I once read a fanfiction that was just Ned fighting himself and trying to walk away from Catelyn’s door in the middle of the night because he didn’t want to impose on her but he was just soooo horny 😭
Ir was one of the hottest things I’ve ever read, I can’t believe the author deleted it
just when i was abt to ask u for the link omyyy😭😭😭😭
One of my favorite things to think about nedcat is probably how embarrassed 20 year old Ned was when he realized how badly he wanted his wife lol
he was embarrassed, I agree with that, id like to think that it hits him out of nowhere and suddenly he doesn’t know where to look or what to do with himself after. he’s 20, still figuring out how to be a husband, and then all at once he realizes just how much he wants her, and it completely throws him off.
but I think what makes it feel more like him is that it doesn’t stay at all that simple.
because once that initial embarrassment settles, even while it’s still there, it starts to come with other thoughts. it’s not just “I want my wife,” it becomes “how can I want her like this when I’ve already given her reasons to be hurt by me?” and that’s where the guilt starts to creep in.
so the feeling doesn’t go away. if anything it gets stronger, but it’s not light anymore. he’s aware that the closeness he suddenly wants is something he hasn’t really made easy for her, not with everything he’s kept from her, not with the way their marriage began.
and that’s where it turns a little more sorrowful. laced with thatrealization he keeps to himself. he’s embarrassed, yes, but also aware that his feelings are growing in a marriage he’s already marked with hurt, and he can’t separate the two.
well for one it gets really hard to continue a fic that i stopped updating for a couple of months, and even harder when i feel like i’ve already lost the rhythm of it including things like the tone, the pacing, even how the characters sounded in my head before. it’s almost like relearning the story all over again.
and then there’s the pressure too, like even just thinking about the people waiting for it makes it harder to write, because i don’t want to come back with something that feels off or rushed. most of the time i end up waiting until it clicks again instead of pushing out something i’m not satisfied with. (i do appreciate u and the other messages in the inbox asking for an update, though, bc it makes me feel like people still care about the story, so thank u!)
In book 1 Catelyn thinks she wouldn’t have cared if Ned had a dozen bastards as long as they are out of sight. Do you think this is actually how she feels because at that point Ned and her were deeply in love and think she’s lying to herself. She would have cared and been hurt, right? Kinda strange she thinks that this is wouldn’t have bothered there as much. To know Ned would be constantly sleeping with other women
It’s less “Catelyn is lying to herself” and more “Catelyn is speaking from the rules she was raised to accept.”
like we all know that in westeros, highborn men having bastards isn’t unusual however what is unusual (and humiliating) is acknowledging one and raising him alongside trueborn children. That’s the line that gets crossed with Jon. So when Catelyn says she wouldn’t have cared about a dozen bastards out of sight, she’s framing it in the context of what’s considered tolerable for a noble wife: discretion, distance, and no public reminder.
but yk i think that doesn’t mean she would’ve been emotionally unaffected. I think she’s separating two things in her mind: a) what she believes she is supposed to endure as a lady of her station b) what would actually hurt her as a wife who loves Ned
by the time of Book 1, she does love him deeply but their marriage didn’t start that way. It began as duty, and a lot of her emotional framework is still shaped by that earlier mindset. So it’s easier for her to say, “I could have accepted that” because, in theory, most women do.
the key difference with Jon is that he isn’t abstract. He’s there. He has Ned’s face, and Ned’s attention. He’s a living, visible reminder of what feels like is a betrayal anf a disruption of her children’s place. That’s what makes it unbearable.
so yeah, realistically, she probably would have been hurt if Ned had multiple bastards, even if they were kept away. But she wouldn’t have had to confront that hurt every day, and that distance would’ve made it easier to swallow, or at least to perform acceptance.
