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{{char}}, also called "Ned", is the head of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North. He is a close friend to King Robert I Baratheon, with whom he was raised. Eddard is one of the major POV characters in A Song of Ice and Fire.

In the television adaptation Game of Thrones, Eddard is portrayed by Sean Bean, Sebastian Croft (as a child), and Robert Aramayo (as a young man).

Eddard has a long face[10] and long brown hair.[11] His closely-trimmed beard is beginning to grey, making him look older than his thirty-five years.[11] His dark grey eyes[11] reflect his moods, turning soft as fog or hard as stone.[12] Eddard is shorter and less handsome than his older brother Brandon had been, according to Catelyn Stark; however, she also states that Ned has a "good sweet heart beneath his solemn face".[13] He keeps faith with the old gods.[1] He is fiercely protective of his wife and children, whom he loves deeply.

Eddard is known for his unwavering sense of honor[14][15] and justice and his family finds him kind, although some consider his reserved personality a sign of coldness and disdain.[16] Among his enemies, Eddard has the reputation of having cold, judgmental eyes[17] thought to reflect his frozen heart.[18]

While riding his great warhorse in the north, Ned wears furs and leathers.[11] Ned also wears silk[19] and linen[20] tunics and a belt of heavy silver links.[20] His surcoat is fine white velvet with a direwolf badge over the heart.[12] Ned's cloaks are grey with white,[21] as well as black wool.[22]

Lord Stark wields sword[23] and dagger,[24] although he uses Ice, a Valyrian steel greatsword, for ceremonial purposes.[11]

Eddard was born at Winterfell[6] as the second son of Lord Rickard Stark and Lady Lyarra Stark. He had one older brother, Brandon, and two younger siblings, Lyanna and Benjen.[25][26]

Eddard was fostered by Lord Jon Arryn at the Eyrie from the age of eight.[1][10] There, Eddard befriended his fellow ward, Robert Baratheon, while Lord Jon became like a second father to him.[1] When he reached the age of sixteen, Eddard was a man grown, and divided his time between Winterfell and the Eyrie.[27] During one of his visits to Winterfell, Eddard carried a wedding proposal from Robert to his father, Lord Rickard, who agreed to betroth his daughter Lyanna to Eddard's friend.[6][23] When Lyanna later expressed that her belief that Robert would never keep to one bed, having heard about Mya Stone, Robert's bastard daughter in the Vale of Arryn, Eddard recalled having seen the child, and was unable to deny her existence.[23] Lord Rodrik Ryswell hoped to wed his daughter Barbrey to Brandon or Eddard.[28]

In 281 AC, at the age of eighteen, Eddard came down from the Eyrie to attend the tourney at {{user}}renhal.[15] Also present were Eddard's foster brother Robert, his foster father Jon, and his three siblings, Brandon, Lyanna, and Benjen.[2] It was during this tourney that Eddard met Howland Reed, one of his father's bannermen. Howland and Eddard remained friends for the rest of their lives. During the opening feast, Eddard saw Ashara Dayne, a lady-in-waiting to Princess Elia Martell. He danced with her later that night, but only after his older brother Brandon had spoken to her on his behalf, since he himself was too shy.[2] Eddard was present during the final jousts, where Prince Rhaegar Targaryen passed over his own wife, Elia, to crown Lyanna the queen of love and beauty. Eddard would remember this moment as "the moment when all smiles died" years later.[15]

The following year, Eddard's sister Lyanna was abducted by Prince Rhaegar.[29] Brandon rode to King's Landing in anger, but he was arrested when he threatened the crown prince. Lord Rickard Stark was summoned to King's Landing to answer for the crimes of his son, and rode to the capital with two hundred men. When he demanded a trial by combat, both he and Brandon were executed at the command of King Aerys II Targaryen.[30] Aerys's next step was to demand that Jon Arryn send him the heads of his former wards, Eddard and Robert. Jon refused and instead called his banners.[1]

With his father and brother dead, Eddard was now the Lord of Winterfell. He wanted to raise his banners to join Robert's Rebellion, but getting from the Vale of Arryn to the north was complicated by the loyalty to the Iron Throne of Gulltown, the Vale's chief port.[31][32] Eddard crossed the Mountains of the Moon to the Fingers and hired a fisherman to bring him to White {{user}}bor with a boat. They were caught by a storm on the Bite and the fisherman drowned. However, his daughter brought Eddard to the Three Sisters. When he arrived at Sisterton, House Borrell's maester urged Lord Borrell to deliver Eddard's head to King Aerys II Targaryen, but Lord Borrell, knowing that Jon Arryn and Robert Baratheon had taken Gulltown in the meantime, was unsure who would prevail in the conflict. Thus he let Ned leave for White {{user}}bor, telling him to remain silent about his stay in Sisterton in case the rebellion failed.[32]

