A Dance with Dragons Response 2-Promises Broken

Almost at the end of A Dance with Dragons, nothing good for the characters has happened so far.  Literally nothing.  Other than Arya getting her sight back, but she's still stuck halfway across the world, completely alone.  I wish some miracle would happen, so all the Starks can be reunited.  But with Ned and Robb dead, Catelyn undead, Arya halfway across the world in Braavos, Jon at the Wall, Rickon and Sansa lost, and Bran out in the wild north of the wall, it seems completely improbable.  But, so many things have happened that have been so unexpected that I don't know what's going to happen anymore.  Not that I ever did.

In this world of Westeros, where everyone is likely to stab you through the back when you turn around, Queen Cersei stands accused- rightly- of incest and other crimes.  She lies to save herself, never mind how it will affect those she accused.  That is how the minds of all the high lords work in this crazy world.  Well, all but Ned, and, as much as I don't like to say this, look where he ended up.  He was too trusting.  I don't know what I would tell them to do, if I was there.  I'd just hope I could win their allegiance and ask to be left out completely.  This crazy world the author has concocted is unpredictable, and ever-changing.  Friends are enemies.  Enemies are allies.  Those who you trust will betray you, while those who you mistrust may turn out to be the most valuable.

Meanwhile at the Wall, Jon struggles with his feelings.  "The watch takes no part," the saying goes, but Jon helps "King" Stannis more than I think he should.  Perhaps he had no choice.  But from the beginning, he struggled with his oaths.  He is sworn to "take no wife, father no children, take no side", and deserting means death.  The reason he chose taking the black in the first place was because he felt rejected at Winterfell, where, as a baseborn son of a great lord, he is not considered a Stark, and takes the surname Snow.  He decided this because of this rejection, and because when you are sworn into service, your past is wiped away, and your record clean.  Just after he swore, he almost deserted to help his half brother (Robb).  His friends caught him and convinced him to come back.  Later on, while riding with the wildlings on the other side of the Wall, he broke his oaths again and fell in love.  She was killed later on, but he'll never forget her.  When you take the black, you leave all family behind.  But when the red priestess Melisandre showed him a vision of Arya and sent out soldiers to find her, he would have gone to look for her himself but for his vows.

Vows in Westeros are constantly tested, if not completely broken.  People find ways to sneak around them without breaking them often.  And those who actually stick to them are few.  Ned, Robb, and most of the Starks kept theirs, but now they are all dead.  They were killed by those who broke their own vows and pacts and promises.  A promise is nothing but words, and words can be swept away easily.  They're all just corruptible sellswords, the lot of them.  And even if they are bought, why should they stay with their buyer?  If they are paid, and join somebody else, it's just double the profit for them.

How will this end?  It's the most unpredictable story I've ever read, and if it ends happily, I will be extremely surprised.  The best ending I can think up- well, it's pretty happy, actually.  But to be realistic with the storyline?  Daenerys will take the throne.  Hopefully.  But will she be able to reunite the Seven Kingdoms?