A lot of players I've seen when making honorable, good guy characters use this man as an example

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Nah that was because Kevin might actually be competent enough to pull the Lannisters out of the shit.

Regarding his objection to assassination: Not subscribing to a mindset of ends justifying means is perfectly legitimate. You don't owe the world anything, but you owe it to yourself to be the best you can be, and small evils for large goods are a slippery slope. It's how corruption, both in the material and spiritual sense, begins. But if you remain unblemished, then you can inspire others to do so too, and eventually everyone around you may be.

Also, while Robert and Ned had no way of knowing this, Drogo wasn't remotely interested in invading Westeros until the assassination attempt happened.

When he killed Kevan they were ready, Aegon was coming and his invasion would benefit from king's landing losing an actually competent councillor.

>"Only the gods know what littlefinger is up to" -Varys
How did littlefinger stump varys? How did he stump us all?

I think CIA Op has the benefit of playing his cards extremely close to his chest. It's hard to know a man's machinations when he doesn't share them with anyone else. You might find out one part or another as he sets parts of his plans in motion but the whole machine might be unknown to you.

>How did littlefinger stump varys?
He doesn't act like a Hollywood villain - something the show totally forgot to portay.

Why didn't littlefinger just tell ned about the incest?

Both him and Varys lead him on a very slow clue hunt, littlefinger specifically arranged for ned to come to king's landing, why else but to tell him about the incest and have robert be told by ned?

littlefingers game really only works if the realm is fractured and weak. the war of the five kings was necessary for his plot to work reliably

Dalinar from the Stormlight Archive would be a better model for an honorable good guy. Or Adolin, if you want the good looks to go along with it.

How much of that is bad writing and how much of that is him canonical being a bad person?

He's a good person, just not very clever or good at introspection.

He's not a bad person at all (user is just shitposting), and not particularily dumb either. He's just a victim of circumstances, and the game has been rigged against him from the start.

Because if he was simply told then Ned would suspect political maneuvering bullshit and hesitate as opposed if he found out himself it would just be something he uncovered that he needs to inform the king about.

>thousands of innocent smallfolk
Look, if you’re not going to rape the, what’s the point in having them?

When Ned was cleaning ice below the heart tree, was that a metaphorical masturbation?

Is longclaw a dickjoke?

Here's a question - imagine that Cersei's plan actually works, and Joffrey doesn't act like a little shit. Ned confesses to treason and gets sent to the Wall.
What happens next? Does Robb still declare himself king and rebel? Would Ned try and undermine the crown, or would he keep his vows to the watch, honorable as he is? Would he be a better leader than Jon Snow?

I imagine his family would still be mad but at least he would be alive to tell them to chill and maybe explain what happened to them.

Well you have to remember that Yoren was in the city to take ned to the wall, Yoren is an agent of Varys. I don't think Varys would've wanted Ned on the wall, he's too important and too useful as a tool. I imagine Yoren would've got Ned, hired a ship and they would've ended up in Pentos, Ned perhaps even becoming a pseudo-hostage for the Aegon campaign.

Robb had summoned his banners and would probably demand his sisters back, but the lannisters lied that they had both, but they don't have Arya. I don't think Robb would crown himself king in the North, not even being the lord of winterfell at the time. He'd probably keep his army close, maybe wait in the riverlands treating with kings landing by raven.

Robb not being at open war frees up Tywin's army to crush Stannis, Robb also not being at war means he probably won't send theon to the iron isles, so Balon won't end up crowning himself and invading the north, especially since robb's army wouldn't be all the way south.

I think Joff would still break his betrothal with sansa, sansa would return home, arya will easily be found as there'd be no war in the riverlands and she'd have no reason to hide and the kingdoms would continue on. Stannis's war wouldn't go as well, with only himself at war with the crown he wouldn't risk an assault on the capital, and if he did he'd be repelled just as he was before. It'll probably end with him sieged at storms end, but with this time davos stuck with him, he'll be starved out slowly.

Aegon will invade, but not the stormlands because there'd be too many armies there. I think he'll land in the riverlands, to be reinforced by targ loyalist houses like the darry's. With Ned as a hostage Robb's army is at full strength and forced to fight with Aegon, probably with most of the riverlands joining Aegon too.

