Ned Stark's Honorable Foolishness (SPOILERS!!)

Caelan Locklear-Piekarski

Dr. Schoppe

Game of Thrones

21 September 2020

Ned Stark’s Honorable Foolishness

 

     Ned Stark is the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. He is very popular among fans for being honorable and just. He was made a martyr in the show, and it even among fans, but it was his just and honorable ways that led him to make foolish decisions that would ultimately get him killed.

     I do not believe Ned Stark was generally stupid, just stupid in a political sense. He was naïve to the political climate of Kings Landing and went about his job as hand of the king as if he were ruling in Winterfell and he even more foolishly expected everyone there to play along. I mean anyone in Kings Landing should know to never trust Littlefinger. Trusting him was just downright stupidity.  

     At many times Ned’s honor, or what I would call self-righteousness really irritated me. When he judged Jamie Lannister for killing King Aerys and sitting on the throne afterward. I thought Ned Stark wanted to kill the king. King Aerys asked Jamie to kill his own father. Ned could not understand this or just ignored it. Was that any way to thank the man who murdered Ned’s brother and father apparently it was not. Ned could not see through his sacred, judgmental honor.

     I do not particularly blame Ned for having this overbearing sense of honor though since this is a common Stark trait. Being honorable and just is a code to live by in the North. Ned was raised to believe there is no other way to view the world and technically you could blame his self-righteousness on his parents instead, but I feel like Ned still spent enough time in the south to somewhat understand things were different there. His reservations to go south for Robert make that quite clear. So why didn’t he adapt to his environment? Was he unable to adapt or unwilling? I would say unwilling because of his treatment of Jamie.

      He was so judgmental of Jamie, but wasn’t its Ned and Robert the ones openly rebelling against their King? Ned did make a vow, like all lords, to be loyal to the king, even if that king kills your father and brother. Though I believe Ned’s reasons for rebelling were justified I am going to pretend that I have the self-righteous of a Stark and say Ned was extremely dishonorable for betraying his king and he should be ashamed of himself.

     The most foolish decisions Ned made as The hand was trusting Littlefinger and confronting Cersei about the legitimacy of her children. Like I said before anyone should no better when it comes to trusting Littlefinger, but what I believe was even crazier was confronting Cersei. Due to his political ignorance, Ned did not truly know how stupid it was to confront Cersei. I believe Ned was aware of how powerful the Lannister’s were and what they could do, but I also believe he overestimated the power justice and integrity in Kings Landing. Allowing his honor to get in his way, yet again, stopped him from telling Robert and giving Cersei, since to him she was a frail, dumb woman and not the deceitful, ruthless woman most people know her as, more time was another foolish decision because it allowed Cersei to cause the death of the king. As stated by Linda Mousa in Ned Stark: The Honorable Fool, Lawful stupid, (https://univ375.blogspot.com/2019/10/ned-stark-honorable-fool-lawful-stupid.html), “Ned Stark was truly a gentleman in thinking that it would be more comforting to have a conversation in the gardens with Cersei; thinking that as a woman she would back down, and meekly take his suggestions, and follow-through”

     Trusting Littlefinger was just complete blindness since it is really an open-secret that Littlefinger cannot be trusted, but since he agrees with Ned and will “help” him fin a true heir and get the gold cloaks on his side in Ned’s eyes he MUST be honorable and there is NO WAY he has ulterior motives. Littlefinger is simply doing it out of the kindness of this heart because that is what heroes do. Yet again Ned allows his honor to blind him.

     Ultimately Ned’s foolishness leads him to be betrayed. He was simply used as a pawn this whole time, surprise. He believed the Lannisters would honor Robert’s last words because that would be the honorable thing to do. I guess Ned did not get the message when Renly fled the city. As stated in the Game of Thrones wiki, (https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Eddard_Stark), “Eddard refuses to dishonor Robert's last few hours by spilling blood and frightening children. Renly flees the castle fearing that the Lannisters will show no such respect”. While Ned sits in the black cells we see another example of Ned’s blind-honor when he calls out Varys for doing nothing when he was betrayed, because obviously, Varys forgot he was Rambo level warrior who could fight off like 100 guys at once. Ned still could not understand why he was betrayed even in the black cells. Joffrey was not the true king; Ned was doing the right thing. Why does everyone hate him for it? Because this is Game of Thrones.

    Agreeing to join the Night's Watch in order to keep his life might not have been honorable in Ned’s eyes, and at this point I feel he was accepted that this was the way the world is in the South and probably the North too outside of Winterfell. He accepted that goodwill not always win and always choosing the honorable route in any circumstance is not always the wise decision. Wisdom and honor do not always go hand and hand. Though he only dies when his daughters are at stake as stated by Kyle Cupps, in Eddard Stark’s Ethics of Honor, (https://ordinary-times.com/2011/08/02/eddard-starks-ethics-of-honor/), “Ned Stark only relinquishes his honor when his daughters, Arya and Sansa’s lives are at stake. He does not even consider the thousands of people that will die because he lacks phronesis.”

    To Ned’s credit, he has done many honorable things that were not foolish. Taking up arms to avenge his family was the honorable thing to do. Killing that traitor from the Night's Watch by his own sword, though it was sad, it was a very honorable thing to do. Taking John Snow and keeping his secret from everyone was extremely honorable. He made people believe he was not faithful to his wife and this must have destroyed him because that was not honorable. Not revealing Jon was a Targaryen would have been dishonorable by Robert, but Ned believed he was doing the right thing and he was. When Ned defeated Ser Arthur Dayne at the tower he took Arthurs sword, a valerian steel sword I might add, and returned it back to Arthurs family. I cannot say many other lords would do this. Some might say Ned only did it because he had a valerian steel sword of his own, but I believe Ned would have returned it either way. Ned also argued with the King and even briefly resigned because he refused to support Robert’s plot to have Dany killed.   

     I think Ned’s attitude towards his children can also be an honorable act. Most lords in Westeros look at their children as pawns to either be married off or to carry on the legacy like Tywin with his children, but Ned truly loved his children and only wanted what was best. Though it did not seem like he had prepared them properly for the real world, as we see with Sansa, he was a good parent. It was also quite honorable to treat Theon more like a son than a hostage. He made Winterfell feel more like a home than some scary, foreign environment for Theon. Perhaps Ned did this because of is upbringing when he lived in the Vale under John Arryn, or because he was just an honorable and loving man. I would say it is probably both.

     We see the same character traits in many heroes from other stories, but in these stories good always wins and saves the day. Game of Thrones is not that story. Ned Stark should be the living proof of this. There are no good guys or bad guys in Game of Thrones. If you have seen GoT all the way through you would no this since the Starks eventually play dirty as well to ultimately win the Game of Thrones. Stark honor died with Ned and Robb; Stark honor is restored in the end when Sansa becomes Queen of the North and Bran will become King of the six kingdoms.

    In conclusion, I think Ned Stark is extremely honorable, though he can be self-righteous and blinded by his honor at times. His honorable ways and choices did not hurt him in the North where he was surrounded by people of the same mind. His naivety to court politics which lead him to be unwilling to adapt ultimately lead to his downfall. I like Ned Stark a lot and was saddened and shocked by his death since the show tried to make him look like the main character, but this was ultimately a trick to give the viewer a lesson in the Game of Thrones. My criticism does not come from hate but sadness for a great character who was the good guy in the wrong universe. He was a character who deserved so much better, but “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win, or you die. There is no middle ground” (pg. 488)

 

Works Cited

Martin, George R. R. Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire. Bantam Books, 1996.