Even Cersei had no intentions of beheading Ned. She even tried to stop it. She was stupid, sure, but not an *sshole like Joffrey. She knew the entire North is gonna rebel against the throne, as if dealing with Robert's brothers wasn't difficult enough for the Lannisters.
The only stupid thing Ned did was to trust Catelyn (Stoneheart) Tully. Instead of doing what Ned told her, she started the war of the 5 kings before Ned could get back to Winterfell.
I totally agree. The whole idea that Ned was somehow dumb and obviously should have done this or that is so overplayed in the fandom. I think it's just because the viewer has a 360 degree view of everything that's going on and a couple characters refer to him as being too honorable. If you are looking at the events through his perspective he is adequately competent and clever in all his maneuvering. A lot of weird and unfortunate events had to occur in order for him to ultimately end up on the chopping block.
He certainly wasn't stupid. He trusted littlefinger because Catelyn trusted him. His biggest mistake was taking the gold cloaks for granted. Whoever had the gold cloaks were the ones who'd win in the end. He should have bent over backward to make them his.
Eddard had the talk with Cersei while Robert was alive. That means he had the upper hand in that moment and neither Cersei or Tywin could have done anything about it. And then Robert gets gored by a boar and everything goes to shift. Secondly, the whole idea about his honor being at fault is actually a line Littlefinger said in his talk with Eddard. And some readers sucked that strawman hook and sinker, as if it was true. "You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard to move." Thats just Littlefinger opinion. We never see Eddard behaving like that, like he is some super honorable Stannis type of a character. Yet Tyrion did not have any such problems and what happened to him? What happened to Tywin? The Mountain? Red Viper? How many other players? And after all, is Littlefinger going to win the game? Completely blind to anything else except his own greed? I dont think so.
Little finger is gonna be double crossed by a pissed off little girl, which is way more embarrassing than falling into an accomplished liar's net. I can't wait to read how Sansa destroys the giant.
The problem was not lack of honor. Cersei's plot was almost brain-dead, and she only succeeded through dumb luck. Lancel was not a reliable co-conspirator, and if Robert had not sent back Barristan and the Hound, the boar would never have got to him. Or if Robert had realized that this was not the wine he was used to. Or if the boar had not wounded him critically. In any of these cases Robert comes back, Ned tells him the truth, and Cersei has no more time to get away.
Oh it does, do remember that Tywin may have put the fear of god into people, but no one ever actually cared for him. The fact that everyone acted with dishonor meant that every alliance they made was frail, short lived and far worse. Yet, with the exception of the Boltons the entirety of The North, a kingdom of such size that the other six barely match it in size, holds loyalty to them.
@@TV-ge3uj It just makes the North harder to raid though, that's a defense. The low population and harsh terrain means on a defensive war The North is almost completely barren to the southern folk. You have to go much longer, through rugged, inhospitable terrain for less supplies.
He was not stupid he just put to much faith in people doing the right thing. He believed what honor was a shield. He couldn’t just walk away or join renlys plan or little fingers plan. They wasn’t honorable so he died.
How is Renly or Littlefinger's plan better or less risky than what he did? Why didn't Renly join Neds plan and install the rightful heir by law. He is the master of laws after all. Then he wouldn't have gotten murdered. Maybe if Cersei went along with Neds plan her entire family wouldn't have died horrible deaths. Or if Littlefinger joined Neds plan he would have made his first real friend.
Stupid is the wrong word. Very Naive about the lust for power others had, especially Cercei and Balish. He should have listened to Renly prior to Robert's death. Not only was that was the last chance to save his life and those of his daughter's in Kings Landing, but he could have united the kingdoms against the Lannisters at that point.
You can't really say he is naive about it. He takes steps to secure the loyalty of the city watch. Also I don't see that allying with Renly is such a great plan. First Renly is a coward and has no clue about how to fight a war. Does Renly still get the loyalty of all of the reach and storm lands when he orchestrated a coup and murdered the royal family. You still have Stannis to contend with. The vale is of uncertain loyalty. You are still surrounded by a bunch of power mad people that wouldn't mind seeing you dead if it advanced their position. Also you should consider that ultimately Renly dies, all the Lannisters die, littlefinger, etc. It's not like they won and Ned lost. At least Ned dies with his morals somewhat intact.
