Was Ned Stark's Father a good warrior?

Was Ned Stark's Father a good warrior? Explained A song of ice and fire/Game of Thrones/ House of the Dragon Lore
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BONNIE GRACE
Last Breath of Freedom
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[@jacksonloram7887]

God the Targaryen’s were truly their own worst enemy…Dance of the Dragons, Blackfyre rebellions, Mad King. It’s no wonder why all the great houses turned on them during Robert’s Rebellion

[@ScottMcMaster-er4xj]

Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[@jacksonloram7887]

@@ScottMcMaster-er4xj The Mad King literally did everything he could to start the war...and the Targaryens didn't have Dragons anymore so of course the great houses were going to rebel

[@meurumtrain4747]

When you only ruled not because anyone liked you, but because of fear, it’s no wonder. Most of the wars of Westeros were targeryans trying to Usurp each other. No one would dare fight a war against someone with dragons as no weapon was successful in killing them.

[@leeshropshire6346]

That’s what at least 300 years of incest does to ya

[@zhangchen7080]

​@@ScottMcMaster-er4xjseems like youve read a few books on history about powerful men, great line and just facts.

[@ccerrato147]

All the Starks are great at winning battles and suck ass at politics and strategy.

[@blazeblade761]

I think he had no other choice but the trial by combat

[@pIayingwithmahwii]

Yea he probly knew he’d have almost no real chance against most of Aerys’ bench, but also knew it was too late to back out of it now. He had probably accepted that his fate was sealed one way or another. Little did he know the “champion” the mad king would choose lol 🤦‍♂️ Honestly he probably just wishes that his son Brandon had simply never went down to King’s Landing in such a rage in the first place. That started this whole thing then they’d both be nice and safe if he hadn’t done it but noo he had to start talking Smack

[@hz.kemalpasa2997]

@@pIayingwithmahwii Talking smack is an interesting way to put it but yeah, people tend to get angry over their kids getting abducted by some assholes.

[@dahlizz99]

​@@pIayingwithmahwiiso why would he go to king's landing in the first place and demand a trial by combat if he knew he would lose anyway and his son would be killed anyway?😂 makes no sense.. he would call his banners and at least threaten war before that

[@iffatrizvi9531]

But he didn't have to fight himself, he could have taken the enst warrior of the north, unless... He was the best in the north

[@acexedo]

​@@iffatrizvi9531Not necessarily true. From what we know of Starks they prefer to do their dirty work themselves and would never ask another to fight and possibly die in their place. There might have been better fighters in the North, but Rickard himself must have been confident in his own fighting prowess, which would put him amongst the top fighters in the realm.

[@surfing5792]

Basically lyanna accidentally killed her own father and brother

[@AK-pw3oq]

What can you expect from Starks. Putting their family in danger is their speciality 😂

[@tylerballard54]

True I think a good part of that is Brandon’s fault though for recklessly going to kings landing and making demands

[@gratefulguy4130]

Women ☕️

[@mahad4477]

And reghal killed his wife and children by the war he started

[@Callum620]

Lyanna of Troy...story as old as the world.

[@damalman8223]

Ned said he never knew his father to be wrong when it came to matters of combat

[@tymcdonough6021]

Brandon himself was probably on par with Robert. He was bigger, stronger and faster than Ned so wielding the great sword Ice would have come much more naturally to him than the smaller Ned. Then of course there’s Benjen who quickly rose to First Ranger with 15 years of experience known as “The Bane of the Free Folk”

[@AJK17.5]

He was probably better than Robert and likely would have been a better king just didn't get the chance

[@MascotWP]

Ice is a ceremonial sword. its not for combat.

[@tymcdonough6021]

@@AJK17.5 Ned could have resettled the Gift with Ashara Dayne. In my dreams I call his branch the Daystarks. Imagine Robb with features of a Dayne being heralded as The Sword of Winter?

[@TheFlyingCougar]

Ned never used Ice in combat and Brandon wouldn't either. It's a ceremonial sword that is said to be far too large and heavy for anybody except maybe the mountain to actually use in combat

[@Daggerfall40]

​@@TheFlyingCougar Ned used Ice in battle during the Greyjoy Rebellion. It was stated in one of the GoT shorts that was narrated by Robb.

[@aliabbasnaqvi347]

Why didn't rickard stark pick water as his champion?

[@charlieflauding1727]

Sand

[@viewer9932]

because all water in north are frozen ice. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 He would need fire to melt ice before choosing it as his champion. 😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@sndorochi9660]

Is he stupid?

