GoT RIP: Ned Stark’s death set tone for Game of Thrones

With Game of Thrones ending, we’re looking back the deaths of several majorj characters, in this case, Ned Stark.

For those who did not read the book, Ned Stark’s execution was the first major plot twist of Game of Thrones.

Shocking as it was, his death was absolutely necessary in the overall Game of Thrones narrative.

Ignoring the if-then scenarios of his living that would completely change the plot of Game of Thrones moving forward from season 1, Stark had to die in order to set a major theme for Game of Thrones: no one in Westeros is safe from death, even the good like Ned Stark.

While “good” is a relative term for anyone on Game of Thrones, Ned Stark was honorable, a trait that few people in the entire series possess.

Ned Stark’s one “bad” moment that we see in the series is when he falsely confesses to treason, leading to his execution. This is one of the few times we see him do something “wrong” in the series (lying about committing treason), but even that is for a noble reason.

Ned wants to protect his family from the potential consequences of his death and Joffrey’s reign, and, by confessing, he believes he is doing so.

Think of this in terms of voting. The lesser of two evils is sometimes the right choice.

Ned Stark did not choose to confess in order to save his own life but to instead protect those he loved — the right thing to do in a lose-lose situation.

In most media, it is expected that the good and noble hero is saved at the end to continue on in their quest.

After all, Star Wars would have been much different if Princess Leia had been executed by Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader in A New Hope. Harry Potter would have been completely different if Voldemort had killed Harry as a baby. There are countless examples of our favorite TV, movie and book heroes surviving extenuating circumstances and being able to continue on their journeys.

The hero cannot be the hero if they are dead.

Stark’s death, on the other hand, is a (pardon the bad pun) stark portrayal of Game of Thrones delving from typical narrative methods and ideas. This is what makes Game of Thrones unique, but it is also what could have destroyed it.

What if people had seen Stark executed and not wanted to find out what happened to the Stark children? What if this massive plot twist had been (pardon another pun) executed poorly?

Game of Thrones is a series filled with fantasy tropes that does its best to shake up those tropes with major plot twists and character development that had to be done perfectly in order to captivate an audience that HBO was not sure was there.

Stark’s death could have been a disaster for Game of Thrones, but it wasn’t.

And, while there are a lot of things that could have happened instead, Stark had to die for Game of Thrones to be what it is today.

Make sure to stick with FanSided for wall-to-wall coverage leading up to and during the final season of Game of Thrones!