redline248 said:
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Third example is the only one I'll give you was cool, but keep in mind a few minutes later he's on a boat retreating because the dead and NK just overran his defense of Hardhomme, so two out of three of your examples are battles that he either loses or would have lost if not for a bailout by a third party.
He wasn't there to mount a defense, he was there to evacuate everyone. Not really fair to call that a lack of military strategy.
I don't get why people blame Jon for Stannis showing up at the wall. As has been repeated over and over, he beat the wildling attack back and forced them to regroup. Strategy only goes so far in the face of overwhelming numbers. No one was going to beat the wildlings permanently in that situation.
Edit: I see I'm way late to this topic. Sorry for repeating what others have said.
Some of this seems to be getting confused so let me clarify.
I think the tactics in the last episode were really, really bad. I said early on, however, that I am over really expecting screen writers to do anything other than write terrible battle sequences and to basically sacrifice all logic or strategy to drama and whatever makes the most striking shot. That being said, I've just said they were bad and mostly just moved on from that aspect.
I think most people would've gotten over the bad tactics and forgiven it if they wouldn't have (in mine and their opinion) screwed up the ending so badly with letting Arya get the kill and having Jon do nothing.
Long before this episode there have been complaints that Jon has never really gotten his big hero moment where he just looks like he either outsmarted somebody or is just such a badass he kicks their ass. Arya had it with the waif, the Freys, Littlefinger, and now the NK. Sansa had it with Littlefinger and the BOTB. Dany has had more of those moments than I can remember at this point (saving expedition beyond the wall, hitting the supply train, burning the tower, locking the traitors in the vault, burning down that hut with all the Dothraki inside it, etc.
Jon's moments are all so much more understated than any of these characters. Tyrion's I guess, too, but Tyrion isn't really playing the role of a military leader or sword fighter. The closest I can think of them really making Jon look like a "hero," somebody that is better than average at something, is when he beats Bolton to a pulp. The rest of the time it really feels like Jon is there to be the foil to somebody else coming in and looking much more heroic.