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Jon befriends a brand new recruit, who is very different from most of the brothers of the Night's Watch. Sam Tarly is a large, soft, admitted coward, and Jon can't understand why he's joined the Black Brothers. When we hear his sad story, we get that he didn't have much of a choice.

Chapter Review
Jon Snow and the other recruits are training in the armory when in walks a huge boy of 15 dressed in fine clothes. After ridiculing him, Ser Alliser tests the boy's fighting skills, by pitting him against a big strong boy named Halder. The fight ends in seconds with Sam on the ground crying. When Ser Alliser won't let Halder stop beating him, Jon jumps in and defends Sam. It turns into a three-on-three battle that Jon, Pyp, and Grenn win. They learn Sam is the firstborn son of Lord Randyll Tarly, and he tells them he's a coward. Later, Sam tells Jon he didn't have a choice to join the Night's Watch. His father did not care for his soft, gentle nature. He preferred that Sam's younger brother Dickon be his heir. On his 15th nameday, his father told Sam that if he didn't join the Night's Watch, he was going to kill him. Jon then convinces the rest of the boys to go easy on Sam. Only Rast requires a little convincing, which Ghost is more than happy to provide.

Characters/Places/Names/Events
Jon Snow - Bastard Son of Lord Ned Stark. Recruit to the Night's Watch.
Samwell Tarly - New recruit of the Night's Watch. Son of Lord Randyll Tarly.
Pyp - Recruit of the Night's Watch. Small and talented at imitations and voices.
Grenn - Recruit of the Night's Watch. Big, slow, and not very bright.
Ser Alliser Throne - Master-at-arms of the Night's Watch. Mean, bitter, and humorless.
Donel Noye - One-armed armorer and smith of the Night's Watch.
Randyll Tarly - Sam's father. Lord of Horn Hill. Bannerman to Mace Tyrell of Highgarden.
Dickon Tarly - Sam's younger brother. Now heir to Randyll Tyrell.
Horn Hill - The seat of House Tarly in the Reach.
Heartsbane - The ancestral two-handed Valyrian steel sword of House Tarly.

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