The Good Intentions of Jon, Dany and Ned

One of the more interesting things about this last episode is the direct parallel you can draw between the plan to capture a wight and Ned Stark in the tail end of season 1.

Despite their experience, Dany and Jon decided on a half baked wartime decision that was guided by honorable intentions. Remember that the whole point of capturing a wight was all in service of convincing Cersei to cease hostilities long enough so they can all unite and beat back the greater enemy first. In doing so, people died and they unwittingly and ironically provided the NK with the exact advantage he needed to destroy the wall and march south. They essentially made the growing threat more dangerous in service of an armistice with Cersei.

Back in Season 1, Ned Stark lost the Game of Thrones because he was unwilling to be underhanded with the information he uncovered. In deciding to take the honorable route, he lost his head and Cersei won. So there is clearly a direct parallel you can draw between their actions now and Ned's actions then. The cool about that contrast is that back then, Cersei won because she had a better handle on understanding political maneuvering. Now, she has no handle on the WW at all and the greater implications for the realm. This isn't situation in which she can expect the WW to destroy Jon and Dany since any army the NK takes out is essentially recruited to his. I wonder if anyone is going to point out this huge advantage the NK has during the parlay.