What Are the Differences Between Ned Stark in the Books and the Show? 

He also doesn"t want to show his skill on tourneys in case he has to fight them for real. It is kind of smart. To be step ahead of your enemy.

I might be wrong but I think Northmen don’t hold tourneys

​@@kahlilg9824 you are right they dont

@@kahlilg9824 which may be another part of the reason Ned hates them.

​@@Aztaban858they do hold melee's though

Great point, he'd had his heir back.

Why didn't Tywin try to do that? Or did he?

Only so Jamie could rule the westerlands after him

He'd probably be forcibly disinherited as an oathbreaker, and forced to take the black.

Ned specifically wanted Jaime to take the black, tywin would not have been okay with that

There are only 2 ways to leave the Kingsguard: death or Night's Watch

@@КанагатКурмамбаев Laws are set by men. If Robert kicked Jamie out then he is out.

Yeah, but Jaime being ousted while regaining his rights as heir to Casterly Rock wasn't considered at all.

@@КанагатКурмамбаевtell that to ser barristan

​@user-kx8pd4fr4g you say that but they kicked out that old guy

The original pilot had it shot like the book with Ned wanting to refuse and Catelyn urging him to go south. When they re-filmed the episode, they switched it to make it simpler for the audience. Catelyn is also a much more political character in the books and beyond Jon Arryn she's also concerned that refusing King Robert's request for this "great honor" is going to look really suspicious and make Robert start having second thoughts about Ned.

@@lluewhyn thank you for that. I've heard references to the original pilot. It was made out to be horrible. Cat, imo, got in the way in the show. Her urging Ned, from my first POV seemed like a mother racing to get her daughter married. Your explanation makes a lot of sense.

Jon Arryn was like a second father to Ned, Robert and him were both Jons wards, that’s why Jon Snow was given that name because of Jon Arryn. Jon is not a northern name

@@jaywun100 And Robb, was named after Robert Baratheon. Ned really held love for Robert.

You think we are ever going to know exactly what went down at the Tower of Joy? Surely something better than the series showed

​@@TreborPaulsondo you think the three kingsguard there, are indeed dead??

barristan selmy said to ned in season 1 that he saw him cut down dozen great nights and that he is being modest about his battle skills

​@@TreborPaulson What was wrong with the way the Tower of Joy events happened in the show? I know there were 2 knights of the Kingsguard in the shoe compared to 3 in the book, but it made it even more badass as Dayne was more outnumbered, also it makes sense that Ned couldn't really beat Dayne, so they had to do it in a dishonourable way to survive

reminds me how much s*t was given Jon Snow for having honor and not telling a small lie in the 8 season. Lol

I think Ned had alot of skill, he was holding his own against Jamie. At that point Jamie was probabky the best swordsman in Westeros.

@@obryanallen6203 i actually was referring to the same scene in the book. Ned and Jory killed a lot of lannister men at arms before jory was killed and ned’s horse slipped in the mud and fell with him on it, breaking his leg.

@@ryanarment5393yeah in the book they killed 5 Lannister men while being 3 against 10 or 20

Hed the most accurate character they adapted.

Wasnt his main forces elsewhere and not with him as well? He had a small detachment right? I dont know which is why I ask

​@@plaguedoctorjeff857yes I believe he only brought close to 200 men to kings landing and 50 of those he gave to Janos Slynt during a small council meeting to keep the peace between peasants in kings landing

I mean, why bring an entire army to KL?

@@jf_kein_k8590 With hindsight a million different reasons. Without it Id say the suspicious death of Jon Aryn, which had him there in the first place; If he was a target, why wouldnt one of his "kids" looking into it not be a target?

No. It's mentioned multiple times in the books and show how good of a swordsman Jaime is. Comparatively, Ned's swordsman skills are not impressive enough to mention as often as other characters, And when they are mentioned, it's basically just enough for him to hold his own in basic combat. We mostly have media to blame for our personal hang up with having good characters also be good swordsman, When that's not really how reality works. Just because you're a good person doesn't mean you're skilled, And vice versa.

Much like Tywin, they can fight but they are not top tier fighters like Jamie, The Clegaine bros and Baristan Selmy.

Nope. Littlefinger's treason and Joffrey's stupidity got him killed.

Yes but a Kingsguard slaying the monarch would have been hard for Ned to stomach. He was an honourable man in a kingdom of degenerates.

Jaime doesn't tell anyone (until Brienne) that he killed King Aerys because of his order to destroy King's Landing with Wildfire. To everyone else (including Ned), it looks like a political move because he killed the King just as his father Tywin was invading and sacking the city. So, from Ned's perspective, Jaime killed Aerys for completely selfish reasons in addition to breaking his oaths.

