Game Of Thrones: 10 Stupidly Easy Decisions That Would've Solved Everything

9. Ned Says No

In the first episode of the series, we meet Ned Stark. Played by the venerable Sean Bean, Ned had all the makings of a protagonist who would carry the show through to the end. Besides, it's not like Sean Bean must die in all of his prominent roles, right? Well, we all know how that turned out. Looking back, betrayal and death were the only possible fates for a man as honorable as Ned Stark in the viper's nest of King's Landing. Still, as clear as hindsight may be as we head toward the fifth season, the sense of heartbreaking inevitability inherent in Ned's death is tempered somewhat by the knowledge that it so simply could have been avoided. Ned may not have possessed the moral flexibility to adapt to the scheming of the capital, but he could have always just... not gone. Granted, King Robert had journeyed to Winterfell with an extensive royal retinue to recruit Ned for the position as Hand, but he couldn't have actually forced him to take the job. Ned didn't want it. Catelyn urged him to refuse it. Were it not for a pesky letter from Lysa Arryn and Ned's damnable sense of duty, he might still be ruling Winterfell as Warden of the North, beheading breakers of oaths and dodging questions of paternity to his heart's delight. He never would have learned of Cersei's and Jaime's affair and the bastardy of the royal children, preventing the deaths of Robert's bastards in King's Landing. Gendry would never have been sent to the Night's Watch to escape the slaughter, and Melisandre would not have had the royal blood for her spell. Robb never would have called the banners and marched South. Sansa would not be in Littlefinger's hands in the Vale. Yes, the Lannisters would have gotten away with Robert's murder, but Tywin would have been able to take over as Hand immediately, reining in Joffrey before he could become the irredeemable monster that we would come to know and despise.