#chapter: eddard

[poisonousrain222]

When [Arya] got to the part where she threw Joffrey’s sword into the middle of the Trident, Renly Baratheon began to laugh. The king bristled. “Ser Barristan, escort my brother from the hall before he chokes.” Lord Renly stifled his laughter. “My brother is too kind. I can find the door myself.” He bowed to Joffrey. “Perchance later you’ll tell me how a nine-year-old girl the size of a wet rat managed to disarm you with a broom handle and throw your sword in the river.”

A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin. Chapter: Eddard

i’m crying renly is hilarious 😭😭😭

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard XII      “That was your moment. All you needed to do was climb those steps, and sit. Such a sad mistake.”      “I have made more mistakes than you can possibly imagine,” Ned said, “but that was not one of them.”      “Oh, but it was, my lord,” Cersei insisted. “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard VII      “She forbade him to fight, in front of his brother, his knights, and half the court. Tell me truly, do you know any surer way to force King Robert into the melee? I ask you.”      Ned had a sick feeling in his gut. The eunuch had hit upon the truth; tell Robert Baratheon he could not, should not, or must not do a thing, and it was as good as done.

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard XIII      “Robert...” Joffrey is not your son, he wanted to say, but the words would not come. The agony was written too plainly across Robert’s face; he could not hurt him more. So Ned bent his head and wrote, but where the king had said “my son Joffrey,” he scrawled “my heir” instead. The deceit made him feel soiled. The lies we tell for love, he thought. May the gods forgive me.

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard X      Ned had pulled the tower down afterward, and used its bloody stones to build eight cairns upon the ridge. It was said that Rhaegar had named that place the tower of joy, but for Ned it was a bitter memory. They had been seven against three, yet only two had lived to ride away; Eddard Stark and the little crannogman, Howland Reed. He did not think it omened well that he should dream that dream again after so many years.

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard XIV      The need for deceit was a bitter taste in his mouth, but Ned knew he must tread softly here, must keep his counsel and play the game until he was firmly established as regent. There would be time enough to deal with the succession when Arya and Sansa were safely back in Winterfell, and Lord Stannis had returned to King’s Landing with all his power.

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard XV      “No,” Ned pleaded, his voice cracking. “Varys, gods have mercy, do as you like with me, but leave my daughter out of your schemes. Sansa’s no more than a child.”      “Rhaenys was a child too. Prince Rhaegar’s daughter. A precious little thing, younger than your girls. She had a small black kitten she called Balerion, did you know? I always wondered what happened to him. Rhaenys liked to pretend he was the true Balerion, the Black Dread of old, but I imagine the Lannisters taught her the difference between a kitten and a dragon quick enough, the day they broke down her door.” Varys gave a long, weary sigh, the sigh of a man who carried all the sadness of the world in a sack upon his shoulders. “The High Septon once told me that as we sin, so do we suffer. If that’s true, Lord Eddard, tell me...why is it always the innocents who suffer most, when you high lords play your game of thrones? Ponder it, if you would, while you wait upon the queen. And spare a thought for this as well: The next visitor who calls on you could bring you bread and cheese and the milk of the poppy for your pain...or he could bring you Sansa’s head.”

[stormborns]

Chapters of A Song of Ice & Fire - A Game of Thrones - Eddard III      He descended the tower steps in a red rage. He had led searches himself for the first three days, and had scarcely slept an hour since Arya had disappeared. This morning he had been so heartsick and weary he could scarcely stand, but now his fury was on him, filling him with strength.