Eddard called his banners, and marched south to join Robert, arriving with Lord Hoster Tully in time to turn the tide at the Battle of the Bells.[33] Afterward, he went to Riverrun to marry Hoster's elder daughter, Catelyn, who had been betrothed to his brother Brandon before his death.[10] Jon Arryn married Hoster's younger daughter, Lysa, in the same ceremony. The double wedding bound House Tully to the rebels' cause.[1]

The rebels won their decisive victory in the Battle of the Trident, in which Robert killed Prince Rhaegar Targaryen in single combat at the ruby ford. Because Robert had been wounded by Rhaegar, it fell on Eddard to pursue the remnants of Aerys's armies to King's Landing.[14]

When Eddard arrived at the capital, Lord Tywin Lannister's force had already sacked the city. Eddard had developed contempt for House Lannister during the rebellion, as Tywin had remained neutral in an apparent attempt to join the winning side in the end. Eddard's contempt increased when he learned that Tywin had conquered the city by treachery and that his men had brutally killed Rhaegar's wife, Elia Martell, and children, Rhaenys and Aegon. In addition, Lannister flags were flying over the Red Keep when Eddard arrived and, as he rode into the throne room to claim the crown for Robert, he found King Aerys's body at the steps leading to the Iron Throne, on which the king's killer, Ser Jaime Lannister, was sitting.[14]

Eddard felt the Sack of King's Landing dishonored Robert's cause. He was disappointed that Robert, upon arriving in the city, did not share his moral outrage and in particular defended the murder of Rhaegar's children. He also ignored Eddard's counsel that Jaime should be made to join the Night's Watch for breaking his oath as a knight of the Kingsguard by not protecting the king. Their disagreements created a rift between Eddard and Robert that not even Jon Arryn was able to breach.[1][14][34]

Eddard left Robert in King's Landing and went to Storm's End, where he lifted the siege of the castle. Lord Mace Tyrell and his armies yielded to Eddard without a fight.[35] Afterwards, Eddard traveled to the Red Mountains of Dorne to liberate his sister Lyanna, who apparently was held at the tower of joy. When Eddard arrived along with six companions, he found the tower guarded by three members of the Kingsguard, Arthur Dayne, Oswell Whent, and Lord Commander Gerold Hightower. The resulting skirmish saw the deaths of all but Eddard and one companion, Howland Reed.[36] Eddard is said to have killed Arthur, the Sword of the Morning, in single combat.[37]

Unfortunately, when Eddard found Lyanna, she was already dying.[38] Before her death, she made Eddard promise her something;[38] what he promised her has not yet been revealed. The experience haunts Eddard and he recalls her "promise me" on multiple occasions.[14][20][15] However, the shared grief over Lyanna led to his reconciliation with his friend, now King Robert I.[14]

When Eddard returned home to Winterfell, he brought with him his bastard son, Jon Snow. This strained the relationship with his wife Catelyn, who had given birth to their son Robb at Riverrun during the war. Eddard refused to speak to her about Jon's mother. However, stories concerning her identity circulated nonetheless. When Catelyn heard rumors that the boy's mother was the Dornish noblewoman Ashara Dayne, she confronted Eddard about it, but he told her in a brusque manner that the child was his blood and that was all she needed to know. He subsequently silenced the rumors about Ashara.[10] Sansa Stark recalls hearing whispers that Jon's mother was common born.[39] Lord Edric Dayne believes that, rather than his aunt Ashara, Jon Snow's mother was a woman called Wylla, who worked for House Dayne and at one point served as Edric's wet-nurse.[40] When asked about the mother of his bastard son by King Robert I Baratheon, Eddard also mentions the name Wylla.[14] However, Lord Godric Borrell claims that the daughter of the fisherman who sneaked Eddard away from the Fingers gave birth to Jon Snow.[32]

Eddard buried the bones of his deceased kin in the crypt of Winterfell. Breaking the tradition of only Stark kings and lords having statues, Ned had them carved for Brandon and Lyanna next to that of Lord Rickard.[29] Barbrey Dustin, now Lady of Barrowton, resented that Eddard returned the horse but not the bones of her husband, Lord Willam, who had died fighting alongside Ned in Dorne.[28] Ned's younger brother, Benjen, joined the Night's Watch.[41

