AGOT 20 – Eddard IV

He remembered what Robert had told him in the crypts below Winterfell. I am surrounded by flatterers and fools, the king had insisted. Ned looked down the council table and wondered which were the flatterers and which the fools. He thought he knew already.

AGOT 20 – EDDARD IV (GRRM)

POV character
Eddard Stark 4

Chapter (AGOT)
21 / 73

Chapter (ASOIAF)
21 / 344

Summary

Eddard arrives at the Red Keep and is instantly summoned to attend a meeting of the small council. He changes his clothes and rushes there – tired and exhausted. Four council members are waiting for him: Vary, Littlefinger, Grandmaester Pycelle and Renly, the youngest of the Baratheon brothers. The last one resembles Robert in his heyday and Ned gets nostalgic. There is a little bantering between the court members, but Ned has not the patience for these “games”, he wants to do business. He greets the grandmaester and sits down, although he thinks he does not belong here. When Ned asks he is told, that Robert never attends the meetings as he is bored by matters of coins and crops and justice.

Then Renly presents a letter from Robert that includes his orders to stage a tournament in the hands name, with exorbitant high prices. Pycelle asks Littlefinger if the treasury will cover for that and Ned learns that the crown is in debts – 6 million gold pieces, the half of it by the Lannsisters, the other half from different sources: Lord Tyrell as well as the Braavosi bank and Tyroshi trade cartels. Even the church is lending money to Littlefinger. Ned can not believe it as the treasury was full of gold when Robert became king, nevertheless the others assure him, that Robert gave all of it away. When Ned states that he will talk to Robert not to stage the tourney, Renly predicts that it will not have an effect. Ned ends the meeting at that point.

When stepping in the court he remembers the misery of the journey and the fights Arya and Sansa fought. Suddenly Littlefinger appears and tells him to come with him as his wife waits. Eddard does not believe him, but follows the master of coin who leads him out of the castle to the city. When they stop at a brothel Ned takes it as an insult, but Ser Rodrick stops him from killing Littlefinger.

Inside really Catelyn is waiting for her husband and Ned first thinks Bran died. When Catelyn has told the whole story, Ned is shocked and does not understand Tyrion’s intentions. Littlefinger points to Tyrion’s family and puts even more distrust into Ned’s heart. although he makes clear that Robert surely was not part of it, as he is not interested in such things. He instructs them that it would be better to forget as the knife will not hold as proof and better throw it away but Eddard tells him that this insult can not be forgotten.

Littlefinger assures Eddard his help to find the murder of Lord Arryn and says that he may help to avoid Vary’s learning too much. Ned also thinks that the bigger problems stem from the Lannisters and tells Catelyn to return home as he fears more assassination attempts. When they ask Petyr Baelish for some privacy he leaves the room. Eddard orders Caetlyn instantly to muster the forces of House Tallhart and Glover to man the old castle at Moat Cailin and send word to Lord Manderly to strengthen the defenses of Whiteharbor. He – more or less – tells her to prepare for a war although he hopes to avoid it. His plan is to find proof about Arryn’s murderers (the Lannisters) and afterwards that Robert will listen to him (and help).

Thoughts

• Ned looked down the council table and wondered which were the flatterers and which the fools. He thought he knew already.
  The problem for Ned here: All of the attending councilmen are flatterers, but only one (Renly) could even remotely considered a fool. Littlefinger, Pycelle and Varys are much but not fools. Eddard is a fool thinking he knows them.
• “Though much better dressed,” Littlefinger quipped. “Lord Renly spends more on clothing than half the ladies of the court.”
  A very “subtle” hint to Renlys sexual orientation, although “being a well dressed man” is playing not very nicely with stereotypes.
• On one hand Littlefinger seems to try to calm Ned and Catelyn, on the other hand he (indirectly) pushes Ned nearer to the edge. Excellently done by him. I still do not know what his intentions are, but destabilization is surely one of his goals.
• “Leave Lord Varys to me, sweet lady. If you will permit me a small obscenity—and where better for it—I hold the man’s balls in the palm of my hand.”
  Does he really, I can not remember.

Alcázar of Segovia, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons – Link

AGOT 16 – Eddard III

When it was over, he said, “Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell.” – “All that way?” Jory said, astonished. – “All that way,” Ned affirmed. “The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.”

AGOT 16 – EDDARD III (GRRM)

POV character
Eddard Stark 3

Chapter (AGOT)
17 / 73

Chapter (ASOIAF)
17 / 344

Summary

Arya was found after 4 days and Eddards biggest fear is, that she was found by the Lannisters but his steward tells him that it was in fact Jory, the Stark’s captain of guards. Sadly the guards brought her directly to the king and Eddard rushes to save her. He finds the king in a crowded room and thinks that this may not be good as he would have preferred to settle the affair in private.

Arya is crying and Ned demands to know why she was not brought to him. Cersei snaps back, but Robert apologizes and says he did not intend to scare the girl and only wanted to be done with the business quickly. The queen confronts Arya that Mycah and her beat Joffrey with clubs and Nymeria, the wolf, bite in his arm. Arya denies that and says Nymeria only protected her, but Joffrey repeats the false story.