[@stanislavgalev9458]

Brandon was naturally talented swordsman, but perhaps around 2 levels below Jaime, Arthur or Barristan.Robert in his prime was just a step below them all and Brandon was 2 steps below.I imagine that the difference between legendary fighters and great fighters is not easy to spot unless we have a prolonged fight or a big number of fights between the two people.Robert might still win 4/10 times and Brandon might still take 3/10 fights.He has many years of professional training plus natural ability which would make even the best sweat against him.

[@thecollector6746]

Aerys chose fire because at some level he knew that Rickard was more than capable of bodying anyone of The Kings Guard.

[@psychkosys]

By law, Aerys COULDN'T choose fire as his champion. The royal family can only be defended in trials by kingsguard. If Rickard was quicker on his toes he could have said it was an illegal proxy.

[@benadrylcumbersplatch6448]

You really think legality matters to a dude that was prepared to burn King's Landing with wildfire rather than surrendering?

[@psychkosys]

@@benadrylcumbersplatch6448 I mean, he did go through the motions of allowing a trial by combat, so Aerys did have SOME small respect for this particular legal tradition. Also, when dealing with someone who is this unstable you probably already know he wants to have you killed before you even arrived in King's Landing. I'm just saying he could have at least tried to throw Aerys off by saying something like that instead of just submitting.

[@user-lp9gm2kh5u]

Bro Ayris is called the mad king for a reason

[@EDITSS429]

But his elder son was even better. I dont remember wich of thé kingsguard Saïd hé has Their level

[@travisgames6608]

True, a lot of knights saw Brendan's skills as top tier.

[@blazeblade761]

@travisgames6608 we know he is an excellent rider, but other than that, we dont have any solid proof that he is a top-tier fighter

[@pIayingwithmahwii]

⁠@@travisgames6608 I dunno he was supposedly such a great rider cuz of his magic connection to animals (not just wolves), yet he still lost to Rhaegar in a joust during the tourney at harren hall tourney! And I think we can all agree it would be highly unlikely that Brandon would have taken a bribe or an order to intentionally lose to make Rhaegar look good. He’s literally called the “wild wolf” so I doubt he’d do that. Their father lord stark wasn’t even there either I don’t think, and tbh I think that’s the only way Brandon would take a dive-if his dad told him to. But he wasn’t there, so I think we can very likely say that it was a real, fair loss. And that’s on a horse. Rhaegar wasn’t known for entering tourneys (remember he was serious like Ned he didn’t enter many tourneys), therefore I think it’s safe to say that Rhaegar would be even more superior to Brandon in an actual melee fight than he (Rhaegar) already was on horse jousting! And there’s very little evidence that Rhaegar is as good a warrior as the likes of Barristan or Arthur Dayne. I mean the only evidence we have of Rhaegar even being close to those guys is the word of Danaerys’ brother Viserys who is known to be, uh, delusional lol. And I think it highly likely that Barristan and Arthur both took a dive for Rhaegar so that the prince could win the tourney and look good in front of the realm. Those guys might be great fighters and great in tourneys, but the one thing that’s overrated for both of them how high everyone thinks of their honor. I mean they were likely the ones who subdued Brandon and Lord Stark so that Aerys could dishonorably burn them. Let that sink in-that’s probably not even the worst things those “honorable” knights have done or covered up for the royal family. I’m certain they would immediately take a dive for Rhaegar to cheat his way to number one with no questions asked, if the Prince asked them to do it. All this to say, Rhaegar was a decent jouster apparent (far from the best in the realm but could probably win any tournament where Barristan and Arthur don’t enter), I mean Rhaegar did beat Brandon in a joust and it seems like Rhaegar’s specialty was more toward combat that tourneys anyway. So yeah I think Brandon Stark is a pretty average fighter all around. He’s basically like Ned just stronger and probably more vicious in a fight. I mean Robert beat Rhaegar kinda easily, and no one ever says that Robert is on the same S-tier as Barristan and Dayne. Robert is probably in the top of A-tier just below those guys, whereas Rhaegar would be at the very bottom of A-tier, and Brandon would be in like the middle of B tier, and for comparison Ned would probly be at the top of C tier or bottom of B. And as another comparison I’d put Prime Jaime would probably be a Tiiiny bit better than prime Robert, but I’d put prime Jaime at the bottom of S tier a good bit below Barristan and Dayne but still in that same top tier.

