Ned vs. Mance

[The Wild Wolf]

In AGOT, Ned felt he might have to deal with Mance Rayder himself.

"The day may come when I will have no choice but to call the banners

and ride north to deal with this King-beyond-the-Wall for good and

all." -Ned

What if Ned had survived, and decided to battle the wildlings? What

would the outcome have been, and who would you have supported?

I've grown fond of Mance and the wildlings, so I would have been torn.

[Chaircat Meow]

It's possible hostilities might have been prevented by discovery of the threat from the Others.

[I am a bastard's bastard]

i like mance and the wildlings but i think if ned was alive it would be different i think i would support ned because of the way his pov would make mance seem, i think ned would respect mance and therefore we would to but ultimately ned woud have to stop him and therefore we would want mance stopped

[Bourne]

In AGOT, Ned felt he might have to deal with Mance Rayder himself.

"The day may come when I will have no choice but to call the banners

and ride north to deal with this King-beyond-the-Wall for good and

all." -Ned

What if Ned had survived, and decided to battle the wildlings? What

would the outcome have been, and who would you have supported?

I've grown fond of Mance and the wildlings, so I would have been torn.

I thought this was gonna be a thread about them fighting a duel. I'm glad it's not, since that question wouldn't be worthy of discussion.

As to them fighting a war, that's really a ton of speculation. We'd have make up the variables completely.

[Winter's Ghost]

In one on one combat? That would be unlikely to happen. Ned would take his own men and call some bannerman and they would go to the wall to deal with Mance and the Wildlings. I like the Wildlings a lot, but they'd be crushed by Ned and his army because they wouldn't be as organized, or have quality weapons. They might be able to hold them back if they did a guerrila type thing like they do in the Neck, since the Wildlings would know beyond the wall better.

If it did come down to one on one, I don't know, probably Ned.

As for who I'd root for? I really like the Wildlings, but I love the Starks.

[butterbumps!]

I'd have supported Mance. I actually think he's an "untapped" source of knowledge/ importance with this whole winter "unpleasantness." I find him a lot more valuable than Ned in this regard, but I sadly think Ned would have put him down and beheaded him as a deserter (rules, rules) thereby losing a powerful asset. (and I think this sort of shows us an aspect that separates Jon from Ned-- Jon bends those rules a bit when there's a bigger cause, whereas I don't believe Ned would).

Oh, and to bypass any questions about 1 on 1 dueling: keep in mind that Mance kicked the ass of every fighter/ clan leader of the free folk to become king. I think he's a better fighter than Ned.

[The Green Ranger]

Ultimately, If Ned called his banners to take care of Mance, than thats exactly what will happen, he will take care of Mance.

[The Wild Wolf]

Just to clarify, I meant a war between Ned and his bannermen against Mance and the wildlings. Sorry about that.

[butterbumps!]

Just to clarify, I meant a war between Ned and his bannermen against Mance and the wildlings. Sorry about that.

Actually, this is something that had me sort of confused, and I don't know if it's a plothole or will become significant. I don't think that there's any chance Mance + wildlings could have successfully gotten south of the Wall and not have been defeated by Ned and the North. Mance isn't a stupid guy, so I think he'd know this. It makes me wonder-- what was his actual plan? It could easily be that he thought defeat by the North was a better fate than certain death via Others, and it was just a hail mary pass. But it does strike me as odd.

[Winter's Ghost]

Actually, this is something that had me sort of confused, and I don't know if it's a plothole or will become significant. I don't think that there's any chance Mance + wildlings could have successfully gotten south of the Wall and not have been defeated by Ned and the North. Mance isn't a stupid guy, so I think he'd know this. It makes me wonder-- what was his actual plan? It could easily be that he thought defeat by the North was a better fate than certain death via Others, and it was just a hail mary pass. But it does strike me as odd.

I don't think it would matter to him, all he probably thought about was to get past the wall, there wasn't really any other option. Maybe they would get past and just scatter and try to get away.

