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| “ | The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is. | „ |
| ~ Eddard Stark to his son Brandon. |
Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark is one of the overarching protagonists of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, serving as the main protagonist of the first novel, A Game of Thrones, and the first season of the television adaptation.
He was the head of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North in the continent of Westeros. He was made Hand of the King by his good friend King Robert I Baratheon.
In the TV series, he was portrayed by Sean Bean (who is also known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Zeus in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief), and played by Robert Aramayo as a young adult and Sebastian Croft as a child.
Biography[]
Ned is the second child of Lord Rickard Stark and his cousin-wife Lyarra Stark. He's the younger brother of Brandon Stark and older brother of Lyanna and Benjen Stark. He was married to Catelyn Tully and they had five children, Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. Alongside his five children with Catelyn, Ned also raised his nephew Jon Snow as his own son, who Ned presented as his illegitimate child and kept the truth of Jon's parentage (Jon is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen) a secret to protect him from Robert's wrath.
Ned discovered evidence that the king's successor, Joffrey Baratheon, and Joffrey's two siblings were actually the children of Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime Lannister. However, before he could tell King Robert Baratheon, Robert died from a hunting accident, partially brought about by his wife. Ned intended Robert's eldest brother, Stannis Baratheon, to succeed Robert. Meanwhile, Robert's ambitious youngest brother Renly Baratheon decided to usurp the throne himself and fled King's Landing.
When Ned accused Joffrey of not being the heir to the throne, Ned was seized for treason and killed at Joffrey's order against the will of the Lannisters, who where hoping for an early end of the conflict in order to deal with the Baratheons. His death, among many other things, helped spark the War of the Five Kings. The North was outraged by his death and declared Ned's eldest son and heir Robb the King in the North. Though he didn't love Ned and even resented him, Stannis is still determined to have justice for Ned's death.
Personality[]
Eddard Stark is known throughout the Seven Kingdoms as being a man of honour, virtue and principles. His sense of right and wrong, justice, fair-play, compassion, valour and unbendable moral compass was unfounded in most Head of Houses, many of whom are ruthless warlords combined in a bid of power. He always encountered and dealt with a situation in a calm, reproachable manner and did his best to avoid violence or extreme actions but will carry out on them if he has no choice. As Warden of the North, Eddard never frayed from his duty. He was neither fond of performing executions but did them anyway as he lives by his own code of "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword".
Eddard was known to not judge people by their classes or status. Despite Theon Greyjoy being a prisoner, he was also made a ward of the Starks and Ned allowed him to eat at the Stark's table and grow up with his children. Ned raised his illegitimate son Jon as a trueborn alongside his lawful children in his home castle and loved Jon as his own, but he was still careful to not treat Jon with any more attention than his legitimate children because of Catelyn's disdain for him.
Although Eddard was known as being a great warrior and soldier, he never excelled at intricate court politics and usually placed honour before common sense or pragmacy. He had occasionally proven to put his faith in the very wrong people and not consider the long-term consequences of his actions. He sentenced Gregor Clegane to be stripped of his titles after he terrorized 3 villages and was even prepared to name Tywin Lannister an "enemy of the crown" if he did not appear before the royal court to atone for his minion's crimes, ignoring the cries of the council to do otherwise. Almost foolishly, Eddard placed dependence on Petyr Baelish to do the honorable thing by helping him in place Lord Stannis as the rightful heir of the Iron Throne, unaware that Baelish was definitely a megalomaniacal sociopath. As expected Littlefinger had the Queen making a deal with his own man, Janos Slynt, and betrayed Eddard and his men as soon as Janos and Cersei gave the order to kill everyone.
There has been evidence to support that even Lord Eddard Stark's honour was not omnipotent. Though many people believed he fathered a bastard son, Jon is actually his nephew as the boy is the son of his deceased sister, Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, who was slain by Robert at the Battle of the Trident. Out of love for his sister and nephew, Ned protected Jon from Robert's wrath by claiming him as his bastard son and raised Jon as his own child from infancy alongside his trueborn children. Ned took the secret of Jon's parentage to the grave to protect Jon and honor his sister's dying wish. This, as well Eddard's falsified statement at the Great Septor of Baelor, shows he was capable of putting family before honour.
Quotes[]
| “ | That is the only time a man can be brave. | „ |
| ~ Ned to his son Bran. |
| “ | The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. | „ |
| ~ Ned to Bran. |
| “ | We are not the boys we were. | „ |
| ~ Ned to Robert. |
| “ | I am Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King. I come before you to confess my treason in the sight of Gods and men. I betrayed the faith of my King, and the trust of my friend, Robert. I swore to defend and protect his children, yet before his blood was cold, I plotted to depose and murder his son, and seize the throne for myself. Let the High Septon and Baelor the Beloved and the Seven bear witness to the truth of what I say: Joffrey Baratheon is the one true heir to the Iron Throne, and by the grace of all the gods, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm. | „ |
| ~ Eddard Stark at the Great Sept of Baelor, shortly before his execution. |
| “ | When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. | „ |
| ~ Ned Stark |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Novels[]
TV Series[]
Trivia[]
- Although Varys urged him to denounce Joffrey's uncles, Stannis and Renly, as traitors during his false confession, Ned told the public that he attempted to seize the throne for himself instead, and said no words about Robert's brothers. Varys's advice, as well as Sansa's pleading, were for Ned to claim that he worked as Stannis or Renly's pawn for them to steal the Iron Throne from Robert's 'trueborn' heirs. At this point, neither Stannis nor Renly's claims were known to the public yet, and Ned also did not want to accuse any of the true Baratheons, as they were the true heirs over Cersei's bastard children.
- As part of the arrangements, a disguised Varys told Yoren to wait before leaving King's Landing for the Wall, as he told him in advance that Ned was going to join him. Instead, while waiting for the sentence, Yoren only watched Ned's unexpected execution, but was also able to retrieve Arya.
External Links[]
- Eddard Stark on the Near Pure Good Wiki.
- Eddard Stark on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- Eddard Stark on the Wiki of Westeros.
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