His underestimation of the stupidity and viciousness of the people around him is what made him lose, the reason he was like that, is because he was out of touch with the realm, staying in winterfell away for ages, so he didn't get to see how people lost their honor and wiseness.
Ned's "mistake" was not acting without reason (being stupid), it was because he acted with a moral compass. So it is not even that LF was smarter than NS, LF just acted free from moral standards. That works too in any comparison to other carachters who "lacked" moral breaks.
robert dying was also pure luck on cerseis part, guy was surrounded by kingsguard including barristan selmy, out hunting which hed done a thousand times before, all cersei did was give him wine which isnt an airtight assassination plot, especially considering he was already a massive drunk and would have had a tolerance for alcohol through the roof. had robert survived ned would have too
Cicero wasnt also stupid. He just made his mistake in underestimating the plot between Marc Anton and Octavian and got both his hands and head cut off after having verbally attacked Marc Anton.
Excellently and masterfully made video! Ned Stark was not a stupid man, but a very pragmatic and honest one. He even dislikes politics because of literally ruthless it is.
The only bad decision he made, imo, was underestimating Cersai and include Littlefinger in ANYTHING!! After what happened to Bran, he should have known tgey have NO boundaries
I always thought ned more understemated the ruthlessness of cercei than anything, had he assesssed her character a little better and Robert hadn't died so quickly he would have fought for stanis against the lanisters and renly
Agree with everything....except the confrontation with cersei.....that was his honor. Period. I would hope i would do the same, but it was the wrong move for the right reason. Is what it is. It was a fatal miscalculation, but as i said, that doesn't make him a fool. He made nearly every correct strategic decision....except that one
Ned was no fool, the problem is that there was an enormous lack of good sense and proper consideration in the south. Something that he likely hoped was no longer the case, but I can imagine that between the Targaryen madness, the 'Baratheon' stupidity and Lannister backstabbing, The North may very well just wash it's hands of The South entirely. After all, if they cannot be expected to be sane, sensible or honest, then no dealing agreement or oath holds any value. Ned's problem was that he was a long term thinker, pushing for things to be stable, surrounded by short sighted fools trying to set things on fire so they have a chance to stab people and make themselves look better. Chaos is not a ladder, chaos is chaos pure and simple. Also might I mention I'm personally shocked that no one has knifed Littlefinger for his aggressive whore mongering? Poisoned Cersi for her clear madness and greed, to say nothing of the people that might have loved the Rayns and Tarbecks and therefore sheathed a blade in Tywin as he slept? These short sighted fools are doing everything in their power to make enemies and it's only Author Fiat that they're still alive. Which leads to Ned's real problem. He's a good man in a world created by a nihilist. A man who has suffered and grown stronger from it. In other words, the sort of person a nihilist hates. The sort of person that offends GRR Martin.
GRRM is not a nihilist. He's a realist about people and power. A nihilist does not despise war. GRRM does. In war and killing, neither honor nor the law has a place. It was forever thus. Martin hasn't finished his story, and may never finish it. But the show ended with the emergence of an elective monarchy, the abandonment of birthright succession and right by conquest, with the ascension of the low born, cripples, bastards, freaks and outcasts. That is not a nihilistic outcome.
Tywin wasn't a short term thinking fool. He was very smart and wise, just didn't care about anyone aside his legacy the way he saw it. He only wanted to control everything and increase power and wealth of him and his house, no matter how cruel it would become. Olenna was no fool either. Nor Robert. He was just a man surrendered to his pain and passions leaving others to do the job. Baelish also looked long-term and was very smart. But he cared only about his rise to power. And in his position destabilising the realm was the only way. Varys and Davos are maybe the only smart characters in the south actively working about long-term welfare of the realms, but their positions were not favourable. Eddard found an out of control hidden mess in the south ready to come out at any moment. He did as well he could his job. But he underestimated Baelish and the need of Renly and Barristan by his side. At least in the show. He could tell Baelish that he would reconsider the proposal to deny Stannis after they deal with Cersei. The same to Renly. And could tell him and Barristan Robert's proposal for Eddard to rule for a short time. Having Loras' men, Renly, Barristan and Baelish at his side he would take the throne for a short period, negotiate with the small council and try to clean the mess. Then he may got the chance put Stannis on the throne as he wanted or he could change his mind and leave it for Joffrey when he comes of age or pass it to Renly. He could play according to the conditions instead of rushing his support to Stannis. Now I'm sure Martin wrote the story differently, but probably he had alternatives that he missed in the books as well. Whether Martin wants to take out such characters 'by force' is not clear to me as I didn't read the books. But the series deviated too much from the books as they even proceeded the story beyond them, so I d rather treat them as 2 different things.
