#anti ned stark

[wingsofhcpe]

actually wait. Why did Ned even had to tell Catelyn Jon was his bastard. Why couldn't he say he like. Found the boy alone in an abandoned house. Its parents dead by disease. Could be Rob's bastard that Rob obviously couldn't keep. Could have been entrusted to him by a dying mother he just happened to be near to when she died.

Or he could have just trusted her with the fucking truth because this is Catelyn Stark we're talking about, not Cersei Lannister (sorry Cersei love). Literally any of these would have resulted in both Cat and Jon being happier.

Imo, that's yet another proof of how shallow and misguided Ned's idea of honour is: so long as it assuages his conscience, he doesn't care who gets hurt for his honourable ideals. He didn't care that his sister's kid grew up neglected at best, abused at worst. He didn't care that he broke his wife's trust and made her miserable. He didn't care that one daughter was forced to be a hostage to the Lannisters without a single ounce of protection, and that his other daughter was effectively lost to the four winds for years and turned into an assassin because if she hadn't, she'd have been killed.

No. He only cared about the holy ideal of "honour", but apparently not about what it means to be honourable and do good by those that depend on you.

[maid-with-sunset-in-her-hair]

Anyways, GRRM wants us to criticize Ned Stark, that’s why he wrote all those Theon POV chapters and used Ser Rodrik to indirectly call Ned a despreciable coward for taking a child hostage and threatening his life to keep Balon in line. His children idolizing him and his wife loving him it’s an obvious POV trap, and it shouldn’t stop you from questioning his decisions and analyzing his actions.

[brydeswhale]

Ned and Arya Stans are just not used to anyone criticizing their faves, so it kind of traumatized them when people are like, “Yeah, not my fave.” Actual critique makes them go into a full meltdown, sadly.

[mneiai]

I'll never understand how people think Ned and Catelyn Stark were good parents. They failed all of their older children, and Jon, and Theon, and would have surely failed their younger children directly if given time.

And this isn't just a "they were cruel to Jon" thing, because they were, Catelyn was an outright abuser and Ned wasn't much better (who the fuck makes their "oh shit, gotta get my son/nephew out of Winterfell" plan be sending a fourteen year old to the fucking Wall? He should have immediately disabused Jon of that idea and sent him to ward at any of the numerous amounts of bannermen who would be honored to take in any part of Ned's family, or, hell, to the Flints or Mormonts or someone who straight up wouldn't care about his birth).

But, anyway, it's Sansa who is the main example of what bad parents they are.

Catelyn was raised as the Tully heir. She knew what Southron politics were like. Literally she had no trouble thinking that the Queen had helped assassinate a Lord Paramount and Hand of the King! And still she took a girl she raised to be naive to a dangerous point and let her be betrothed to the future King, and let her be taken South to maybe the most dangerous place in the land.

Ned was the same. He knew that even though the Targaryens were gone, the South was still dangerous. He knew what the Lannisters were fine doing to children and how easily oathbreaking was excused by knights. Maybe he had far less contact with Sansa because she was a daughter and not his heir, but literally just talking to her about what to expect in the South should have made him decide she shouldn't go.

And it's not as if Robert would have actually forced the betrothal through, or even if he tried, they could have pushed it off years more or sent Sansa first to her grandfather and uncles in the Riverlands to get more acquainted with the South, or any other number of solutions. Hell, ask for Tommen to be given lands and betrothed to Arya instead, even, and that would take enough years they could find a way out of it. Robert's a selfish asshole, but he wanted Ned relatively happy, and he wanted Ned in King's Landing probably more than anything else.

If they were both better parents, they would have fought tooth and nail to keep Sansa in the North or raised her to actually understand life isn't a fairytale. The books keep insisting kids her age are nearly adults, so Sansa should have been told some hard truths about life a year or two before the King came to Winterfell, and at the very least once they realized the King was coming to Winterfell.

And I could rant about the ways they failed Robb and Arya, too, but then I'd be here forever lol

[sunnyhvnny]

i love house stark but i couldn’t like cat in the show or books. it irked me the way she treated jon and i know she thought of him as a bastard but she was so cruel to him especially in the show.