[@pIayingwithmahwii]

@@travisgames6608 I’d say Barristan, Dayne, prime Jaime, and Prime Robert all beat Rhaegar with minimum difficulty. Rhaegar isn’t bad he’s just not top tier. And Rhaegar is probably a way better fighter than Brandon so yeah I’d say Ned’s older brother Brandon Stark was just a decent fighter, *definitely* not top tier, nothing to rlly write home about if u know what I mean. Like Barristan and Dayne are Lebron and Michael Jordan, prime Jaime and prime Robert are like a small step below that, but they’re still in the NBA u know what I mean? Like they’re still star players. Rhaegar is probably like a decent D1 college basketball player, and Brandon sorru to say is probably just the best kid on his local high school basketball team, but he just didn’t make the cut for college ball 😂 . Like Brandon is levels and levels away from Lebron and Jordan, he def nowhere near “top tier” by any means or by any definition

[@travisgames6608]

@@pIayingwithmahwii jousting isn't fighting. Hell both Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan lost. Jousting isn't comparable to blade on blade. Robert was a decent jouster, yet he was a great fighter. Lord Rickard wasn't there because "there must always be a Stark in Winterfell". All of his kids were at the tourney, and his wife had long since died. Also, Arthur and Barristan didn't take a "dive". Ser Barristan even said how Rhaegar beat him and that he wished he "fought harder" (which all their doing is trying to push the other guy off his horse), I guess he wasn't feeling it that day or by that time. Both Ser Arthur&Barristan's honor or what they may or may not have done to the Starks is.. A needless tangents. Especially when that has nothing to do with the topic. So.. Idk what your tangent was about.

[@infinitygauntlet101]

Holy shit, challenging prime Jamie and Selmy? Why cant Ned be like this?

[@TheSheepWhisperer_ML]

Did Ned not fight Jaime in the very first episodes

[@CharlieHein2709]

@@TheSheepWhisperer_ML in the books ned isnt that good in terms of swordplay. he could handle himself and did fight with ice during the siege of pyke but he wasnt as good as other characters. in the books the fight with jaime doesnt occur and previous to the main story, he was defeated by yhon royce in winterfell in a training combat. take your conclusions

[@BlameSilas77]

Jaime wasn’t in his prime then he was a kid

[@Luis-ou9fn]

@@TheSheepWhisperer_MLcomparing the books to the show is stupid.

[@quaderex3420]

​@@CharlieHein2709Yohn is one of the best in Westeros though. Ned fought some of the best knights to ever live like Arthur Dayne and Gerold Hightower. Even if he was saved by Howland the fact that he was able to cross swords with Arthur and not die immediatelly shows that Ned is way above average.

[@FedeZande08]

Such a sad story...

[@efrainmass4864]

Raeghar the coward prince.

[@onyedikachukwumiracle]

The Wolf was roasted

[@littlesebastian4389]

The Starks are good strong men. But also pretty dumb.

[@tonyjunior-thefirstgentlem410]

You're being generous. They are very dumb to a fault.

[@ottovonbismarck7742]

Yeah. I mean they accidentally became kings of the north for sure.

[@ItsAv3rageGamer]

Fun fact: You can actually see Brandon Stark's death scene very very briefly in the original trailer for S1 of Game of Thrones. HBO pretty much re-did the whole pilot after it was initially poorly recieved and the flashback scene was unfortunately cut.

[@bleekskaduwee6762]

I think it was more like he wanted to die like a warrior and not have some mock trial and get put down like some stray dog

[@sammakesstuff4176]

came to say this. He wanted to go down with his dignity intact but Aerys wouldn't even give him that 😔

[@Ironcorgi2]

The thing is rickard was a veteran of the war of the nine penny kings that’s how he formed friendships with hoster Tully. Northern swordsmanship might actually be on a different level since cregan stark could go on par with aemon the dragonknight even when cregan was middle aged

[@beermaster3359]

Lyana:"i dont care,my father,my brother....everyone can die....i only love rhaegar,nobody understand"😤

[@oharayoung4992]

I thought hightower was the tower of joy during that time 👀

[@rpavangchhia8953]

If only lyanna had sent a raven to her family, assuring that she was safe and had eloped.

[@brucejedilee5290]

Trial by combat was literally his only chance to survive and he would probably prefer to die fighting anyway

[@indiadecoseytillman]

At this, I don't know why those Houses kept running up on Targaryens like that. They were sprayed roach crazy. If they go around killing their own, inbreeding babies back into battles, riding around on dragons...how many signs do you need to know that they weren't wrapped tight? Worse, they're almost all related, cousin-brother-uncle from one House married that sister-wife-aunt's daughter or bastard some how Targaryen. Noooooo, everyone already knew where the crazy side of the family came from. Then add crap that burns fluorescent lime green. How do you NOT know that things are going to go terribly horrible for you if you run up on a Targaryen? They may die in the end but oh, something is getting burnt up or murked out before they go. This incident is right up there with the fools getting their tongues cut out then going back to be beheaded.

