How did Ned Stark beat the Kingsguard?

[Yakman]

How did Ned Win?

He had 7 guys, the KG had 3. It was close, but he and Howland Reed made it out alive.

Nothing about this sounds unreasonable, no matter how dangerous Dayne or Hightower were.

You can further stack the odds in Ned's favor in that his 7 guys were mounted in which case the KG were lucky to have done as well as they did. I like to imagine that Ned's guys dismounted before the fight, but for all Ned's talk of honor, he wasn't there for the show of it.

As far as "Well Syrio beat up 5 guys..." Syrio was a Waterdancer who KNEW that he was going to attack 5 Lannister mooks. He basically jumped five idiots, who were not expecting resistance, and who were not ready for him.

Could Howland Reed have used a net or poison? It's possible. He might have just jabbed his trident into the back of Dayne's knee just before Dayne struck a killing blow too. It doesn't really matter. He might have warged into Dayne but who knows if he even has that power?

The fight almost certainly happened before Lyanna's death, as it appears that Ned's party is arriving at the ToJ, while the KG is getting ready from the fight.

As for "THEY found him..." I can easily see "They" being Wylla and Reed. Dayne could easily have asked Wylla to come up from Starfell to assist Lyanna on Rhaegar's orders or otherwise. I can't imagine there not being any servants in the Tower. It might not have been Wylla, but it's entirely possible. In any regard, "They" is Howland plus a servant or two.

[BlackDragon]

I took the fight as set gerold Hightower and whent vs the five and Ned and holland vs Arthur. I think Ned is a better warrior than we are led to believe of course not as good as Arthur not even close but mixed with Hollands style of fighting the beat him. Then with the five vs 2 I believe that the 2 killed the 5 but were mortally wounded in the process.

[The Others Take Ya]

Probably been said before, but I'll say it again just in case others (like me) aren't going to search through 22 pages of this...

I don't think the fight lasted long, I think the fight started and lots of Ned's guys died first, but if Lyanna was close enough to yell out "EDDARD!" and "LORD EDDARD!" as the fighting started according to Ned's dream and he heard her, why wouldn't she have yelled out to the kingsguard under her command to stop the fighting when she heard the macho words being exchanged and swords swinging just after. They're going after her brother, after all and if Ned could hear her, the Kingsguard could.

Maybe Howland Reed was able to save Ned from a few hacks and slashes at him, but I don't think it was a long drawn out battle. If Lyanna pulled a Robert and yelled at the kingsguard to "Stop fighting in the name of your Queen!", since she would have been Queen Regent, or something like protector of the King even if she wasn't Queen (which I personally doubt, I think she was Queen), I would think the kingsguard had a duty to listen, and stop attacking.

That makes this line make more sense to me: "They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed had taken her hand from his." Eddard I, GoT. (TY VaramyrSixChins for mentioning this earlier so I didn't have to search for it) If only Howland Reed, and Ned walked away from the ToJ, then it would have only been Him (Howland Reed) finding Ned after Lyanna died. Ned wouldn't kill his own innocent men before walking away from the ToJ, and his guilt ridden dreams don't suggest that, so I think it was only Howland Reed, and Ned and some Kingsguard that survived the short fight that must have been interrupted by Lyanna.

So I think Howland Reed saved Ned not only in the fight, but also because he had a greendream like Jojen that showed the king needed to stay unknown and hidden. I think he saw that if any of the Kingsguard survived to watch over the baby the king would be in danger since well - they're obviously guarding a king! So to protect the king they killed themselves, and that's how it ended up being just Ned and Howland to return. Its also possible they may have been able to figure that out for themselves too, they may have not needed a greendream, but a greendream from Ned and Queen Lyanna's trusted friend would seal the deal.

I think the above scenario would explain why Ned doesn't fight in his own tourney or doesn't like to fight others because he doesn't want them to see what he can do when he fights for real. Which makes sense, because if your cover story to save some kid's life is that you beat Arthur Dayne, the sword of the morning when you didn't, you don't want people to see you get beat by just anybody and end up with people asking questions you don't want to draw attention to. Questions like, how did this average fighter beat the legend and those other really awesome guys all at once and get beat at his own tourney?

edit: read the Wylla comment above that she was possibly the "they" but it seems kind of improbable that there had been enough time for the wet nurse to be called to the ToJ to nurse the baby post birth and have her be there in time before Ned showed up and have Lyanna survive her deadly childbirth in fever for so long just to die in Ned's arms. I mean, she was in a "bed of blood" they would have had time to change the sheets if it took them that long to find a wet nurse. Its possible Wylla could have been both a wet nurse and a midwife, but I think that's unlikely because a wet nurse would need to keep having a baby at hand and keep nursing to stay lactating, because there were no such things as breast pumps in that day an age. (Unless there is some male helper along with her with a fixation on lactating breasts... ahahahaha :lmao: )