The king orders both of them tell their story and reminds them that lying to a king is a crime. Arya has to start. Renly starts to laugh, when Arya admits that she thrown “Lion’s Tooth” into the Trident and is escorted outside by Barristan. After Joffrey told his (very different) story, Sansa is called as witness. She says that she can not remember, much to Arya’s anger.

Robert wants to close the case and tells Ned to disciple his daughter as he will see to his son, but queen Cersei insists on a punishment, at least for the wolf. To Robert’s not very well hidden delight, Nymeria was not found with Arya. Cersei promises a big bounty if somebody brings her the skin. And in addition she reminds Robert, that there is still a wolf in the camp. Robert orders to kill him, although Ned, Arya and Sansa argue against it.

Robert orders the king’s justice Payne to do it, although Ned demands that he does it himself. It seems that Ned and Robert’s relationship is severely damaged in this moment. Eddard decides that he will execute the king’s order himself, a move that even deepens Cersei’s mistrust.

After Lady is dead he orders his men to send the corpse back to Winterfell and bury her properly in the north. In this way Cersei Lannister will not get the skin (as she demanded). At his way back he meets Sandor Clegane who found Mycah, rode him down and killed him without mercy.

Thoughts

• Eddard chapters are always on the shorter side of this, strange. Is it because Eddard is such a “dry” man that GRRM does not write any unnecessary descriptions?
• As we know the whole scene out of Sansa’s description we know that Joffrey is lying. This helps the reader to (at least) put Sansa in the “more reliable” narrator corner (at least for the moment).
• What had happened if Sansa told the truth? A very nice what if. I assume Cersei would have brought Robert to break up with Ned, who would have gone back to the north.
• Get her a dog, she’ll be happier for it.
  I think this is the quote for all Sansa/Sandor shippers. I think you read to much into a throwaway line.
• “She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher.”
  A badass-line here by Ned. For all of Stark-fans and northern loyalists out there. And that he denies Cersei the skin by giving Lady a honor guard is awesome as well.

Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons – Link

AGOT 12 – Eddard II

“What do you say, Ned? Just you and me, two vagabond knights on the kingsroad, our swords at our sides and the gods know what in front of us, and maybe a farmer’s daughter or a tavern wench to warm our beds tonight.” – “Would that we could,” Ned said, “but we have duties now, my liege . . .

AGOT 12 – EDDARD II (GRRM)

POV character
Eddard Stark 2

Chapter (AGOT)
13 / 73

Chapter (ASOIAF)
13 / 344

Summary

Robert wakes Eddard before dawn to discuss matters of state outside of the camp. They ride for a while until they start to talk. Robert muses on leaving everything behind and they talk about his favorite topic: women. When Robert asks about Jon Snow’s mother – Wylla as Ned once told him – Eddard blocks and changes the topic.

Robert brings up a letter that was sent by his master of whisperers – Varys. The letter contains information that was sent from Ser Jorah Mormont: Daenary Targaryen has married a Dothraki horselord of Essos. They consider what to do about that, Ned (as always) is the voice of reason, but Robert (as always) is vengeful against all Targaryen blood. Ned remembers how Robert did not frown upon the murder of innocent children, a thing that nearly brought them apart.

They talk about how Robert wanted to send assassins to the Targaryens, but Jon Arryn stopped him from doing so, and now it is too late. Robert thinks that Khal Drogo might be a threat, but Ned assures him, that the horde will stay on the other side of the sea. Ned pushes Robert to name a Warden of the east, and if he does not want to name Robin Arryn, his suggestion is the king’s own brother Stannis.

The king is silent and Ned guesses right, that Robert already gave the honor to Jamie Lannister. Ned is against that, as Jaime will once be Warden of West and East combined – too much power in his opinion. But Robert insists and does not believe Ned’s concerns, as Ned thinks the “Kingslayer” is not trustworthy at all. He tells Robert how he found Jaime sitting on the throne that belonged to Robert, with the killed king beside him. But Robert only laughs and assuages Eddard before challenging him for a race. Eddard hesitates and wonders what he is even doing here before following his king.

Thoughts

• I love how these early Eddard chapters are more or less Robert-chapters. Robert (as I already wrote) is such a great character – Eddard himself is always a bit stiff and bland. But still it is clear how those two became friends – the combo “the straight man and the bon vivant” always works.
• “The barrows of the First Men.”
  Strangely these are never mentioned again.
• I (again) totally forgot, that we learn so soon, that Jorah is an informant to Varys.
• And Rhaegar . . . how many times do you think he raped your sister? How many hundreds of times?
  This quote indicates how long Rhaegar and Lyanna were together. It never occured to anybody that there could be more to that relationship and why Rheagar was not at his wife’s side?
• Some pox-ridden Pentoshi cheesemonger had her brother and her walled up on his estate with pointyhatted eunuchs all around them,
  Unsullied already in chapter 13(!) never saw that before.
• How could Jaime ever be an effective Warden of the East – I always thought you need at least the power of a House behind that – Jaime has no House.
• Jaime is an Oathbreaker – something that Ned despises. It is as easy as that. In combination with his surname that alone explains Ned’s distaste.
• Is it clear WHY Robert was named the head of the rebellion? Was it because Lyanna was his betrothed? Or only because of the Trident? Because it was mainly Ned’s family that suffered, and Jon Arryn who raised the banners…
• Book vs. show:
  • Nothing special regarding the difference here

