Mutiny at Castle Black

"For the Watch."

- The black brothers who stab Jon Snow.

The Mutiny at Castle Black is an event that occurs during the Conflict Beyond the Wall.

Prelude
Following the Battle at Castle Black, Jon Snow is elected the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Due to having spent time with them on behalf of Qhorin, Jon grows to sympathize with the wildlings and realizes that they are truly on the same side, even if they don't know it yet. With the coming threat of the White Walkers and their undead army, Jon proposes allowing the wildlings to pass through the Wall and settle in the Seven Kingdoms in order to end the feud between the Night's Watch and the wildlings, and to keep them from falling into the hands of the White Walkers. Despite the Massacre at Hardhome, Jon is able to save most of the wildlings and get them through, though this earns him the hatred of most of the black brothers.

Events
Shortly after Jon receives news from Davos Seaworth and Lady Melisandre of Stannis Baratheon's devastating defeat at the hands of the army of House Bolton, Jon is left pondering in his quarters what to do. His personal steward, Olly, bursts into his quarters and announces that they have captured some wildlings with information on his missing uncle, Benjen Stark. Jon goes outside to see, only to be shown a wooden pole with the sign, "Traitor", on it. Jon is surrounded by numerous black brothers, led by Alliser Thorne, Bowen Marsh and Othell Yarwyck, each of whom stab him while uttering "For the Watch". As Jon falls to his knees, he is approached by Olly. After a tense moment, Olly stabs Jon through the chest and he falls to the ground as the brothers walk away and leave him for dead.

Aftermath
Whether or not Jon survives this attack is currently unknown.

In the books
In the novels, the mutiny at Castle Black is told from Jon's point of view, save for a few minor differences. Throughout A Dance with Dragons, tension grows within Jon as he hears of House Bolton's numerous atrocities, mostly at Ramsay Bolton's hands. After hearing of the failed mission to Hardhome, Jon decides to go with Tormund and see to it himself, but shortly before he can leave, he receives a letter from Ramsay, who claims that Stannis Baratheon has been killed, his army smashed, Mance Rayder captured, and his bride (whom Jon incorrectly believes is Arya Stark) and Reek (whom Jon does not know is Theon) escaped. In the letter, Ramsay demands the return of Arya and Reek, and Melisandre, Selyse Baratheon, Shireen Baratheon and several of Stannis's court handed over to him as hostages, threatening to march on the Wall and kill Jon if he does not agree. Finally pushed to his breaking point, Jon decides to hunt down and kill Ramsay himself, and march on Winterfell, and manages to rally numerous wildlings to his cause. However, since this is a direct violation of Jon's Night's Watch vows, this serves as the final straw for most of his black brothers. Led by Bowen Marsh, they ambush Jon in the snow and tearfully stab him whilst uttering "For the Watch". During the attack, black smoke emanates from one of Jon's wounds, and he loses consciousness, but the book does not make it clear whether or not Jon has been killed.