Ned put his honor above the safety and happiness of his family.

[The Broke Howard Hughes]

I can't imagine Ned figured there was a chance of Cersei going all homicidal. The fact that her half baked plan suceeded, so far at least I'm still convinced Lancel fesses up to his role in Robert's death at her trial, is beyond amazing.

[Djinn]

Keeping the secret from Cat is understandable since Ned barely knew her when they married. But not fostering Jon and having him in Cat's face all time was a mistake. Castle Cerwyn is half a day's ride from WF.

Not reinforcing his position in KL after the events on Darry was dumb. And he just kept pilling more of it until he got himself without allies and in jail.

[aceluby]

I can't imagine Ned figured there was a chance of Cersei going all homicidal. The fact that her half baked plan suceeded, so far at least I'm still convinced Lancel fesses up to his role in Robert's death at her trial, is beyond amazing.

Which would fulfill her prophecy nicely since he's young and as good looking as Jaime Lannister. This would take away all of her power and would strip her of her right to Casterly Rock.

[Minsc]

Which would fulfill her prophecy nicely since he's young and as good looking as Jaime Lannister. This would take away all of her power and would strip her of her right to Casterly Rock.

Meh, Ser Robert Strong will probably kill whoever they put up against him thus "proving" her innocence.

[Darryk]

It was naive, to think he could play the Game of Thrones but keep his principles. It's one or the other, can't have both, and he learned that the hard way.

Don't know about selfish though. I think he had little choice with the issue of Jon's identity. Jon's claim would be a threat to Robert, and to Jon himself. Assuming that the promise Ned made to Lyanna was to protect Jon, in his mind keeping Jon's identity a secret was the only way to do that.

Of course, Jon might see it differently, if he ever finds out that his bastard outcast status, which prompted him to join the Night's Watch as it was the only way for him to rise high, was a lie his "father" led him to believe, and that he was in truth the heir to the Targaryen dynasty.

[GCabot]

There are more important things than just climbing up the social ladder. Joffrey was not the kind of son-in-law he hoped for. War is terrible, but letting tyrants usurp power is worse. Ned had a responsibility to do the right thing.

Though he had planned for his children to be safely away. They were hours from being taken back to Winterfell and he believed he had the City Watch. He was naive and stupid, but he thought he had protected his daughters.

I totally agree, but my point is you can't say that Ned always chose family over honor. He did at the end when he falsely confessed, but there are times before that point where he chose to put his family at risk for honor, and I don't think it was necessarily the wrong decision.

[Luthien Targaryen]

Firstly thanks for showing me two good reasons why Ned wouldn't have told Catelyn everything he knew about Jon. That had confused me alot.. If Rhaegar really was Jon's father and Lyanna his mother then Ned has every good reason to believe that nothing he could do would have stopped Robert from killing Jon if he found out. Robert shows horror or revulsion when he sees that Rhaenys and Aegon have been horribly and brutally murdered and shows no sign of giving a monkeys about Princess Elia and justice for her grieving and fairly important relatives, and what did Elia ever do to him? Rhaegar stole Lyanna from him, in his eyes, and if Jon was living proof of that, we, tough luck Neddy your nephew is toast.

Ned clearly loves Jon, he clearly loves all his kids, and to him Jon as much his son as Robb is, Ned would risk his life for Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon, he'd do it for Jon too. Why not tell Catelyn? Would Catelyn allow him to treat his nephew as his son? She'd expect Jon to occupy pretty much the same place as Theon does, which Jon does anyway. She wouldn't be able to treat him any different because if she did, somebody would notice and ask why. Catelyn resents the smear of Ned's honour, which brings me to reason two...Catelyn would swear not to tell a soul, i bet, but if somebody happened to say to her "Oh, your husband's not so great, after all, there's that bastard living with you isn't there?" and i can imagine Lysa saying just that...Catelyn would leap in to defend Ned without thinking.

I don't think Ned is obsessed with honour, and i don't think he put it above the welfare of his family, only his own. I think he did what he did because he thought it would be for the best, for the people he loved and cared about. They weren't always the right decisions (having anything to do with Littlefinger was wrong, telling Cersei what he was thinking and planning was mental...Not keeping a closer eye in Sansa was a bit daft, but hey, he can't be everywhere at once, he's not Varys....). Ned was simply not cut out for the Game of Thrones, he was in his element running the north (i'd have loved him to have met Mance Rayder) but Kings landing was just too full of scheming, backstabbing, ruthless types all out for number one. He did what he thought was the right thing, but alas the road to hell, especially in Westeros, is paved with good intentions.

[Thorion2]

True enough jaunml82. I'd put a qoute in here if I were smart enough to figure out how on a kindle. I might have read too much into that. I figured the children crying was referring to an aggressive military action. Not just a force to restrain the Lannisters.

[conon394]

It was naive, to think he could play the Game of Thrones but keep his principles. It's one or the other, can't have both, and he learned that the hard way.

You don't see the irony of your statement? Ned was never playing... The very concept is sort of alien to how he viewed governing. At best he was trying to unravel why his old friend was assassinated and trying to save Robert from himself. I don't think it was naive just absolutely different way of looking at the world.

In any case with the Barathion brothers at odds (and Stannis absent) its not like Ned could have played even if he was Walsingham, Machiavelli and Richelieu combined. He had no base or contacts in the city and the LF had gotten Lyana to pull up whatever base Jon A had and take it home and w/o Stannis Ned could only maybe trust Renly who inspired little to no confidence (note how few swords he had when he fled vs what he claimed). Throw in his wife going off half cocked and he did not even get time to build his own base or send for more Stark men etc.

Compare Tyrion did no better and ended up in the same place but for his brothers loyalty...