We’ve passed the half way mark in A Sword of Storms and are still waiting for the hammer to drop. So while we wait, let’s look at the wildlings a bit more closely, find out just what is the plan for Arya, and figure out if there’s any right way to rule.
I think one of the strong points to the A Song of Ice and Fire series is that there are no clear answers. Every character and culture are put under the microscope when it comes to their individual beliefs and morals. First, there are the wildlings or the free folk. The free folk believe that all men (and women) are equal and that there should be no one leader to tell people what to do. In any other series, this would be the beginnings of some sort of representative democracy, but Martin points out that the free folk are more like anarchists who eschew any sort of government. It’s why having the different factions of the free folk join together is such a momentous feat. The free folk are so divided and individualistic just goes to show how clever and determined Mance Rayder is.
While their way of life has its merits, Jon realizes that the only thing the free folk have going for them is tenacity and surprise. A well trained and disciplined force could wipe out the entire army of the free folk fairly quickly. In Westeros, a scrappy band of rebels would be soundly crushed by the inhuman might of the well oiled machine that is the empire.
Then again, Astapor’s well trained Unsullied army didn’t really come in handy when Dany showed up. Yunkai and Astapor are the complete opposites of the free folk. Both cities are slave cities and are built on the belief that not everyone is equal. This leads to the cities to become complacent and stagnant. They believe that they’re at the top and therefore, no one will be coming along to bring them down. Enter Daenerys Targaryen and her crusade of freedom. Maybe I was wrong and Dany has realized that she can’t really trust everyone who offers her stuff. For awhile, it seemed that Dany was flitting back and forth between different people to give her power. From Drogo to Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Dany has also expected people to give her the army she needs, but now she’s taking it for herself.
Also, Dany seems to have embraced her savior motif as of Chapter 42. She’s practicing bringing freedom from tyranny and corrupt officials, which is what I’m guessing is going to be her schtick for when she lands in Westeros.
In the middle of the free folk and the slave cities is the Seven Kingdoms. It doesn’t have slavery and there is a chance that someone could work they’re way up the ladder, the Seven Kingdoms are still a rigidly divided class system that as of the events of this series has reached peaked stagnation. Most houses can barely stand one another, other houses are so prickly that one wrong comment could lead to all out war, the gene pool of the high lords isn’t as diverse as it should be, and the whole kingdom is based on a shaky morality that most lords don’t really adhere to. All in all, the Seven Kingdoms are just a real mess, and barring a complete tear down, it doesn’t look like it’ll be fixed anytime soon.
Last thing for today, I would really like to know what is the overall plan for Arya. She has spent the last two books getting captured, escaping, getting captured by another side, and then escaping from that side. I know she’s supposed to be the character who experiences the peasant side of the war, but when I read that her and the Brotherhood had returned to a place Arya had already been in Chapter 43, I was ready to scream. She’s been going around in a circle for pretty much this entire book, and I am getting pretty tired of what I’ve deemed “Worst Camping Trip Ever”. And I thought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows was bad.
Lets Read Scifi and Fantasy 
During this part of the story, I’d refer to Arya as a football. Carried back and forth, back and forth.
There’s probably some parallel in Arya’s experience, being totally and physically controlled by circumstances out of her control, despite her being of noble birth, and the themes of society and control that you touch upon in your post. I’ll have to try and think about that, probably I’m just making stuff up right now.
Maybe there’s an Arya/Dany connection that can be made…
As always, I enjoyed reading your summary.
Just about every character in this series has a moment when they lose control (i.e. Theon or Jaime). However, I find that the female characters tend to bear most of it, most likely due to the fact that women are treated more like property than people in the Game of Thrones world.