@@angelkar5132 Tywin traded for short term gains in opposition to long term ones. He destroyed two houses that legally had done nothing wrong, but he claimed they were wrong. Do remember, when it comes to the Reigns and Castameres, Tytos had forgiven them. That was supposed to be the end of it. Instead Tywin wipes them out. This sets an insanely dangerous precedent and the moment the fear of the Lannisters wears off they're going to be despised. After all, if being forgiven by the Lannister Lord of the West won't save you from being wiped out by Lannister forces, then why bother trying to earn forgiveness if you've done something they don't like? If rebelling will get you killed, and surrendering will get you killed, you may as well rebel anyways because at least then you have a chance of survival. As Machiavelli states, if one cannot be both feared and loved then it is better to be feared. But one must take care to never be hated. And he is correct in that, there comes a level of fear where you're so scared of something that you can't tolerate it's existence any longer. I wonder how close Tywin was to that? We may never no, for the hate he inspired in others overwhelmed the fear before it could reach critical mass.
@@MagicalMasterCastameres is not a house. It was a castle that was the seat of House Reyne. The Tarbecks were the other offenders that Lord Tywin destroyed. The precedent was that Tywin was not his father who the other 2 houses openly laughed at and called the toothless lion. I don’t remember what Niccolò said about what to do when your subjects are laughing in your face and mocking you but I’m sure he would have agreed that Tytos was contributing to his own demise by allowing it to continue. Tywin was simply the new manager who slacking employees who they worked for. Lol
Ned Stark was what everyone knew of the northern hemisphere leaders and its people, loyal! They keep their word, oath and loyalty which made the future after Ned’s death everything more important about honor and keeping your word, the starks were the oath keepers! That’s why the North wanted them to rule,
Ned was only stupid if we consider him as a fortune teller. His unability to forseen absolutely unbelievable events. He failed to imagine stupid wife kidnapping Tyrion in a tavern of the road. He failed to imagine stupid teenager daughter to speak his plans. He failed to predict death by wild animal... wtf. Stupid is to act without reason, what he never did.
I don’t think he was stupid, I think he was in over his head. He didn’t know just how cutthroat southern politics were, and didn’t make any contingency plans.
His stupidity was keeping his children in the loop at all. They are KIDS they don't need to know shit. Wake them up in the middle of the night and force them to leave
He wasn't stupid but he was ignorant of the power of his position. He thought himself first among equals, when in reality he as hand of the King had the power to do much more. If he had fired Janos Slynt and made more radical changes he would have been more successful.
One thing I remember is when Little Finger told him that gold wins wars...and he replied "If that's true, then why is Robert king?" For many reasons. Robert never truly was the ruler or the King outside of his own agenda, which was throwing parties, drinking and being a man whore. His rule was as long as it was because Tywin was pulling the strings and leading Robert to an inevitable early grave. He was married to Cersei, which is why he lasted as long as he did. Little Finger was pointing out the little wars that take place politically within the walls of Kings Landing, there is no honor, and it didn't matter if you possessed respect or strength, people would do anything to win. Even Renly told Ned to just murder them in their sleep and take over...Ned was stupid because he was more worried about the school bus on the side of the road with the children in it than he was the fact that the entire road was going to be set on fire if he didn't play the game right. His downfall was thinking that everyone would have the same Logic as the more honorable and loyal Northerners did. And he was just VERY wrong. Renly, Little Finger, and even CERCEI herself told him this. His blatant enemies tried to play politics with him and he basically spit in their faces. Especially Cercei, who took a liking to Sansa and did want to secure an alliance with the Starks. Proof of that is how she straight up treated Margaery Tyrell. She would have rather had Sansa take over as queen than anyone else. So in a way, Cercei would have been willing for sure to make sure that Ned was safe and his children were too
Well… he clearly underestimated Cersei’s intelligence. Say what we will about her stupidity. She wasn’t a complete idiot. She clearly wasn’t stupid enough to just stand passively, so she did what she needed to do for herself and her family’s prestige. She also wasn’t stupid enough to execute Ned. Joffrey was. All this shows Ned underestimated a woman. So yes, he was an idiot.