[@homersimpson6585]

Well I’m pretty sure a lot of the houses tried initially but didn’t have enough men to take dragons And later on some of the great houses did try but ended up failing You’ve also a lot of the houses not being capable militarily post dance of the dragons Plus for every 2-3 bad Targaryen kings there was one good king who’d balance it out And even for the bad kings they enriched people in the right places and greased some up to keep their power And even then they started marrying other families later on, to establish alliances So that’s why a lot didn’t

[@DVRhm25]

Bro can’t even beat fire

[@jamesmullen3068]

Ned also famously does not openly display his swordsmanship

[@verballyrebellious]

The northmen in general are not inclined towards knighthoods or flashy ceremonies like tourneys. There are northmen better than the knights of the kingsguard but they are not recorded or heralded by those who love ceremonies.

[@Drakkonemus]

If no choice was a feat haha

[@jeremybowers5301]

Come on thats some wild speculation. He had two options. A trial that would be presided over by a violently insane man who already judged him guilty. Or a trial by combat where he figured he at least could get lucky. As a lord of a great house he was undoubtedly well trained and well armored, but we have absolutely nothing from the text that indicates in any way his skill. Seems pretty obvious he tried to pick the option where death wasn't 100% certain.

[@DeborahShepard-hw2id]

Haha you said it yourself he only had one option, so it wasn't that he thought he could contend with those titans, more like it was his only play. He would have agreed to fight the fire to if known beforehand because like you said he had only one choice

[@caesarchaves07]

Damn i think ned father is more honor and have son ned becoming the most honorable person

[@Callum620]

Not much mental prowess there tho...

[@Dapryor]

George Martin has a twisted mind in the best possible way.

[@lawrencereid2767]

🏰🖤

[@tylerkrone8684]

Choosing fire as his champion was actully pretty smart

[@damalman8223]

No this was the dumbest thing ever that started the rebellion

[@tonyjunior-thefirstgentlem410]

I'm sure he had old man strength and even then it's who gets stuck first, but I don't think he was as good as every man thinks they are. A great warrior would know better!

[@Att964]

Gerrold Hightower? I thought the Hightowers got wiped out during the dance of dragons?

[@bullymaguire7843]

Jorah married a Hightower..so no

[@uncommon_name9337]

But not very smart

[@sdghtjsdcgs]

You just said he had no choice. That doesn't mean he necessarily thought he'd win

[@Papaty25]

He should've chosen fire extinguisher as his champion. He was a dumb guy.

[@Maegorthecrueltargaryen]

Not greater than me though

[@Durran196]

Wtf bro!!! Iron Throne was not meant to sleep upon!!

[@Maegorthecrueltargaryen]

@@Durran196 never sleept on it

[@Durran196]

@@Maegorthecrueltargaryen what were you doing then, your grace.

[@Maegorthecrueltargaryen]

@@Durran196 ruling

[@Durran196]

@@Maegorthecrueltargaryen then how tf you came to die on it... Your grace

[@UnderBarrowBog]

Lyanna wasn’t kidnapped, come on now.

[@jimslone7060]

Ummm those guys are good you listed but what about sir Arthur dane the sword of the morning like I’m pretty sure the king would have chosen his best !!!! I wouldn’t wanna fight anyone of their top four like at all… cause even if you win you die

[@ImSNB]

Dane was on the run with Rhaegar

[@tubeguy4066]

He wasnt there lol

[@johnnyboy3410]

i am pretty sure he would have killed 16 year old Jaime

[@amd8365]

It's a character dreamt up by a person. So since he's not real I'd say your wasting your life debating these topics.

[@abarainosa]

That's...certainly a reach.

[@miqdadpakaiq7096]

Can he chose water ?

[@darellmawitjere]

Wild fire only can taken with sand. Because it was burning the Water also.

[@sirbey9608]

This is terrible 😔

[@xshandy5812]

He was simply a fool 👍

[@joshpowell1045]

What other choice did he have

[@xshandy5812]

@@joshpowell1045 Did you seriously say that? 💀

[@joshpowell1045]

@@xshandy5812 if he didn’t ask for the trial by combat what else could he have done?

[@lonemotheomatshaba9640]

​@@joshpowell1045 he could've asked the mad king to spare Aerys and send his son to the wall

[@joshpowell1045]

@@lonemotheomatshaba9640 the mad king? He asked for a trial by combat and you saw what happened. You think the mad king was gonna spare anybody?

[@rickontellez3757]

If someone kidnapped my sister my dad would’ve probably did the same don’t mean he can beat Jaime thoe 💀💀💀💀

[@benparrish672]

I am The NashVillain I wield the Glacius Axe 🪓 tht can manipulate Absolute Zero