It's Graduation Day on The Wall! But since everyone in this world is drinking and whoring it up all the time, it's not clear what they do on Graduation Day. I might be thinking of Prom Night. Okay, scratch that whole line of thought. I'll bring it up again when Sansa has a subplot about picking out a prom dress or something. The various Wall recruits are informed that they used to be thieves and rapists (which the show calls "rapers" in an attempt to seem somehow fantasy-based), and some of them had proud families and blah blah blah. The point is that they're now all one family. Jon Snow is looking forward to being a ranger, because it's what he's always wanted. But now he just wants to find his uncle, which suggests that he's not listening to the part of the speech about them all setting aside their old families. Not that I can blame him. Sam says he's going to be a steward, not a ranger. Snow says there's no honor in being a steward, and Sam agrees. "But there's food," he adds, and that seems like a relevant thing to consider. Benjen was a ranger, and he probably got lots of honor. And now he's almost certainly dead. The speech continues, telling the recruits that the men of the Night's Watch live for the realm, not the king. And not glory, either. Everyone is told to think carefully before reciting the vow, because the penalty for desertion is death. Remember Twitchy, from the first episode? A deserter. A dead deserter. So there you go! The recruits can take their vows here in the courtyard, but anyone who keeps the Old Gods can feel free to go to a Godswood just north of the Wall. Jon will be doing that, and so, to everyone's surprise, will Sam. Sam's family has never followed the Old Gods, but he figures that his life hasn't worked out so great so far, so maybe a change of religion is in order. It's worth a try, I guess.