Ned Stark

Eddard "Ned" Stark is a fictional character from American writer George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series, a prominent point-of-view character in the first novel of the series, A Game of Thrones (1996), and a major character in the first season of HBO's television adaptation, Game of Thrones. Ned is the patriarch of House Stark of Winterfell, the ruling house and lord paramount of the North, which is the largest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. As the most trusted friend of King Robert Baratheon, Ned is widely renowned and respected throughout the kingdom for his unwavering morality, honor and justice. Although he is portrayed as the main character at the beginning of the series, the plot twist of his execution near the end of the first novel and the first season of the TV adaptation shocked both the book readers and TV viewers. Ned is portrayed by veteran English actor Sean Bean in the first season of Game of Thrones, as a child by Sebastian Croft in the sixth season, and as a young adult by Robert Aramayo in the sixth and seventh seasons, respectively. Bean received top billing of the first season for the role, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television and a Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor. He and the rest of the cast were also nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2011.