King Eddard Stark
His Grace the King of Arnor and the Skellige Isles. Eddard Stark / Arathorn Telcontar
King Eddard Stark, also known as Ned Stark or as Arathorn Telcontar in the elvish tongue, is the head of the House of Stark, the Lord of Kaer Invaerne and the King of Arnor and the isles of Skellige.
He was the second born son of King Rickard Stark of Arnor and his wife Queen Lyarra, younger brother to Prince Brandon and older brother to Princess Lyanna and Prince Benjen.
He is the father of Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon by his wife, Queen Catelyn Tully, and father to his bastard son Jon Snow by the elf maiden Arwen, daughter of Elrond.
It was never Eddard's destiny to be King, he was never meant to wear the Ring of Barahir or the crown of winter, it was never Eddard who was never meant to wield the ancient sword of Andúril or the Sceptre of Annúminas. That destiny was reserved for his elder brother Brandon, the wild wolf, but destiny can often be caprecious and treacherous.
In the year 280, Ned's sister Lyanna was meant to travel south to the Crownlands where she'd be wed to the crown Prince Rheagar, son of High King Aerys of Westeros. Before her journey south, Lyanna first travelled to Lothlórien when she was waylaid by a war party of Orcs who had slipped south passed the rangers of the north and took Lyanna hostage, taking her north to the lands of always winter beyond the Kingdom of Arnor where the Orcs resided.
King Rickard and Prince Brandon raised a host of forty-five thousand soldiers and headed north to rescue Lyanna. A fortnight later, King Rickard returned south injured and dying with a tenth of his host of soldiers, Prince Brandon having been slain and beheaded by the one known as the pale orc, Azog the Defiler. Before King Rickard died, he warned that the orcs had amassed an army of 150,000 orcs, trolls, goblins and Men who worshiped the dark god Morgoth.
Upon hearing of what had happened, Eddard returned home to the North with his two best friends King Jon of Redania and King Robert of Kaedwen pledging to join them in the war. To rescue Lyanna, Rhaegar Targeryan also lead a host north.
Fearing that even with all the forces of the north and their southern allies would not be enough to face Azog's army, Gandalf arranged for Eddard to wed Princess Catelyn of Tameria, daughter of King Hoster. Catelyn was originally meant ot marry Brandon before his death but Gandalf negotiated Eddard to take his place. Eddard was hesitant since he'd planned to wed Arwen but agreed as he felt he needed Tameria's aid to fight Azog's army.
Two months later, a great host of Dunedain, Elves, Dwarves, Giants and armies from the south formed and travelled north and battled the forces of the orcs in a war that lasted almost a year, ending when Eddard struck down and killed the pale orc Azog.
Eddard then went to rescue his sister Lyanna, but she had been tortured and maimed to the point that she died of her injuries shortly after Eddard arrived.
When Eddard returned south, he stopped in Rivendell to explain his marriage to his love Arwen only to find that she had passed away in child birth for Eddard's son after her heartbreak at hearing Eddard had married another woman. Elrond and Eddard grieved together and then Elrond presented the new king of Arnor with his new son, Jon.
Eddard took his son south and brought him back home to Kaer Invaerne where he found that his new Queen Catelyn had sired a son to Eddard as well in his absence, a child named Robb. Eddard then took his place as King of Arnor, waiting a fortnight after the period of morning for his family before being corinated.
While fighting in the north against the orcs, Lord Baleon Tuirseach, the High Lord of Skellige died in battle alongside Eddard, so Eddard took in Baleon's son Theon and fostered him as his own son alongside Robb and Jon.
In the years that followed, Eddard and Catelyn sired four more children, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Eddard was the second son of King Rickard Stark of Arnor and his wife Queen Lyarra, the elder being his brother Brandon. At his birth, Eddard's father gave him his elven name calling him Arathorn, meaning Steadfast king in Sindarin.
As a child Eddard recieved two more younger silbings, a sister named Lyanna and a little brother named Benjen.
Growing up in the mighty fortress of Kaer Invaerne, Eddard learned the values of honor and nobility from his father. Among his sibilings, Eddard was considered the most quiet, stoic and dutiful, his brother Brandon was wild and blusterous, his sister Lyanna was free and brave and his little brother Benjen was a dreamer who sought adventure beyond the horizon.
It was Eddard's kind, noble and gentle nature that helped form a friendship between Eddard and Gandalf the Grey, the wandering wizard and one of the five Istari who protected and advised the kingdom of Arnor for centuries.
When Eddard was eight, he and his siblings visited the the woodland realm where Lord Thranduil ruled deep in the wolfswood and as per Stark tradtion entered into the woods where they found orphaned Direwolf pups which they adopted as their own, Eddard naming his Frost.
At the age of twelve, Eddard was sent south by his father to the Kingdom of Redania where King Jasper Arryn Arryn ruled from his mountain fortress of the Eyrie. Eddard was fostered by King Jasper Arryn as a ward to strengthen diplomatic relations with Redania and Arnor. There Eddard befriended the King's son Jon Arryn.
Eddard was often visited by Gandalf when he made his way south through Redania, always taking time to visit the Eyrie and check up on Ned when he was passing through the south.
