Was Ned Stark Honorable or Foolish

 

Was Ned Stark honorable or foolish? There is no doubt in my mind that Ned Stark was an honorable man, but he was also a fool. Eddard Stark is the head of the house of Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North. Ned closest friend was Robert Baratheon who was the King. Ned Stark ruled over a very small area by the name of Winterfell, so whatever he said was the final word he had nobody to abide by because that was over Winterfell. Ned was thrown into the wolves, if you don’t know how to handle the Lannister's you're going to get torn apart and they don’t think twice. The Lannister would do anything to keep the throne if that met killing people that’s what they did, and Ned Stark was just one of their victims. Ned Stark was honorable because he always tried to do what was right. “Eddard was a crafty politician, as seen by his actions as Hand. He manipulated the composure of Robert's will in order to oust the Lannister's from the throne, then bought off the gold cloaks to prevent a coup d'état. These are not the actions of a man "too naive to be a politician". It's in no way a bad plan. The failure was that he trusted Petyr Baelish, but this was on the advice of Catelyn, who was his friend from childhood. Eddard made a calculated risk that Littlefinger would more likely befriend the Starks than the Lannister's, since he knew that Petyr knew that the Starks would not betray an ally, whilst the Lannister's would. Cersei made the same risk, as well. If Petyr had decided to betray her instead, Cersei's entire plan would have been foiled (LightSpectra 1).”  

In the first episode you can see that he has instilled his whole family with honor. Eddard made the second youngest Stark boy, Bran, come and watch him behead the deserter that claims he saw a white walker. Bran overheard this conversation and the good father that Eddard was he told Bran not to worry about it, then he went in to give him fatherly advice because this was Bran first beheading. Ned Stark even taught his bastard son Jon Snow to have honor even when many people will doubt and judge you. All of Ned Starks kids were instilled with honorable traits. Robert Baratheon came to Winterfell and asked Ned to become the Hand of the King to rule the realm while he doesn’t do his best basically saying while he is sleeping with other women, he wants him to be there when he's busy.  

In episode seven Ned Stark was an honorable fool, demanding Cersei to take her kids and go somewhere far away. Cersei has power because her son is the king, and he will listen to everything is mother says sometimes. Ned gives Cersei the chance to get out of King’s Landing safely. He tells her that she and her children should leave the capital before Robert comes back from the hunt. But Cersei has some advice for Ned. She tells Ned that he should have taken the Iron Throne when he had the chance. Right after King’s Landing fell, Jaime was seated on the throne. He stood up and Ned could have taken his place and been King. This was a mistake, because “when you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die (You Win or Die 7).” Ned Stark was sexist in a way when he approached Cersei. I feel like he didn’t realize how powerful she was because she is a woman. Ned didn’t think that there would be any repercussions in what he said to Cersei. He was under the impression that she would just pack up and leave like he told her to do. If Ned would have complied with King Joffrey and did his honorable things in the background and take Cersei and Joffrey down from them inside then I would have thought of him a more honorable person because his life is not only on the line his daughter Sansa, Arya, and the rest of his family in Winterfell. When everyone at the end of episode seven turned on Ned I couldn’t say that I was surprised because anybody that has anything to do with the Lannister's are in it to get anything that will get there name remembered in the end. As Ned approaches the throne room, he is met by Janos Slynt, the commander of the City Watch who tells him, “We stand behind you, Lord Stark (You Win or Die 7).” Slynt is most backstabbing of all “We stand behind you, Lork Stark,” then suddenly, he shouts now, and everyone turns on Ned Stark killing all his men and he gets thrown in the dungeon.   

In the end Ned Stark gets beheaded which I think is the shock of the whole Game of Thrones from what I’ve seen. Ned Stark would have been the best option for the kingdom after he was killed everything went downhill because Joffrey wanted everyone to see that he was a powerful king and wasn’t scared of anything. In the end Ned not only hurt himself but he hurt Sansa and Arya because he left them behind for the wolves better known as the Lannister's.  When Ned finally said that Joffrey was the rightful King it was too late. Ned should have kneeled in the throne room when Joffrey asked him who the rightful king was. For protection of him and his family he should have showed how honorable he really was by complying and later on getting back at the Lannister's. Ned didn’t last long playing Game of Throne only the strongest can stay alive in the game and right now the strongest is the Lannister's. Ned is both honorable and a fool, but in my opinion, Ned showed his foolish side more than his honorable side.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cited Work 

https://gotrecaps.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/recap-of-season-1-episode-9-baelor/ 

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Eddard_Stark 

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1033139-ned-stark---a-fool-or-too-honorable-for-his-own-sake