With Tywin and the Tyrells sieging holds in the stormlands, the way to kingslanding is wide open for the golden company to ride in, take the city

Aegon king+sansa queen.

I think he would take those vows pretty fuggen serious. I think his family would be peeved but their insurrection was really cause by Ned's perceived unjust death. I am not sure how much political pull he would be able to mount against the white walkers although I suspect with the North unoccupied and their former Warden's words you might see a more legitimate defense of the Wall. I am almost certain he would have made a more competent leader than Snow, although it would have been at the cost of all the Wildlings. I think parts of the War of the Five kings might still come about. The Stags still might feel justified in rebellion. Renly was already on his way to it before Ned even ever got caught and Stannis was too. Whether or not Robb joins one of the other kings, I am very unsure. I suppose it would depend on the advice of his father. Stannis is the most likely candidate for the North's support if Ned is still alive.

Aegon marrying Sansa would ensure the north as an army, and probably the riverlands too as she's half tully. The north and the riverlands are a superior force to dorne, so he wouldn't be marrying Arianne. Dorne may rise up and support him anyway, afterall they have no love for the lannisters and mace tyrell hates oberyn martell.

The lannisters and tyrells would have to either break their siege of storms end, or lower their sieging force to a very small amount. They'll need their men to rush to king's landing for battle. I'm sure Aegon can arrive at king's landing and take the city before they arrive, if he kills Joffery then the tyrells no longer have an alliance to fight against him for, and them being targ loyalists might make them just stand down and bend the knee. Aegon will send them back to the stormland's to take stannis prisoner, and with the rest of his forces march to the westerlands.

Ned by this point will lord of the north again, his imprisonment ruled unjust by the new king and Joff a bastard of incest who's justice was false.

Long story short Lannisters BTFO, many lands in the westerlands will be dived to men of the golden company.

Aegon Targaryen, King.
Sansa Stark, Queen.
Davos Seaworth, Lord of the Stormlands and Hand of the King.

The dragon has 3 heads.

What happens with Dany in mereen?

Well Aegon would hear of her, with Varys being honest and not trying to withold information as he's loyal to Aegon. He'd know she's in Mereen. Aegon would send half the golden company to her, led by a councillor of his choice to deliver her terms and forge and alliance, one targ to another. He will send eddard stark.

Ned has been a very useful tool so far, and he's still mostly a hostage. Ned is an honorable guy but isn't a big aegon supporter, so he'll be sent for the Aegon cause, all other councillors far too useful and not important enough to treat with a queen.

Ned is of course still a secret dany supporter, dany being the child of rhaegar and lyanna, ned wants to keep her safe as he promised. So he'll do his best to convince her to stay in Mereen, he and the golden company half with help her keep order, and even expand to Yunkai and Astapor which have begun slaving again.

Ned will be a valuable asset to Dany, he'll reveal jorah's treachery and get him sent away, advise her well on how to actually be a just and fair ruler and be able to command her armies well. I imagine here Ned will abdicate his lands and titles to Robb, feeling he did swear to take the black and it would be wrong of him to not give up his titles. Though advising Dany is not the wall, he is giving up his lands, his family and women to help the realm and he is fufilling his promise to Lyanna.

Interestingly Ned is metaphorically at this end, the song of ice and fire. He is of the north, and wielded the greatsword ice and has given it all up to council the dragon queen, who is fire.
Dany will forge a new empire throughout the slaving cities, she will break chains and break order, peace and law to essos, as Aegon brings the same to westeroes.

I don't think Dany will ever marry, she already has the Alliance of Aegon, she has her dragons and no man could ever replace Drogo, her moon and stars.

The ending to this tale completes the story.

Eddard Stark, hand of the queen of the essosi free states slits her throat with Littlefinger's dagger. Screen goes black.

"and who are you..." Written by David&Dan.
youtube.com/watch?v=ECewrAld3zw

>, dany being the child of rhaegar and lyanna,
What? Isn't she his sister?

That was the worst subversion of all. Ellaria murders her lover's innocent brother and cousin and completely destroys his house. A peasant concubine and her bastard daughters launch a coup and supposedly all the Dorne nobles just go along with it.

Going to ammend this. Aegon does not marry sansa, he marries Arya.