When he reached the age of sixteen, Eddard was a man grown, and divided his time between Kaer Invaerne and the Eyrie. Eddard also visited Rivendell where he spent a summer living with Lord Elrond and his family, there he met Lord Elrond's daughter Arwen and fell in love with her. Many years later when Eddard was in his fifities, which was still his early twenties as one of the Dúnedain, his best friend Prince Jon succeeded his father as king of Redania. At that time, Eddard befriended Jon's own ward, Prince Robert Baratheon of the kingdom of Kaedwen, due to Eddard's long livitiy, he remained youthful and was bearly in his early twenties throughout Robert's time in the Eyire with Eddard starting off as his older brother figure and becoming his best friend as Robert got closer to him in physical age.
Education
He was educated in the northern tounges, not only the elven tongues of Quenya and Sindarin, but the dwarf tongue of Khuzdul, the great speech of the Giants, the old tounges of the first men and the language Numenorean language of Adûnaic.
In addition to languages, the royal druid Luwin, better known by his Druid name Mousesack, also taught Eddard history, geography, mythology and lore of Arnor and the other kingdoms as well as reading, writing, traditions, customs and other such information. Eddard also learned the ancient myths and stories of Arnor through the tales told to him and his siblings by Old Nan, his nurse. In matters of combat, horse riding, hunting and other martial and phyiscal duties, Eddard's tutor was the castle's master-at-Arms, Sir Rodrik Cassel. These duties however were taken over by the castle household of the Eyrie when Eddard began his fostering in Redania and his education of Arnorian culture was placed on hold.Eddard was very suseptable to the wisdom of his elders from a young age, taking to heart the words and philosophies imprinted upon him by his father, the wizard Gandalf and King Jon Arryn of Redania, learning what he could from their wisdom and mentoring.
During his time in Rivendell, Eddard spent time hunting alongside Lord Elrond's sons, Elledan and Elrohir who taught Eddard much in the ways of traveling the wilds.
Social
Hobbies & Pets
Relationships
History
The relationship between Eddard and Catelyn has seen many trials in the years since their marriage. In the beginning, they were not meant to be with both being in love with other people, Eddard loving the elf maiden Arwen whom he wished to wed and Catelyn being betrothed to and deeply in love with Eddard's brother Brandon.
It was not until Brandon was killed that Eddard and Catelyn wed the very day of their first meeting to secure a military alliance between their kingdoms. As they were saying their vows, they were strangers to one another, Catelyn mourning Brandon and Eddard guilt ridden over leaving Arwen.
The first night they spent together became greatly awkward when Catelyn asked Eddard how old he was, knowing that after people of the Dúnedain turned twenty they aged slower. While Eddard seemed barely twenty years old, he was in fact sixty four years of age and would live for hundreds of years to come, aging at a snails pace. It did not bother her with Brandon as it made her think of him as something majestic and eternal, but with Eddard it only made her feel small and vulnerable, wondering if she'd be anything more than a blink in his life,
Love didn't just happen to them, they built it slowly over the years, stone by stone.
Most people in Eddard and Catelyn's shoes tend to undergo the Feavaima, a magical ritual that binds the lifeforce of one individual to another, in this case it would be Catelyn's lifeforce bound to Eddard's. The Feavaima would make Catelyn's lifespan mirror that of Eddard's, while she would not reverse in age to Eddard's physical state she'd cease to age until she and Eddard were of equal bodily age and then Catelyn would continue to age at equal pase to her longliving husband. The reason the two have not undergone the Feavaima yet is because of their children. If Catelyn died after the feavaima was placed on them, Eddard would live on since the binding was a one way connection, but if Eddard died so would Catelyn and since Eddard faced the risk of one day dying in battle, Catelyn did not wish for them to both die since it would orphan their children. Now that Robb is twenty four years of age and Catleyn has no wish to have anymore children after Rickon, she has decided to undergo the Feavaima and bind herself to Eddard so that she can live through the centuries with her love.
History
King Eddard has always loved his son Jon, without question, condition and has loved him indistinguishably from any of his other children. When Eddard looks into his son's eyes he sees all the love he had for his beloved Arwen and takes pride in watching his son grow and evolve alongside his sibilings.
Like many in Arnor, Eddard sees Jon's bastard status as nothing more than an Andal formality that must be endured and feels no shame to have fathered his son, only shame to have failed his beloved Arwen when he abandoned her to wed Catelyn, which Eddard feels to be the reason Arwen fell ill and died.
While Eddard loves Jon, he cannot always show it, or rather must watch how he shows it in the presense of his wife Queen Catelyn who Eddard knows has always felt insulted by Jon's existance as the child of another woman. Eddard has always been forced to show a sense of distance, composure and formality towards Jon whenever Queen Catelyn is near with Jon reflecting such characteristics back at his father to keep up apperances. Despite the show of distance, Ned loves Jon with all his heart. He consideres him like a twin to Robb and gives Jon the love he deserves when he can.
While Eddard must appear distant from Jon in the presense of Queen Catelyn he adores and is grateful about how unapolegetically and fearlessly his other children love Jon, refusing call Jon anything other than their brother.
When Jon turned twelve, his father gifted him his mother's necklace, the Evenstar, passed down from Lady Galadriel to her daughter Celebrían then passed to Arwen and left to Eddard after her passing, then it became Jon's as a constant reminder and token of his mother's love.