Understandable, I think Cat is a character that people either love or hate. I do think they made her worse in the show though (we’re not counting lady stoneheart in the books lol). Sometimes I like her sometimes I don’t 🤷🏽‍♀️.

I think, for me, I understand her feelings about Jon and why she directs those feelings at him and not on Ned but it still unfair to treat a child like that and personally it just heightens my dislike for Ned because he never stepped in or had a conversation in her. He didn’t have to tell her of Jon’s true parentage but he didn’t always have to shut her down.

[millennial-crone-ao3]

His existence was one big insult to her and until this day, I cannot wrap my head around why Ned didn’t tell her, not even later.

Their suffering, Jon's and Cat's, was Ned's doing.

agot catelyn ii

[sansacherie]

another reason why I detest the ned-viserys "comparisons" is that ned stark literally lost his almost entire family at the age of nineteen as a result of a predator and his "prophecies".

[spacerockfloater]

Honestly, the house Stark (specifically Sansa) stan to house Hightower (specifically Alicent) stan pipeline is so real. It warms my heart that most of the GOT fans who have a soft spot for the Starks sympathise with the Targtowers.

I am genuinely offended that the Team Black folks think they’re one with the Stark fans because Cregan promised Rhaenyra he’d side with her on the war (despite not thinking that she’s important enough to come to her aid immediately, marching down only when the war was over and executing those who poisoned Aegon II). It gives off the same icky energy as when someone who looks entirely different than you calls you ‘twin’: bitch, no the fuck we ain’t! Did you miss Cregan’s first ever voice line in the show? “Duty is sacrifice.” That’s a whole ass parallel to Alicent’s “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice?” that you can’t ignore.

And I can’t help but laugh each time someone says that Ned would do right by Rhaenyra. Like, no the fuck he wouldn’t! One look at her firstborns and he would have marched straight to Dragonstone! We’re just completely overriding show canon for the shake of delusion at this point.

Anyways, stan house Stark and house Baratheon for wiping the Targaryens off the face of the earth forevermore!

[silverflameataraxia]

Sansa and Jeyne are the only people to call Arya ugly.

Meanwhile Ned, Jon, Gendry, Lady Smallwood, and the kindly man have all commented on her beauty, but this fandom ignores it in favor of two middle-school-aged mean girls who have to put Arya down to feel good about themselves.

[sownwithstars]

flirting vs harassment

[rise-my-angel]

If I had a nickle for everytime fandom glorified some emo loser shitbag I wouldn't be poor anymore.

Everyone claims people loved Rhaegar but like no one can name a single friend he had that wasn't men who WORKED for him. He had no friends, he just played sad songs on his harp singing that no one wants to listen to his obsessive prophecy rants anymore.

He got crushed to death by a war hammer. The way Rhaegar died was cooler then he was as a living person.

Meanwhile Ned Stark is out here calling the King fat to his face, strangling a dude in the street in broad daylight for insinuating a joke about his wife, arguing with the Queen seconds after he woke up from a feverish sleep, and letting his kids all keep Wolf pups as pets that he KNOWS will grow to be the size of a fucking car.

Put up anything Rhaegar did and I'll match it with anything Ned Stark did but that he did it cooler more unhinged and didn't have to be a creep while doing it.

[rosewaffles]

^^^@brydeswhale tags

“I wonder if being forced to carry around his own potential murder weapon at what amounts to rehearsals for his potential future murder could have possibly warped Theon Greyjoy’s personality?”

And other questions Ned Stans refuse to answer.

[sunnyhvnny]

Bro Sean bean can clap these cheeks but ned stark dun wan'it

I love Sean Bean. Boromir has my heart but Ned Stark makes my eyes roll so hard I think I’m gonna go blind.