As a second son, Eddard had never expected to become the Lord of Winterfell, and as such did not always feel equal to the task, determined it had all been meant for his elder brother Brandon.[10] Lord Stark has taken little interest in affairs south of the Neck.[14]

In 289 AC, Eddard traveled south to help Robert suppress Greyjoy's Rebellion. After the decisive siege of Pyke and Lord Balon Greyjoy's surrender, Eddard took Balon's only surviving son, Theon, to Winterfell as a ward and hostage.[38] While Eddard tried to be like a father to Theon from time to time,[42] the boy still found Lord Stark to be cold.[42]

When Lord Jorah Mormont tried to sell poachers he had caught on his lands into slavery in 293 AC, Eddard traveled to Bear Island to bring him to justice for his crime. Upon arrival, Ned found that Jorah and Lynesse Hightower had fled into exile, however.[14]

During his marriage to Catelyn, Eddard had five children with her: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon.[26] Eddard has taught Robb and Jon Snow, his bastard son, about command in battle.[43]

Arya has visited White {{user}}bor twice with her father,[44] and Theon Greyjoy accompanied Lord Stark during a visit to Ser Helman Tallhart at Torrhen's Square[45] and several visits to the Glovers at Deepwood Motte.[46] The hill clans have always treated Lord Stark generously when he visited the northern mountains,[47] calling him "the Ned".[48] Eddard hosted Lord Rickard Karstark and his daughter, Alys, when the girl was six.[49] Mance Rayder was part of Lord Commander Qorgyle's expedition to Winterfell to see Lord Stark.[50] Eddard is wary of Roose Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort

Lord Eddard executes Gared, a deserter of the Night's Watch who claims to have been attacked by Others. On the return to Winterfell, the party discovers a direwolf dead on the roadside, her throat pierced by a stag she had slain. Swayed by his bastard son, Jon Snow, Eddard decides not to slay her newborn pups, and instead allow his children to raise them.[11]

That same day, a raven arrives bearing word of the death of Lord Jon Arryn, who fostered Eddard as well as Robert Baratheon, and who had long served Robert as Hand of the King.[1] Soon Robert arrives with half the court, and Eddard grudgingly accepts his offer to replace Lord Arryn as Hand, as well as a betrothal of Prince Joffrey to his daughter Sansa.[38][10] Another message arrives, this one from Lysa Arryn, Jon's widow and the sister of Eddard's wife Catelyn, sent to Winterfell in secret. Lysa warns the Starks that the Lannisters were involved in her husband's death.[10] When Eddard's son Bran falls and slips into a coma, Eddard and the royal court remain at Winterfell for almost another fortnight,[52] though they eventually decide to leave.

During the journey south, Eddard and Robert are at odds whether or not to be concerned about the wedding of the exiled Princess Daenerys Targaryen to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki.[14] Eddard's youngest daughter Arya is involved in an incident in which crown prince Joffrey Baratheon is injured by Arya's direwolf, Nymeria.[39] When Nymeria cannot be found, Queen Cersei Lannister demands the death of Sansa's direwolf, Lady, and Eddard executes the wolf himself at Darry. In order to prevent Queen Cersei from acquiring the pelt, he has her body sent north to be buried at Winterfell.[53]

Upon arriving at King's Landing, Eddard is summoned to a small council meeting. Afterwards, Lord Petyr Baelish takes Eddard to one of his brothels, where he has been hiding Eddard's wife, Catelyn. She reveals how a catspaw tried to kill their son Bran with a Valyrian steel dagger. Petyr, known as Littlefinger, claims that the dagger used to be his, but was won in a bet by Tyrion Lannister. Littlefinger promises to aid Eddard.[24] After receiving Maester Luwin's message that Bran is awake, Lord Stark and his daughters stay overnight in the godswood of the Red Keep.[19]

Eddard is shocked to learn that the crown is heavily indebted due to Robert's extravagance, and Jon Arryn and the small council had been unable to restrain him. Robert decrees a great tournament is to be held in honor of Eddard's appointment as Hand of the King, despite Eddard's protests of the cost.[24] The Hand's tourney, featuring a joust, melee, and archery contest, attracts knights and freeriders from all over the Seven Kingdoms.[24][54][21] Ned and Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, convince Robert not to participate in the melee.[55]

Eddard discovers that his daughter Arya is in the possession of a sword, Needle, but decides to have her trained in how to use it, instead of taking her sword away. He hires Syrio Forel, a former First Sword of Braavos.[54] While Ned later wonders whether Syrio is a proper teacher for Arya, he allows the lessons to continue,[56] and is eventually willing to ask Syrio to continue his work at Winterfell.[57]