Eddard Stark ~ Warden of the North

“If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.”

—Eddard Stark

Eddard "Ned" Stark known as The Quiet Wolf is a fictional character in the 1996 fantasy novel A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, and Game of Thrones, HBO's adaptation of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. In the storyline, Ned is the lord of Winterfell, an ancient fortress in the North of the fictional continent of Westeros.

Ned Stark is introduced as the virtuous and honorable patriarch of House Stark and the father of six children. The moral compass of the story, he is content to remain far from courtly intrigues and is unwavering in his view of loyalty and honor. His family name, Stark, serves as an indication of his resistance to moral compromise, but his boundaries are increasingly tested over the course of the novel.