His disdain comes from the fact that Jaime swore an oath to protect Aerys no matter what as his Kingsguard, To a man like Ned keeping to your oath against all odds speaks of a person's character and to Ned at the time he found Jaime, he only saw a guy who took the oath when it was easy for him and turned cloak the moment it was to his covenience. We also have ti consider that It probably didn''t help that when Ned arrived at Kingslanding, the Lannisters were sacking the city, practically pillaging it, and when he arrived at the throne room, Aerys was dead and Jaime was sitting on the throne and had the energy to be smug to Ned when he greeted him, and since Jaime never clarified why he did what he did, what else was Ned supposed to think other than Jaime betrayed his king on his father's orders. Ned's more about the principle of the matter, Jaime swore an oath and regardless if Ned had to face him in battle as an enemy he would much rather that, than deal with Turncloaks

Jamie killed the King to save his father, not the people of King's Landing

Ned should’ve been thankful

still Jamie

@psychicsidekick1858 but would have been neat if it were in the books. I imagine Brandon a lot bigger and stronger. Ned, in the series, seems he would have defeated Jamie, seemed at least. So given Brandon would have been an even better match

@@miguelcastillo6708 yeah would love to see Brandon Stark in action, he is definitely a stronger and better fighter than Ned but compared to Jamie? hmm the fact that The Mountain isn't considered better than Ser Barristan Selmy kinda proves the point that size and raw power alone aren't enough to make someone a better swordman than the other, especially Brandon (who wasn't significantly larger and stronger than Jaime)

Brandon Stark is really strong but Jaime is the most skilled swordsman in the history of the seven kingdoms. In a swordfight Jaime would win but in any other fight Brandon would win.

Nope. Fan art.

You ever think about maybe in the show Jamie is just better than him at the sword and or father time is now keeping up with him. Now what I did not like in the show it's actually making it look like a coward because he stabbed Dayne in the back.

Yes Arthur Dayne was the best swordsman in Westeros at that time period but his death was from Ned Stark. In the books, details of their dual is not mentioned so we can't conclude that Ned is lucky or killed Arthur with the help of others.

@@Ihsannnnnn in the show he was killed by someone else and that’s what I go by so again I say that Ned didn’t kill Dayne, Dayne was much better than Ned.

​@harrison4286 The show turned into absolute shite. It's a terrible source to go by.

@@chapel3339 that’s your opinion and yeah, season 8 sucked

@@harrison4286TV sucked after they ran out of the material which is the book. thats why he is saying no one know what happened yet.

Can you blame a non book reader for that? If I'm a non book reader I'm supposed to go into this show thinking that he's not the main character. People need to understand we don't look at the books that much as TV watchers.

You are the fool.

That wasn't her main goal. She wanted Sansa to be queen to increase the power of their House. She feared for the fates of their children if the Lannisters had killed Jon Arryn as part of a plot against the King. Who knows what they will do if their house seizes power. She wants Ned to take Jon with him as she refuses to allow him at Winterfell when she is in charge. Ned doesn't think he can take Jon because he won't be high enough to be treated well by nobles, they would look down on him. So Jon would have no place in the South. While they are arguing, Luwin tells them that Benjen said that Jon expressed a desire to join the Night's watch and Catelyn is delighted.

​@@movieloverfan18 also Ned would have understandably reluctant to take Jon into a nest of Targaryen haters, no matter how well kept the secret.

Ned knows that Jamie stood and watched as the mad king killed his family. And he would've forgiven this if Jamie did it to uphold his oath. But he served when as Ned says it "when serving was safe" in Ned's eyes Jamie watched his family get killed not because of some honor bound thing but because he's a weasel. And considering what the rest of the lannisters do. Ned lost his entire family to cruelty and comes to finish the war only to see the cruelty come from his side. Keep in mind that Ned is between 17 and 18 years old here. He just lost his brother and father, his sister is who knows where, and he was forced to be the main battle strategist of a war to overthrow a dynasty. He was tired, angry, and sees atrocities he rose up to stop being committed in his friends name.

Maybe he wantsed to do it himself

​@@B1ackWolf i thought it's Jamie lannister who was around 18 at that time not ned i thought ned was in his 30s.

@@gcinumuzigola4797 ... Ned is in his 30s when the story starts.

He clung to morality in a kingdom that had fallen into corruption, and got in over his head, so to speak.

How's standing up for the right thing stupid? Are you out of your mind

How was he supposed to know that Robert is gonna die?