Eddard Stark ( Eddard, Ned, Ned Stark )

Eddard “Ned” Stark, the head of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North. Is married to Catelyn Tully and father to Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon Stark and his bastard, Jon Snow. A friend to King Robert Baratheon, whom he was raised with and helped to win the Iron Throne. Eddard is in his mid-thirties, with a long face, dark hair and grey eyes. His closely-trimmed beard is beginning to grey. His dark grey eyes reflect his moods, turning soft as fog or hard as stone.

Among his enemies, Eddard has the reputation of having cold eyes. They are thought to reflect his frozen heart. Eddard is known for his sense of honor and justice and his family finds him kind, although some consider his reserved personality a sign of coldness and disdain.

Eddard was fostered by Lord Jon Arryn at the Eyrie from the age of eight, alongside Robert Baratheon. Ned befriended Robert and came to consider Lord Arryn a second father. Ned’s father and brother were executed at the command of King Aerys II, who further demanded that Arryn send him the heads of his wards. Arryn refused and instead launched a rebellion. With his father and brother dead, Ned, now Lord of Winterfell, rallied the North in rebellion. Before marching to aid Robert, who was warring in the south, Ned married Catelyn Tully, who had been betrothed to Ned’s brother Brandon before his death.

At the tail end of the rebellion, Ned, along with six of his companions, traveled to the Dornish border to find the Tower of Joy, where Prince Rhaegar Targaryen had hidden his sister Lyanna. It was guarded by three members of the Kingsguard, including Ser Arthur Dayne. The resulting skirmish saw the deaths of all but Ned and Howland Reed. Unfortunately, Lyanna had died shortly after the battle, a moment that haunted Ned ever since. Once the conflict had ended and Robert had taken the throne, Ned returned home, bringing with him a bastard son, Jon, about whose origins he refused to speak, even to his own wife.