Ned Stark May Not Be As Honorable As You Think
Lord Eddard Stark's death is borderline the most iconic in the entire Game of Thrones series.
After being falsely accused of treason, he is publicly executed in The King's Landing — and, many fans claim, this was the moment when they realized that this show was very different from any other.
The honorable protagonist's execution hit people differently…
But what if he was not as honorable as we're used to thinking?
Ned Stark is largely seen as a man of dignity, and definitely not a traitor — rather, a victim of crooked plots orchestrated to shut his mouth forever for knowing and caring too much.
And this is true, at least partially. He totally was falsely accused and his execution was in fact an authorized hitman job. But there was more to him than just pure honor.
Let's take a closer look at his relations with Jon Show. Ned took the newborn child in and claimed him to have been his very own bastard. As we learn much later in the series, Lord Stark has known Jon's real identity all along.
He knew that Jon was a Targaryen, a rightful heir to the throne, and not a bastard — he could not, of course, announce that at the time, or Jon, his little nephew, would've been killed by Robert Baratheon with no remorse.
Sure, King Robert was known for his hatred towards the Targaryens, and he had promised to exterminate every last one of them. At the time, Lord Stark made the right and morally correct choice.
However, later he both allows Jon to leave and join the Night's Watch without ever telling him the truth — and he definitely knows that any member of the Watch loses their rights as an heir. Thus, Ned Stark effectively denies Jon his birthright.
Even more, Eddard agrees to marry his elder daughter, Sansa, to the elder son of his best friend, the usurper of the Iron Throne, that very same Robert Baratheon, continuing to deny Jon's rights further to make his daughter the new queen.
This whole situation depends on the perspective: on one hand, you can claim that Lord Stark has been just trying to protect Jon further and keep his cover; on the other hand, we see him repeatedly deny his nephew his rights as the heir to the Targaryen dynasty and attempt to improve his own positions at the usurper's court.