Was Ned Stark correct...

[ChosenOne]

This thread is inspired by @Clippy thread asking who you would u trust with a secret. Hespect.

My question is:

Was Ned Stark correct in keeping the secret about Jon Snow's (Stark) birth a secret from his wife Catelyn Stark, even though you can argue, that her belief that he cheated on her, led to a degree of madness in her?

His belief was that she would expose the secret and Robert would kill Jon.

Do you agree?

 

[ChosenOne]

I believe Ned was correct that Catelyn would have exposed the secret. She would not have been able to stand people believing that Ned cheated on her and her feeling that dishonoured him, while he was, yet again, making a noble sacrifice of his perceived honour, to protect Jon Snow.

She would justify telling others to correct the record, feeling she was protecting Ned.

 

[SirRealKiller]

Been a while since I read these but I don't recall anything coming up saying anyone was worried about Robert killing Jon. I think it was purely kept secret to avoid embarrassment and hut for Catelyn.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

 

[LEWIS540]

All the apparent noble men in that series were noble when it suited them, and largely self serving. See Ned Stark and Barristan Selmy.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Of course he was correct. Women are irrational. There’s no telling what Catelyn would do with that information.

 

[ChosenOne]

All the apparent noble men in that series were noble when it suited them, and largely self serving. See Ned Stark and Barristan Selmy.

When would you say Ned Stark showed himself to not be noble?

My biggest issue with Ned was he was naive to the point of being dumb but i cannot think of him not acting nobly.

 

[Thrawn33]

All the apparent noble men in that series were noble when it suited them, and largely self serving. See Ned Stark and Barristan Selmy.

Hope you mean "save" not "see" Barry and Ned were probably the only good ones who didn't play politics.


Also Ned's promise to his dying sister meant he couldn't even tell his wife to save his marriage, spare his nephew/bastard the suffering, even prevent Bobby B from going to war, ect ect... Ned would not break his vow for any reason for love of his sister and fear of being an Oathbreaker and damned by all , that's how much of a G he was...to a fault...

 

[LEWIS540]

Hope you mean "save" not "see" Barry and Ned were probably the only good ones who didn't play politics.


Also Ned's promise to his dying sister meant he couldn't even tell his wife to save his marriage, spare his nephew/bastard the suffering, even prevent Bobby B from going to war, ect ect... Ned would not break his vow for any reason for love of his sister and fear of being an Oathbreaker and damned by all , that's how much of a G he was...to a fault...

Nope.

His brother/father were murdered and 1000s more in war because his sister ran off with a married man. Fuck her and her promise.

If Selmy was left with The Mad King instead of Jaime, real good chance King's landing would have been burnt. He was basically the SS to the Mad King's Hitler.

Easy to be noble when it's you yourself who decides what nobility is and can judge the poor people from your castle.

As stated myriad times all he characters were shades of grey, and Selmy and Ned are no exception.

As Jaime proved, doing the right thing was more important than keeping some silly oath.

 

[LEWIS540]

When would you say Ned Stark showed himself to not be noble?

My biggest issue with Ned was he was naive to the point of being dumb but i cannot think of him not acting nobly.

The very structure of the society he and his family benefited from was hardly noble.

When he gets to decide what the rules are, makes it easy to follow them.

Was he bad man? No. Did he try and do the right thing? Largely. He's like that kid from millionaire parents who spends his life fighting to save the whales (whilst flying private, with 2 Ferraris at home), meanwhile telling other people to stop driving to their 12 hour shift, because it's killing the planet.

 

[BB in Crazy!!!!]

Been a while since I read these but I don't recall anything coming up saying anyone was worried about Robert killing Jon. I think it was purely kept secret to avoid embarrassment and hut for Catelyn.

What? The lie they told is what caused embarrassment and hurt for Catelyn. And yes, everyone knew Robert would kill Jon if they knew he was actually the son of Rhaegar and Ned’s sister.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

She was an idiot loose cannon. I wouldn’t trust her with a secret, I would throw her off a bridge

Ned was probably gonna tell her after Jon was safely in the nights watch (dummy)

 

[Cole train]

GODS I WAS STRONG THEN

 

[Excelsior]

Nope.

His brother/father were murdered and 1000s more in war because his sister ran off with a married man. Fuck her and her promise.

If Selmy was left with The Mad King instead of Jaime, real good chance King's landing would have been burnt. He was basically the SS to the Mad King's Hitler.

Easy to be noble when it's you yourself who decides what nobility is and can judge the poor people from your castle.

As stated myriad times all he characters were shades of grey, and Selmy and Ned are no exception.

As Jaime proved, doing the right thing was more important than keeping some silly oath.

Ned's oath meant that much to him because he was a man of honor. No matter what the price, no matter what the cost to himself and his family, he wouldn't violate her trust. He was absolutely not about shades of gray, he saw right and wrong and followed his code. Like handing in the badge and office as Hand rather than sign off on King Robert's order to have Danaerys assassinated.

 

[Sweater of AV]

What is this some Ironman shit?

 

[Gutter Chris]

He was right to not tell her. He was wrong in not putting his foot down with his wife and telling her flat out you will stop being a bitch to this boy and will treat him as your family.

 

[syct23]

Fuck Off @Clippy !

 

[Rob Battisti]

Of course he was correct. Women are irrational. There’s no telling what Catelyn would do with that information.

 

[LEWIS540]

Ned's oath meant that much to him because he was a man of honor. No matter what the price, no matter what the cost to himself and his family, he wouldn't violate her trust. He was absolutely not about shades of gray, he saw right and wrong and followed his code. Like handing in the badge and office as Hand rather than sign off on King Robert's order to have Danaerys assassinated.

Well keeping that promise to a girl who's actions had led to 1000s of deaths, meant that 20 years later 1000s more had to die, too.

Protecting the secrets of your family at the cost of so much death and suffering of others, doesn't sound particularly noble to me.

Jaime breaking his oath, and sacrificing his honour, to do the right thing seems a lot more noble to me.......not that he did not also do some crap to protect his own family, too.

If you think Ned was a beacon of goodness in a white cowboy hat, you don't know how GRRM viewed the feudal system ASOIAF or his views on war in general.

Ned was very much closer to white than black, but circumstance put him in some no win situations.

As you say......he followed his own code of morality. Doesn't mean it was a noble code by everyone else's perspective.

 

[method115]

He was right to not tell her. He was wrong in not putting his foot down with his wife and telling her flat out you will stop being a bitch to this boy and will treat him as your family.

I do agree he should have told her to stop the shit and act like a fucking adult.