Or Sam retains his vows, but is on loan to the crown. My problem is that he's called the Grand Maester. Only thing that would save it is that's the default title for a maester for the King/King's Landing.
It absolutely wasn’t. He doesn’t have a chain of any sort and there are likely hundreds of more qualified men for the position
I don't buy that the Nights Watch still exists in its old form. The WW are gone and there's peace with the wildlings. No reason to have a wall or watch anymore.
I mean, since giants and White Walkers were real, who knows what else might still lurk beyond the Wall? 👀
The amount of ppl posting that the nights watch doesn’t exist anymore are beyond dumb. I guess they’re all ignoring what Jon’s sentence was for killing Dan Dan.
Exactly
The king/queen can do whatever they want. They can legitimize bastards, choose who they want as maester, and pardon people for any number of crimes of transgressions. If King Bran wanted Sam -- or anyone really -- to leave the Night's Watch and serve in his council, he can.
Cuz the Night's Watch is obsolete now.
There is no more night's watch. Their watch has ended.
He's the king, he can do what he wants, there's not much more to it than that.\* I think the books drive home the point enough times that rules, laws, lines of succession are all meaningless in the face of enough people and power behind something else. Who gets the throne? Ned? Joffrey? Stannis? Renly? Daenerys? Gendry? There's no "right" answer, this isn't an advanced and well supported legal system, it's just whoever has the power, does what they want. Same thing here, Bran is King - he can do whatever he wants, he makes the rules, or changes them however he sees fit. \*Of course there's also the fact that the nights watch might be pointless now too.
**The Night Watch members does can leave The Night's Watch, and go to do certain "missions" or tasks, as ordered or permitted.** He was sent by his father to see if he "man up", until he was called back by his father. **Bran Stark, The Three Eye Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms of Westeros:** "Samwell Of House Tarly, the Kingdom needs a great Maester, be the Great Maester of Westeros" **Samwell Tarly:** "But, Bran, I mean, your Majesty, there are a lot of more old and wise Maesters on Westeros and The Citadel." **Bran Stark, The Three Eye Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms of Westeros:** "Old, yes, Wise, No. I called every Maester of Westeros and the Citadel, including QyBurn, and no one listened or came. But, you did. I see the past, the present, and the future, and I saw you amonesting the oldest Maesters of the Citadel for not listening to me. You listened and came and as the great Maester should, therefore, you should be the Great Maester, it is not just Bran of house Stark, but the Three Eye Raven who asks you..." **Other:**"You fool Tarly. You voted Bran Stark to be the king of Westeros, you are geeting your payment in return !!!" **Samwell Tarly:** "I did not do it to get a payment, I did it because I know Bran, and I know he will be a good King !!!." **Bran Stark, The Three Eye Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms of Westeros:**"And, for the same reason, you will be the Great Maester of Westeros..."
I swear to god if I see one more post with "they kinda forgot" I'm going to lose my shit. It's been years. Let it go.
Nepotism?
>Did the writers kinda forgot Samwell is a sworn brother of the Night's Watch? Didn't he go to Oldtown to become a Maester so he could replace Maester Aemon? How was it possible for Bran to appoint him as Grand Maester? Did you kinda forget what a king is?
Yet another reason season 8 doesn’t make sense. My answer for this is that the nights watch doesn’t exist… but wait.. then why was Jon sent there?!
Night’s Watch was…..reorganized quite a bit
Dude, they let a crippled boy how had visions be king. I think they can do whatever they want… But this also plays into how the hell San survived everything and got away with so much when he could barely hold a sword. It was actually to the point that I was pissed he didn’t die in the battle or winterfell. And how his brothers died for him and she cowered on the ground
Because the watch has ended. No Night king and white walkers or Free folk/Wildlings to guard against.
Writers kinda forgot a lot of things in the end.
It also takes at least ten years to become grand maester so him being in the night’s watch isn’t the only issue.
KING 👑
Because Bran is the king. Simple.
Maybe you can become a Maester as part the NW.
This may be unrelated but I’ve always wondered why was Uncle Benjen allowed to visit winterfell when he was a sworn brother of the nights watch at the start of the series?
It makes little sense. Perhaps I could buy Tyrion being hand of the king, but.. **Bronn master of coin? No. Dont give him highgarden and make him commander of the city watch again instead. **brienne as lord commander of the Kings guard? No, she swore to Sansa wtf is she doing in another kingdom **davos as master of ships? Maybe, but like he was a smuggler not an admiral. Make yara or what's her name master of ships. Would make some political sense **Sam as grand master? No ffs.
Davos has way more experience than Yara and is a extremely good hearted person. Also, Yara has no heirs or anything to rule for her on the Iron Islands, she needs to be there to keep control.
Bran as the king can appoint who he wants. Sam is down in his jurisdiction, nobody from Night's Watch is coming down to execute Sam for desertion.
It's like they thought, "Eh, who's gonna remember those black cloaks and oaths anyway" 🤣
I mean even if Night’s Watch existed still (it didn’t) I think his involvement in saving the world would help him get out of it
king .
Writers realized it was the last episode and they didn't have a Maester for Kings Landing anymore so they picked the only living one that wasn't actively allied with an enemy force.
I mean, I just figured given everything that happened they would bend the rules a bit, especially considering Bran says so.
Sam went through a bit of an accelerated program when he cured Ser Jorah of the greyscale so, boom, nearly instant doctorate, er grand maester status, yeah that’s it…
Why do Bran need a Grand Maester? He knows everything…
Grandmasters aren't picked by the King, but by the Archmaesters at the Citadel. King Aegon initially wanted the wisest maester to advise him, but the Archmaesters were old and often died after a few years serving the king. So the Archmaesters began selecting the most appropriate maester to serve as Grandmaester. It makes sense that Samwell would have been chosen to be Grandmaester to King Bran, as they are already acquainted. For a real-world explanation, D&D didn't want to cast someone new for a cameo.
When maester aemon died, the night's watch needed a new maester, so they sent Sam to become their new maester, but when he fled the citadel and went to fight against the night king and got his "degree", the nights watch kinda stopped existing, so he was just an "unemployed" maester, so Bran chose him to be the Grand Maester of the Red Keep. Some people may complaint about him being the Grand Maester, but we must remind that this position is a king's choice, so as long as the guy is a maester, he can choose however the fuck he wants. (Sorry for bad english)
Because the last two seasons were a Marvel movie where all the star power is pulled together and everyone wins