#eddard stark

[snowygifs]

NEDCAT; GoT, S1 E1

Eddard Stark with his lady wife, Catelyn Tully.

[theaisyapping]

NedCat doodle

[valyriandirewolf]

Tobho Mott paused a long moment and set aside his wine. "The Hand did call upon me, with Lord Stannis, the king's brother. I regret to say, they did not honor me with their patronage."

Ned looked at the man evenly, saying nothing, waiting. He had found over the years that silence sometimes yielded more than questions. And so it was this time

"They asked to see the boy," the armorer said, "so I took them back to the forge."

"The boy," Ned echoed. He had no notion who the boy might be. "I should like to see the boy as well."

Tobho Mott gave him a cool, careful look. "As you wish, my lord," he said with no trace of his former friendliness. He led Ned out a rear door and across a narrow yard, back to the cavernous stone barn where the work was done. When the armorer opened the door, the blast of hot air that came through made Ned feel as though he were walking into a dragon's mouth. Inside, a forge blazed in each corner, and the air stank of smoke and sulfur. Journeymen armorers glanced up from their hammers and tongs just long enough to wipe the sweat from their brows, while bare-chested apprentice boys worked the bellows.

The master called over a tall lad about Robb's age, his arms and chest corded with muscle. "This is Lord Stark the new Hand of the King," he told him as the boy looked at Ned through sullen blue eyes and pushed back sweat-soaked hair with his fingers. Thick hair, hair, shaggy and un kempt and black as ink. The shadow of a new beard darkened his jaw. "This is Gendry. Strong for his age, and he works hard. Show the Hand that helmet you made, lad." Almost shyly, the boy led them to his bench, and a steel helm shaped like a bull's head, with two great curving horns.

Ned turned the helm over in his hands. It was raw steel, unpolished but expertly shaped. "This is fine work. I would be pleased if you would let me buy it."

The boy snatched it out of his hands. "It's not for sale."

Tobho Mott looked horror-struck. "Boy, this is the King's Hand. If his lordship wants this helm, make him a gift of it. He honors you by asking."

"I made it for me," the boy said stubbornly.

"A hundred pardons, my lord," his master said hur-riedly to Ned. "The boy is crude as new steel, and like new steel would profit from some beating. That helm is journeyman's work at best. Forgive him and I promise I will craft you a helm like none you have ever seen."

"He's done nothing that requires my forgiveness. Gendry, when Lord Arryn came to see you, what did you talk about?"

"He asked me questions is all, m'lord."

"What sort of questions?"

The boy shrugged. "How was I, and was I well treated, and if I liked the work, and stuff about my mother. Who she was and what she looked like and all."

"What did you tell him?" Ned asked.

The boy shoved a fresh fall of black hair off his forehead. "She died when I was little. She had yellow hair, and sometimes she used to sing to me, I remember. She worked in an alehouse."

"Did Lord Stannis question you as well?"

"The bald one? No, not him. He never said no word, just glared at me, like I was some raper who done for his daughter."

"Mind your filthy tongue," the master said. "This is the King's own Hand." The boy lowered his eyes. "A the others call smart boy, but stubborn. That helm . . . the others call him bullheaded, so he threw it in their teeth."

Ned touched the boy's head, fingering the thick black hair. "Look at me, Gendry." The apprentice lifted his face. Ned studied the shape of his jaw, the eyes like blue ice. Yes, he thought, I see it. "Go back to your work, lad. I'm sorry to have bothered you." He walked back to the house with the master. "Who paid the boy's apprentice fee?" he asked lightly.

Mott looked fretful. "You saw the boy. Such a strong boy. Those hands of his, those hands were made for hammers. He had such promise, I took him on without a fee."

"The truth now," Ned urged. "The streets are full of strong boys. The day you take on an apprentice without a fee will be the day the Wall comes down. Who paid for him?"

"A lord," the master said reluctantly. "He gave no name, and wore no sigil on his coat. He paid in gold, twice the customary sum, and said he was paying once for the boy, and once for my silence."

"Describe him."

"He was stout, round of shoulder, not so tall as you. Brown beard, but there was a bit of red in it, I'll swear. He wore a rich cloak, that I do remember, heavy purple velvet worked with silver threads, but the hood shadowed his face and I never did see him clear." He hesitated a moment. "My lord, I want no trouble."

"None of us wants trouble, but I fear these are troubled times, Master Mott," Ned said. "You know who the boy is."

"I am only an armorer, my lord. I know what I'm told."

"You know who the boy is," Ned repeated patiently. "That is not a question."

"The boy is my apprentice," the master said. He looked Ned in the eye, stubborn as old iron. "Who he was before he came to me, that's none of my concern."

Ned nodded. He decided that he liked Tobho Mott, master armorer. "If the day ever comes when Gendry would rather wield a sword than forge one, send him to me. He has the look of a warrior. Until then, you have my thanks, Master Mott, and my promise. Should I ever want a helm to frighten children, this will be the first place I visit."

His guard was waiting outside with the horses. "Did you find anything, my lord?" Jacks asked as Ned mounted up.

"I did," Ned told him, wondering. What had Jon Arryn wanted with a king's bastard, and why was it worth his life?

— A Game of Thrones, Eddard VI

[jurassic-cunt]

Game of Thrones — 1.07 "You Win or You Die"

[random22765]

Everytime someone says "northmen aren't honorable Ned is, because he was raised by Jon Arryn" i feel a bit annoyed.

First of all yeah, northmen are not any epitome of good will or honor. They have as much honor as southern aka a convenient and hypocritical amount. They are maybe more direct, but pretty much still like everyone else in the continent, with varying degrees between individuals. Is not the first part of tha sentence that annoys me.

Is the second part of that sentence that pisses me off because I dont think Jon Arryn is the reason Ned is like that?

One time I have seen people say Ned acts like that because Jon Arryn teached him Traditional Andal Values. And what values are those that differ from the North? (Not to mention the Vale being "extra andal" because the Andals arrived there first is a HC.) Andals and northmen are both cultures that value honor, martial prowess and a modest sense of patriarchal chivalry (when it's convenient. When it's not they politely ignore lol)

Ned is the way he is, for better or for worse, because of a lot of reasons and not because he was colonized by Jon Arryn or something like that.

[novaursa]

I’m sorry but I don’t like Robert Baratheon. I get it, he was a great warrior but he’s just such a terrible person. I really have no idea how Ned was friends with him.

To be fair, most Westerosi lords are terrible people by modern standards. Ned is unusually principled even within House Stark, so using him as the moral baseline automatically makes almost everyone around him look worse.

Robert was violent, neglectful, unfaithful and ultimately a disastrous husband, but none of that makes him uniquely monstrous for his society. And I’m probably going to get jumped for this again, but the North is hardly some enlightened moral paradise either. 🫣 Their history and customs can be considerably harsher and more brutal than anything Robert personally represents.

Ned and Robert becoming close also makes perfect sense when you remember they were fostered together under Jon Arryn from childhood. Friendship does not require two people to share identical morals, especially in Westeros, where the available pool of emotionally healthy men is approximately six people deep.

[syllage]

it's 9:30 pm on a Sunday and i'm once again crying about Ned Stark

[kachhh100]

a post in honor of my boundless love for sean bean and his roles that I love

only a select few know that my previous hyperfixation was on the lord of the rings, and in particular on aramir......... maybe you would like to see my old art sometimes, you just need to hint😼