Eddard "Ned" Stark is a fictional character from American writer George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series, a prominent point-of-view character in the first novel of the series, A Game of Thrones (1996), and a major character in the first season of HBO's television adaptation, Game of Thrones.
Ned is the patriarch of House Stark of Winterfell, the ruling house and lord paramount of the North, which is the largest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. As the most trusted friend of King Robert Baratheon, Ned is widely renowned and respected throughout the kingdom for his unwavering morality, honor and justice. Although he is portrayed as the main character at the beginning of the series, the plot twist of his execution near the end of the first novel and the first season of the TV adaptation shocked both the book readers and TV viewers.
Ned is portrayed by veteran English actor Sean Bean in the first season of Game of Thrones, as a child by Sebastian Croft in the sixth season, and as a young adult by Robert Aramayo in the sixth and seventh seasons, respectively. Bean received top billing of the first season for the role, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television and a Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor. He and the rest of the cast were also nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2011.
Character Description Ned Stark is introduced in A Game of Thrones (1996) as the virtuous and honorable patriarch of House Stark of Winterfell, the lord paramount and warden family of the North. He is in his mid-30s and happily married to Lady Catelyn Stark (). He is father to five trueborn children—Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon (all born to Catelyn)—as well as a bastard son, Jon Snow (whose maternal parentage remains a tabooed secret). He also acts as a guardian to a ward, Theon Greyjoy (who is really a diplomatic hostage but has been treated kindly as a foster son). He is a lifelong friend of King Robert Baratheon, the ruling monarch of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, who personally visits Winterfell at the beginning of the novel to invite and persuade Ned to become the new Hand of the King.
Ned was raised as a military officer from childhood and never intended to inherit the family lordship until his heir apparent elder brother, Brandon (who was Catelyn's original betrothed), was sadistically executed by "Mad King" Aerys II Targaryen, an outrageous act of tyranny that forced Ned to rise in rebellion alongside his friend Robert and their guardian, Jon Arryn, and overthrow House Targaryen. Due to his upbringing, Ned possesses an unwavering conscience of honor, loyalty, and justice, and as the moral staple of the story, a visceral distaste towards the manipulative power struggles of royal court politics. At the start of the series, he is content to remain in his homeland in the North, far from the treacherous political intrigues of other southern dominions. His family name, Stark, is a word play that both emphasizes the resilience of his noble family and serves as an indication of his personal resistance to moral compromise. Still, his boundaries are increasingly tested over the course of the novel. Finding himself a key player in the escalating political intrigue of King's Landing, Ned struggles as his own sense of honor draws him into corrupt goings-on at court. As the tale progresses, he begins to see the importance of moral and practical compromises to achieve a just end. He is ultimately forced to choose between his family's safety and doing what is right. Sean Bean said of the character:
Development and overview Publishers Weekly noted in 1996 that, despite the honest Ned Stark's intervention in court politics, "no amount of heroism or good intentions can keep the realm under control." From his very introduction, Ned is portrayed as a noble hero and set up to be the heart of the story. With fifteen chapters devoted to his point of view, more than any other single character in the novel, he is presented as a primary character, and the main storyline of A Game of Thrones, the drama in King's Landing, is told almost entirely from his perspective. In the London Review of Books, John Lanchester wrote that everything about Ned is designed to gain audience sympathy, from his strong sense of honor and moral compass to his compassion towards his wife and children. Readers are led to believe that Ned will be the main character of the series, but ultimately he is, from a literary perspective, a classic decoy protagonist. After struggling to keep himself and the kingdom on a moral path for the entire novel, the only option that remains to save his family is to put aside his honor; he does so, but is betrayed anyway. Calling Ned's execution "shocking", The New York Times noted in 2011 that the novel was "famous for dispatching a thoroughly admirable major character with whom readers have been identifying for most of the book". In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, author George R. R. Martin commented on this misdirection:
David Benioff, executive producer and writer of the HBO adaptation, told Entertainment Weekly that when he read the novel:
In a review of the Game of Thrones TV episode "Baelor", James Poniewozik wrote in Time that "the execution of Eddard Stark is crucial to the story and its themes and everything that follows, but it's also a meta-message to the reader: don't take anything for granted here". James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly stated that tricking the audience into thinking Ned is the hero and then killing him makes the series' story better. Writing that "the big twist here isn't that Ned Stark dies, but who the true protagonists of Game of Thrones are", Hibberd pointed out that the series' focus proves to be the "new generation" of leaders—in particular the Stark children as well as Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister. He noted:
Storylines
Background As established in A Game of Thrones, Eddard "Ned" Stark is the second son of Rickard Stark, the previous Lord of Winterfell. Years before the events of the novel, the quiet and shy young Ned is fostered in the Vale of Arryn by Lord Jon Arryn. During this time, Ned becomes close friends with Robert Baratheon, heir to the Stormlands and another ward of Arryn's. Robert is eventually betrothed to Ned's sister, Lyanna Stark, but before he can marry her, Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen absconds with Lyanna. Ned's father and older brother, Brandon, go to "Mad King" Aerys II Targaryen and demand that Lyanna be freed, only to be both sadistically executed by him. When King Aerys demands the killing of both Ned and Robert, Lord Arryn rises in revolt along with Houses Baratheon and Stark. He secures the support of House Tully through Ned's marriage to Brandon's betrothed, Catelyn Tully. Ned leaves for war the very next morning after consummating the marriage with Catelyn.
