Ned doesn't like killing children, so why would he take Theon ?

[Lee-Sensei]

Well he did it to spare Theon from being killed right then and there, didn't he? He must've judged the risk that Balon would make further trouble low.

I doubt Robert would have killed all of the Greyjoys.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Ned believes enemies should be killed in battle, not assassinated.

This. Otherwise, then Robert should have killed every other Targaryen loyalist he knew about "in case" they tried to help Viserys and Dany back. That makes a lousy king and as Ned said, he was seeing ghosts. It was the plot to kill Dany what eventually caused Drogo to sail to Westeros.

About Theon, I think Ned knew that Balon would never rebel against them knowing he had his only son. Balon, otoh, didn't know Ned was that honourable and behaved. Kind of a win-win situation.

[ARYa_Nym]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADR39E0pxzs

Is that the video?

He makes similar implications in the video. I remember the video that was posted seemed to not have as good quality. It was bluish/white IIRC. I think he was sitting at a table or something like that.

[Lord Reaver]

Balon, otoh, didn't know Ned was that honourable and behaved. Kind of a win-win situation.

Balon didn't care about Theon, that much is clear. He'd been grooming Asha as his successor, after all. The reason he didn't rebel earlier is because he knew it'd be futile, not because of "honourable" Ned and his threat.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Balon didn't care about Theon, that much is clear. He'd been grooming Asha as his successor, after all. The reason he didn't rebel earlier is because he knew it'd be futile, not because of "honourable" Ned and his threat.

He's still his only heir who can give him sons with his name.

[Throng of Mice and Mire]

I think theres lots of ways you can justify it without branding Ned a hypocrite.

Firstly, the reason he is so violently opposed to killing Danny is because he can't separate her and Jon. He can't agree to the murder of a Targaryen child, because he's raised one and sees it as his own son. So he can't be a party to Robert murdering Danny because it'd be like being a party to Robert murdering Jon. Which he could never allow, not for honorable reasons, but for personal reasons.

He doesn't have a "no killing anyone who is under an arbitrary age under any circumstances" rule that he lives by.

I don't think he views Theon in quite the same way given their cold and distant relationship and I don't think he'd view Theon as a "child" anymore anyway.

Though, he certainly wouldn't take Theon's head lightly, I think he'd be able to do his duty if he felt like he had to.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I don't think he views Theon in quite the same way given their cold and distant relationship and I don't think he'd view Theon as a "child" anymore anyway.

Because he's not a child, I guess. Isn't Theon 19? That's the same age Ned had when he went to war, married Cat and had a son of his own.

[Heidrun]

There is a difference between openly killing a hostage if his father rebels versus a sneak attack on someone on another continent.

Ned, Theon and Balon all know what the consequences of a rebellion will be and Ned wouldn't be sneaky about it. He would just do it.

Killing a pregnant woman on another continent through cloak-and-dagger techniques is not something he can condone. To him, it's not honor but cowardice and at that point Daenerys and baby were not a threat to Westeros or Robert. If they were marshaling their cavalry and a navy, THEN Ned would probably agree to take action. But not until then.

[Captain of the Guard]

He would of got killed anywhere he went if he had escaped. Where is he going to go if he escapes from Winterfell, theres hundreds of empty miles surround the capital of the North. Theon was given to Ned Stark because he is a honorable man and he treat Theon as a son, in some respects, and teach him to be honorable and just.

[thetitansbastard]

Ned never would have killed Theon

[Francisco Araujo da Costa]

Theon had no value dead. If Balon rebelled, Theon could have been used as a figurehead after his father's overthrow. If Balon died and a more bellicose Greyjoy took over (stupid Victarion, vicious Euron, fanatic Areon), Theon could have been used as a rallying point for an Ironborn rebellion against the new lord. In either case, marrying him off to the right lord's daughter (a Manderly girl? a Westerman's daughter, if Tywin wasn't such a dick?) would be politically propitious. And if the Ironborn never stirred, Theon might have died a bachelor in Winterfell, with no legitimate child -- isn't that more or less what they want to do with Jaime?

In the marriage front, it's interesting that Ned doesn't go looking for political marriages for any of his children. There's Alys Karstark for Robb, but that's very tentative and might have been one-sided on Rickard's part.

[ghosts in winterfell]

He's still his only heir who can give him sons with his name.

This is not true, Asha can do the same. Maege Mormont's children all bear (lol) the family name.

[Gneisenau]

He's still his only heir who can give him sons with his name.

Asha can give Balon sons.

[bpsae325]

Asha can give Balon sons.

They're not Targs... or Lannisters haha

[Zeus_Invictus]

Only Theon is way past marrying age in the books (19, Robb marries at what, 16 going on 17?). If Ned had any intention towards this, you'd think there would at least be some mention of it, if not outright plans or offers being discussed. Instead, there's nothing. Not a word.