[elainarcheronstotebag]

saddest part of elia’s story is that she didn’t even get to haunt the narrative. her death literally meant nothing to no one except for dorne/house martell. no, instead show!lyanna, the woman who ran away with her husband gets the sympathy and her legacy lives on. her ghost haunts robert/cersei/ned, but barely anyone even mentions elia’s name except for oberyn. elia died is such a tragic and cruel way with her children, and will never receive justice because to do so would harm lyanna’s memory.

and i don’t blame book!lyanna, because she was young and most likely a victim herself, i would like to think she’d be angry that elia died like that “for her.” i literally fall to my knees and sob anytime i think of my poor sweet beautiful angel elia and her babies:(

[maisiestyle]

"Ned Stark's Precious Little Girl"

Arya is a mix of both her parents. But as her story unfolds, with every new chapter and book, Arya has moved beyond her parents and into a far more dynamic character.

Ned was a role model to Arya, she loved him more than almost anyone (she loves Jon most of all). She holds on to Ned's memory now more than any of his children.

Ned is stubborn, quick to anger, loyal to a fault, and deeply devoted to his family to the point where he sacrificed his honor and died for his children.

Both Arya & Ned had a dislike for Southern culture. Which is double odd considering Ned was fostered in the South: That was never truly his place. Whereas Cat and Sansa are very much creatures made for the South.

Treatment of the smallfolk and not judging those lower than their station... That says a lot about their character, something Ned, Lyanna, Arya & Jon have all shown in the books.

Arya & Ned are similar but different as well. Where Ned was lacking, his ability to not see the truth in the lies around him - Arya has developed beyond that point. Ned was too slow and unyielding until it was too late and he died. Cat was to heedless, prideful, and emotional - that cost her life. At the beginning Arya was a mix of both her parents BUT her journey so far has made her grow and develop where her parents had not. By Book 5, Arya is extremely artful and considerate, patient and willing to face the truth in all its ugliness, adaptable and fluid like water - a changeling. That's how she'll survive where her parents did not.

While Sansa is learning how to flirt, organise a glorified party and remain passive and isolated.

Arya lives out in the open, has escaped death and captivity by her own wits, travelled all over Westeros leaving her memory imprinted on the people she met along the way, and her unyielding desire to never be helpless again which brought her to Braavos. The Sealord of Braavos stood up to a King and his dragons and won - all he did was whisper the "faceless men" and King's Landing yielded - that is true power. Arya will return to Westeros having grown in many ways. But like her father and mother, her family will always be her guiding light.

I love how the Northmen constantly connect Arya to Ned and want to fight for them both:

When White Harbour (a place Arya has visited twice with Ned) hears of "Arya Stark" marrying Ramsay.

“Was ever snow so black?” asked Lord Wyman. “Ramsay took Lord Hornwood’s lands by forcibly wedding his widow, then locked her in a tower and forgot her. It is said she ate her own fingers in her extremity…and the Lannister notion of king’s justice is to reward her killer with Ned Stark’s little girl.” - (Davos, A Dance with Dragons)

~*~

As "Arya" suffers in Winterfell, they connect her to Ned:

"The bride weeps," Lady Dustin said, as they made their way down, step by careful step. "Our little Lady Arya." ... What do you think passes through their heads when they hear the new bride weeping? Valiant Ned's precious little girl." ...

"Lady Arya's sobs do us more harm than all of Lord Stannis's swords and spears.

~*~

The northmen want to fight for Arya:

“Even ruined and broken, Winterfell remains Lady Arya’s home. What better place to wed her, bed her, and stake your claim? […] Let Stannis march on us. He is too cautious to come to Barrowton…but he must come to Winterfell. His clansmen will not abandon the daughter of their precious Ned to such as you. - (Reek, A Dance with Dragons)

[…]

Lord Arnolf shoved himself up, a vulture rising from its prey. One spotted hand clutched at his son’s shoulder for support. “We’ll take [Winterfell] for Ned and for his daughter.” - (The Sacrifice, A Dance with Dragons)

~*~

"Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned’s little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that. As for me, I am old. This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue." - (Dance with Dragons)

[florisbaratheons]

The fact that Howland Reed had to pry Ned away from Lyanna's dead body - and he disassociated so hard that he didn't remember any of that due to the trauma of his baby sister dying in his arms. GoD. And only, what, days before? His father and brother were butchered by the Mad King trying to find out what happened to Lyanna?

All for a prophecy? All for a disgusting POS who couldn't keep it in his pants? Fuck you, Rhaegar. Fuck you.