º . ♔ ⸻ the capital of king’s landing welcomes EDDARD STARK of HOUSE STARK, the FORMER RULING LORD of THE NORTH. news borne by a raven sends word that she bears a resemblance to VIGGO MORTENSEN. the FORTY SEVEN year old CIS MAN is reputed to be LOYAL and HONEST, but with the eyes of court watching their every move, they might turn out to be COLD and JUDGEMENTAL. when songs are sung, their verses speak of whispers of promises fulfilled, fists clenched and mouth silent, & chapped winter lips turned down into a frown. whispers throughout the seven kingdoms claim that their allegiance lies with HOUSE STARK, where they conspire to DETHRONE THE BASTARD JOFFREY. but in the end fealty means little when you play the game of thrones.
eddard stark cannot remember much of his childhood. he did not think he would have to. he remembers bits and pieces. he remembers his father teaching him how to hold a sword. he remembers his mother placing kisses on his forehead. he remembers sneaking over the walls of winterfell with lyanna and benjen only to get caught by brandon and dragged back kicking and laughing. he had been a child once, not so stoic as he turned out to be. as he grew up, the burden of being a stark began to set in, and he became the stoic stark he was always meant to be. eventually he started discouraging his sister from her wildness, something she never seemed to get over. then again, she was only a girl. and when he was old enough, he went to the eyrie, and he met lord robert baratheon, a man who would become his best friend. though, he never forgot his siblings in the north and often wrote to them, lyanna especially.
at the tourney at harrenhal, he met howland reed and ashara dayne, the latter being the first woman he ever loved. he even told brandon he would marry her one day, which resulted in brandon laughing at him. but then, a year after being crowned the queen of love and beauty, lyanna was “taken”. ned’s father, rickard, and brandon went to demand her return, only to be rewarded with wildfire. their ashes were all that remained. then, the rebellion began, and robert took the helm under jon arryn’s leadership. after the battle of the trident and the death of rhaegar targaryen, ned went in search for his sister. he found her. and he found her dying with a babe swaddled in her arms. promise me… promise me, ned. he took the babe and claimed him as his own, much to his new wife’s ire.
with catelyn, though, he was happy. together, they had robb, sansa, arya, bran, and rickon. he was happy in the north, as happy as a man who’d lost his entire family could be. his father, brother, sister, and mother were all gone, and ned couldn’t even keep benjen, watching him do his duty to the north at the wall. little did ned know, he would be there soon. it all began when robert baratheon traveled north to ask him to be the hand of the king. his wife had convinced him: the cup has passed, and you must drink from it, like it or not. and so ned went south. he went south, and he discovered more than he wanted to. joffrey baratheon was not a baratheon at all but a lannister.
from there, robert dies, and ned thinks there is safety in the law. however, littlefinger and cersei lannister have more in store for him. what would have been an execution for “betrayal” turns into taking the black, and ned feels the weight of the night’s watch on his shoulders. would all of house stark be banished to the freezing north? he wishes he’d never agreed to come south. never agreed to marry sansa to joffrey. starks should never go past the neck. it always seemed to end poorly.