Cersei gets her entire family killed and universally hated by everyone. The Starks ultimately prevail taking the iron throne, and securing the north as an independent kingdom. All of this in large part because Ned was an honorable guy.
Often enough the claim for "stuped Ned" is based on him: 1 - not having foresight: failed to predict unthinkable events 2 - not being all knowing: failed to know what everyone was doing, thinking, planning at all times 3 - and primarily not being someone else: failed to not be a Stark. Plus, a concept issue: what means to be stupid?
Because if Tywin had been there, Ned wouldn't have been executed.
I feel werid how people think Ned is stupid
Right, his a lot smarter than people give him credit for
Calling out the queen in the betrayal gardens thinking she’ll tuck tail and run was fkn stupid.
Given how much plot armour was needed for Cersei's plan to work, I don't think it was dumb at all.
@@TheRealm-xu2kl he gave her the plot armor
He made stupid decisions. But his honor was his downfall
Catelyn blew it , one bad decision after another
Even Cersei had no intentions of beheading Ned. She even tried to stop it. She was stupid, sure, but not an *sshole like Joffrey. She knew the entire North is gonna rebel against the throne, as if dealing with Robert's brothers wasn't difficult enough for the Lannisters.
In book she did
the north had already rebelled the moment Ned was thrown into the dungeon.
@@user-br4vx2xq6h Still, exchanging Ned Stark was the wisest option.
The only stupid thing Ned did was to trust Catelyn (Stoneheart) Tully. Instead of doing what Ned told her, she started the war of the 5 kings before Ned could get back to Winterfell.
I totally agree. The whole idea that Ned was somehow dumb and obviously should have done this or that is so overplayed in the fandom. I think it's just because the viewer has a 360 degree view of everything that's going on and a couple characters refer to him as being too honorable. If you are looking at the events through his perspective he is adequately competent and clever in all his maneuvering. A lot of weird and unfortunate events had to occur in order for him to ultimately end up on the chopping block.
He certainly wasn't stupid. He trusted littlefinger because Catelyn trusted him. His biggest mistake was taking the gold cloaks for granted. Whoever had the gold cloaks were the ones who'd win in the end. He should have bent over backward to make them his.
Eddard had the talk with Cersei while Robert was alive. That means he had the upper hand in that moment and neither Cersei or Tywin could have done anything about it. And then Robert gets gored by a boar and everything goes to shift.
Secondly, the whole idea about his honor being at fault is actually a line Littlefinger said in his talk with Eddard. And some readers sucked that strawman hook and sinker, as if it was true. "You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard to move."
Thats just Littlefinger opinion. We never see Eddard behaving like that, like he is some super honorable Stannis type of a character.
Yet Tyrion did not have any such problems and what happened to him? What happened to Tywin? The Mountain? Red Viper? How many other players? And after all, is Littlefinger going to win the game? Completely blind to anything else except his own greed? I dont think so.
Little finger is gonna be double crossed by a pissed off little girl, which is way more embarrassing than falling into an accomplished liar's net.
I can't wait to read how Sansa destroys the giant.
"It was your mercy that killed Robert."
He was never stupid. But definitely ignorant. Ignorant of real politics and the ruthlessness of it all. Honor does not exist there.
The problem was not lack of honor. Cersei's plot was almost brain-dead, and she only succeeded through dumb luck. Lancel was not a reliable co-conspirator, and if Robert had not sent back Barristan and the Hound, the boar would never have got to him. Or if Robert had realized that this was not the wine he was used to. Or if the boar had not wounded him critically.
In any of these cases Robert comes back, Ned tells him the truth, and Cersei has no more time to get away.
