Jaylin Jones

Jaylin Jones
Game of Thrones
Professor Schoppe 
9 February 2020 
Blog Post 
            Ned Stark is a swordsman, leader of the Stark house, and a father of 9 children.  Ned Stark is also a Lord of Winterfell and a strong and powerful warrior. Is Ned Stark a brave and honorable leader for the Stark house and for his children? That is the question everyone is asking after watching the first season of Game of Thrones. With that question on the table, a lot of people are asking if Ned Stark was more or less stupid because of where his actions got him when it came to leaving the Stark house and them having to find another leader. 
            Ned Stark was being to honorable yet in a stupid way. His actions prove that throughout the first season of Game of Thrones. Ned Stark could have been honorable in a smarter way to get back to his family and back to leading the Stark house. Throughout the first season of Game of Thrones, Ned Stark did a lot of things to protect his family and the Stark house but when it came down to him needing to get back to his family, he made a lot of stupid decisions that got him killed. From the standpoint of the Stark house, being an honorable person was not important to the people of Winterfell. To them, it is more about life and was more important that he kept his family safe. Being honorable was the reason that Ned Stark got killed.  
            As the Winterfell swordsman, being honorable was not how those people lived and that’s not what they treasure. They focused more on life and survival. On the other hand, there were also the swordsmen of Kings Guard. As the swordsmen of Kings Guard, they treasured the pure and honorable life that was more about being true to those who have higher power. So, when it comes to the argument of Ned Stark being honorable or stupid it all depends on if he is from Kings Guard or Winterfell. Most people would say he was being honorable but in that case he would have to be from Kings Guard. This argument is a 50/50 split with people saying that Ned Stark was being stupid which resulted in him getting killed and not being able to lead the Stark house or get back to his family. Other people are saying that Ned Stark was being honorable for protecting his family at the risk of getting killed. He died knowing that his family was protected because of his actions and because he was being honorable for them. 
            Being honorable means to live up to the expectations of those who look up to you, doing the right thing, and living up to the principles set by the people who started it all. Ned Stark was being honorable in the definition of the word because he was doing the right thing and leading by example. He lived up to the principles of Kings Guard and not from the land he was from which is Winterfell. Being honorable has many different meanings all of which differ from person to person so that why this is an unsettled argument that has being people wondering and debating. 
            Being stupid is doing something that will lead to a negative result that can hurt you or you to end up in a bad situation. Ned Stark and his actions resulted in him being killed and will lead his family and the Stark house down a difficult path for the future. So, Ned Stark being stupid led him to complete the actions that he did and caused problems for both regions of Winterfell and Kings Guards. 
             I think that Ned Stark was being honorable in a stupid way because he was leading by example for his family and for the Stark house. He did it in a stupid way because it resulted in him dying and not being able to lead anymore. I think that Ned Stark could have been more honorable and could have made it back to his family, to lead the Stark house, and still could have lived to tell the story. Ned Stark could have been smarter in all of his actions to have the result and final outcome in his favor. He went about being honorable in the wrong way and for the wrong region. For Ned Stark to be from Winterfell and trying to prove his honorability is stupid because Winterfell does not care about the amount of honor that you have compared to Kings Guard. Kings Guard would have really loved that Ned died for his people and would have respected it a lot more where Winterfell wants to have Ned Stark come back to them and not to die over it. Overall, I think that Ned Stark was trying to be honorable, but he went about it in the wrong way. He was trying to be honorable but while in the process he was also being stupid because of the way he went about it and because of the result that came from it. That is mainly why people will say that he is being stupid because he went about it the wrong way and ended up getting himself killed. While other people are looking at it as he did the right thing to protect his family.
            I see both sides of this argument being true but overall, I think that Ned Stark was honorable in a stupid way because he set a great example for the Stark house and also his family. He was an honorable person, but he did all of those things in a dumb way that ultimately got him killed. But I feel like to argue against one side is purely your option and can be argued in both ways with very strong points but in my opinion, Ned Stark was doing the right thing just in the wrong way. Being from Winterfell and not Kings guard he allowed himself to get too prideful by getting to prideful no one saw his sacrifice as anything but stupidity even if it was to protect his family and the ones he loved. Some people will say that Ned getting himself killed would be the most honorable thing to do for his family but that was also not the smart thing. In my opinion it was stupid for Ned Stark to be honorable. Although it may have been the right thing to do, he went about it in the worst way and had the worst results as well. 
            Also, while doing research for this blog post, I found a few arguments that make a good point and also helped me when it came to explaining my argument. I found another blog post on the same topic by Kala Fitch and she said that “I wouldn’t call Ned Stark an idiot, but I would call him naïve.” https://www.quora.com/Was-Ned-Stark-an-idiot  And I would have to agree with her because Ned Stark is not an idiot and he was doing what he had to do to protect his family but while doing it he acted in a very unexperienced way and went about it unprofessionally. I mainly think that because of the outcome and where it landed him. Another blog post I found that I can also agree with to help me with my argument is from a Martin Ekman and he said “Yes and No.” https://www.quora.com/Was-Ned-Stark-an-idiot  I can agree with this mainly because Ned Stark is not an idiot by far but he is also not honorable for his actions and where they got him. He was going about being honorable and was trying to honor the Stark house and his family but did none of that and got himself killed instead.

Comments

  1. Bailey Coltman24 February 2020 at 10:12

    This is good, saying that “being honorable means to live up to the expectations of those who look up to you”, that is a great way to put that. Ned Stark died trying to protect his family, and also to help his late friend King Robert by working to keep the Baratheon bloodline on the throne. Joffrey was not the true son of Robert; he was the son of Jaimie. I completely agree that Ned Stark was honorable with his intentions, it was his actions that kind of ruined it for him. It was how he went about carrying out his will. He definitely could have don’t things a little better, for starters he should have known not to trust Littlefinger with something this big, and he should have thought about his options a little bit more in depth before he jumped the gun in the Red Keep. Good work with this post its very insightful and it takes a good new angle view of Ned’s situation.

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  2. GraysonLouise24 February 2020 at 10:16

    I agree with Jaylin’s blog post. He outlined that Ned Stark was, in fact, honorable, but he was going about things in an unintelligent way because, in the end, it got him killed. He should have been more focused on getting back to his family and protecting them from harm. He was too worried about the line of succession and whether Joffrey was the rightful heir to the throne. He should have been more concerned about his family’s safety and not putting himself at risk. He allowed himself to get killed by telling Cersei of his plans to expose her and expecting her to leave King’s Landing and save herself. Ned Stark was naïve to think that just because Cersi was a woman, she would run away and not have an ace up her sleeve. In the end, Ned Stark did do the honorable thing by trying to expose the truth, but in the end, his honor got him killed and did not change the fact that Joffrey was still king.

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