Ned: Die with Honor Blog Post

Ned: Die with Honor Blog Post

            Ned Stark’s actions and thoughts are motivated by a moral code of honor throughout his whole life up until right before his death. Throughout his whole life, viewers have been very critical whether Ned is just plain stupid or if he is just acting on his honor and standards that he has set for himself. I believe that Ned is one honorable man that wants the best for everyone whether he has known you for five minutes or twenty years. Yet despite Ned’s well intentions, there is a fine balance between respecting your honor and being blind to what is happening around you. In fact, sometimes I think that Ned just lacks an attention to detail and that is where is honor fails him. Even if Ned’s lack of perception ends up costing him his head, I believe that it is better to die being an honorable man than dying while being a snake.

Throughout the television series Ned believes that it is better to die an honorable man than to sacrifice the honorable code he lives by. There are many characters throughout the seasons who act in very prideful ways even though they believe it is the “honorable” thing to do in their mind. I often feel as if there is a misconception between the terms honor and pride. Google says the definition of honor is having high respect and an adherence to what is right. Google also says the definition of pride is a feeling of satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired. I think people often mix up these two terms and end up thinking they are the same thing. Ned is honorable deep in his soul, while as characters like Cersei and Tywin are very prideful. Ned was even willing to confess to a crime his didn’t commit in order to protect his family and his people. If Ned was prideful, he wouldn’t have confessed into doing any crimes. Tywin is a good example of someone who is very prideful in the series. He believes that anyone that doesn’t look at his house with anything other than admiration and fear he absolutely can’t tolerate them. He acts with violence because he lets his pride get the best of him resulting in harsh and reckless actions and or consequences. Cersei is also another example of a character that is prideful. She is prideful in that aspect that she is even willing to have the old hand of the King killed in order to protect her messed up family and name. As you can see, there are clear distinct differences between these two terms. Ned is very honorable and should be viewed that way instead of being criticized.

            Even though many viewers think Ned is honorable, some still think that he makes stupid decisions. They believe he makes these bad decisions because he has these honor blinders on to where he can only see the honorable thing to do and no other options. Harold Lake concludes that Ned was so obsessed with being honorable that he didn’t understand when he would cross the stupid line. I would have to agree with his point since Ned would sometimes act in a way that wouldn’t make any sense unless you had that amount of honor inside of you. For example, telling Cersei that he knew about her messing around with her own brother was not a very intelligent decision of his part. Another dumb mistake he did was trusting Littlefinger as much as he did, without checking out what type of person he has been. Ned often believed that everyone was going to do the honorable and trustworthy thing in life. While it is good to think that, he fails to realize that most people are selfish and greedy for themselves. Even with these stupid decisions Ned made, it is still better to be honorable than be fake and a snake throughout one’s life.

            Ned is a man defined by his sense of honor and duty. These honors and duties he had incorporated in his life have either been traditions or things that have come down from many generations. For example, one of the first scenes in the series includes Ned capturing a deserter from the Night’s Watch. Everyone knows that the punishment for doing such a crime is death especially Ned. The law is the law in Ned’s mind and therefore it can’t be broken or bent for any reason or else it would be breaking his honor code. He also tried to lead by example and be in the action in most things that he does within his life. You can tell that Ned is honorable in this scene since he won’t bend any of the rules and he also takes the sword and carries out the death himself, instead of getting someone else to do the act. Another instance where Ned is honorable and must do the act himself is in the scene with the dire wolf. Since Arya was “misbehaving” the wolf that “attacked” Joffery was missing, then the conclusion they came up with was to kill the other one that they had obtained. Ned acts in an honorable way by putting the dire wolf to sleep instead of having someone else kill it in vein. This is important because Ned acts like he has a softer spot in his heart with mercy for certain things which can be both a good and bad thing. However, most of the other houses do not have a lot of mercy for anyone other than themselves and this hurt Ned in the long run. Even with Ned having mercy, Ned acts in honorable ways in both scenes and there is no sense of weakness coming from him.

Throughout the series, Ned proves time and time again that he acts in honorable ways the majority of the time. For example, Ned was very honorable in the way that he confronted Cersei about her affair after figuring out the truth behind her children. Ned could have just kept his mouth shut and went along with his life, but his honor took over. Ned thought he would have the upper hand when telling Cersei, the news that he knew. However, Cersei and Tywin don’t have honor and therefore don’t play by the same rules that Ned does. I am not sure that Ned thought of all the possible scenarios that could happen resulting from telling her the news. Once again, Ned had that honor part in his heart, and I think he thought that he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t try and do something about the discovery he found. I do believe that he still could have been honorable within himself if he didn’t tell Cersei and just want straight to Stannis. I believe if Ned went with this decision then the whole series would have shift and Ned would have also lived a lot longer than by just going straight to Cersei.  Another example of Ned being honorable would be when he wants to put the rightful heir in the throne instead of the person that people think should go on the throne. Ned doesn’t want to consider putting someone else in the place of the rightful heir even if it means a better life for himself and his family. Ned’s honor sometimes puts blinders on him and as a result, he digs his hole deeper and deeper. I appreciate the fact that Ned is willing to stand up for what he believes in (honor) but sometimes by disagreeing with the majority comes with a cost. In my opinion, Ned was comfortable by standing by his honor and duties to do what is right even if that meant his life was in danger. If no harm would be done to his family, especially his girls, then Ned would do what he thought was right. I even thought it was honorable that he was willing to confess to crimes he didn’t even commit to protect his family and people. In these examples, you can clearly see that Ned is doing the work of an honorable man even if that is the hard thing to do at that moment and for that I commend him.

            Even by looking at Ned’s death you can tell that he was honorable and someone that the people liked and respected. Despite people slaying his name and accusing him of all these bad things like being a traitor, Ned still had quite the impact on many people. Andrew Sawyer stated that by his love and loyalty he had earned throughout the years, he had the entire North wanting to revolt against the Kingdom itself. This is a powerful effect of Ned’s death since everyone is now willing to give their lives up to avenge the death of Ned. If you ask me, what more of a way to honor the “honorable man” but by giving your own life for someone else. Ned set the example of what it was like to live an honorable life and set the example to the upcoming generation to follow.

            In conclusion, even though many viewers see Ned as being dumb and stupid, he is an honorable man who is willing to give up his life in order to do what is right. Moving forward in the show, I believe that the North will always remember what honor Ned stood for with his life. Ned held all his traditions, principles and loyalties all the way to the end and I commend him for doing that especially with all the difficulties he faced along the way. Ned will always be honorable in my eyes because I believe that it is better to die with honor than by dying a snake’s life while resulting in a person you weren’t proud to be.

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