19 is nowhere near well past marrying age. That's how old Ned and Robert were when they married, with Stannis a year or two older, Renly at 22, and Edmure and Tyrion at 25. Similarly, Willas and Viserys remained unmarried in their early 20s. Although Robb was betrothed to a Frey at 15 and married Jeyne when he was 15 or 16, that was a case of expediency due to war; and if Ned's plan was to marry Theon to one of his daughters then it would still be 5 years for Sansa and 7 for Arya.

[WeddinGuest]

19 is nowhere near well past marrying age. That's how old Ned and Robert were when they married, with Stannis a year or two older, Renly at 22, and Edmure and Tyrion at 25. Similarly, Willas and Viserys remained unmarried in their early 20s. Although Robb was betrothed to a Frey at 15 and married Jeyne when he was 15 or 16, that was a case of expediency due to war; and if Ned's plan was to marry Theon to one of his daughters then it would still be 5 years for Sansa and 7 for Arya.

And even Robb wasn't to marry at age 15, Walder Frey wanted to wait until the war was over, and the first thought Cat has when she finds out he has married is "That can't be, you're still a child". Of course that might be Cat being over-protective, but it seems that despite what GRRM has said about "sexual maturity = adult", the really young marriages, while technically socially acceptable, aren't that common, even for women.

For example, both Cat and Cersei were around 18 when they married, Marg was 16 (and in her marriage to Tommen, obviously not meant to be sexually active until much later), and I'm sure all had flowered much earlier. Jaime thinks an 11 year old Joy Hill is old enough to be betrothed, but not actually married. Sansa is a really special case as is Jeyne/fArya, and Alys Karstark marries at age 15, though in her case she could have married Daryn Hornwood earlier than that as she says "we were only waiting until I had flowered".

(And though I have no clue if GRRM knows this, a girl having her first period does NOT necessarily mean she is fertile, cycles can be very irregular at first and can be triggered even without ovulation, not to mention the higher risks of carrying a child to term. Same with teenage boys, apparently many "teenage pregnancies" are actually fathered by men in their late teens or even older, even though boys younger than that are capable of having sex.)

Anyway, I do recall that Theon himself thinks marrying Sansa was a possibility. I really doubt Ned would have let Theon marry into the family (which is common for wards in general) and still held him as a hostage under threat of death. I also doubt that Ned meant for Theon to just hang out at Winterfell indefinitely. Probably what Ned hoped for is that Robb and Theon would become close, and that once Balon died, and was no longer a threat to rebel, THEN he'd have sent Theon back to the Iron Isles, to claim the Seastone Chair and provide the North with an ally, not a hostile land only kept in check by the implicit threat against Theon.

[ARYa_Nym]

Theon wanted to marry Sansa but he thought that wasn't possible. He seemed to think that there was a chance for Arya but he has several screw loose at this point.

A pity Ned Stark had taken his daughters south; elsewise Theon could have tightened his grip on Winterfell by marrying one of them. Sansa was a pretty little thing too, and by now likely even ripe for bedding. But she was a thousand leagues away, in the clutches of the Lannisters. A shame.

"Arya Horseface. Robb's younger sister, brown-haired, long-faced, skinny as a stick, always dirty. Sansa was the pretty one. He remembered a time when he thought that Lord Eddard Stark might marry him to Sansa and claim him for a son, but that had only been a child’s fancy. Arya, though…"

Considering who Catelyn engaged Arya to maybe she wouldn't have cared in terms of status. Theon at least isn't possibly a bastard and has a chance to inherit unlike Elmar. She didn't know about the former but the latter was enough to negotiate for something better.

But Ned was cold to Theon. I don't think it is likely that he was thinking of marrying Arya to him. Surely he would have made more of an effort to not be so distant with him if that was the case? She also rarely thinks of Theon so I wouldn't be surprised if they barely interacted especially since Jon and Theon didn't like each other so it doesn't seem like they were encouraged to interact. Ned told her she would marry a king with princes and knights as sons but that was an illogical reply.

There was an SSM that they usually don't marry early but when they do they wait until after flowering for consummation. That Rohanne woman married early and I believe Daemon Blackfyre started early on getting children.

[Aetta]

As an insurance policy. Only, he failed to realize that the Ironborn have little and less love, even amongst themselves.

(Read: Balon didn't give a shit anyway)

[Lord Reaver]

19 is nowhere near well past marrying age. That's how old Ned and Robert were when they married, with Stannis a year or two older, Renly at 22, and Edmure and Tyrion at 25. Similarly, Willas and Viserys remained unmarried in their early 20s.

Fine, way past the time when a marriage should be planned and deals sought out. Yet there is absolutely no indication anything of the sort was being done.

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

I think some people are WAY over complicating this.

1. Balon Rebelled and lost

2. Robert & Ned are obviously going to take a valuable hostage to help ensure Balon staying loyal (only son left is Theon)

3. As Warden of the North/Robert's right hand man, the duty of keeping the hostage falls to Ned

4. If Balon rebelled, I'm sure Ned would have done his duty and killed Theon

While killing or not killing Theon in this case wouldn't necessarily prevent or stop a Balon rebellion, it is a matter of principle. If you say you are going to kill hostages, you have to kill them, or no one will ever believe you again, and hostages become politically useless. See: Daenerys