Also Sansa running to Cersei
Oh it does, do remember that Tywin may have put the fear of god into people, but no one ever actually cared for him. The fact that everyone acted with dishonor meant that every alliance they made was frail, short lived and far worse. Yet, with the exception of the Boltons the entirety of The North, a kingdom of such size that the other six barely match it in size, holds loyalty to them.
@@MagicalMaster "the other six barely match it in size" - only in terms of area, but for what you are saying, population is far more important.
@@TV-ge3uj It just makes the North harder to raid though, that's a defense. The low population and harsh terrain means on a defensive war The North is almost completely barren to the southern folk. You have to go much longer, through rugged, inhospitable terrain for less supplies.
I've never thought Ned was stupid but I do think it's fair to say he was naive, at least to an extent.
He was not stupid he just put to much faith in people doing the right thing. He believed what honor was a shield. He couldn’t just walk away or join renlys plan or little fingers plan. They wasn’t honorable so he died.
How is Renly or Littlefinger's plan better or less risky than what he did? Why didn't Renly join Neds plan and install the rightful heir by law. He is the master of laws after all. Then he wouldn't have gotten murdered. Maybe if Cersei went along with Neds plan her entire family wouldn't have died horrible deaths. Or if Littlefinger joined Neds plan he would have made his first real friend.
Stupid is the wrong word. Very Naive about the lust for power others had, especially Cercei and Balish. He should have listened to Renly prior to Robert's death. Not only was that was the last chance to save his life and those of his daughter's in Kings Landing, but he could have united the kingdoms against the Lannisters at that point.
You can't really say he is naive about it. He takes steps to secure the loyalty of the city watch. Also I don't see that allying with Renly is such a great plan. First Renly is a coward and has no clue about how to fight a war. Does Renly still get the loyalty of all of the reach and storm lands when he orchestrated a coup and murdered the royal family. You still have Stannis to contend with. The vale is of uncertain loyalty. You are still surrounded by a bunch of power mad people that wouldn't mind seeing you dead if it advanced their position. Also you should consider that ultimately Renly dies, all the Lannisters die, littlefinger, etc. It's not like they won and Ned lost. At least Ned dies with his morals somewhat intact.
His underestimation of the stupidity and viciousness of the people around him is what made him lose, the reason he was like that, is because he was out of touch with the realm, staying in winterfell away for ages, so he didn't get to see how people lost their honor and wiseness.
He had the One Ring and didn’t use it - too weak for the game?
Ned was not stupid, he was smart. The problen was that he was not as smart as the Littlefinger
Ned's "mistake" was not acting without reason (being stupid), it was because he acted with a moral compass. So it is not even that LF was smarter than NS, LF just acted free from moral standards. That works too in any comparison to other carachters who "lacked" moral breaks.
robert dying was also pure luck on cerseis part, guy was surrounded by kingsguard including barristan selmy, out hunting which hed done a thousand times before, all cersei did was give him wine which isnt an airtight assassination plot, especially considering he was already a massive drunk and would have had a tolerance for alcohol through the roof. had robert survived ned would have too
Cicero wasnt also stupid. He just made his mistake in underestimating the plot between Marc Anton and Octavian and got both his hands and head cut off after having verbally attacked Marc Anton.
Ned refused to play the game. He thought righteousness would always prevail, this cost him his life. Which makes him stupid.
Excellently and masterfully made video! Ned Stark was not a stupid man, but a very pragmatic and honest one. He even dislikes politics because of literally ruthless it is.
yeah I don't know about masterfully made, but thank you, I appreciate the support.
@@TheRealm-xu2kl You are welcome, and I enjoy the Game of Thrones series.
The only bad decision he made, imo, was underestimating Cersai and include Littlefinger in ANYTHING!! After what happened to Bran, he should have known tgey have NO boundaries
I always thought ned more understemated the ruthlessness of cercei than anything, had he assesssed her character a little better and Robert hadn't died so quickly he would have fought for stanis against the lanisters and renly
Agree with everything....except the confrontation with cersei.....that was his honor. Period. I would hope i would do the same, but it was the wrong move for the right reason. Is what it is. It was a fatal miscalculation, but as i said, that doesn't make him a fool. He made nearly every correct strategic decision....except that one
Ned was no fool, the problem is that there was an enormous lack of good sense and proper consideration in the south. Something that he likely hoped was no longer the case, but I can imagine that between the Targaryen madness, the 'Baratheon' stupidity and Lannister backstabbing, The North may very well just wash it's hands of The South entirely. After all, if they cannot be expected to be sane, sensible or honest, then no dealing agreement or oath holds any value.
