HBO has been showing photos and brief video of Jon Snow in the promotional material, and this may be one reason some people think the character is somehow still alive. Plus he’s one of the most popular ones in the show.
I doubt he knew he wasn’t really spying on her. Part of The Game is not revealing your treasonous plot to disgraced exiles.
Situation and story arc. We’ve seen priests of the red god perform resurrections before, and Melissandre arrived just in time to Castle Black. From a story arc perspective, Stannis came to a reasonable end, and the story could move on without him. But Jon Snow is our only link to the wall, which is becoming more important as the story goes on. Stannis has been a story of someone rigidly following their duty and remaining true to their motivations even as they run them into the ground, whereas Jon Snow is a story of growth and transformation.
In Jon’s case, the resurrection, should it happen, would be based on magical elements already established in the story. Stannis not being dead would mean that the storytellers tried to fool us with a cheap gimmick of cutting away at the last possible moment and saying “technically you didn’t see his head fly off! gotcha!” - it would be pretty disappointing as this show hasn’t resorted to such gimmicks to stir up drama.
There’s no reason to think Mormont was in on it. Varys pays spies to collect information, and then uses that information as he wishes. If he started letting his spies know he was a secret Targaryen supporter, it’s much more likely to be revealed and off comes Varys’ head. He may have given instructions like “do no harm to her, and prevent harm coming to her, just spy on her” but not the reasons why.
This would make sense. However, it seemed that Mormont saved her from the wine poisoning on his own and he seemed to confirm this when he was found out. But I get it as it would have been risky for Varys to openly tell Mormont to protect her since Robert and the Lannisters all definitely wanted her (and her brother) dead.
I finally caught up with the last episode of Season 5. While initially taken aback by Jon Snow’s apparent death, I realized pretty soon, per SenorBeef’s reasoning, that he couldn’t actually be out of the picture. He’s the only remaining character who has the combination of charisma, heroism, experience, and knowledge to confront the White Walkers (as well as deal with the wildlings). Alliser Thorne is too compromised to fulfill that role, and Bran and Sam may play a part but not as heroic leader. There isn’t anyone else. Since this is one of the major story lines, Jon is indispensable. (Likewise Daenerys can’t be killed off, since she’s critical to the dragon story line.)
And of course there’s a plausible way for him to be resurrected: We know that Red Priests and Priestesses can bring back the dead, and there just so happens to be one right at hand. That’s certainly not a coincidence.
Stannis, on the other hand, is now completely superfluous to the story. His entire family and lineage is dead (mostly by his own doing). His army has been completely wiped out. He’s committed possibly the most horrific crime in the history of the series (and that’s saying a lot.) It’s the logical time for him to go. Keeping him around now would be a huge anticlimax. The program needs to start winnowing down story lines, and Stannis’s is done.
And Uncle Benjen! I mean, what did happen to him anyway!
Yeah, Mormont was definitely spying on her and his information led directly to the attempt on her life. Varys may have been keeping an eye on the Targaryens, but their main focus was the actual heir Viserys, he obviously had no clue what Dany would become. Either way he would not expose his plot or himself by letting Mormont know any of this, all he could do was try his best to talk Robert out of the assassination.
Yeah I’m looking forward to this as well and to Dany’s eventual return to Mereen with a Dothraki army to combine with her unsullied army and dragons.
The trailer appears to have the Tower of Joy battle, I thought it was zombie mountain but apparently that’s Arthur Dayne wielding the two swords.
Well, plus we’ve known for a long time that
Kit Harington was on set throughout the whole production period for this season, seen shooting with the other actors. So he’s clearly still in the show.
Did you see this mathematical paper (PDF warning) of the network connections among the characters? According to it, Jon Snow and Tyrion have the most connections, although Sansa is surprisingly key.
Huh, guess Sansa is going to get a lot of connection requests on RavEn this season.
What does that mean? What’s RavEn?
It was a silly play on LinkedIn, since they use ravens as their post service.
It’s a joke. They communicate by ravens, and it sounds like LinkedIn. #neverexplainthejoke
Ah, right. 
Looking forward to the new season very much. I, too, suspect Jon Snow isn’t dead (or will soon be resurrected) and that Stannis has snuffed it.
Don’t forget Jaime, on a ship with his just-poisoned daughter Myrcella (who was totally cool with Mom’s and his incest).
Thanks - very interesting!
Hodor.
I was already excited for the new season, but last night on the radio I heard Flatt Lonesome playing the theme song and it took my anticipation to a whole 'nother level.
Another question from last season, which I’m asking so that I don’t have to watch it all again before Sunday:
When Brienne and Podrick are following Sansa and Littlefinger, they stop and look at Moat Cailin. Did Sansa/Littlefinger stop there first, and then head to Winterfell? For some reason, I assumed that the wedding would happen at Moat Cailin, and they would live there. I don’t understand why the Boltons would move their family, army, hounds, etc. to Winterfell if Moat Cailin is their home. I understand that Roose rules the North now, but does it HAVE to be from Winterfell?
Moat Cailin wasn’t their home, the Dreadfort (best castle name ever) was their home. Taking control of Winterfell is symbolic for taking control of the north. Plus daddy and son probably don’t want to live together so i assume one of them will stick with the Dreadfort.
It was, at the very least, a symbolic move to help the Boltons project power and authority as the new Warden of the North, since the Wardens of the North have traditionally also been Lord of Winterfell. It may have also held a more strategic position, had better-established connections with the rest of the North, and it was almost certainly a larger, grander palace.
It’s probably an analogous situation to why Robert Baratheon chose to rule the Seven Kingdoms from King’s Landing rather than Storm’s End.