At the decisive Battle of the Trident, the rebels scatter the Targaryen army, and Robert kills Prince Rhaegar in single combat. Robert, being injured, Ned takes over command and marches on the capital, King's Landing. Upon arrival, Ned finds that House Lannister—which has previously maintained neutrality—has already sacked the city and murdered King Aerys and the entire Targaryen royal family. Disgusted by the dishonorable massacre and Robert's tolerance thereof, Ned departs in anger to lift the siege of the Baratheon stronghold Storm's End. He later attempts to rescue Lyanna, only to find her dying in "a bed of blood"; her last words are "Promise me, Ned." Ned returns to Winterfell with an infant boy, Jon Snow, whom he claims to be his own bastard son but refuses to elaborate on the boy's maternal parentage. Meanwhile, Catelyn has delivered Ned's son and heir, Robb, conceived on their wedding night, and Ned raises Jon alongside Robb and his subsequent children.
Six years after the end of Robert's Rebellion, Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, declares independence from the Iron Throne. Ned aids now-King Robert in putting down the Greyjoy Rebellion. Balon surrenders, and his sole surviving son, Theon Greyjoy, is taken back to Winterfell as Stark's ward and a de facto political hostage. Ned rules the North with justice and praise for nine more years before the events of the novel.
A Game of Thrones At the beginning of A Game of Thrones, Ned's entourage discovers an orphaned litter of direwolf pups and he decides to allow his children to adopt them, although his men suspect the appearance of direwolves to be a bad omen of a long, harsh winter. Later, Catelyn informs Ned that his mentor Jon Arryn, who has been serving as the Hand of the King, has died suddenly of illness, and that King Robert intends to offer Ned the position of Hand. Content to be far from court intrigue, Ned is reluctant to accept the offer until he receives a letter from Arryn's widow, who believes that the Lannisters poisoned her husband. Ned agrees to the appointment to protect Robert, and travels south to King's Landing with his daughters, Sansa and Arya. Catelyn later comes to the capital in secret, under the protection of her childhood friend Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, to tell Ned of an assassination attempt on their now-disabled youngest son, Bran. Ned's longstanding mistrust of the Lannisters is further fueled by Littlefinger's claim that the dagger used by the would-be assassin once belonged to Tyrion Lannister. Increasingly disgusted by the political intrigues at court, Ned finally resigns his position when Robert insists on having Aerys's only surviving child, the young Daenerys Targaryen, assassinated in exile. Meanwhile, Catelyn has impulsively taken Tyrion prisoner. In retaliation, Tyrion's brother, Jaime, attacks and seriously injures Ned in the street before he and his daughters can depart King's Landing. Visiting the wounded Ned, Robert reappoints him as Hand.
Ned eventually concludes that all of Robert's heirs with his wife, Cersei Lannister, are illegitimate products of incest with her twin brother, Jaime. Further, Ned suspects that Arryn was poisoned to conceal the truth, as both Arryn and Robert's brother Stannis have been searching for Robert's other bastard children. In private, Ned confronts Cersei and offers her the chance to escape safely with her children and live in exile. Before Ned can tell the king, Robert is fatally wounded while boar hunting and names Ned as regent until his "son" Joffrey Baratheon comes of age. With the palace in chaos, Ned rebuffs multiple offers to increase his own power, instead opting to support Stannis as king. Cersei, however, outmaneuvers Ned after being informed by Sansa (who is still infatuated via her betrothal to Prince Joffrey), and the duplicitous Littlefinger betrays Ned and orders the City Watch to arrest him instead of Cersei. With all of his entourage and guards slaughtered, Ned is charged with treason. A secret deal is struck through the spymaster Varys that Ned will be spared and sent to the penal Night's Watch if he declares Joffrey the rightful king. Fearing for Sansa (who is now a hostage) and Arya (who has escaped alone and is missing), Ned makes a public confession of his "treason", but the sadistic Joffrey has Ned executed anyway for his own amusement and forces Sansa to view Ned's severed head mounted on a spike.
Later novels