Ned's problem was that he was a long term thinker, pushing for things to be stable, surrounded by short sighted fools trying to set things on fire so they have a chance to stab people and make themselves look better. Chaos is not a ladder, chaos is chaos pure and simple.
Also might I mention I'm personally shocked that no one has knifed Littlefinger for his aggressive whore mongering? Poisoned Cersi for her clear madness and greed, to say nothing of the people that might have loved the Rayns and Tarbecks and therefore sheathed a blade in Tywin as he slept? These short sighted fools are doing everything in their power to make enemies and it's only Author Fiat that they're still alive. Which leads to Ned's real problem. He's a good man in a world created by a nihilist. A man who has suffered and grown stronger from it. In other words, the sort of person a nihilist hates. The sort of person that offends GRR Martin.
I couldn't agree more.
GRRM is not a nihilist. He's a realist about people and power. A nihilist does not despise war. GRRM does. In war and killing, neither honor nor the law has a place. It was forever thus. Martin hasn't finished his story, and may never finish it. But the show ended with the emergence of an elective monarchy, the abandonment of birthright succession and right by conquest, with the ascension of the low born, cripples, bastards, freaks and outcasts. That is not a nihilistic outcome.
Tywin wasn't a short term thinking fool. He was very smart and wise, just didn't care about anyone aside his legacy the way he saw it. He only wanted to control everything and increase power and wealth of him and his house, no matter how cruel it would become.
Olenna was no fool either. Nor Robert. He was just a man surrendered to his pain and passions leaving others to do the job.
Baelish also looked long-term and was very smart. But he cared only about his rise to power. And in his position destabilising the realm was the only way.
Varys and Davos are maybe the only smart characters in the south actively working about long-term welfare of the realms, but their positions were not favourable.
Eddard found an out of control hidden mess in the south ready to come out at any moment. He did as well he could his job.
But he underestimated Baelish and the need of Renly and Barristan by his side. At least in the show.
He could tell Baelish that he would reconsider the proposal to deny Stannis after they deal with Cersei. The same to Renly. And could tell him and Barristan Robert's proposal for Eddard to rule for a short time. Having Loras' men, Renly, Barristan and Baelish at his side he would take the throne for a short period, negotiate with the small council and try to clean the mess.
Then he may got the chance put Stannis on the throne as he wanted or he could change his mind and leave it for Joffrey when he comes of age or pass it to Renly. He could play according to the conditions instead of rushing his support to Stannis.
Now I'm sure Martin wrote the story differently, but probably he had alternatives that he missed in the books as well. Whether Martin wants to take out such characters 'by force' is not clear to me as I didn't read the books. But the series deviated too much from the books as they even proceeded the story beyond them, so I d rather treat them as 2 different things.
@@angelkar5132 Tywin traded for short term gains in opposition to long term ones. He destroyed two houses that legally had done nothing wrong, but he claimed they were wrong. Do remember, when it comes to the Reigns and Castameres, Tytos had forgiven them. That was supposed to be the end of it. Instead Tywin wipes them out. This sets an insanely dangerous precedent and the moment the fear of the Lannisters wears off they're going to be despised.
After all, if being forgiven by the Lannister Lord of the West won't save you from being wiped out by Lannister forces, then why bother trying to earn forgiveness if you've done something they don't like? If rebelling will get you killed, and surrendering will get you killed, you may as well rebel anyways because at least then you have a chance of survival.
As Machiavelli states, if one cannot be both feared and loved then it is better to be feared. But one must take care to never be hated.
And he is correct in that, there comes a level of fear where you're so scared of something that you can't tolerate it's existence any longer. I wonder how close Tywin was to that? We may never no, for the hate he inspired in others overwhelmed the fear before it could reach critical mass.
