<Tr> <Th> Kingdom </Th> <Td> The North </Td> </Tr> <P> Eddard "Ned" Stark is a fictional character in the 1996 fantasy novel A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, and the first, sixth and seventh season of 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 . Though the character is established as a primary character in the novel and the TV adaptation, Martin's plot twist at the end involving Ned shocked both readers of the book and viewers of the TV series . </P> <P> Ned is portrayed by Sean Bean in the first season of Game of Thrones, and as a child and young adult by Sebastian Croft and Robert Aramayo respectively in the sixth season . Bean was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television and a Scream Award for Best Fantasy Actor for the role . He and the rest of the cast were nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2011 . </P> <P> In A Game of Thrones (1996), 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 . Finding himself a key player in the escalating political intrigue of King's Landing, Ned struggles as his own sense of honor draws him into corrupt goings - on at court . As the story progresses, he begins to see the importance of moral and practical compromises to achieve a just end, and is ultimately forced to choose between the safety of his family and doing what is right . </P>

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