2. Betrayal And Execution Of Ned Stark
In at number two on this list of heinous acts in Game of Thrones is effectively a series of evil or otherwise unsavoury deeds, which culminate in arguably the show's first genuinely shocking moment, and certainly the most appalling of the first season. As it happens, it is also that season's single most despicable event. Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark are good mates. As such, Robert appointed Ned Hand of the King to basically run his kingdom for him, while he went and ate and drank and verbally abused Lancel Lannister. However, Robert is mortally wounded while hunting, and on his deathbed, composes a royal decree which stipulates that Ned succeed him as King. Having already been skewered through the leg by a Lannister soldier during a (sweet) duel with the Kingslayer, Ned is betrayed by Littlefinger. Aware of the likelihood that the Lannisters will attempt to put Joffrey on the throne, he comes up with a plan to arrest the boy and his family so as to avoid bloodshed. This requires Littlefinger to have paid the city guard to follow Ned's orders. However, when he commands them (and his own men) to take the Lannisters into custody after Cersei tears up the royal decree, they instead kill the Stark soldiers, whereupon Littlefinger sneers: "I did warn you not to trust me". Ned is ignominiously thrown in a cell as the Lannisters trump up some treason charges against him. Meanwhile, his daughter Sansa pleads with her loving King to show mercy to her father, which he agrees to on the condition that Ned confesses to his supposed crimes. When it comes to the day of Ned's public trial, however, and he complies with Joffrey's demands, the little reprobate commands Ilyn Payne to bring him his head anyway. The result is that Ned Stark, for all intents and purposes, died a traitor to the crown, his name in tatters. From the moment he accepted Robert's offer to become Hand of the King his fate was sealed. He was cheated, betrayed and ultimately humiliated, all because he was an honourable man.