Game of Thrones season 6 news is overwhelmingly fixated on a single question: Will Jon Snow come back to life? That’s understandable enough. He’s a popular character, a critical character, and he died in shocking fashion at the end of the Game of Thrones season 5 finale. Yet I think it’s the wrong question. We shouldn’t be asking whether Jon Snow comes back to life. We should be asking what he’ll do if he does.

Will Jon Snow Still Lead The Night’s Watch After Death?

Jon Snow is dead. The last shots of the season 5 finale make that very clear. These weren’t flesh wounds; he was stabbed repeatedly throughout his body by several men who were trying explicitly to kill him, and caught him completely unawares. He’s dead. The case for his resurrection is less airtight, but still pretty solid. After all, the narrative has foreshadowed this turn of events for a long time, especially in the Dance With Dragons prologue, where a skinchanger’s spirit escapes to one of his animals after his human body dies. That’s probably exactly what will happen to Jon: He’ll warg into his direwolf Ghost, and at some point in the near future, Melisandre will bring him back to life, presumably in his old body.

Let’s just assume all that does, in fact, happen. The details may vary, but it’s real safe to say that Jon Snow is coming back. Let’s say he does, for the purposes of this article. What next? What happens after Jon Snow comes back?

The most momentous effect of Jon Snow’s death and resurrection will be his release from his Night’s Watch vows. These vows end, for obvious reasons, at death. “And now his watch has ended,” and all that. Well, Jon will come back, and he’ll no longer—technically—be committed to the Watch. Considering they all just tried to kill him, they don’t really want him back anyway. The Night’s Watch is going to fall apart without him, but so be it. They could just kill him again if he sticks around.

Let’s say Jon does leave the Night’s Watch. Don’t act so shocked! Remember what he was doing at the end of Dance before getting stabbed? He was advocating that the Night’s Watch turn against its ancient oaths and march south to Winterfell to involve itself in the wars of kings and nobles. He wanted to do it to save what’s left of his family, and to help out Stannis. Noble reasons, but contrary to his oaths. It’s no wonder that his men stabbed him—he had stepped out of line. But now, free from those oaths, he can march south with anyone who will go with him. Wildlings? Some of the Watch men? Melisandre? No one at all? All seem equally plausible, but Jon Snow, I think, will be on his way to Winterfell soon enough.

From there, his character arc opens up: He has done everything he could do with the Watch. He now has other roles to play. First he must learn from Howland Reed the truth behind his parentage. He may receive the lost letter from Robb Stark that legitimizes him as a Stark, which will be a weird position to be in. And at some point, probably a long way away, he’ll have to meet with Daenerys—perhaps marry her, perhaps take one of her dragons. He is the dragon’s third head, after all. That’s a long way away. For now, one thing seems pretty certain: When Jon Snow comes back, he’s done with the Night’s Watch.