At ned's execution Yoren was behind Arya. When ned claims he's taking the black Yoren can grab arya, get her on the ship that he's taking ned on. Both ned and arya will be taken to pentos, to the aegon campaign. In some way Aegon and Arya bond, maybe they bond before Arya learns he is a prince, as Arya has a way with the commonfolk and quickly befriends them. Arya is a good match for alliances, just like sansa and is with Aegon before his invasion. They will have a betrothal before Aegon lands, Ned is less of a hostage and more a willing hostage, the north and riverlands would willingly follow Aegon to war. This makes everyone happier.

Aegon is also a much better match with Arya. Ned will see Aegon as a young boy claiming the throne like Robert, he's a good fighter and has the makings of a good king, like robert did at that age. Arya is referenced often to be like Lyanna, robert's betrothed. Ned will realise the two are much like Robert and Lyanna.

Ned wouldn't make any promises of Sansa's hand, as he does not know if she's safe and she is betrothed to joff. After Aegon's victory Sansa will marry Sweetrobin, of the vale. Lysa had planned it beforehand and this would be a smart move for Aegon and Ned as it keeps the vale loyal and neutral, lowering any conflicts. It also keeps the large alliance alive, the north, the riverlands, the vale will all be connected to Aegon the king.

supposedly. but It makes sense in many ways that Dany is the child of Rhaegar and Lyanna. The timelines match, Ned is madly protective of dany. He quits as hand and storms out because robert wants to kill dany, keep in mind at this point the lannisters hate the starks, Ned needs Robert on his side, but he risks his entire family's safety over the assassination of Dany. He promised lyanna something, lyanna had a mystery baby. I believe he promised the safety of dany, lyanna's mystery baby.

>There are people on this board who think Game of Thrones is realistic or in anyway a good portrayal of medieval life

>Game of Thrones
Fuck off.

That's what it's known as to the masses retard, accept it. The fact that this is so loved on Veeky Forums is very telling of their understanding of history or how they think politics in general work

Don't ever respond to me again.

Who the fuck is "Ned"? Sounds like some Scottish farmer. That is Boromir, isn't it?

nah, it's Sharpe

youtube.com/watch?v=-Fy3tSim3to

Pure bait, if you can't see how Barristsn and Jaime's situations are different you are an imbecile

>People like to pretend Eddard Stark is a just and honorable man, he's just a fucking hack who makes everything worse
That's the whole point you dumb fuck.He's so blind to his honor that he fucks everything up. That's why everyone likes him, because he's a dumb man with good intentions in a fucked up world where that gets your head cut off.

>he's a dumb man
Prove it.

He didn't wring Littlefinger's weaselly neck when he had the opportunity to do so.

went down south, only his bones came back

He had no way of knowing that Littlefinger is evil. As far as he knew, Petyr is a good friend of his wife, who's been really helpful so far.

>dany being the child of rhaegar and lyanna,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Preston fan, probably.

youtube.com/watch?v=m-u2gUM4Vvc

These videos will help you understand young ones.

>He actually seriously believes in this shit
Yeah, she isn't. At all.

Screencapped and added to my "butthurt r+l=j fans" folder, you won't be laughing when a dream of spring comes out.

Holy shit, you actually support that nonsense?

>a dream of spring comes out.
Yeah, I won't be laughing, cause the old age will kill me first.

If you watch the entire series of 3 parts it's very grounded and the timeline preston presents makes sense.

It's one of his better theories, there's no magical bullshit, there isn't blood raven warging 400 things. It's just people and times.

You have to admit Ashara Dayne exists and ned loved her.

At this point, denying R+L=J should be grounds for being locked up in an asylum. It's like believing in the flat earth.

>Preston theory
>Grounded
I'll admit I enjoy his content, but his theories are at best tinfoil tier.

>Jon's mother is Lyanna.

Explain why when questioned about Ashara Dayne, ned says "never ask me about Jon."

I am not interested in debating with a lunatic.

Barristan didn't switch sides at the Trident. He was badly wounded and spent the remainder of the war recovering. By the time he was on his feet again, Aerys was dead. Can't betray a corpse. He just accepted a new post, since his former king was dead.

for all the detail he tries to put into to avoid it, Martin's characters are awefully thin contrivances

Both Boromir and Sharpe were better examples of good men in bad situations than Ned ever was.