[James Arryn]

I see it going kinda like Harold Godwinson vs.Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

[Ser Snowflake]

Mance's army was huge but a large percentage of his host were women, children, and all of their possessions. Mance was not on a crusade, he was on a suicide mission and considering the enemy he was facing......maybe he felt that he had better chance of defeating the armies of the living.

With that said, any Stark bannermen could probably have broken Mance's host. If Mance's was truly smart, he would have tried to appeal to the Night's Watch or The Starks of Winterfell describing their plight.

I think a battle between the white walkers versus a unified north and Night's Watch would be an orgy of wights, white walkers, crows, wolves, fire arrows, skinners, wargs, Tormund's member, the Stark's direwolves, Hodor, and a thousand eyes and one. One can still hope...

[King Daemon Blackfyre]

We all saw what Stannis did to the wildling horde with a few hundred knights. Mance vs the Ned? Lord Eddard Stark and the Northern heavy cavalry, all day every day.

Now, after Mance's horde has been smashed and broken, will the Northmen listen to any wildling prisoner's tales about the Others?

[The Fallen]

...all day every day.

I don't know what else to say.

[Pod The Impaler]

If we're talking about a scenario where Ned did not go south as Hand, no calling of the northern banners for the war of 5 kings, then the wildlings would be screwed. They couldn't handle a few thousand of Stannis' army, so against even more northerners plus the Night's Watch, they'd have likely fared worse.

Actually this brings up another scenario - Mance Rayder snuck into Winterfell, posing as a singer. He was there when Ned and King Robert were. Imagine if instead of sneaking back across the Wall, he'd have announced himself, claimed guest right with bread & salt, and then proceeded to explain what was going on beyond the wall to Robert, king-to king (and to Ned).

If he had gathered his army, but then told them they were fleeing the Others, would Ned & Robert have rejected him utterly ? Or would they have made some sort of pact in the manner that Jon Snow / Stannis eventually did ? (Ned did want to settle the Gift.)

[James Arryn]

Dunno how guest rights work with impersonation/disguise.

I'd imagine you might be in a dubious place if you get in by deception and then staked your life on a point of protocol.

[Winterfellian]

Mance's army was huge but a large percentage of his host were women, children, and all of their possessions. Mance was not on a crusade, he was on a suicide mission and considering the enemy he was facing......maybe he felt that he had better chance of defeating the armies of the living.

With that said, any Stark bannermen could probably have broken Mance's host. If Mance's was truly smart, he would have tried to appeal to the Night's Watch or The Starks of Winterfell describing their plight.

:agree: Completely with this. Mance is one of my favorites but Ned and the bannermen would have crushed him and his people in a second. About Mance making an appeal, giving that he wanted to preserve not only the lives of his people but also their way of living I don't see it happening. He was being too uncompromisingin this regards so an appeal probably would never had worked.

[The Lord's Kiss]

One on one though? I think The Mance would have owned The Ned.

[Corvinus85]

My question is: where would this war have been fought? Would Ned really have taken 20,000 Northmen north of the Wall, and started searching for Mance, or would he have waited for word from the Night's Watch when Mance was ready to threaten the Wall?

[tyrions sliced nose]

I'd have supported Mance. I actually think he's an "untapped" source of knowledge/ importance with this whole winter "unpleasantness." I find him a lot more valuable than Ned in this regard, but I sadly think Ned would have put him down and beheaded him as a deserter (rules, rules) thereby losing a powerful asset. (and I think this sort of shows us an aspect that separates Jon from Ned-- Jon bends those rules a bit when there's a bigger cause, whereas I don't believe Ned would).

Oh, and to bypass any questions about 1 on 1 dueling: keep in mind that Mance kicked the ass of every fighter/ clan leader of the free folk to become king. I think he's a better fighter than Ned.

Really? who still lived at the TOJ even if it was 7 vs 3, it was Ned.When the smallfolk talk on who killed the sword of the morning, the great athur dayne they probably say Ned did. Hes pretty underrated when in truth he shouldve been a superstar warrior after destroying the targaryan reign with help from robert. Robert killed Rhaegar but Ned Killed Dayne who was a million times a better warrior than Rheagar ever was.