It’s not that she feels nothing, i think it lands more on the side that she’s been taught that some kinds of pain are simply part of being a wife, and you’re expected to endure them perfectky.
why is it that someone can send me the most gut-wrenching angst prompt and a tooth-rotting fluff prompt back to back and i’ll just sit here like “this is hilarious”
will u be open to writing a fic that is a ned/ashara main ?
hi anon! i dont think im the right person for that, tbh. its just that i lovenedcat so much that i cant physically write either of them as another character's main love itnerest
What do you think was the relationship like between Ned and the different members of the Tully family? Because we are not given much information about it in canon. But did they like him? Certainly less after he brought Jon home right? Sometimes in fanfics they openly hostile towards Ned because of this. But I am not entirely sure if this is accurate. What do you think? 
I don’t think outright hostility really fits the Tullys, at least not as a default, sustained reaction.
They’re a proud family, very conscious of “family, duty, and honor”, but they’re also political and measured. Someone like Hoster knows he wouldn’t gain anything from open aggression toward Ned, who is not only his son-in-law but also Warden of the North. Brynden, for all his bluntness, is still perceptive enough to understand that his restraint matters. He might be more direct, even cutting, but not needlessly cruel. He’s more the type to say exactly what Ned needs to hear and then leave it there.
So instead of open hostility, I imagine disapproval that is clearly expressed, but yk controlled.
I do think they would confront ned about it, though. Butt this is more likely to happen in private conversations in which the gravity what he’s done is made very clear. They would emphasize what bringing Jon home implies: the insult to Catelyn, the potential damage to her standing, and the long-term implications for her trueborn children. They most likely would even suggest that the boy be sent away, but Ned being Ned, he wouldn’t budge. And the Tullys know better than to argue further.
As for Edmure, I actually like the idea that when he’s younger, he might react more emotionally less filtered, more openly upset on Catelyn’s behalf, but he wouldn’t go confronting Ned abt it either. His loyalty to Cat would still be strong, just expressed in a more controlled way.
Their anger would depend a lot on context like timing, circumstance, emotional state. In a moment of heightened emotion, sure, someone like Brynden might be harsher, or Hoster more openly condemning. But that’s situational, not their constant.. baseline.
And since this is all filling in gaps canon leaves open, it really does come down to interpretation.
LOOK AT THAT SEPT. Im still crying over this btw wdym theres a SEPT. IN WINTERFELL. WDYM THE WARDEN OF THE NORHT HAD A SEPT BUILT FOR HIS WIFE BC HE LOVES HER SO MUCH??? WDYM THERES A SPACE FOR HER GODS IN A PLACE THAT WAS NEVER MEANT FOR THEM. WDYM HE MADE ROOM FOR HER FAITH LIKE THAT
How do you think Ned and Catelyn’s early dynamic would’ve been like had Lyanna survived and both she and Benjen remained in Winterfell?
Do you think it would’ve affected them falling in love?
I don’t think Lyanna and Benjen being in Winterfell would change things in a drastic, make-or-break way at least not when it comes to Ned and Catelyn falling in love. They would still get there. If anything, it might even happen more easily, simply bc Ned wouldn’t be dragging the the weight of the “I fathered a bastard” narrative hanging over their marriage.
The emotional landscape around Ned would be very different, tho. With Lyanna alive and Benjen present, Winterfell wouldn’t feel so burdened by absence. Ned himself would likely be less defined by grief and that would inevitably shape how he approaches Catelyn. I think he’d be more open with her, less guarded in those early stages where, in canon, so much is left unsaid.
Lyanna’s presence, though, kinda complicates things for catelyn in a not so big way. She’s someone Catelyn would inevitably measure herself against, even if she tries not to. Lyanna represents a version of the North that is intimate to Ned in a way Catelyn isn’t yet. That could make Catelyn more cautious, more aware of her place in a household where deep bonds already exist without her.
To answer simply, I do think this would shape them differently as individuals, but their relationship would still grow in that same way. The difference is that, without the weight of loss pressing in on them, there might be fewer barriers in the beginning. Less distance to overcome, less silence to misinterpret. So yes, they would still fall in love and likely in a way that feels very familiar to canon.
ellievsbear
prguitarman
izzy806
andulkaphoto
amandla
tangentwithtanner