@@MagicalMasterCastameres is not a house. It was a castle that was the seat of House Reyne. The Tarbecks were the other offenders that Lord Tywin destroyed.
The precedent was that Tywin was not his father who the other 2 houses openly laughed at and called the toothless lion. I don’t remember what Niccolò said about what to do when your subjects are laughing in your face and mocking you but I’m sure he would have agreed that Tytos was contributing to his own demise by allowing it to continue.
Tywin was simply the new manager who slacking employees who they worked for. Lol
Ned Stark was what everyone knew of the northern hemisphere leaders and its people, loyal! They keep their word, oath and loyalty which made the future after Ned’s death everything more important about honor and keeping your word, the starks were the oath keepers! That’s why the North wanted them to rule,
Ned was only stupid if we consider him as a fortune teller. His unability to forseen absolutely unbelievable events. He failed to imagine stupid wife kidnapping Tyrion in a tavern of the road. He failed to imagine stupid teenager daughter to speak his plans. He failed to predict death by wild animal... wtf.
Stupid is to act without reason, what he never did.
Cersei lost everything in the end
I don’t think he was stupid, I think he was in over his head. He didn’t know just how cutthroat southern politics were, and didn’t make any contingency plans.
His stupidity was keeping his children in the loop at all. They are KIDS they don't need to know shit. Wake them up in the middle of the night and force them to leave
I don't see how all you explained In this Video counters the fact rhat Ned was stupid
season start he kills a guy for being covert., same.happened to him.
Good points. Very good points.
Glad you enjoyed it
He wasn't stupid but he was ignorant of the power of his position. He thought himself first among equals, when in reality he as hand of the King had the power to do much more. If he had fired Janos Slynt and made more radical changes he would have been more successful.
No just honor bound to do stupid things. Dead, my friends is dead.
One thing I remember is when Little Finger told him that gold wins wars...and he replied "If that's true, then why is Robert king?"
For many reasons. Robert never truly was the ruler or the King outside of his own agenda, which was throwing parties, drinking and being a man whore. His rule was as long as it was because Tywin was pulling the strings and leading Robert to an inevitable early grave. He was married to Cersei, which is why he lasted as long as he did. Little Finger was pointing out the little wars that take place politically within the walls of Kings Landing, there is no honor, and it didn't matter if you possessed respect or strength, people would do anything to win. Even Renly told Ned to just murder them in their sleep and take over...Ned was stupid because he was more worried about the school bus on the side of the road with the children in it than he was the fact that the entire road was going to be set on fire if he didn't play the game right. His downfall was thinking that everyone would have the same Logic as the more honorable and loyal Northerners did. And he was just VERY wrong. Renly, Little Finger, and even CERCEI herself told him this. His blatant enemies tried to play politics with him and he basically spit in their faces. Especially Cercei, who took a liking to Sansa and did want to secure an alliance with the Starks. Proof of that is how she straight up treated Margaery Tyrell. She would have rather had Sansa take over as queen than anyone else. So in a way, Cercei would have been willing for sure to make sure that Ned was safe and his children were too
True, but also literally- soldiers won't fight long without pay, especially if they have families and/or farms they need to go back and take care of.
Well… he clearly underestimated Cersei’s intelligence. Say what we will about her stupidity. She wasn’t a complete idiot. She clearly wasn’t stupid enough to just stand passively, so she did what she needed to do for herself and her family’s prestige. She also wasn’t stupid enough to execute Ned. Joffrey was.
All this shows Ned underestimated a woman.
So yes, he was an idiot.
Cersie was not intelligent. Ned underestimated how much of a moron she was.
She was smart enough to do something, but the problem is her entire plan was to get Robert drunk and hope something happens.
Cersei gets her entire family killed and universally hated by everyone. The Starks ultimately prevail taking the iron throne, and securing the north as an independent kingdom. All of this in large part because Ned was an honorable guy.
Often enough the claim for "stuped Ned" is based on him:
1 - not having foresight: failed to predict unthinkable events
2 - not being all knowing: failed to know what everyone was doing, thinking, planning at all times
3 - and primarily not being someone else: failed to not be a Stark.
Plus, a concept issue: what means to be stupid?
Ned, Cat, Rob and Jon are stupid