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TO POP YOUR

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youtube.com/watch?v=AoHSLwOmNS8 YOUR GAME OF THRONES THEME SONG ALARM BLASTS THROUGH YOUR HOUSE

>YOU INSTINCTIVELY JUMP INTO YOUR BACKYARD TRAINING YARD, FITTED WITH BATTLE-ROPES & A "FIGHTING PIT" STYLE DOTHRAKI ACTION COURSE

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>"ASHAYA "SNITCHES GET STICHES" "JUST" TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT! YOUR YOUTUBE CAREER IS OVER. AZIZ & SEAN BARELY HAD YOU ON THE PODCAST THIS YEAR BECAUSE YOU'RE A TOXIC CUNT WHO STARTS SHIT WITH MORE POPULAR YOUTUBERS LIKE ME. IT'S TIME FOR THE VALYRIAN STEEL DAGGER RETIREMENT PLAN"

-Preston Jacobs, 2015

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Ned doesn't want anyone to know Jon is part Targ, but he also doesn't want to wrongly drag Ashara's name through the mud by claiming Jon is hers so he keeps his silence and shuts down anyone that asks.
GRRM flat out confirmed Jon's parentage to D&D and they told Sean Bean who has been adamant that Jon isn't Ned's son for years. This "mystery" was solved shortly after A Game of Thrones was published and we're just waiting for the final reveal.

>i am so smart, all you dummies don't even know history lmao sad

Literally no one with a fucking brain pretends it's an accurate representation of medieval life. It's just an interesting character-driven story that's a nice read and currently unfinished with enough plot threads that it's fun to speculate on. Take your wrongfun autism and fuck off to another thread if it pisses you off so much.

You mean the theory that's been straight-up confirmed by the show? Ok user

>R+L=J

>inb4 the deranged prestonfag brings up Dorne and Shireen, as if it's even remotely on the same level

>thinking the show is true to the books

In the books, tyrion had a chain at the battle of the blackwater, in the show there was no chain.
If d&d can't even figure out a chain, they certainly can't figure out B+A=J, R+L=D, E+C=R,S,A,B,R

The show and the books have next to nothing in common anymore, but there are some things we are sure will happen in some way. R+L=J, Shireen will burn, Hold the door, and ressing Jon is pretty damn likely, but the context around those situations will most likely be extremely different.

>Shireen will burn
You fucking delete this you piece of shit. Shireen Baratheon is the crown princess of the seven kingdoms, the future queen of the andals, the first men, the rhoynar and the stony men. She will wed sweet robin and birth the stallion that mounts the world.

Shireen!

>he doesn't know

user, GRRM told D&D how every single major characters' arc goes, as well as where the story is going overall. You're either stupid or in denial if you think R+L=J won't be revealed in the books too.

It's guaranteed that "20 good men" won't be the reason she burns, but it definitely will happen.

When playing Paladin types I just ask myself, what would Mr. Rogers do?

gay mostron

>then we do have a point which Barristan has to reevaluate where his loyalties lie since his obligations could swing either way. His real mistake here is choosing the easier, seemingly less honorable path and sticking with Bobby at that point.

Not really. If his oath is to the king as you say, and not to the Targaryen dynasty specifically, then by this point Baratheon power is consolidated enough that it's the right thing to him to stay put rather than to go off to serve an exile pretender.

>Barristan switches sides at the trident when Rhaegar is killed, joins Bobby B. Ned thinks Barristan is cool (Barristan actively switched sides against his sworn ruler)
>Jaime switches sides and slays the mad king when his father arrives with an army. Ned thinks Jaime is the worst
Barristan is a legit honorable dude who honestly tries to do what he sees is best. Jaime's an asshole who doesn't really learn honor until he travels with Brienne.

>Bobby B wants to kill Dany and Viserys so the Dothraki don't kill hundreds of thousands in a war
>Ned is against killing two people to save thousands of innocent smallfolk.
Robert was talking about killing a 13-year-old girl who *might* be a threat some day. At the time, there were few-to-no indications that she was ever going to be a serious contestant for the Iron Throne.

And even if your two points were valid, you're completely ignoring all of the other honorable shit Ned does.
>Always carrying out his own executions, as a man should take responsibility for his actions
>Becoming Hand of King even when he doesn't want to, because the good of realm comes before himself
>Lies about his nephew's true heritage, at great cost to his own public and private image, in order to save him from anti-Targaryen rage.