Popular Science Monthly Volume 16, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons – Link

AGOT 04 – Eddard I

Robert groaned with good-humored impatience. “If I wanted to honor you, I’d let you retire. I am planning to make you run the kingdom and fight the wars while I eat and drink and wench myself into an early grave.”

AGOT 04 – EDDARD I (GRRM)

POV character
Eddard Stark 1

Chapter (AGOT)
5 / 73

Chapter (ASOIAF)
5 / 344

Summary

The king’s party arrives at Winterfell. It is a huge group with hundreds of riders and knights. Also part of the host is the queen – Cersei Lannister as well as her two brothers. Eddard thinks about the Robert he had known in his youth and that he had seen for the last time 15 and 9 years ago – at the end of the rebellion and when he supported him in defeating an uprising at the iron islands. Since then Robert – once a respectable and fine warrior and a “maiden’s dream” – has become fat. Nevertheless he did not lose his boisterous moods.

After the formalities, the first thing that Robert does is asking Eddard to bring him to the crypts as he want to honor Edddard’s sister Lyanna She was once his betrothed and died in Ned’s hands during the rebellion, as the crown prince Rheagar Targaryen abducted and raped her. His queen – Cersei Lannister – is very angry as she sees it as an insult (especially on herself) that the first thing Robert does is going to the grave of his old girlfriend.

When walking through the crypt, along long lines of Stark graves (in former times the King’s in the North) they talk how Robert still despises Rheagar Targaryen for what he had done to Lyanna. He tells Eddard that he regularly dreams about the decisive events at the Trident, when he and Rhaegar decided the war within a duell and Robert killed the crown prince, ending the line of Targaryen kings. Robert muses of how the history might have been different (better?) to him if they had lost on the Trident, and in glimpses he shows the bon-vivant that he still is, when talking about women, food and party.

In front of Lyanna’s grave (that is beside the grave’s of Eddard’s father and his older brother) they talk about Jon Arryn, the second father of Ned and Robert. Robert mentiones that Jon, who acted as hand of the king, dwindled away within merely two weeks, without any indication of illness before that. Then they talk about Lysa, Jon’s wife and that she fled Kingslanding with her son, who should have given as ward to Lord Tywin Lannister. Eddard offers to take the sickly boy instead as he is his nephew, but Robert believes that Lysa will never agree and Lannister would see it as insult.

After that they come to the point that Robert brings up the main reason of his visit. He wants to give the position as Hand of the King to Eddard. The Hand is the second most powerful position in the seven kingdoms. Eddard had suspected as much, but is hesitant. The next thing his king offers he did not suspect and takes him by surprise: Robert offers that Eddard’s oldest daughter Sansa should marry his son crown prince Joffrey, effectively making her the futur queen of the seven kingdoms. Eddard asks for some time to talk to his wife Catelyn about those offers, and Robert agrees on that generously.

Thoughts

• I like Eddard chapters, they are always very straight forward, and i love Robert – such a great character. But surely not the right man for his position – he should have stayed in the stormlands as their lord – that would have been exactly right up his alley. I think GRRM did some “main family” traits very “on the nose” (but that is ok) – the highly reserved and Starks from the cold north, the hot tempered Martells from the south, the loud and rumbling stormlords…
• Lots of memories on the rebellion and Lyanna – a small memory on her death here – a memory how she “was fond of flowers” there. Funny how soon it is shown how important that event (Lyanna’s death) was for those two men. I have the feeling their relationship never was the same afterwards. But it is still very visible how different they are mourning: Robert still in loud fury, while Eddard’s grieve is silent and deep. Beautiful characterization of these two.
• The despise for the Lannisters is blatantly visible by both men, and I think that also instills this mistrust at the readers side. In the first book the Lannisters are clearly put in the “bad guys”-corner – except Tyrion. In later books we will get to know some decent Lannisters (Genna) and even Jaime will show his decent side – later.
• Book vs. show: I will concentrate on Robert here, as the Lannisters will get their spotlight later and this chapter is mainly Ned and Robert. I seem to remember that Mark Addy was a casting joice that was a little controversial at first. But: I have to say that Robert (is at the moment) the character I have the most trouble with to find my “book Robert” again. Even when Ned thinks back to the “clean shaven maiden’s dream” I caught myself trying to remember of other pictures of Addy without beard. A tough one for me, and I do not know why, maybe because Addy acted out Robert to its fullest, I do not know.

Håkan Svensson (Xauxa), CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons – Link