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What Would Have Been Eddard's Best Move?


The Smiling Eye

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Run and fast as both Stannis and later Renly did. Once safely from KL he could have called Great Council or just join forces with Stannis. If he promised to remove Lannisters from power he could have had probably even support from Martells.

That and not tell Cersei that he knew about the incest. Let Joff take the throne and name his new hand. Then make for Winterfell with family, and if so compelled follow 'Ice Turtles' directions above.

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If Robert's dead, then Eddard has already had his talk with Cersei. At this point, he can clearly see she is not leaving, and that should be a big clue that she feels she's the one holding the cards here.

And honestly, with Robert dead, that's Eddard's only friend gone. There's the possibility of taking Renly's offer, sure ... but there's the question of honor in that. The best option is getting out fast, but that was already something he was planning as well, and Sansa nicely screwed that up.

At this point, things are so far gone that about his only good option aside from Renly is to try to get out much faster. I'm not sure he'd make it, though, as Cersei might already be going out of her way to make sure he can't flee the city if he tries.

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Run and fast as both Stannis and later Renly did. Once safely from KL he could have called Great Council or just join forces with Stannis. If he promised to remove Lannisters from power he could have had probably even support from Martells.

:agree: Get the hell out of town and get some support :ninja:
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Well, definitely don't tell King Shithead that the throne isn't his. That wasn't a very good idea.

Yeah, I like getting out of Dodge and heading home to Winterfell. If the North had teamed up with Stannis, the factions would have been Stannis, Renly, Lannisters, and the Greyjoys, who are just there to piss everyone off. With Robb on the council and NOT needing to be playing the role of a king (assuming people will listen to a fifteen-year-old boy, albeit a militarily brilliant one), Stannis would've eventually sat the thrown. Eventually, Ned. That's the key.

If leaving Winterfell turned out to not be an option, then keeping his mouth shut certainly should have been. Dunno how he could have played it from there - that's a tenuous situation. But the official hostaging didn't begin until he was beheaded so *shrug*. Not sure what I would've done from there.

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First, not telling Cersei.

But, if he had already told Cersei and Robert were already dead:

1.- To accept Littlefinger and Renly´s offer and seize power as Joffrey´s regent with their help.

2.- Send Sansa and Arya to the North as quickly as possible.

3.- Once the girls are safe, secretly contact Stannis, calling him to King´s Landing, renounce the regency (letting Stannis take it) and run to the North as fast as possible.

4. -Climb the tallest of Moat Cailin´s towers, display his buttocks, aiming his anus to the south while singing "you are not my problem anymore".

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WHAT! Stannis won't bend the knee to Renly. And the Tyrells will not support Stannis. Which means the Tyrells would support the Lannisters. And Stannis and Ned and now Renly are all still fucked.

The Tyrells support themselves. They started with Renly, then went to the Lannisters, and you can bet if Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella all suddenly died they would switch their support to whoever else would put Mace's grandchild on the throne. Their goal is power- if the Lannisters were losing the war and their best chance for power was to ally with Stannis and marry one of their sons to Shireen, I believe they would do it.

First, not telling Cersei.

But, if he had already told Cersei and Robert were already dead:

1.- To accept Littlefinger and Renly´s offer and seize power as Joffrey´s regent with their help.

2.- Send Sansa and Arya to the North as quickly as possible.

3.- Once the girls are safe, secretly contact Stannis, calling him to King´s Landing, renounce the regency (letting Stannis take it) and run to the North as fast as possible.

4. -Climb the tallest of Moat Cailin´s towers, display his buttocks, aiming his anus to the south while singing "you are not my problem anymore".

All well and good, but the thread is asking how Ned puts a ruler acceptable to him on the throne. So isolationism doesn't solve the OP's challenge.

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The Tyrells support themselves. They started with Renly, then went to the Lannisters, and you can bet if Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella all suddenly died they would switch their support to whoever else would put Mace's grandchild on the throne. Their goal is power- if the Lannisters were losing the war and their best chance for power was to ally with Stannis and marry one of their sons to Shireen, I believe they would do it.

I dunno, there's some insanely bad blood between Stannis and the Tyrells, left over from the Storm's End siege. I'm not sure they'd make amends so easily. That's kind of why I suggested a match between Margaery and Robb, because I don't think Stannis or the Tyrells could stomach being in-laws. ;)

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I think the challenge would be getting Stannis to accept it, not the Tyrells. If it was a choice between Stannis and the throne or no throne, I think they'd cozy up to Shireen quite fast...and 100,000 swords might make Stannis forget about the smell of Mace's feasts.

If they were happy to accept a marriage with Joffrey, knowing what a monster he was, I'm sure they would accept one with Stannis's kid. They would probably think they would be able to manage Stannis and even kill him if they needed to, and I'm not sure they would have been wrong.

Yes, the Tyrells were royalists during the Rebellion, but the Lannisters betrayed the capital, slaughtering their king and his family, and they didn't think twice about allying with them.

The problem with the Starks and Tyrells allying through marriage is that neither of them have any sort of claim to the Iron Throne, and the Starks have no interest in taking it.

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Roberts dying wish was that Ned rule as reagent until "his son" Joffrey came of age. Since Joffrey wasn't truly his son, no matter what Ned did, he wasn't betraying Roberts dying wish.

I'm pretty sure that's a spirit of the law vs letter of the law thing going on with this post, haha.

I think Ned's move after Robert's death (all else being the same) should have been to accept Renly and Littlefinger's offers. Seize power for himself, rule as regent, keep his children safe. Bide your time until you can reach Stannis, then expose the incest, imprisoning Cersei and crowning Stannis.

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First thing Ned should have done the moment he found out about the incest would be to have Sansa and Arya on a ship heading for Winterfell He knew this was serious Jon Arrayn died because of this knowledge. Second Ned could have placated littlefinger listened to his advice instead of kinda being rude and condescending at least leave littlefinger guessing as to what your doing.Then with or without Renley he should have siezed Joff Tommen and Mycella. Just like Ned Cersei greatest weakness is her kids. Normally cersei would call anyones bluff and that is all it would be at least from ned but thats the one thing she wont take a chance on period Stannis is right around the corner send a raven to Dragonstone then have Stannis and renley hash it out over who gets to be King OR Ned grabs his own kids and runs like his ass is on fire back to Winterfell and waits till the whole thing blows over but I Don't think neds character/honer plus being named Lord regent would let him do that

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First, not telling Cersei.

But, if he had already told Cersei and Robert were already dead:

1.- To accept Littlefinger and Renly´s offer and seize power as Joffrey´s regent with their help.

2.- Send Sansa and Arya to the North as quickly as possible.

3.- Once the girls are safe, secretly contact Stannis, calling him to King´s Landing, renounce the regency (letting Stannis take it) and run to the North as fast as possible.

4. -Climb the tallest of Moat Cailin´s towers, display his buttocks, aiming his anus to the south while singing "you are not my problem anymore".

number 4 kills me im still laughing
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It would have been better to have Robert sign multiple copies of his will, making sure the spares are in safe places to be spread to the Great Houses in case of a mishap. A royal will is such a valuable document that it should be standard procedure anyway. If the Lannisters couldn't cover up their coup d'état so easily, they may not have dared arrest the Regent.

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