Game Of Thrones: Every Hand Of The King, Ranked

Ned Stark is one of the greatest men Westeros has ever known, but he wasn’t a particularly good Hand.

He’s simply too honourable for the job, and is one of the first victims claimed by the game Of thrones. To his credit, he does quit the job at one point, but is soon reappointed by King Robert, only to find himself stranded when Robert is killed by a wild boar.

He trusts Littlefinger after being explicitly told not to by Littlefinger himself, and shows his hand willingly to Cersei. Both decisions end up costing him his life, and both show his lack of shrewdness; a key component of being Hand of the King.

In fairness to Ned, he does at least do the proper duties of Hand correctly, even if he fails at the subtle aspects of the job. Robert is a poor but harmless King, and Ned does his best to quell his most stupid urges. If not for the scheming of King’s Landing, Ned might have been the realm’s greatest Hand. Unfortunately, that’s far too big an ‘if’.

The phrase ‘the King sh*ts and the Hand wipes’ has never been truer than between these two.