How Ned Stark Won Game Of Thrones
A Time For Wolves
Westeros is filled with political schemers; with liars and backstabbers, murderers and rapists - men without honour. That's just the way of the world, but because of that, it's easy to fall in line. It takes something special to stay true to who you are, and that's what Ned Stark managed, no matter the cost. And it's why his children have ultimately succeeded.
The North Remembered, and House Stark started to rise again. Jon came back from the dead, and so, symbolically, did the Starks. Arya reclaimed her identity and found her way home, gaining vengeance on those who'd wronged her. Sansa took back her home and her agency. Bran... well, he was still a bit off, but he found his way home too. Through Seasons 6 & 7, Ned Stark's presence was keenly felt as we watched his children fight back, and as he himself returned to the show proper too. Through those Tower of Joy flashbacks we learned even more of his character, with confirmation of the promise he'd made to his dying sister, the weight he'd carried around from that point on, and the son he'd raised as his own, no matter the cost to his reputation, because it was the right thing to do.
In Season 8, too, even as the complaints and division have dominated The Discourse, Ned's ghost has watched on. His children have all fought to do what was right. To put duty and honour above all, and to stay together as a pack. In a season where we've heard so much about being defined by sins of fathers like Tywin Lannister and Aerys II Targaryen, it's great to be reminded of Westeros' best father figure.
For Bran, he becomes the King even though he doesn't want to rule - or want anything, for that matter. Ned never had any interest in going south either, yet he went and served Westeros when duty demanded it of him. He does what he must, retaining the lessons from that early Stark sequence when Ned executes the deserter from the Night's Watch, and Bran has to look because his father will know if he doesn't. And then, in the final montage of Jon, Sansa, and Arya, Ned becomes even more present.
So much of Sansa's story has been her learning to become a player of the game: a new Littlefinger or Cersei. But in the end, while she's taken lessons from them, she stays true to Ned. She will rule the North as a truly decent person, and do what's best for its people. Arya may have been trained to kill by other men, and turned from vengeance by Sandor, but it's her father's legacy she carries with her as she departs Westeros. A father who always allowed her to forge her own path. Who encouraged her no matter what. Who started the training that would set off her entire story. And now it's in his name she's going to discover a new world. She might be leaving home again, but she's carrying a piece of it with her.
Finally, we have Jon. That's Jon Snow, the bastard. Jon Snow, the child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Jon Snow, the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. But above all else, he's Jon Snow, Ned Stark's son. Ned may not really be Jon's father by birth, but he is his dad. In the finale, Jon must put duty before love. He must sacrifice a part of himself in order to do what's right. To risk death for honour. It's the same sacrifice his dad made for him. He heads back beyond the Wall, and reunites with his direwolf Ghost, the sigil of House Stark. His Targaryen side might have taken him south, but the Stark side - the Ned Stark side - has brought him back where he belongs as a man of honour. Jon's always done what he can to live up to his father's legacy, and it shines through one last time in his closing moments. As it intercuts between the trio, we see them all making their way through crowds of different people, who stand aside to make way for them. As the Starks take rule of Westeros, it's a reminder that they serve the people. Everything comes full circle. In an episode defined by the stories we tell, this becomes the story of House Stark most of all. It's a time for wolves.
The biggest lie Game of Thrones ever told us was that Ned wasn't really the main character after all. He was the ultimate main character, long after his death. Winter came, but the Starks endured. The snows fell and the white winds blew, and the pack survived because of his legacy.
Ned never had much time for playing the game of thrones. That's why when he died, he still managed to win.
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